DANDY FUN HOUSE PODCAST

watch the video below   listen to the podcast below Have you ever wanted to mooove through time and space? Well, you’re in the right place because in this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to unbox, assemble and play and review the game… COWS IN SPACE! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House. I’m your host, Neil Dandy, and this is the place for your favorite retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. And today we’re doing toys and games. Toys and games, yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you call it? a toy with a game, a TWAG! That’s what they say in the industry, baby! But first, I want to show you our Dandy Fun house t-shirts! They are woven from 100% heifer fur, and they’re guaranteed to keep you warm on cold nights, or at least lukewarm nights. So yeah, buy one or be square. We cut four holes in them, one to crawl your body into, two to put your arms through, and one to stick your pokey little neck out of. What do you want from me? I’ll tell you what you want from me! You want some of the new designs at the Dandy Fun Shop, that’s right. Like LED ROBSTER, BODY BY DONUTS, and of course, SODIUM SUBSTITUTE LIFE! Just get over to the Dandy Fun Shop today! Okay, COWS IN SPACE! Let’s take a look at it. Groovy box, baby. I’m liking this. All right, you got a couple of kids. They don’t look too young. They look kind of like preteens with grandpa over here. Grandpa looks kind of like me. What the? What’s going on with that? I’m not sure I like that, but anyway, the front, cartoony, colorful. It’s just popping real nice. Yeah, you see the game there. It shows it, and these guys are wearing headbands with flying saucers on it, and it looks like they’re picking up cows, I assume magnetically. And the sides are all the same. They didn’t really go hog wild on that. Nothing on the bottom. Let’s check out the back. Okay, we’ve got slimer aliens here, and they’re showing the game. “Use your magnetic UFO headband to quickly pick up cows from the spinning base.” Oh, the base spins! “It’s the best game in the universe, and out of it! The out of this world head to head race to capture as many cows as possible.” Now, what is it with aliens and cows and crop circles? I don’t get it. Motorized spinning base, we already know that, ages six plus… Two players… Ten plus minutes. How many rules could there possibly be to this thing? Oh, and What Do You Meme Family? So this game, even though it doesn’t really say the manufacturer… oh, it DOES say the manufacturer! I was looking all over for it, and I just now found it, and now it’s too late for me to research the company. Usually, I like to do something about the company that makes it, and apparently the company is, it says “RELATABLE” at the bottom for the brand. Very understatable, but somehow they’re affiliated with What Do You Meme apparently, but What Do You Meme is more of an adult-oriented game, but I think there’s a family version of it as well, to the best of my knowledge. Well, okay, we’ve had a look at the box. Let’s unbox it! UNBOXING I did PRE-slit the tape on it, just so I wouldn’t have to fumble with it. And… okay, there’s not much to see from the top there. Let’s just go ahead and do a big slide out. Oh, and you can see pretty much everything! You slide it out and there’s nothing left in the box, so we’ll just go ahead and lose the box. And this is what we’ve got. We’ve got the game itself, and you got the parts of the magnetic headband. You got the UFOs here. This looks like it’s going to be real simple. This might be a short review today. A “Cows in Space” instruction booklet. How many instructions could there possibly be? We’ll look at these if we have to. I’m thinking we don’t have to. I think this thing’s pretty self-explanatory. You got a bunch of cows in these little bags here, spotted on the top, pink on the bottom. Looks like you got seven in each bag, three bags, that’s 21 cows. And then we have a barn in a bag which apparently clicks right into the middle of the game field. Now I’ll probably never get the box closed again. Thank you very much. Oh, and the headbands! That means I’m going to have to take off my cool cow hat. It does look like the headbands are adjustable. And I guess I really only need one headband. There’s a little notch here, and you just kind of put your flying saucer link in there and kind of shove it down there. And then you adjust your headband and strap it on. It’s a plastic headband. It’s not stretchy or spongy, but that’s good because if it were stretchy, it’d be made out of fabric. And then you’d have everyone’

watch the video below:   listen to the podcast below: It’s time to close out yet another year of the Dandy Fun House. While all those “other shows” are slacking off and giving you retrospectives of everything they’ve already done in the past year, it is instead our tradition here at the Dandy Fun House to leave the past exactly there… in the past and instead look ahead to the brand spankin’ new year coming at us like Frehley’s Comet and take a glimpse at the coolest stuff we’ve been able to find that’s waiting for us in 2026! We’re going to look at theme parks, movies, pinball and of course the TOTY AWARD NOMINATION picks for the upcoming 2026 Toy of the Year Awards! Are you ready to get your kicks in 26? Then LET’S step into the FUN HOUSE! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House 2025 year-end extravaganza where we wear the hats and blow our hooters about the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this episode we’re going to look ahead at WHAT’S HOT ON THE HORIZON FOR 2026 in the worlds of theme parks, movies, pinball and my personal picks for the 2026 TOTY AWARDS (Toy of the Year). BUT FIRST! I have to show you these amazing DANDY FUN HOUSE T-Shirts before time runs out! Perfect for swaddling the baby new year, They have a front and a back so you don’t get cold and we even cut 4 holes in them! One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke your arms through! Find them in the Dandy Fun Shop at the Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com before the Dandy Ball Drops! Alrighty, hold on tighty and let’s get right into what’s hot on the horizon for 2026 starting with… THEME PARKS! And up first is going to be UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, HOLLYWOOD (which isn’t actually in Hollywood, it’s in Studio City kind of like the LA Angels baseball team is actually in Anaheim and how they call the Embassy Suites here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee “Nashville South” which we absolutely are not. But anyway that’s a rabbit hole rant for another day.) Anyway, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS in the greater Los Angeles, California area is breaking ground on a new roller coaster where each individual car experiences its very own 360 degrees of rotation. The coaster is called FAST AND FURIOUS HOLLYWOOD DRIFT themed after the Fast and Furious movies obviously. This one is expected to peel out in 2026! And Legoland California is busy building the Lego Galaxy space-themed land including an indoor roller coaster. Over at Kings Island in Ohio they’re opening what they are calling a new “dark ride” in 2026 called “PHANTOM THEATER: Opening Nightmare.” It’s in the location that has most recently held an attraction called Boo Blasters but is apparently the site of a previous attraction also called PHANTOM THEATER and this is apparently the return of that attraction with some various upgrades. I went to the Kings Island website to get more information and there’s just a teaser video showing two girls walking into Boo Blasters and ending up in the Phantom Theater which appears to be a very loose sendup on the Phantom of the Opera. The cartoon phantom character they show in the teaser graphic is obviously based on the classic Lon Chaney silent film character, and visitors ride inside cars that resemble opera boxes. So… yeah. Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (my neck of the woods kinda sorta) will be undertaking a $50 million expansion and also opening the world’s first ever hybrid indoor family coaster and whitewater river raft ride called the “Night Flight Expedition.” Then under at Sea World, Orlando Florida they’re diving into a new dark ride called SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep. If you don’t know what a dark ride is, it basically means it’s indoors and you get moved from scene to scene. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s actually dark. Anyway, this new dark ride at Sea World Orlando will be what they are calling a suspended dark ride. The only information about this ride currently is that the rider will “discover dazzling ecosystems, legendary sea life, and breathtaking stories of resilience and wonder.” NEW MOBILITY DEVICE POLICY AT SEA WORLD! And speaking of Sea World, they have a controversial new policy which has been making the news lately that has just rolled out regarding mobility devices for the disabled. It appears that rollator walkers with seats are no longer permitted. The official updated policy from the Sea World website is as follows: “For the safety of our guests and employees, rollator walkers with seats on them are not permitted at SeaWorld Orlando. Alternative personal transportation options, including standard wheelchairs and Electric Convenience Vehicles (ECVs), are available. Walkers without a seat are permitted.” I’m guessing that more than a few guests were using their rollators like wheelchairs and it was causing some sort of safety concern in the parks. As someone who transports disabled people as my profession and

watch video below!   listen to the podcast below! It’s scary season once again which means it’s time for the Dandy Spook Shack Halloween Special! This year we’re haunting the Spirit Store to see what’s new. We’ll also have a look at the new MUPPETIZED Monster Cereals with one very conspicuous absence and I will share my favorite fright flicks of 2025 along with what’s hot on the horizon! It’s alive! Halloween 2025! Let’s step into the SPOOK SHACK! Hello and welcome to the DANDY SPOOK SHACK annual Halloween special! 2025! I’m your ghost, Necro Neil Dandy and in this season’s spooktacular, we’ll be visiting the Spirit Store to see what’s new this ghoul year. We’ll also talk about the most notable scary movies of 2025 thus far and the ones to watch out for on the creepy horizon. And last but not least, we’ll feast!… Our eyes upon the new box designs for the classic Monster Cereals by Jim Henson Studios with one very notable character that has apparently been given the deathly cold shoulder! BUT FIRST! I’d like you to drink in these frighteningly fashionable DANDY FUN HOUSE t-shirts! Woven from the threads of my dungeon spiders, you’re going to look drop dead fabulous. They come with fronts AND backs because nobody should be backless walking through the chill of a nighttime graveyard alone don’t you agree? Want to abscond with one for yourself? Simply visit the Dandy Fun Shop at the official Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com and orders yours this evening. And if you’re watching closely watching on YouTube, we have a miniature Dandy Fun Shop set up there as well! Absurdity is Amplified at the Dandy Fun Shop! Ok, let us begin with a visit to the Spirit Halloween store to see what’s freshly alive for 2025! SPIRIT STORE 2025 We visited the Spirit Store in Nashville’s Opry Mills where the legendary theme park Opryland used to stand… but that’s a story for another time. We wanted to see what was new for Halloween 2025 and we were not disappointed. As we entered, we noticed the centerpiece for this year was haunted subway system. Very original. Of course it was monster rat infested which was quite a shock to the conductor. Once we escaped the train we took in a little animatronic target practice on a decapitated clown. Mama’s not gonna like this! Scary clowns seem to be a thing this year. Moving on from the animatronics, we find an assortment of un-welcome mats for the front door including the Bates Motel complete with bloody footprints, Mars Attacks, with Killer Klowns and Pennywise keeping the clown theme alive. M3gan seems to still be holding her own with the young ladies (you know it’s the dance)! And for the little ones we have the cutesy line of dolls known as Tiny Terrors with adorable baby versions of Chucky, Frankenstein’s little monster and Little Mikey Meyers. Moving on to more costumes we find many food items like pizza and ramen which is about all you’ll be able to afford after blowing your paycheck in this place, hard tea and you can also make yourself a few fries short of a happy meal dress as a pack of french fries. For the couples you can be chips and salsa, plug and socket, peanut butter and jelly or milk and cookie Awww! There’s also a great assortment of inflatable costumes like the inflatable banana, penguin, alien abduction, blow up chicken, big rubber chicken so you can throw yourself at Svengoolie, chicken abduction and giant balloon animal! Also I didn’t realize that Spongebob was still so popular but there’s an entire wall with every sort of Spongebob Squarepants character you can imagine and you can even buy your own supersized spatula perfect for flipping your crabby pattys and also for scraping your carcass out the door and back into the mall once your cash has all run dry in the Spirit Store 2025! Ya know, every year I always wonder just how the Spirit Store is going to top itself from the previous year and they always do. The animatronics get better, the products overall get better and there’s always something new like for example, I don’t recall seeing the Terror Tots before this year and I just thought making those iconic movie monsters into cute dolls was just a really neat idea. And speaking of movie monsters, I think it’s time we have a look over…   THE MOST NOTABLE SCARY MOVIES OF 2025! Ok, now why am I calling this the most NOTABLE scary movies of 2025 instead of my favorites? Quite honestly it’s because, while I have seen my fair share of them, I haven’t seen them all. There’s just too many and when it comes to certain types of scary movies like vampires, zombies and themes that have really been beaten into the ground, it’s tough to motivate me to go see a show about a type of monster I have already seen a thousand times before. Therefore I’m going to do a rundown of the notable one

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! Hula Hoop. Slip n Slide. Frisbee. Super Ball. What do these names mean to you? To many, these are just the names of some fun toys from years gone by. But to others, these names all culminate into just one… WHAM-O! And in this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to tell their story, have a deeper look into some of their most iconic products and discover what’s on the horizon for this epic company! Bam-O Slam-O let’s dig into WHAM-O! And let’s step into the FUN HOUSE! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog! This is where we slam right into the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this episode, we’re going head first into the world of Wham-O!   But first! I want to stick your head into one of these slammin’ Dandy Fun House t-shirts! Woven from the leftover strands of recycled superballs, you’re gonna look like a million bouncin’ bucks or no money back! They’ve got a front and a back because winter’s on the way and we very thoughtfully cut four very strategically – placed holes in em! That’s right! One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke your arms through! How much would you pay for luxury like this? It really doesn’t matter because we’re not changing our price! Just head over to our Dandy Fun Shop located inside the Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com and see for yourself! And if you enjoy this show on YouTube, we have a miniature Dandy Fun Shop set up there too! That’s the Dandy Fun Shop where we have Absurdity Amplified! OKAY! WHAM-O! Where do I even begin with an enigma like this? Wham-O is THE toy and sports product company responsible for such instantly-recognizable products such as Frisbee, Slip ‘N Slide, Hula Hoop, Hacky Sack, Super Ball, Boogie Board, Trac-Ball, Silly String and many, many more! You might think of Wham-O as a classic novelty company from the 70s and 80s but their history actually goes back farther than that. MUCH FARTHER!!!!! The year is 1948 and two eager upstarts freshly graduated from the University of Southern California named Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin who were friends found themselves frustrated with their post-grad occupations and decided to team up and start of all things a business making extra-powerful slingshots out of Richard’s garage. Why slingshots you ask? Both being falconry enthusiasts, they would use slingshots to shoot food up into the air for their birds. They called their line of slingshots the WHAM-O Slingshot and it was made from ash wood. They promoted and sold the Wham-O Slingshot by visiting various sports clubs and holding demonstrations. Both men were very skilled slingshot marksmen and their product quickly popular amongst these clubs for competitive target shooting and small game hunting. DANDY FUN FACT! The name Wham-O was derived from the sound of a slingshot hitting its target! Knerr and Melin quickly outgrew the garage and rented their first proper business location on S. Marengo Avenue in Alhambra, California where they remained until 1955 when they once again found themselves in need of a location that could handle and even greater capacity of manufacturing. So they relocated to the neighboring town of San Gabriel, California where they would remain for the next 3+ decades. With a greater capacity for manufacturing in place, they began looking to expand beyond the business of slingshot-making and came across the idea of re-branding the Australian bamboo exercise hoop, producing them from a type of plastic called Marlex and trademarking the name these hoops had been loosely called by since the 18th century “Hula Hoop.” And the rest is history. Within 4 months of releasing the Hula Hoop onto the world it became literally the largest toy fad in history, catapulting Wham-O to 25 million units sold. Within 2 years, sales of the Hula Hoop would exceed 100 million units. Hula Hoop mania continued to rage through the end of 1959 and by the time the world stopped spinning, the 1950’s came to a conclusion with Wham-O netting a staggering $45 million (which would be around $500 million today). These two college friends who just a few years earlier were making slingshots out of a garage found themselves riding into the 60’s on a gravy train with biscuit freaking wheels! Not ones to rest on their laurels, as the Hula Hoop fad was beginning to wane, Wham-O was looking for their next big thing and they found it in 1957 when they purchased the design of a plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter from an inventor named Fred Morrison, quickly changed the name to Frisbee And once again, Wham-O had another hit on its hands! ANOTHER DANDY FUN FACT! The name Frisbee was adopted by Wham-O after learning that this was the name students were using for the Pluto Platter

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! Death, Taxes and new Jurassic Park movies. 3 things that apparently are certain to continue forever. In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’ll be giving my thoughts after seeing the new Jurassic World Rebirth movie starring Scarlett Johansen while I simultaneously unbox, assemble and review the Jurassic World version of Hungry Hungry Hippos where the hippos are replaced with Velociraptors entitled RAVENOUS RAPTORS! That’s right! It’s all things Jurassic today! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House where we get all archeological on retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and today we’re doing something special: It’s a movie review intertwined with a game unboxing, assembly and review! And there will be some Dandy Fun Facts along the way… BUT FIRST! How about we DIG on these Dandy Fun House t-shirts! Woven from 100 percent fake dinosaur hair, you’ll not only feel extra toothy but JURASSIC gonna look great! And you’ll help put my kid through community college. Want one? Just head over to dandyfunhouse.com where you’ll find the Dandy Fun Shop with tons of other absurd designs because the Dandy Fun Shop has ABSURDITY AMPLIFIED! Oh and FYI – there’s also a mini Dandy Fun Shop on our YouTube channel if that’s where you like to enjoy the show. That works too! OK, let’s start with the new movie (at the time of producing this episode) JURASSIC WORLD – REBIRTH! Starring Scarlett Johanssen whom I must say is still in absolutely incredible shape. Not only that but she’s also a great actress which is important when your profession is acting I suppose. Unfortunately she is THE ONLY big name actor listed. I won’t give any spoilers about whether there are or are not any special cameos that one might expect but Scarlett is indeed the only A-list actor being promoted. But honestly, when you have Scarlett Johansen, do you really need anyone else? Let me know your thoughts. I will give away the very first line of the entire movie however and this will be the only real spoiler I’ll share so cover your eyes and ears unless you’re driving. The very first line of dialogue in the entire movie is someone saying and I quote: “How many times are we going to keep doing this?” Which I thought was hilarious seeing how this is what the 5th or 6th sequel of the franchise??? It was like they uncovered the wooly mammoth in the middle of the room right off the bat and I respect them for that! We’ll dive into the movie some more as we go along but let’s go ahead and start having a look at this game of RAVENOUS RAPTORS. I usually like to a littly blurb about whomever produces the games I review on this show but in this case, there is no toy or game company listed, just the JURASSIC WORLD branding. So I guess we’re skipping our history of the manufacturer for this one. Looking over the box, the front has cartoon velociraptors from the movie looking sort of Saturday morning breakfast cereal looking. They’re sort of smiling which raptors never do. But whatever. Looking at the little picture of the game on the front, it’s obviously a version of the classic HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS game but honestly in the picture, the raptors look more like alligators to me. It’s like they made an alligator farm version of the game, scrapped the idea and repurposed the molds for this. It also shows the Jurassic World logo in the center of the game field which is nice touch as well as some metallic fencing reminiscent of the habitats from the movie. On the back, there’s a picture of a couple of older kids playing it and very oddly they are both sitting on the exact same side of the table. I mean there’s not much more to say here since it’s really just a retooled version of HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS, but there is a QR code on the box that takes you to a video on how to build and play the game. I find that also very thoughtful. Now upon clicking the QR code it takes you to a 1:08 YouTube video on the ToyMonster channel, (so now we know who makes it) which very concisely explains how to do exactly what it says. It shows you how to unpackage, prepare the pieces, how to set it all up (which appears much simpler than when I reviewed Hungry Hungry Hippos) and even the added bonus of how to properly pack the game up when you’re all through. That last one is something I NEVER see a game manufacturer pay any attention to. It’s so frustrating to set up and play a game and then you can never get it back in the box. THAT is amazingly helpful. THANK YOU TOY MONSTER! JURASSIC FUN FACT! in Jurassic Park, the Lost World, the Japanese tourists running from T-Rex in San Diego are saying in Japanese, “I left Japan to get away from this!” An obvious hat t

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! America the beautiful! Home of the brave! Home of the free! And most certainly Home of the weird! With summer on the way (at least at the time of this production), gas prices going down and Summer break on the horizon, we can expect road trippers to be loading up the ol Winnebago and rolling across the country in record numbers! And they’re gonna have to make at least a few stops along the way! Some of these stops will be mundane. Others, not so much. And others yet… downright weird! Therefore, we find it prudent to dedicate THIS episode of the Dandy Fun House to counting down the Top Ten Weirdest Roadside Attractions in America! Let’s step into the FUN HOUSE! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog! I’m your host Neil Dandy and this is where we seek the strangest retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff you can whack yourself out on! In this episode, we’ll be counting down the Top Ten WEIRDEST ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS IN AMERICA! But first! Bend your bean brain around these abnormal DANDY FUN HOUSE T SHIRTS! Specially woven from beard trimmings, we promise you’ll look amazing! But that’s not all! We’ve even cut 4 “special holes” in them for added entertainment. 1 to crawl your body into, 1 to poke your head out of and two to stick your arms through! Want one? Just head over to www.dandyfunhouse.com to get yours or if you’re watching on YouTube, we have a mini fun shop set up there too! 10: WORLD’S LARGEST BALL OF TWINE, Cawker City, Kansas This one grabbed my attention because I’ve always loved the song by Weird Al Yankovic, Biggest Ball of Twine In Minnesota. So naturally I assumed that the world’s largest ball of twine would indeed be in Minnesota, but… no. Apparently it’s just the biggest ball of twine in the STATE of Minnesota because the actual World’s Largest Ball of Twine resides in Cawker City, Kansas! The full and proper name would be the World Largest Ball of Sisal Twine which was started by a man named Frank Stoeber in 1953. After dedicating 4 years of his life to enlarging this twine ball, he got it up to 5000 lbs and a height of 8 ft! Once a year in August the residents of Cawker City get together and have a Twine-A-Thon where everybody adds more to the ball. So it gets bigger every year! The World’s Largest Ball of Twine currently weighs in at over 27,000 lbs! 9: BIG IDAHO POTATO HOTEL, Boise, Idaho This is exactly what it sounds like. A giant potato in Boise, Idaho that you can book as a hotel room. What!? Why? How!? I have so many questions! It’s 6 tons of steel, plaster and concrete placed in the middle of 400 acres of farmland with a custom-built queen-sized bed and a small seating area inside and air conditioning! The restroom and shower are in a nearby converted grain silo however. But why? Well… in 2012 the Idaho Potato Commission COMMISSIONED it’s construction as it’s main attraction for the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Idaho Potato Commision. It then traveled the country on the back of a large truck for 7 years spreading the gospel of the Idaho Potato for all of America to hear and see! Upon the end of it’s 7 year journey, Potato Commission employee and tiny home builder Kristie Wolfe took charge of the large spud and put it to good use in the middle of some prime Idaho farmland, transforming it into a destination accommodation that spud lovers from near and far come to drift away to starchy dreamland in. 8: WORLD’S LARGEST CEDAR BUCKET, Murfreesboro, Tennessee Ok, this one is in MY hometown of Murfreesboro, Tennessee! Home of the Dandy Fun House Studios! The World’s Largest Cedar Bucket lives in a quaint recreation of a pioneer town known as Cannonsburgh Village. The one currently on display is actually a replica of the original which was built in 1887 by the Tennessee Red Cedar Woodworks Company which was the only company in America making cedar buckets at the time. It was created over the course of an entire year as a promotional attraction for the company who took it on tour to fairs around the country winning a blue ribbon at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair as well as the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair who filled it with beer as one might expect in St. Louis. 1,566 gallons of it in fact. In 1950, a man named Charles White purchased the bucket at an auction and later donated it to Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1976. The bucket was partially destroyed in 2005 due to a fire but was lovingly crafted back to life by the Rutherford County Blacksmith Association and rededicated back to Cannonsburgh Village in 2011. DANDY FUN FACT! Did you know that Murfreesboro, Tennessee is the exact geographical center of the state!? We have an obelisk that says so! (an obelisk is basically a tall, pointy pile of rocks erected to signify something of perceived importance) 7: FUTURE BIRTHPLACE OF CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK, Riverside, Iowa T

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! The Game of Pickleball! It seems like a fairly recent phenomenon the way it’s been sweeping the land by storm doesn’t it? It seems every community is building Pickleball courts at breakneck speeds but still can’t keep up with the demand! If you’re having trouble fighting the rabid crowds of pickleheads just to get on the courts and wish there was a way to enjoy the game at your own home, at your own kitchen table where you can wear your favorite pickle costume without being ridiculed, I just might have the answer you’ve been looking for! It’s the tabletop game of PICKLEBALL BLAST by Moose Games! And in this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’m going to unbox this sweetly sour barrel of fun, show you how to assemble and play it, give my honest thoughts and also share the history of the game of pickleball! Time to pucker up and step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! I’m your host Neil Dandy and this is where we scrape the bottom of the pickle barrel to bring you the juiciest retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff you can dill with! Today I’ll be doing a full-on unboxing, assembly and review of the game PICKLEBALL BLAST while also bringing you the history of the game of pickleball. BUT FIRST! I wanna marinate your cucumbers in a jar of these puckerrific DANDY FUN HOUSE T-SHIRTS! They might not come in a jar but they ARE crunchtastic and WILL make all your friends GREEN with envy! Manufactured by the briniest of sourpuss garment printers on the planet, everyone will instantly know that your taste is pure bread and butter. And I’m not just gherkin you around when I tell you that we also cut four specially designed holes in each tee for your comfort and practicality! One to climb your torso into, one to squeeze your head out of and two to poke your green little pimply arms through! Want one? Just head over to the Dandy Fun House website at www.dandyfunhouse.com to spin the lid off one of your own! And while you’re there, check out our other amazing designs including our COFFEE BADGER tees, mugs and bags of harshly ground french roast! If you like to badge in, caffeinate and badge out, then the coffee badger is your roast! Once again, head over to www.dandyfunhouse.com and get cranked up today! Ok! THE GAME OF PICKLEBALL! Maybe you’re like me and you’re wondering what all this recent hubub is about surrounding this game with the weird name, Pickleball! I just started hearing about this a few years ago. Everyone buzzing about playing it, every community installing courts in every recreational facility and absolutely nobody would explain it to me. It’s like everyone else knew what this was and I had to figure it out on my own. So I went down to my local park and saw these weird little miniature tennis courts with people holding giant ping pong paddles whacking whiffle balls back and forth. And I said to myself… This is pickleball? Where’s the pickle? Why is it called pickleball? When did all this happen and why am I the only person they didn’t tell? This prompted a bit of research on my part and I was very surprised to learn that while the current pickleball craze is a fairly new phenomenon, the actual game itself was invented in the 1960s! 1965 to be exact, on Bainbridge Island, Washington by a man named Joel Pritchard (who would one day go on to become a US Congressman as well as Washington’s Lietenant Governor) and his two friends Barney McCallum and Bill Bell. Together they devised the game and established the rules. The name Pickleball is inspired by the pickle boat crew where the oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats. Whereas the game of pickleball is sort of an amalgamation of the court from badminton, the paddles from paddleball, a whiffle ball and the net height of tennis. They decide to establish Pickle Ball Inc. to market the game, bring it to the masses and of course, sell the necessary equipment. By the mid-70s, pickleball tournaments began springing up around the country and by the early 90’s became a feature of the Senior Olympics. The Pickleball Hall of Fame opened in 2017 and two different professional tournaments became established in 2019. In 2022 Pickleball became the official sport of the state of Washington, signed into law on the very court the sport was first devised. DANDY FUN FACT! Did you know that the game of Pickleball even has it’s own tv channel? That’s right! PickleballTV is co-owned by the Tennis Channel and the United Pickleball Association. You can find it at pickleballtv.com as well as on a variety of streaming services. Ok, I don’t really want to get into all the rules of Pickleball because that’s not really what we’re here for! What we ARE here for is to dig into this game of PICKLEBALL BLAST

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! Once upon a time there was a man who perfected the art of the pie in the face. This man hosted a 1950s and 60s children’s show where one day he got a wild hair encouraging the kids to steal money from their parents and send it to him in the mail promising a post card from Puerto Rico in return. This ill-advised stunt got the man in lots of trouble as you might imagine but also made him notoriously next-level famous almost overnight. So, in true show business fashion, he was allowed to keep his job. Throughout the decades to follow, he went on to appear in countless television, movie and music productions keeping his unique brand of silly humor and slapstick alive all the way into the 2000’s earning his rightful place in the pantheon of comedic legends. In this, the BIG 50th episode of the Dandy Fun House we’re going to tell his tale and learn some amazing Dandy Fun Facts along the way about someone you might think you know. Oh, his name! Milton Supman. But you might remember him better as… SOUPY SALES! Let’s go behind the slapstick and let’s step into the FUN HOUSE! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! THIS is where we slurp a mega-smoothie of retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this BIG episode number 50 we’re going to take you Behind the Slapstick and into the story of SOUPY SALES! THIS is a show I have been wanting to do for a very long time! But not as long as the longing you’ll feel once you check out these soup-a-riffic Dandy Fun House t shirts! Designed by yours truly and expertly modeled by stock image personalities, you’re going to love the way you look, I guarantee it! We even cut 4 holes in them. One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and 2 to poke your arms through! Act now and get zero percent off! This deal WILL last long so hurry! As long as we’re shirt-talking, we might as well get jacked up on some COFFEE BADGER harshly ground french roast coffee! As well as our Coffee Badger t-shirts and mugs! Badge in! Caffeinate! Badge Out! Find all our amazing stuff in the Dandy Fun Shop located within the Dandy Fun House website at www.dandyfunhouse.com . We also have a mini Dandy Fun Shop at our YouTube channel. Just search for Dandy Fun House and that’ll getcha there! Alright! SOUPY SALES! If you’re really old, you’ll probably remember this comedian from his 1950s and 60s children’s show LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES where he pulled an infamous stunt that almost ended his career but ultimately brought him additional fame and notoriety. If you’re just a little bit old, you’ll likely remember Soupy Sales from his countless appearances as a panelist or celebrity participant in multiple game shows in the late 60’s through the mid 70’s. Then in the late 70’s through early 80’s as a full cast member of the hit tv show, SHA NA NA. And all the way into the 2000s as a radio show host, recording artist and author. With roots firmly in vaudeville and slapstick the tale of Soupy Sales goes back farther than you might think… MUCH FARTHER! CHILDHOOD The year, 1926. The town, Franklinton, North Carolina. A little boy named Milton Supman was born to Hungarian immigrants Irving and Sadie Supman. His father a dry goods merchant. He had a couple of older brothers named Leonard and Jack who had some wacky nick names like Ham Bone and Chicken Bone. Milton was dubbed Soup Bone and later shortened to just Soupy. Catching the performing bug early in life, he found himself auditioning for and acting in a variety of elementary school plays. Moving on to high school Soupy attended Huntington High in Huntington, West Virginia where his performing continued, his popularity grew and he was even voted Most Popular Boy In School. MILITARY SERVICE Upon graduating from high school in 1944, Milton Supman enlisted in the US Navy serving honorably aboard the USS Randall during the latter part of World War II and becoming known amongst his shipmates for commandeering the PA system with comedy routines hoping to keep up morale while at war. During the Battle of Okinawa the ship was under constant kamikaze attack. His time in the service instilled a fear of flying stemming from his being assigned to “clean up duty” following a fatal plane crash at the San Diego Naval Base. SOUPY STARTS HIS POST-MILITARY CAREER After exiting the Military, Milton Supman completed his college education at Marshall University earning a Masters Degree in Journalism. While there, he further honed his performing skills in nightclubs as a comedian, singer and dancer. Upon graduation, Milton managed to land a job as a script writer and disc jockey with WHTN Huntington, West Virginia, choosing the stage name Soupy Hines, in part to disguise his Jewish heritage which is someth

watch the video!   listen to the podcast! Have you ever wanted your very own tabletop pinball machine? Have you ever wanted your very own tabletop pinball machine that you could reconfigure on the fly in order to create new challenges and adventures? Have you ever wanted your very own tabletop pinball machine that you could reconfigure on the fly in order to create new challenges and adventures that didn’t cost an arm and a leg? Have you ever wanted your very own tabletop pinball machine that you could reconfigure on the fly in order to create new challenges and adventures that didn’t cost an arm and a leg AND you could eat the ball when you’re done playing!!?? Well have I got a TREAT for you!? In this episode of the Dandy Fun House we’re going to learn about the educational toy making powerhouse of the company THAMES AND KOSMOS who are currently nominated in several categories for a coveted 2025 TOTY (Toy of the year) AWARD AND we’re going to unbox, assemble, play and review their 2025 TOTY AWARD NOMINATED STEM experiment kit: PINBALL MACHINE MAKER – GUMBALL RALLY! Are you ready to rally my pinball-loving friends? Let’s step into the Fun House!   Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House, video show, podcast and blog! This is where flop our flippers and flappers for the most frivolitizing retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff you can chew with your mouth open! I’m your host Neil Dandy and this is our first episode of the year of our Lord and Savior and I’m kicking things off with a full-on review of PINBALL MACHINE MAKER: GUMBALL RALLY by Thames and Kosmos! If you’re watching the video version of this show you might notice my background isn’t quite as snazzy as it usually is and that’s because instead of having colorful draping or a graphical animated background, I just have what’s actually behind the Dandy curtain which is my production and tinkering room that’s currently being overhauled for increased efficiency, productivity and capability. But for today it just kind of looks like a mess. If you wanna make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs, folks. OK we’re going to get into this review of the PINBALL MACHINE MAKER GUMBALL RALLY… BUT FIRST! I want to rally your attention over to these sweet Dandy Fun House t-shirts! Let them know you’ve arrived ready for 2025 looking oh-so Dandy! As you might have guessed, for your wearing convenience we’ve included a front and a back so you don’t get cold! But wait! There’s more! Not only do you get a front and a back, but we’ve also custom-cut 4 special penetration-points perfect for poking your arms, head and torso through! Now how much would you pay? Prices are subject to change so I can’t really tell you here, otherwise a hundred years from now I’d have to sell them to you at 2025 prices, but head over to the Dandy Fun Shop at dandyfunhouse.com or if you are watching on YouTube, we also have a Dandy Fun Shop there as well! While you’re there, you can check out our bags of harshly-ground French Roast Coffee as well as mugs and t-shirts for our coffee brand: COFFEE BADGER! If you work from home, but your jerk boss makes you come to the office for no other reason than to validate the overhead expense of the space. YOU my friend are a Coffee Badger! You badge in, Caffeinate, badge out and go home to actually get stuff done or just hang out with your dog and pretend you’re getting stuff done! Either way, Coffee Badgers of the world… the DANDY FUN SHOP salutes you! Once again, get over to dandyfunhouse.com and see all that we have for you in the Dandy Fun Shop where you will find ABSURDITY AMPLIFIED! Alright! PINBALL MACHINE MAKER: GUMBALL RALLY by Thames and Kosmos! I first heard about this company Thames and Kosmos while I was putting together the year-end episode for 2024. I had never heard of these guys but they were nominated in several categories for TOTY Awards. (Toty stands for toy of the year). I was looking over all the different toys and picking the ones I found most interesting in each category and Thames and Kosmos not only kept coming up over and over, but I kept picking their products as the ones I found most interesting. And I was so intrigued by one of their products in particularly, the PINBALL MACHINE MAKER: GUMBALL RALLY where you assemble your own actual working tabletop pinball machine that you can reconfigure at will and you shoot a gumball that you can actually eat when you’re done. Of course how are you going to play after you’ve eaten all the gum balls? That will be another issue for another time. But anyway, for the longest time, I have been wanting to incorporate pinball into this show. I would really like to have an expert in the industry send me segments on exciting new machines and retrospectives on pinball classics and make it a regular occurrence here on the Dandy Fun House. If that’s you, please reach out. I want to make this happen. Anyhoo, this seemed like a grea

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! In this edition of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to close out 2024 by looking ahead to 2025 and seeing what’s on the horizon for theme parks, movies, pinball and my favorite TOTY AWARD NOMINATION picks for the upcoming 2025 Toy of the Year Awards! All this ahead! Let’s step into the FUN HOUSE! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House 2024 year-end extravaganza where we celebrate retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and while most shows are just mailing it in this time of year and giving their audience a “best of” mishmash of what they’ve already done over the past year, this show is instead going to take the opportunity to look ahead into the New Year of 2025 and explore the most exciting things on the horizon. But first! I have to show you these futuristic DANDY FUN HOUSE T-Shirts! They do have a front and a back so you don’t get cold and we even cut 4 holes in them with the rattiest pair of scissors we could find! One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke your arms through! All because we care! Find them in the Dandy Fun Shop at the Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com While you’re there, be sure to load up on all the gogo juice you’ll need for the new year with our Coffee Badger t-shirts, mugs and bags of harshly-ground dark French Roast coffee! You don’t have to love France to love their harshly-ground coffee, but it helps! Just get your oui-oui over to dandyfunhouse.com and get busy! Alright, let’s get into this new year we’re starting down the barrel of. There’s a lot of amazing stuff on the horizon and we’re going to explore that right now starting with… THEME PARKS! And I’m going to start with the big thing everyone is talking about because it really is the attraction that is sucking up all the oxygen in the room right now as far as theme park chit chat goes and that is… UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, Orlando Florida – EPIC UNIVERSE. This is a brand new theme park located adjacent to Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure and it’s going to include 5 different specially-themed areas: Celestial Park, Dark Universe, How to Train Your Dragon, Isle of Berk, Super Nintendo World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. Let’s just cut to the chase and talk about the REALLY interesting part of this new theme park and the only part that makes me want to visit: DARK UNIVERSE! This is a special land within Epic Universe that is dedicated exclusively to the classic Universal Monsters, Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf Man! Sorry, no live for the Mummy or the Creature From the Black Lagoon. I mean someone has to recreate the movie theater attack from THE BLOB at some point don’t they? Anyway, First off we’ve got an incredible looking ride called MONSTERS UNCHAINED: The Frankenstein Experiment. This one takes place inside Frankenstein’s Castle! Dr. Victoria Frankenstein continues the work of her ancestors deep below the family estate. A demonstration of her experiments to control monsters goes awry when Dracula leads a revolt of enraged monsters including The Wolf Man, The Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and more! Then we have CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF! This appears to be a roller coaster where you ride in gypsy wagons to escape a pack of hungry werewolves. One thing that stood out to me in the renderings was a picture showing people sitting sideways, forwards and backwards on this ride. The information doesn’t divulge whether or not the cars spin or if you merely have different choices on the type of seating, but further investigation into the animated tour of the overall land of Dark Universe actually does show the cars spinning freely from side to side. It has a top speed of only 37 miles per hour so as long as you can handle the werewolves, I think pops can probably handle this one with you! THE BURNING BLADE TAVERN: Upon first viewing from the outside looking in, this appears to be fashioned after the climactic final scene from Frankenstein where he (supposedly) meets his end in a burning windmill tower. It is indeed an eatery where you can enjoy burgers, wings, bratwurst and pretzels. But just the fact that they have the burning windmill from the movie Frankenstein with the windmill ACTUALLY ON FIRE is just blowing my frankin’ mind! Another eatery in this portion of the park is DAS STAKEHOUSE: (notice how STAKE is spelled). This is apparently the more upscale dining option in the area and is a Vampire-Themed dungeon filled with vampire artwork and artifacts. DARKMOOR MONSTER MAKEUP EXPERIENCE: This appears to be a laboratory where you, the visitors can yourself become on of Doctor Pretorius’ mad experiments and be transformed into werewolves, vampires, mummies and more! So, basically, two rides, two

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! In this very special Thanksgiving episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’m going to count down my TOP TEN FAMILY FUN FAVORITE GAME IDEAS FOR TURKEY DAY! And we’re gonna get to gobblin’ down on ’em… right now! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog! I’m your host Neil Dandy and this is where we always go for extra helpings of your favorite retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! Today I’m going to count down the very best family fun game and activity ideas I’ve been able to find and I hope YOU’LL find them absolutely Dandy as well. But before we go any further, I do want to extend a very big thank you to the legendary Count Drahoon for batflapping into the Dandy Fun House Studios here in beautiful Murfreesboro, Tennessee to co-host our annual Halloween episode last month. I have to say he’s the only guest this show has ever had that literally appeared from a cloud of smoke. And speaking of smoke shows… I think it’s time to check out these smokin’ hot Dandy Fun House t-shirts. They’re super absorbent and perfect for soaking up all that giblet gravy dribbling down your chin at the dinner table this month. And not only are they super-stylish, but they also come with 4 holes in them. One to crawl your body into, one to stick your turkey neck out of and two to poke your wings through! Just head over to dandyfunhouse.com and get yours before the big bird thaws! And while you’re there, you might as well pick up one of our infamous Coffee Badger t-shirts and / or coffee mugs and/or bags of dark french roast coffee! I’ll let you figure out what a coffee badger is for yourself. I’m tired of explaining it. Once again, head over to dandyfunhouse.com to visit the Dandy Fun Shop and see all the frivolities we have waiting for you! Okay, without any further delay, I believe it is time to kick off our Turkey Day Top Ten Countdown of our favorite family fun game and activity ideas sure to make your Thanksgiving and absolute hoot! Ready? Let’s do it! #10: Corn Shucking Race: This is obviously a competition best suited for the early birds helping with the meal prep. As the name implies, everyone competes to see who can shuck corn on the cob the fastest. I personally shuck corn on a weekly basis and I’m still terrible at it. I’m always digging out those corn silk strings with a fork. But I will tell you my secret to super quick corn on the cob! Leave the husk on, cut off the ends with a serrated knife so that not only is the husk completely unattached, but also so that you can stick your cob-holders in. Then microwave your corn cob with the holders stuck in and the husk still on for 2 minutes. When it’s done, simply hold it by one of the holders upright on a plate and use a fork to pull away the husk and silk threads. Voila! Two minute corn on the cob! I make it every week! #9: Roll A Turkey Dice Game – This is a fun one. It involves game dice with arts and crafts. First you need to print out the game sheets with a turkey body on it along with the various parts of a turkey corresponding to the numbers on the dice. Secondly you need to print out sheets with all the turkey parts on them. Thirdly, you give everyone a pair of child-safe scissors so they can cut their various turkey parts out. Basically, everyone takes turns rolling the die. If you roll a one, you’ll put eyes on the turky, two you’ll put the beak on your turkey, three the feet and so on and so forth. Of course if you roll something you already have, you do nothing and the next person gets their turn. Whomever succeeds at completley building their turkey first is THE WINNER, WINNER TURKEY DINNER! You can find the game sheets ready to print at www.playpartyplan.com/roll-a-turkey/ I’ll leave a link in the episode posting for this show at dandyfunhouse.com if that’s too much to remember in your tryptophan fog! #8: Thanksgiving Charades – If you’ve had enough of Thanksgiving parades, maybe it’s time to try THANKSGIVING CHARADES! TheSavvySparrow.com website calls this an easy, low-prep game that’s simple to understand and play. I like it already! Just like traditional charades except players act out Thanksgiving-themed words and phrases for others to guess. All you need are the cards with the words and phrases which you can print out at www.thesavvysparrow.com/thanksgiving-charades (or you can just make your own, but these look amazing and they’re already done for you!). A one-minute timer (there’s one on your phone), a box or basket to jumble the cards in for blind-picking and cheap dollar store prizes to throw to or at the winners! #7: Pumpkin Sweep – This is a great yard game and a great use of your decorative gourds! To play Pumpkin Swee

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below!   In this extra creepy Halloween 2024 edition of the Dandy Spook Shack, we’re gonna try the all-new Monster Cereal, Carmella Creeper. Also, we’re going to unbox, figure out how to play, and do a full review on the brand new extra creepy board game, Finders Creepers! Let’s step into the Spook Shack! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Spook Shack! I’m your ghost with the most, your ghoul of cool, Neil Dandy. And welcome to my haunted studio! Today, we’re going to dig into some Carmella Creeper cereal as well as review the board game Finders Creepers… BUT FIRST! I want to tell you all about the brand new extra creepy Dandy Fun House t-shirts! They come with a front and a back so you don’t get cold and also four holes in them. One to crawl your body into, one to poke your hopefully not decapitated head out of, two to poke your arms through! How’s that? I couldn’t have done better with a pair of scissors! Go to dandyfunhouse.com and get yours today! Oh and while you’re over at dandyfunhouse.com, check out the all new gear for the all new line of products, Coffee Badger. Why Coffee Badger? Well, a Coffee Badger is somebody who works remotely, but has to go into the office once in a while to make an appearance for absolutely no apparent reason, because their boss doesn’t want to feel like they wasted all that money buying the office space. So if you’re a coffee badger, you go in, you make your presence known, grab a cup of coffee, throw it down the old pipe, and then you badge out, wave adios and go back home to get all your real work done! Back to your own little haunted mansion, dungeon, whatever you’re doing. Maybe you live in a tree and hang outside down with all the bats. I don’t really know what you do. Hey, speaking of bats…   CARMELLA CREEPER MONSTER CEREAL Before we dig into this box of Carmella Creeper, it might be a real good idea to call upon someone who knows their bats! Who knows bats better than…Count Dracula!? Hey, do you think if we try real hard, we can summon Count Dracula? Let’s try it. Calling Count Dracula! Calling Count Dracula! (Smoke fills room and Neil starts coughing while a vampire who is not Count Dracula appears…) Neil: Uhhh… You’re not Count Dracula… Count Drahoon: No, no, I’m Count Drahoon. Sorry, Dracula couldn’t make it tonight. He’s actually on vacation right now, so they sent me. Neil: Wait, wait, wait. Aren’t you the vampire that took over my show a couple of Halloween’s ago and reviewed all the monster cereals? Count Drahoon: I sure am! Neil: Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Count Drahoon! (Audience goes wild with applause) Neil: The powers that be must have seen that we were introducing the new monster cereal, Carmella creeper and thought that you might be the better fit. Count Drahoon: Well, I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve actually ingested human food, but I’ll be happy to give it a try. Neil: Well, that sounds great. I’ll try it with you. I’ve actually got two blood red bowls! Count Drahoon: Oh, beautiful. No milk, though. We’re eating this depression era style. Neil: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Of course. I found this box of Carmella Creeper in the grocery store just last week. I was checking out the monster cereals. I was like, I have not seen this monster cereal before. Is it brand new? I don’t know. So I took it off the shelf and I learned a little bit about Carmella here. She’s a zombie. Count Drahoon: Okay… Oh, so she is. Neil: She’s Frankenberry’s long lost cousin and she’s a DJ and she likes to spin at parties at the haunted mansion. And apparently her flavor is caramel apple. Count Drahoon: Okay. It sounds good on paper, but… Neil: yeah… that’s pretty much what I was thinking there myself. All right. Are we ready? Count Drahoon: I’m ready if you are. Neil: Hey, you guys want to open this box of Carmella creeper??? Count Drahoon: Let’s do it. Let’s dive right into it! Neil: Wait. We didn’t really look at the box too closely. Count Drahoon: Let’s examine.So we have the Carmella Creeper. She looks pretty hip, I’d say. Yeah. Yeah. This is what the kids are into. Neil: Yeah. She’s got kind of a Latina vibe going on. Count Drahoon: Yeah, I could see that. Especially with the name like Carmella. Maybe we’re saying it wrong. Maybe it’s not Carmella creeper. It’s kind of a creepe. But that’s like if you’re eating crepes. Maybe she can have like a French alter ego when they do like a crepe flavored cereal. Neil: Looks like she’s holding a swirly bat. Count Drahoon: Yeah. It’s really green though. And I’m a little concerned about that because sometimes this color

see the video below! listen to the podcast below! Riddle me this funheusers! What is squeaky clean, Mormon to the max, has big teeth, more legs than you can count, has sold over 77 million records worldwide yet you’ll almost NEVER hear on the radio? … Give up? IT’S THE OSMONDS! And in this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’m going to give you all the Osmonds you can eat! Let’s step into the fun house! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog. This is where we meticulously polish all the retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff you can handle until it’s sparkly! I’m your host Neil Dandy and I hope you’re in for a wild ride on some Crazy Horses today because this episode is all about The OSMONDS! But first, I need to tell you about these funky fresh DANDY FUN HOUSE T-SHIRTS! With cloth harvested from the ancient fabric mines of darkest Peru and hand-woven by enchanted pygmies, you’re going to look and feel amazing. It comes with a front AND a back so you don’t get cold and we cut 4 holes in ’em for practicality’s sake. One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke your arms through. I mean who wants a shirt they can’t stick their head out of? Well you won’t have that problem here! Just get over to dandyfunhouse.com and get yours today! Oh yeah! And if you have one of those remote jobs but your boss still makes you come to the office here and there for no apparent reason… so you badge in, grab a coffee, make your presence known then badge out and go home to get your real work done… then YOU are a Coffee Badger and here at the Dandy Fun House, we salute and honor you! We also feel your pain and frustration so we made a commemorative t-shirt just for you to be relentlessly passive agressive in! It’s the unlimited edition COFFEE BADGER t-shirt! Badge in. Caffeinate. Badge Out! and if that weren’t snarky enough, we even made a special Coffee Badger coffee mug to drive the point home to your jerk boss before you badge out, wave a few inappropriate hand gestures and drive home… Or to the coffee shop… You really overdo it with the coffee don’t you? Anyway, go get your quiet-quitting self over to dandyfunhouse.com and get your Coffee Badger gear before we run out! Alright… THE OSMONDS! Wow, where do you even start with a subject like this. It’s like trying to package up the Jacksons albeit without the psychic hot line and creepy home amusement park. (Lollipops! Lollipops!) But I guess we’ll start here! It’s the story of a humble farm family from Ogden, Utah who served their church as worship musicians, eventually finding themselves becoming household names worldwide. George Osmond Sr. and Olive Osmond had 9 kids: Jimmy, Jay, Alan, Merrill, Wayne, Donny, Marie, Virl and Tom. Virl and Tom Osmond Those last two were both born with hearing disabilities so in 1958 brothers Merrill, Wayne, Alan and Jay began singing around town to raise money for hearing aids and also church missions. Their ages at this time were ranging from only 3 to 9 years old. The Dapper Dans After a few years of performing locally, their father George entered the boys into a barbershop singing contest in sunny Southern California. During this trip, they went to Disneyland just for a family fun day and were being entertained by a vocal group in the park known as the Dapper Dans. Tommy Walker, Disneyland Director of Entertainment The boys started singing along and managed to catch the attention of Disneyland’s Director of Entertainment, Tommy Walker.Mr. Walker pulled the family aside and made an offer to hire the boys to perform in the park starting the following Summer. They accepted and the following year began performing in the park as The Osmond Brothers which presented the added benefit of new opportunities such as appearances in the Kurt Russell tv series, THE TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS. The Osmond Brothers were also included in a 1962 episode of DISNEYLAND AFTER DARK. During the Osmond Brothers‘ appearance on Disneyland After Dark, a man named Jay Williams took notice of the group and called his son Andy and insisted that he book them on none other than THE ANDY WILLIAMS SHOW. The brothers became an instant hit and were invited back repeatedly throughout the remainder of the show’s run which continued until 1967. Donny Osmond Marie Osmond Jimmy Osmond George Osmond Sr. The Osmond Brothers didn’t take this newfound acclaim for granted and dedicated themselves to relentless rehearsal in a quest to be the best and “One-Take Osmonds” became their new nickname amongst the Andy Williams staff because they always showed up polished and ready to hit the mark. This discipline was largely attributed to their father George’s military background and strictness which was instilled into all the kid

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! Ten-year-old Cooper Dean of Valrico, Florida entered into a Young Inventors contest and caught the attention of an international toy and game company with her idea to bring a farmland pastime to kitchen tables everywhere! In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to shovel in to the game of… Chicken Poo Bingo! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House! This is your home of retro pop culture, toys and games, and all the fun stuff. I’m your host, Neil Dandy, and in this episode, we’re going to shovel up something amazing with the game of Chicken Poo Bingo! And I’ll tell you more about that in just a few minutes, but first, I want to show you these awesome Dandy Fun House T-shirts! They look great! I designed them myself so you know they’re awesome, and they come with four holes in them! One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of, and two to poke your arms through! That’s how we do it here at the Dandy Fun House. It’s got a front and a back so you don’t get cold. Head over to http://www.dandyfunhouse.com today and see what’s shaking! Oh, and while you’re there, don’t forget about our brand new shirt, Coffee Badger. Are you a coffee badger? Do you know what a coffee badger is? Badge in, caffeinate, badge out. That’s how the coffee badger does it. Okay, back to the show! Cooper Dean, a 10-year-old girl from Valrico, Florida, was on a camping trip with her parents, and she noticed a game that they were playing at the campground, with chickens pooping on a board with a bunch of squares in it, and it was called Chicken Poop Bingo. It’s pretty obvious how it plays, the chicken eats chicken feed, then it walks around on this game board in an enclosed pen, and it poops on different squares, and that’s just like the bingo caller calling out the letter and number until somebody shouts, “Chicken Poop Bingo!” and they’re the winners. She took this idea and worked on it at home using a toy wind-up chicken that pooped little pellets out, (you’ve seen those things, the little kind that you get at the little dollar store), and she worked up a game that you could play at home that didn’t require real poop, and she called it Chicken Poo Bingo! She then took her new game, which she and her friends had a blast playing, and entered the People of Play Young Inventor Challenge, which allowed young inventors to present their ideas to big name companies! Well, one of these big name companies was Goliath Games, and if you haven’t heard of Goliath Games, well you should have, because you go back a couple of episodes here at the Dandy Fun House when we were talking about the game of Greedy Granny, and I brought you the love story of Adi and Margrethe Golad. It’s amazing, you got to go see it. Go back a couple episodes, check it out here. But anyway, back to this. Goliath Games took notice of this game, and they said that’s brilliant, it’s amazing, we’ve got to work with this awesome girl, and so they did! They had zoom calls and conferences, and they cut a deal, and the result is Chicken Poo Bingo, which you can find on shelves all over the world now! Alright, without further ado, I’m going to unbox this thing, assemble it, and we’re going to figure out how to play it. It’s just like Bingo, you already know the deal here, but I have no idea what to expect when I start cracking into this box. I made it an intentional decision to not look at it too much, because I wanted my initial reaction to this game to be exactly what appears on camera. So let’s crack into Chicken Poo Bingo! OUTER PACKAGING So as you can see, here’s the box, and it’s got great graphics. You never know where the chicken will go! They always do it great at Goliath Games, I’ve gotta tell you, it’s an amazing company. They didn’t do anything special on the sides, they just kind of put the same graphic on every side, but it’s an awesome graphic. They just kind of repurposed the front of the box. On the back of course, same as you always have with these types of things, you’ve got the kids playing on the back, as well as a picture of Cooper Dean in the corner, who invented the home version of this game! “This silly chicken has to go, so you can get Bingo. So, in this fun farm themed game, a chicken is in charge of which cute and colorful squares are chosen each round of Bingo. Just wind it up and watch it go. That’s right, the Chicken Poo tells you what to match on your Bingo card. Crazy cows, fluffy pigs, and more are waiting to be chosen every game. Match five in a row and shout Chicken Poo Bingo! to win and bring a blast of laughs to your family!” And I did pick this up at Bass Pro Shops. The reason I picked it up at Bass Pro Sho

watch the video! listen to the podcast! Akron, Ohio. 1973. Before new wave. Before punk rock. Two Kent State graduates, Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis found their destinies when they met up with a keyboardist from a band called Flossy Bobbitt. His name? Mark Mothersbaugh. Together they formed something entirely different. Releasing their mongoloid creation upon an unsuspecting wiggly world with spudniks designed to whip it at every turn. In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we venture to ask the eternal burning question… Are We Not Men? For THIS is the story of DEVO! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog. This is where we whip up the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this episode, we’re going to carry out our Duty Now For The Future by bringing you the story of DEVO! BUT FIRST! I must tell you about these awesome Dandy Fun House t-shirts! You can show your support for this show while spreading the word oh so stylishly and the design actually doesn’t look stupid! Just buy the front of the shirt and we’ll throw the back in free! But wait! There’s more! Order now and not only do you get two holes to crawl your body into and poke your neck out of but we’ll also include two more holes to stick your arms through! Now how much would you pay? Just visit the Dandy Fun House website at www.dandyfunhouse.com and click on SHOP to order yours today! And while you’re there, be sure to check out our brand new NO ROBOTS! T-shirt! Tell Cyberdyne where to stick it! That website once again is www.dandyfunhouse.com . Order today! Alright! DEVO! If you’re older like me, you probably remember this weird, punky, electronic band going as far back as their appearances on the original Saturday Night Live in the 70’s back when it was funny. If you’re a bit younger, you might be familiar with their 80’s hit WHIP IT. Well… not only is DEVO still a creative force today, but they have quite the storied past that goes back farther than you might think!… MUCH FARTHER! It’s the late 60’s and two Kent State University art students named Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis make an art project together reflecting the theory that mankind is not only NOT evolving, but actually DE-EVOLVING! Both of them were budding modern artists and also musicians. Casale was performing with a band called The Numbers Band. Around 1970, this band began fraternizing with another local band known as Flossy Bobbitt which featured a crazy but talented keyboardist; a one Mr. Mark Mothersbaugh. The musicians began jamming around with each other and creating a more cutting-edge feel than what was around at that time during the height of hippie culture. They also discovered that they shared a love for satire. One day, Mark Mothersbaugh was sharing a pamphlet to the other musicians called “Jocko Homo Heavenbound” which featured the character of a winged devil named D-EVOLUTION. This pamphlet would later inspire the classic song “Jocko Homo” as well as the band name but we’re not quite there just yet. Then May 4th, 1970 the infamous massacre at Kent State took place and the theory of De-Evolution became all too real and far too close to home for the guys. Gerald Casale was a witness to the event and personally saw two of his friends gunned down. His life changed in an instant. He stopped being a hippie and became angry. Very angry. Bob Casale Bob MothersbaughAlan Lewis Funneling his anger into artistic expression, this historical event would ultimately become the inspiration for the official coming together of this group of musicians to form a band with the underlying theme highlighting the regression of mankind. In 1973, they made it official with Gerald Casale recruiting his brother Bob and Mark Mothersbaugh with HIS brother Bob while also adding in Alan Myers, Rod Reisman and Fred Weber to round out the group. Thus SEXTET DEVO (as they were originally called) was born. Exactly when the name was shortened to simply “DEVO” is up for debate but from all the information I’ve been able to gather, it happened rather quickly during the formative years of the band. This newly-formed ensemble threw conventionality out the window experimenting with electronic sounds mixed with sensibilities of the burgeoning roots of what would soon become punk rock. DEVO performed around the university over the next few years with various players coming and going. Sometimes as a 4-piece, other times as a larger unit and under the creative direction of Gerald Casale whom experimented heavily with the format of music videos. Devo created their first videos for the songs “Secret Agent Man” as well as their classic “Jocko Homo”. In 1975 they eventually settled in with a solid lineup of five members that wou

watch video below!   listen to the podcast below!   Do you have a fat, stingy grandma? Have you ever wanted one? Well today’s your lucky day because on this episode of the Dandy Fun House we’re going to unbox, assemble and play none other than the game of GREEDY GRANNY! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! This is where we hoard all the retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff we can find! I’m your host, Neil Dandy and today we’re going to get into a game that’s been around since about 2018 and started off as a Toys R Us exclusive. Obviously Toys R Us isn’t around anymore but now this game can be found just about everywhere and the fact that it’s had the staying power to endure on the toy and game aisle shelves for this long is a testament to it’s appeal. I’m talking about the game of GREEDY GRANNY by Goliath Games (try saying THAT ten times fast!) from Deutschland.   But first I want to show you these awesome DANDY FUN HOUSE T-SHIRTS! They come with a front AND a back so you don’t get cold and we even cut 4 holes in them! One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke your arms through! Find them at our website https://www.dandyfunhouse.com ! And while you’re there, check out our brand new NO ROBOTS! T-Shirt and tell Cyberdyne where to stick it! HISTORY OF GOLIATH GAMES The history of Goliath Games is actually a love story about two people named Adi and Margreeth Golad who fell head over heels for each other over a game of Rummikub while visiting the Israeli desert. We don’t know if it was the moon or the Manischevitz but in addition to their passion for one-another, they also found a burning passion for the game of Rummikub. Margreeth soon returned home to the Netherlands where she shared this game with her family who also became consumed with an unquenchable passion for the game of Rummikub. Margreeth and Adi soon connected back up and decided to not only join together to pursue a business desire to bring Rummikub to the world but also join together in holy matrimony and in 1980 founded GOLIATH GAMES. Adi left his mechanical engineering career and traded in his car for 500 games of Rummikub which he sold on the streets of the Netherlands, obviously not out of the trunk of his car. I guess he set them out on a blanket and probably started a lot of conversations with “Psst buddy!” There were challenges along the way, but when they were hungry, Rummikub kept them alive (Hey, I think that’s and Eagles song!). Nonetheless, Adi and Margreeth persisted on their all-out Rummikub rampage and proceeded to build the game into the iconic, multi-generational classic that it is today. In fact, the game eventually became so popular that it set the world record as the most number of games played per capita in a single year. Goliath Games and Rummikub still hold this record to this day! Together, Adi and Margreeth built the foundation of Goliath Games and nurtured it into a leading global manufacturer of toys and games in over a dozen countries around the world. Their slogan? “Clever Together.” Adi and Margreeth Golad, The Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog salutes you! Now let’s get into this game of GREEDY GRANNY! For a game that’s been around since 2018, I found surprisingly little information on the backstory or origins of this game while researching for this episode. I was unable to find who invented it, what the inspiration was or anything more than simply reviews on how to play it which I avoided looking at because I wanted my initial reactions to this game to indeed be my initial reactions. Pretty much all I know is that this is a TWAG (toy with a game), Granny sits sleeping in a chair with a tray of treats and the players take turns stealing treats until Granny abruptly wakes up and spits her teeth at you which means that not only do you lose the game, but you’re in for a round of butt whipping with a wooden spoon! (At least that’s what my grandmother, Alma used to do to me. And in full disclosure, I deserved it every single time.) Ok, enough lollygagging! Let’s get into this game of GREEDY GRANNY! Here we have our game of Greedy Granny! I’llupt it here on the table and let’s look over the box here… Great graphics on the front. You’ve got Greedy Granny jumping out of her chair. It looks like she’s spitting one of those Grandma cookies, you know the kind without much flavor in them but they’ve got this weird red dot in the middle of them? Yeah, one of those! I’m sure somewhere she’s got a bowl of little hard candies nobody likes but we eat them when we’re at grandma’s house because there’s nothing else to grab (at least until dinnertime.) Oh wait! There’s her dentures right th

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! Hey there! It’s me, your old pal Obnoxio the Clown. I know it’s been a while but I couldn’t help but crawl out of my clown hole once I heard what the Dandy Fun House had planned for this episode of their show! Not only that, but they also made the incredibly bad decision to ask ME, your old pal Obnoxio to host!They would have asked the Nebbish, but he doesn’t really talk so much. Ok, by now I have to imagine about two of you are really excited but most of you are really confused, so let me bring you up to speed. I used to be the mascot for CRAZY Magazine and I’m here to tell you the story of this wacky little rag that had a pretty good run back in the 70’s and 80’s! So without further ado, Let’s step into the Fart House! What? Oh the Fun House! Yeah that’s it! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Flop House, Fun House or whatever they call it! Video Show, Podcast and Blog! I’m your old long-lost pal, Obnoxio the Clown and I’m here to tell you the story of an obnoxious humor magazine that existed from 1973 to 1983 which yours truly was honored to be the mascot for during it’s final few years. But first, let me show you these crazy new t-shirts from the Dandy Fun House (did I say it right this time?) now available in the Dandy Fun SHOP! It’s got a front AND a back so you don’t get too cold and comes with 4 holes in it. One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke yer arms through! You can find it at the Dandy Fun House website at http://www.dandyfunhouse.com or go directly to the store at http://www.dandyfunshop.com . Now back to this glorious freaking episode! Ok, CRAZY MAGAZINE! We were published by Marvel Comics believe it or not and were sort of in the vein of Mad Magazine, Cracked, Sick Magazine and National Lampoon. In the beginning back in 1953, Marvel Comics was actually called Atlas Comics and they decided to try their hand at competing with the behemoth of all novelty mags, MAD Magazine. So they published 7 issues of a comic book called CRAZY! Which skewered pop culture and included gags galore. It was a nice trial balloon, but didn’t exactly take the world by storm so they shelved the idea of publishing a satire for the next TWENTY YEARS until 1973 when it was revived for the purpose of republishing some of Marvel’s more wacky bits from their late-60’s comic called “Not Brand Echh.” What the heck kind of a name is “NOT BRAND ECHH!?”   STAN LEE MARV WOLFMAN For some reason they decided to give the old CRAZY Magazine another crack at success and kept things rolling under the guiding hand of the Marvel man, myth and legend himself… Stan Lee along with Co-Editor Marv Wolfman. Lee wanted to go for a straight up Mad Magazine and Cracked Magazine vibe while Wolfman wanted something more along the lines of National Lampoon. They came to an agreement somewhere in the middle and this gave CRAZY its own unique flavor. Kind of like sardine ala mode! It was decided that CRAZY needed a mascot, and so kicked around ideas until they came up with a small, buggy looking guy in a floppy hat and some sort of black cape-looking trench coat thing and they called this guy “The Nebbish.” Later they gave him the more proper name of “Irving Nebbish.” This Nebbish guy served as the mascot for CRAZY Magazine for seven solid years and he did a fine job I must say. I mean, I eventually STOLE his job but no hard feelings Nebby! That’s show biz! STEVE GERBER Wolfman wasn’t the only editor Crazy Magazine had. A man named Steve Gerber took over editing for issues #11-14 with a desire to set the magazine apart from its competition and try to convince the readers that the creators themselves were crazy. Gerber’s run as editor came to an abrupt end however when he published a very dark feature called “… And the Birds Hummed Dirges” which featured high schoolers engaged in a suicide pact. I think Mr. Gerber went back to making baby food after that! LARRY HAMA AL MILGROM ALAN KUPPERBERG CRAZY Mag did alright for a while. At least good enough to keep getting published but by 1979, sales were slumping so they brought on a new editor named Larry Hama who tried something really obnoxious and created me, Obnoxio the Clown to be CRAZY Magazine’s new mascot starting with issue #63 in June 1980! Larry wanted a mascot for the mag that would be more proactive and in your face than the other humor rags, so there I was! They modeled my face after some schmuck named Al Milgrom and I was mostly drawn by artist Alan Kupperberg. Back then I had hair. Today not so much. Too many Nair pies to the head’ll do that to ya! And let me tell you, we had the best features during my run as mascot and those days were a blast! Some of my personal favorite features were: The Kinetic Kids where you would flip two pages back and forth to give the illusion of animation and bring gross and violent pictures to life Howard The Duck! The Nebbish! My old pal! No hard feelings Nebby! The O

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! If there’s one thing in this world I am a sucker for it’s snouts, fat bellies and squiggly little tails! It’s great in real life, but it’s even better when it comes in the form of a TWAG! What’s a TWAG you ask? It means Toy With A Game… TWAG! In this episode number 40 of the Dandy Fun House we’re gonna make pigs fly! And we’re not just gonna make ’em fly, we’re gonna make ’em bounce too as I review the TWAG known as PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog where we use our delicate snouts to sniff out the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and before we begin I want to acknowledge a milestone! Since this is just a monthly show (other than the fact that I do post daily snippets online), there are some that have expressed to me that if this show were to reach 40 episodes… then pigs will have flown! Well, not only has the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog Officially reached 40 episodes as of the episode you’re currently consuming, but we’re going to celebrate by making pigs fly or at least bounce because I’m gonna unbox, assemble, play and review an awesome looking game from PlayMonster called PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES! But first I want to let you know that the brand new DANDY FUN SHOP online merchandise store has officially launched! You can find it on the Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com and just click on “SHOP.” You may also visit it directly at dandyfunshop.com . As of now you’ll find the all-new awesome looking DANDY FUN HOUSE t-shirt with both a front and a back (because we don’t Want you to get cold) which I’m real proud of! I think it came out looking great. You’ll also find some other novelty designs I’ve created not necessarily Connected to the show just some crazy designs I like to make when I’m not cranking out these episodes. I’m hoping that as the shop grows, it will help promote this show and this show will help promote the shop in what we in the Industry refer to as cross promotion. But enough about me! Let’s learn a little bit more about the company behind PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES, PlayMonster! PLAYMONSTER Now I don’t really recall hearing of this company before, but with a game called PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES bouncing out at me from the Walmart shelf, how could I not get this game and learn more about this company? So I log on to their website at playmonster.com and before I can even see or do anything I’m instantly disrupted by this horrible pop-up right in my face asking for my name and email address so they can add me to their mailing list before I even don’t anything about them! It’s like an over eager first date and I’m in my nice prom dress. (You know what I’m talking about). I don’t know who at PlayMonster marketing needs to hear this but PlayMonster we need to talk. Come here… (soft music plays) We just met and you’re already asking for all my personal information. It’s just too much too fast I’m not ready for that type of commitment at this place in my life. Let’s get to know each other a little first. We’ll take a walk down the beach maybe to the park. It doesn’t need to be all on you either. I can pack a nice lunch for two and we can just sit and talk and see where things go and if the feel is right… NO PLAYMONSTER! NOT THAT TYPE OF FEEL! Where was I? Oh, yes, if things go well maybe we can hang out at my place and watch the Hallmark Channel together and maybe… MAYBE then I’ll let you hold my hand and well… you’re making me blush PlayMonster! There goes my heart again! PlayMonster are you hearing me? I hope so! I’m just not that kind of toy and game reviewer! I have morals and values and boundaries which need to be respected! Okay… So I click the annoying pop-up away and start checking out their featured image showing their most featured products and I’m having a gander over what they wish to put out front and center for their company which remains on the screen for exactly five seconds. (Yes I timed it) before the image changes to yeah, you guessed it… ANOTHER SOLICITATION TO SIGN UP FOR THEIR EMAIL LIST! PlayMonster! We just talked about this! Didn’t we just talk about this!? At this point, I’m not just annoyed, I’m downright ticked off! I feel violated and cheap! My mascara is running and I think I tore my dress. PlayMonster! Let me out of the car! Just let me out! This company is literally doing everything it can to make me run screaming but I decide that I must persist, put my big-girl pants back on (don’t ask) and proceed forward for the sake of you, my a

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! The humble toaster pastry. It’s been our molten, tongue burning sweet little friend since the 60s. It’s a quick little pick me up when we need a tasty treat. Sometimes it’s breakfast on the run and in all the world, one little toaster named Milton reigns supreme with his empire of handheld, sugary rectangles known as Pop-Tarts. In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to give three off-brand toaster pastry underdogs a chance to dethrone the mighty Milton and claim the title TOASTER PASTRY CHAMPION OF THE WORLD! For this is the Strawberry Toaster Pastry Showdown! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog! This is where we cook up the very tastiest in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. I’m your host, Neil Dandy, and by pop-tartular demand, this episode is going to cook! And yes, I’m coming to you straight from the Dandy Fun House Studios Kitchens, where today we’re going to have the showdown of the century! I have here before me the four most popular toaster pastries in America… Alright, they’re the only four different types of toaster pastries I could find after visiting four different grocery stores, but you get the idea, right? OK, here we go!   Upon conducting my search, scouring grocery store shelves for toaster pastries to pit against one another, I discovered that strawberry is apparently the most common flavor amongst all toaster pastries. So that’s the flavor we’re going to test today. Here we have Millville Toaster Tarts, which is the Aldi brand. We have Toaster Treats, which is the Kroger brand. We have Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries by Great Value, which is the Walmart brand. And last but certainly not least, we have the reigning toaster pastry champion of the world, Pop Tarts. I want to be really careful to not rip off Matt Mitchell’s Bless Your Rank, which I absolutely love. So instead of lining up these four contenders to the strawberry toaster pastry throne, I’m instead going to conduct this contest like a boxing match with an undercard and a main event, after which I will pit the winner of the undercard against the winner of the main event to give the underdog a shot at the title! I will be judging on packaging, the look of the pastry and of course how they taste both untoasted and toasted.   I will not actually be swallowing any of these toxic treats. I’ll instead be taking a bite from the best corner of the pastry, chewing it, allowing it to roll around my palate for a moment, and then spitting it out while swishing my mouth with water between bites. I feel this is the most fair method of conducting this contest, and you deserve no less than the best!   I think we can all agree that Pop Tarts is the 900 pound gorilla in the room as far as worldwide popularity, followed most likely by Great Value, the Walmart brand. And that’s going to leave Millville Toaster Tarts and Kroger’s Frosted Toaster Treats as our undercard. You guys ready? Come on, LET’S GET READY TO CRUMBLE! Okay, here before me, we have our undercard match. We have Millville Toaster Tarts from Aldi, and we have Frosted Toaster Treats from Kroger. Looking at the packaging… they both have pretty good packaging, I must say. I’m not crazy about the Millville logo. It doesn’t sound very appetizing, but then again, neither does Kroger to me. So I’m going to give it a tie on the packaging. Let’s crack ‘em open and see what we’ve got! Here’s Millville Toaster Tarts. Foil, very basic foil. And the frosting, you can see there’s a lot of edge exposed, but you might have to have that edge exposed. It seems to be rather thick, so that’s a good sign. The other pastry in the package has even less frosting on it, so I’m going to take the best one here and take an uncooked bite! Not bad, not exactly bursting with flavor. The look of the coloring, it’s not bright red like I would expect. I’m going to go ahead and put this other whole pastry in my toaster here. (Spit out and swish) Now let’s look at Kroger Frosted Toaster Treats. Wait a minute… The foil design is absolutely identical! Is the toaster pastry going to be identical as well? I’m starting to get suspicious here. They look almost exactly identical, except the Kroger brand has some blue greenish sprinkles on it, which the Millville Aldi brand does not. I taste absolutely no difference between the two, but while I swish my mouth around, let’s go ahead and toast these babies. I’ve got my toaster set at about almost up to three, which is like the 10 o’clock position, which is normally where I like my toaster pastries. Let’s go ahead and get it cranking here. Time for a little history about the brave little toaster! The first electric toaster

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below!   Two Canadian brothers born in the early 1900s, sons of a clock salesman, they found a mutual love for puppeteering which led them on an amazing journey of a lifetime through the Land of the Lost, Sea Monsters, Bugaloos, Pufnstuf, Banana Splits and much much more. In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I proudly bring you the story of the Yolas brothers, but you might remember them better as… Sid and Marty Krofft! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House, video show, podcast and blog! This is where we get lost in the land of retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. I’m your host, Neil Dandy and in today’s episode, this is one I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but I sort of got held up wrapping up the year 2023. Now that that’s all behind us, I figured I’d kick off 2024 with a bang and bring you the story of the amazing creators of some of the most timeless kids shows of the 70s and 80s, Sid and Marty Krofft! If you don’t know who Sid and Marty Krofft are, (I being in my mid-50’s find this almost unfathomable, but there might be some younger viewers, listeners and readers who have never heard of them and I want to be welcoming if you might fit this description.) these guys created iconic TV shows like Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Bugaloos, H.R. Pufnstuf, The Banana Splits and a whole lot more. A lot of their work was kinda like Muppets before the Muppets were a thing, but more fantasy type. I hope that made sense. Together, the Krofft Brothers’ resume boasts a whopping 26 television series and 21 specials! But to really get an idea of who these guys were, I think we need to start back farther…MUCH FARTHER!!!!!!!!! Two Canadian brothers, Sid and Marty Yolas of Greek and Hungarian descent were born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1929 and 1937. Sons of a clock salesman, Peter Yolas, their family emigrated to the US in the early 1940s, landing in Rhode Island but eventually settling in New York City, assuming the more American last name of Krofft. The father, Peter, in addition to his profession of clock salesmanship, also enjoyed the theatre and producing plays. Sid discovered a love for puppeteering and he performed some of his earliest work debuting in one of his dad’s stage plays, an adaptation of Snow White. From there, Sid had the puppet bug and went into the world of vaudeville as a teenager before running away with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, which billed him as the world’s youngest puppeteer! This allowed Sid to take his one-man show called The Unusual Artistry of Sid Krofft International and parlayed his newfound circus notoriety into being the opening act for iconic performers like Judy Garland and Liberace. Meanwhile back in New York, Sid’s younger brother Marty started putting his older brother’s second-hand puppets to work, earning some money with local stage performances and honing his own set of skills and more importantly, business acumen. His business smarts attracted the attention of older brother Sid, who eventually asked him to team up in an effort to bring his visions for bigger, better and more spectacular productions to life. In 1957 they did just that, developing their first show together, a mature audience production entitled Les Poupees de Paris. They ran this production for several years, earning acclaim worldwide, performing for over 9 million people collectively while also providing more family themed productions for Six Flags amusement parks. But it wasn’t until 1965 that they eventually found themselves making their television debut after being invited onto the Dean Martin show! By this time, they had built a renowned puppet costume and set building facility in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California and were approached by Hanna-Barbera to create set designs and walk around costumes for The Banana Splits, which went on to become a cult classic which is still enjoyed to this day. In 1969 they struck a deal with NBC to produce their own TV series, HR PufnStuf, which featured colorful sets, lots of puppetry, life-size soft, Muppet-like characters and lots of rudimentary special effects. HR PufnStuf was a hit, a huge hit and it led to a movie with Universal Pictures. DANDY FUN FACT! Early in their career, Sid and Marty Krofft received a little sage advice from Mr. Walt Disney who told them, “Always put your name above everything you create because someday it’s gonna be worth something.” They took his advice and put their name at the top of everything they made, which is why their name is as recognizable today as the shows they created! The Krofft brothers found their forte with Fantasy Adventure, mostly aimed at the Saturday morning kids audience, which they dominated. Throughout the 70s, Sid and Marty Kro

see video below!   listen to the podcast below! In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’m going to self-indulge just a bit and pay a bit of homage to the town I live in and love: MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE! And I’m going to do it in the only way that I can actually make it relevant to this show and that’s with a game review! Now for those of you who don’t live in Murfreesboro and couldn’t possibly care less about my town, I know you’re asking yourself right now why you would ever care about a game review involving the town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Here’s why: because the company that makes the game I’m about to review also makes this exact same game customized special for individual cities and towns all over the world, most likely including yours and this episode will hopefully give you a sneak peek at what you might expect if you were to purchase this particular game for where YOU LIVE! NOW do I have your attention? I hope so because I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy this game for a long time now for THIS is the game of… MURFREESBORO*OPOLY! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House! This is where we unwrap the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this year-end extravaganza I’m going to unbox, set up and show you how to play the Monopoly spinoff game – MURFREESBORO*OPOLY! And at the end of the show, I’m going to do a quick rundown of some of the best movies I enjoyed from the year 2023 and ones I’m looking forward to in 2024! Let’s get to it! This game appears to be made by a company out of Cincinnati, Ohio called Late For The Sky. That’s a pretty odd name for a toy and game manufacturer. But let’s see what we can find out about them. Looking over their website it appears their entire business model is solely making specialized versions of the game Monopoly and boy do they have a lot of them! They have versions for different colleges, alcoholic beverages, Shark*Opoly, Zombie*Opoly. Educational versions like America*Opoly, Dino*Opoly, Space*Opoly, Bible*Opoly, Boooo*Opoly, Christmas*Opoly, Farm, Fishing, Hunting, Rodeo, Cat, Horse, Ocean, Penguin, and 18 DIFFERENT BREEDS OF DOGS OPOLY! Sheesh! There was only ONE GAME on their entire website that was not a version of Monopoly that I found and that game was and is THE MAN GAME! Which includes: flick football (you know like that triangular folded piece of paper you would try to flick between your friends’ finger goal posts while you were goofing off in school?), a ball for cup pong, a tape measure to see which guy has the biggest uhhh… bicep! Yes bicep! Rope for sailor knots and a regulation deck of playing cards along with poker chips. No wagering please! Apparently their business concept started with MIAMI*OPOLY because their founder and president whom they don’t give the name of was a graduate of Miami University. They grew their college line of games to over 80 different titles and just kept going from there. No mention of any licensing deal with the makers of Monopoly although I’m sure there must be one. Just ask the makers of Ghetto*Opoly who got unceremoniously shut down after just a few months on the market. Hey! I just happen to have Ghetto*Opoly right here! I can’t review it on this show because we’re strctly family-friendly but in recent years, I have noticed it for sale again in various places. I don’t believe Late For The Sky has anything to do with the re-release of Ghetto*Opoly however so moving right along…. Apparently, you can hire them to customize a game for you as well. This seems to be more of a corporate offering where companies can have a game created highlighting special details of their business which can be a great marketing tool if used correctly! Digging in just a little deeper, it appears that Late For The Sky is really big on the environment which is great and I’m not noticing any nutty climate change wackiness or anything like that. Just reasonable and responsible stewardship of the environment which I can get behind. Things like using recycled paper, soy-based inks rather than alcohol although I’m not really sure what the significance of that might be, corn-based shrink-wrap (I’ve never heard of that before!) recycled glass and 100 percent Made in the USA in their very own Cincinnati, Ohio facility! And all parts are manufactured within 50 miles from their operation. NOW THAT’S REALLY COOL! If you’d like to check out all their awesome stuff, just head on over to http://www.lateforthesky.com and see it all for yourself! Alright, enough about LATE FOR THE SKY, let’s get into this game of MURFREESBORO*OPOLY here! Right here we got it Murfreesboroopoly a fun game celebrating the BORO and on the front they give props to MTSU, Main Stre

watch video below!   listen to the podcast below!   In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’m going to unbox, review and show you how to play a true game of glorious disgusting fecal flinging fun! This is one I’ve been avoiding for obvious reasons for a while now because I’m not exactly sure how you review something like what we’re about to get into, so all I can say is I hope you have your hazmat suit handy because we’re going into primate pen. THIS is the game of MONKEY SEE MONKEY POO! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! I’m your host Neil Dandy and this is where we shovel up the best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! And boy do we have a banana-scented treat for you today! I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’m not going to do a tease, I’m not going to get super cute with this one because I have a feeling this game review is going to speak for itself. It’s the game of MONKEY SEE MONKEY POO by Spin Master. Ok, my show is not very big yet but for those of you who ARE avid consumers of this program, you’ll know that as of late I’ve been very heavy with the reviews of Spin Master games. I want you to know that I am NOT a shill for Spin Master. In fact, when I choose a game to review, I do not even look to see who makes it. I simply choose the most interesting ones I can find and then do a deep dive into the product. The fact that three of my last four or five reviews have been from Spin Master is purely by happenstance although I have trouble saying that because I choose what catches my eye and apparently the things that Spin Master makes does indeed catch MY EYE. I HAVE AN AXE TO GRIND WITH SPIN MASTER! To be honest, I’m actually a little annoyed with Spin Master in one regard because every time I review one of their games, I send them a nice note through their website to let them know I’ve reviewed one of their products and the response is… CRICKETS! NOTHING! NADA! BUPKISS! ZILCH! Not a thank you, not a we look forward to checking it out, not an automated reply, NOTHING! It’s like shouting into the ether and it’s frustrating. I know I’m not the biggest fish in the pond out here, but not only am I a reviewer but I purchase these products with my own money and I’m by no means a wealthy person. I think a little shred of common courtesy could go a long way with your customers there Spin Master. Ghosting them when they send you nice letters isn’t exactly great PR. Ok, now that I’ve vented my frustration, let’s see what we have here. I want to let you know upfront that while I usually give the back history on the company that makes the product, since I’ve recently reviewed a couple of other Spin Master products, I feel a little silly giving their history yet again. You can check out the review of the game SOGGY DOGGY if you’re interested in learning more of the company history. I think I have enough on my hands with a game that’s all about throwing poop here so let’s get into this and see what we’ve got. THE BOX Here we go. Monkey See Monkey Poo with banana-scented poo. I am looking forward to smelling some bananas, and I think that’s a good thing they did there. There’s a little picture of the actual game there in the corner of the box, a cartoon of a monkey throwing poop at other monkeys in a tree and big bunches of bananas and some monkeys sticking their tongue out. Got a little peek at the toy there through the cellophane in the box. That’s what we call a TWAG, a toy with a game. Let’s see what’s on the sides here. Just the logo. Good logo, good marketing. They’ve even got a song. I’ll put a link to it at the end of this article for your enjoyment. On the back of the box, we’ve got some instructions and it says: If a monkey sees, then a monkey poos. In this game, so will you! Well… I’ve never played a game that’s made me poop myself, so this will be a first! “Fill the monkey with banana-scented poo, climb and collect bananas!” I’ve watched a few videos from people who don’t do it as good as me, of course but the object appears to be that you knock down bunches of bananas in the tree. If you knock them down, your monkey climbs a level. Then you reach the top. Then you start all over again??? That doesn’t really make sense to me. It makes more sense that if you reach the top first, you should win. The instructions I saw were online from the company. They were kind of convoluted and sort of complicated. I don’t know what’s up with that, but I don’t like complicated. I like simple so we’re just going to do this in a way that’s simple and actually makes sense! To heck with the instructions, Let’s open this thing

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! Happy Halloween everybody! Let’s see if you remember this one! A young criminology student and inventor takes the night watchman shift at the local wax museum so he can go to school during the day. One of his inventions (a crime computer) accidentally wakes up 3 of the creatures from the Legendary Monsters exhibit bringing them to life along with their memories of past misdeeds! But now they feel guilty about all the people they used to disembowel and wish to make amends! So they team up to fight crime… MONSTER STYLE! In this Halloween 2023 special episode of the Dandy Fun House, get ready to get scary crime-fighting funky with… THE MONSTER SQUAD! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the 2023 Halloween Special Edition of the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! This is where we wolf down the best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this episode, we’re going to open the coffin lid (start tv show intro) on a Saturday morning tv show from the mid-70s that ran for less than a year but still managed to make it’s bite marks on tv pop culture history and to be Frank… should have gotten more attention than it did. I’m talking about… THE MONSTER SQUAD! The Monster Squad was a Saturday morning tv series produced by D’Angeleo-Bullock-Allen Productions that aired on NBC from September 11, 1976 to September 3, 1977 and starred a young Fred Grandy who later went on to greater tv pop-culture fame playing the role of Gopher on The LOVE BOAT! Fred played a criminology student named Walt who took a night watchman job at Fred’s Wax Museum. There wasn’t a whole lot to do hanging out all night in a wax museum, so Walt passed the time tinkering with his invention, the “crime computer” which he kept stashed away inside a stone sarcophagus next to the legendary monsters exhibit. Well… When Walt plugged his crime computer in for the first time, oscillating vibrations unwittingly brought the wax statues of Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein’s Monster to life! Upon their awakening, the monsters found themselves filled with remorse for all the blood sucking, skull crushing and peeing on fire hydrants they were remembering from their past lives and had a desire to right their wrongs with humanity, so they teamed up with Walt and his crime computer to become supermonster crimefighters and take on supervillians all over town. Not sure what it was about this particular town that attracted all the evil weirdos of crime but I’m guessing they weren’t here in the South where I’m located. Lock and load my friends! Basically the monsters would go out and fight crime while Gopher err… I mean Walt would hang back in the cushy comforts of the wax museum and monitor everything from the crime computer. Every once in a while Walt would get off his tukus and come help his monster friends in the final climactic battle and rescue them from their screw-ups when he had to. The Monsters were played by: Henry Polic II Henry Polic II as Dracula: Henry’s best known for his portrayal of Jerry Silver on the tv show Webster. Buck Kartalian Wolfman or Bruce W. Wolf was played by: character actor Buck Kartalian and Michael Lane Frank N. Stein was played by: an actor named Michael Lane. Bruce Kartalian (left) and Michael Lane (right) from their wrestling days SCARY FUN FACT! An interesting note about Buck Kartalian and Michael Lane. They both came from the world of professional wrestling which I’m sure came in handy for the agility needed in action scenes! MONSTER SUPER POWERS: Franky had superstrength. Wolfie could climb walls and fight like a rabid dog (he also curled up on rugs and had a crush on Lassie) and Drac could… umm… turn into a bat??? Yep that’s pretty much it! Of course they had their own decked out Monster Van with wall-to-wall carpeting because you know… It was the 70s baby! And they all wore utility belts because… Batman. Stanley Ralph Ross, Head Writer of The Monster Squad The show actually looked and felt a lot like the Batman tv series, or maybe the discount store version of the Batman tv series with a lot of the visual and scriptual elements mainly because the creator, Stanley Ralph Ross had been one of the head writers on Batman. But it had almost zero star power. They did bring in the legndary Catwoman Julie Newmar (meow) for one episode to play the supervillianess, “Ultra Witch.” Her evil plot was to turn the entire world’s milk sour and she used a ray gun to turn the monsters into cardboard cutouts. In the end, she stupidly fires the ray gun into a mirror and turns herself into a cardboard cutout. There’s Darwinism in action for ya! They also brought in Alice Ghostly, best known as Esmeralda the housekeeper on Bewitch

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below!   The movie Jaws was released in 1975 and set the standard for the summer movie blockbuster as we know it today! Spawning sequels and quite bizarrely a kids game based on this horrific and bloody feature film known as the Game of JAWS. In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I wanted to bring you the Game of JAWS but not only is it no longer made, it’s become very sought after as a collector’s item and it’s really expensive to acquire and honestly I’m too cheap to buy it and I just really don’t like you guys enough to shell out that kind of dough. So instead I did the next worst thing. I bought a more modernized game with the same basic premise and an overall better looking design that only cost 20 bucks. It’s called SHARK BITE and I’m going to unbox it, set it up, teach you how to play and give you some fun facts and history along the way! It’s time to drop the cage into the water old chum! Let’s dive into the Fun House!   Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show podcast and blog. I’m your host Neil Dandy and this is where we explore the darkest depths of retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. In this episode, we’re going to have some fun with the game of Shark Bite from a company called Pressman. Pressman Toys and Games was founded in 1922 by a man named Jack Pressman who started the company with a gung hay fat choy bang by unleashing the game of Chinese Checkers upon the world. It was originally called Hop Ching Checkers. Jack Pressman Jack Pressman ultimately made his fortune by licensing the rights to release toys and games based on popular characters of the time like Dick Tracy and Little Orphan Annie. For the next several decades, Pressman was responsible for many of the classic Golden Age Disney toys and games and in more recent years games like Tri-Ominoes and home game versions of game shows like Deal or No Deal, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. In 2014, Pressman Toy Corporation was purchased by Goliath Games from Deutschland. Well enough of my yammering, let’s get to the unboxing! Here we have the game of Shark Bite. Let’s have a look at the box. Pretty neat box though, it’s got a bunch of worms and crabs and lobsters. Now I’m getting hungry, I haven’t had breakfast yet and I am filming this and recording this in the morning. Shark Bite says, “Snag the fish and be the winner, but if the shark jumps, you’ll be his dinner!” Good looking box. You know what, they did not skimp on the design for the outside. I like this! Even the bottom has a cool design. It kind of gives you the synopsis really good, you roll a die, catch fish with your fishing rod, but watch out, when the shark jumps out of the water, you lose! And it tells you what all it includes. Okay, well let’s bust it open, baby! Let’s see, what do we have in the box? Well, we have the pieces, which you need to fish out of the shark’s mouth in a nice plastic bag, there. You have instructions. We are only going to refer to the instructions if we have no other choice, because that’s how we do it here on the Dandy Fun House. And I think we got the star of the show coming out, “Everybody out of the water!” Shark very nicely packaged and protected there. And it looks like it’s all ready to go. Whoa! (shark springs to life!) It already jumped! I didn’t even start playing, and the thing already jumped out at me! Okay, it’s got kind of a cloth outside. It’s kind of a tough cloth, kind of like tent cloth, I would say. The shark is blue. There’s no eyes on the shark. Oh, you have to stick your own eyes on! So let’s see if I can do that without it being all wonky. And then my understanding is you spread the jaws, you push the whole assembly down until it locks into place, and then if you pull the wrong game piece, it jumps out and bites you in the face. … Now, I’ve got it locked down. And how do I release this? I guess you have to play it to release it. And it does not look like it takes any batteries at all, which is great. It looks like it’s just a spring-loaded mechanical toy game. Game with a toy. What did I used to call it? Or toy with a game. Yes, a TWAG! So let’s dump the contents here. You know, they should have stuck the eyes on for you… oH LOOK! you have to put the stickers on the die too! I mean, come on! I’ve got to put the stickers on the dang die!? You’ve got to be kidding me! Okay. So I’ve got some work cut out for me here. Moving on, we’ve got the fishing pole here with the hook obviously to fish the game pieces out. You get two poles. And you’ve got crabs, fish and more fish. It looks like it’s mainly just fish and crabs. And you got a lobster, too, in case you want

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! Two amateur comedians working nightclubs for peanuts in the 70s ham-handedly and quite accidentally stumbled into the roles of a lifetime portraying what they felt were their least likeable characters but instead found themselves leaving an indelible mark on tv pop culture history for generations to come. Their names? David Lander and Michael McKean. But you might remember them better as… LENNY AND SQUIGGY. This is their legend. Let’s step into the Fun House! Lenny and Squiggy : “HELLO!” …and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog. This is where we explore the outer realms of Retro Pop Culture, Toys and Games and all the Fun Stuff. I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this episode we’re going to gather around the old 70s pop culture campfire, toast some marshmallows and lean forward while I tell you the Legend of Lenny and Squiggy. David Lander and Michael McKean met in college in the late 1960s at Carnegie Tech, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the drama department where they became fast friends. Sharing a love for acting and comedy as students they became practically inseparable. Roger Bowen   The Credibility Gap   Harry Shearer   Then post-graduation in 1971, David and Michael relocated to Los Angeles and spent time studying under an improv coach named Roger Bowen who trained them in scene flow and comedic timing. This led to them accepting an invite to join a radio comedy troupe known as the CREDIBILITY GAP who were known for doing news satire for the stations KRLA Los Angeles as well as KPPC Pasadena. This comedy troupe also included one Mr. Harry Shearer who later would go on to greater fame acting in many film and television roles which he still does today. In addition to radio satire, they also performed live using their radio reputations to garner opening act slots for rock shows. In fact as lore would have it, they once opened for Richie Havens at the Long Beach Fox Auditorium, and as was the custom in hippie culture those days, venues like the Fox and the Fillmore were known to hand out fruit in the lobby. This particular show, oranges were given and the Credibility Gap found themselves dodging airborne citrus throughout their entire performance. From that day forward, they only accepted offers where they would be the main attraction and no hurlable objects allowed. David and Michael continued performing with the Credibility Gap all the way up until 1979. During the earlier part of their run with the group, they created a couple of characters named Anthony Fazigliano and his pal Leonard Kosnowski. You see where this is going… These characters were based on people from their childhood they weren’t necessarily fond of but had interesting personalities.Anthony (played by David Lander and later changed to the character name “Anton”) had a cousin named Squiggy who only had two words in his vocabulary. The first word was “Kick” and the second was something I’m not repeating. It was during this time around 1976 despite performing frequently around Southern California with the Credibility Gap, they were still very much “starving artists”… BUT!!!! Something very interesting was brewing on the other side of town that would change their lives forever. LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY 1976 – 1983 It was the time of year when tv producers would bring their ideas for new shows to the networks and the brother / sister team of Garry and Penny Marshall along with producers Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman had just pulled off the network television coup of a lifetime! They sold a series to Larry Silverman at ABC without a pilot episode which was unheard of; based on the characters of two girls who were bit-part guest characters very briefly on the hit tv show HAPPY DAYS. I’m of course speaking of the now-infamous duo of LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY. Larry had seen the girls’ characters on Happy Days, thought they were funny so he said what the heck! Let’s give it a go! Michael Eisner Cindy Williams Liberty Williams Michael Eisner, one of the executives at ABC revealed that in the beginning Cindy Williams who played Shirley, did not wish to do the show so they shot a 7 minute screen test with an actress named Liberty Williams (no relation). They eventually convinced Cindy to shoot a screen test and Eisner went and hid the footage of the Liberty Williams scene from the other Executives because in his mind there was simply no other actress for this role besides Cindy. And history thanks him for his deceptive deed! Eddie Mekka In the beginning they only had the characters of Laverne and Shirley as well as Carmine Ragusa “The Big Ragu” (played by Eddie Mekka). They needed more supporting cast to play working class Milwaukee, Wisconsians. According to an interview with David Lander, Penny Marshall was familiar with the Credibility

watch the video below listen to the podcast below   (doorbell rings) (knocking on door) Neil Dandy: What the heck? It’s 6 in the morning. (more knocking on door) Neil Dandy: Who’s at my door? (more knocking on door, Neil opens door) Delivery Girl: Package for idiot! (shoves package into Neil’s stomach) Up yours! Neil Dandy: Ow! (Delivery Girl walks away in a huff and Neil looks bewildered) Neil Dandy: Huh? It is way too early in the morning for this. I wonder what I’ve got here. I’ll set it down on my couch. (sound of cat hissing) Oh, hi Mr. Mittens! Good morning! At least you’ll be nice to me. (cat attacks Neil’s hand leaving deep claw marks) Owww! (Neil sits on couch) Well, we can at least see what we’ve got…. Couch with an angry voice: Get off me! Neil Dandy: What the heck? Couch with an angry voice: How’d you like it if I sat on you? Neil Dandy: No! You’re my couch! I’m gonna sit on you! That’s what you’re made for! Couch with an angry voice: I don’t like it! Neil Dandy: I’ll be off in a minute. Couch with an angry voice: Well make it fast! Neil Dandy: Everybody’s being grouchy today! What’s going on? (Neil looks into the box) Oh! Maybe it has something to do with what’s in this box! It’s the game of… Grouch Couch! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House! I’m your host, Neil Dandy, and this is where we talk about retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! Thank you for coming and hanging out with me today. We are unboxing and going to put together what needs to be put together and show you how to play the game Grouch Couch by Spin Master Toys! Spin Master Toys is kind of an interesting company. They started out in the 90s with just $10,000 and a toy made out of pantyhose called Earth Buddies. You rubbed seeds in them or something and grass grew out of the tops of their heads. Since then, over the years, they’ve bought companies, sold companies, and now they do all kinds of stuff. Like Kinetic Sand, Batman, DC Universe, Etch-a-Sketch, Hatchimals, Monster Jam, Orbeez, Paw Patrol, Rubik’s, Jumanji, Giant Candy Land, Giant Sorry, and Earth-friendly versions of classics like Connect Four, Chess, Jenga (although I don’t think they’re allowed to call it Jenga, but you get the idea) and a whole lot more! Anyway, let’s crack this baby open and see what we’ve got (and maybe some people will get in a better mood around this place!) So here we have the game… Grouch Couch. There’s the couch. Looks more like a love seat… No, it’s got three seats on it, so I guess it qualifies as a couch. The Furniture with Attitude game by Spin Master. Pretty cool. This is, I don’t know what they call it, when it’s a game and a toy combined. A toy with a game. A twig? Oh, there’s like French writing on this. And as usual we’ve got kids on the back of the box having a good old time with it. I think the object of this is you get some game pieces, you put them on the couch, the couch eats some of the pieces, and if it likes what it ate, it spits coins at you! And at the end whoever’s got the most coins wins! Whoever dies with the most toys wins, whoever gets the end of Grouch Couch with the most coins wins! It looks like the back cushions are eyebrows, and when it comes alive it shows you eyeballs and teeth and eats all your candy and knick knacks that you normally lose between your couch cushions. It’s like a game based on losing stuff in your couch cushions, and you’ve got a really grumpy couch. Alright, time to unbox this thing. I’ve got it open here and the whole thing comes out. There’s a really nice background that all slides out, kind of looks like a living room in the background. Very nice. The Grouchy Couch is kind of strapped into place. Looks like he’s got some little feet underneath that you turn to release him from his packaging. On the back of the couch, we’ve got some elastic bands… I’ve read some reviews online from people who have bought this thing, that the elastic bands are part of what makes this toy move. The couch is already in the grouchy position here however. And I’ve heard complaints that people have had to adjust the bands or get rid of them altogether. I’m not really sure. I think this thing’s not supposed to be in the position of showing its teeth and eyes right now when you start. I think that’s what happens when you get it animated and make it come alive. So I’m going to go ahead and remove the elastic bands altogether. Sometimes I read reviews and a whole lot of people just get it wrong from the get-go. And a product will end up with a lot of really unwarranted bad reviews that it really shouldn’t have. And this might be the case with this game. When I remove the elastic band, the couc

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below!   In this episode number “31”of the Dandy Fun House… how in the world could I help but tell the story of two brothers-in-law with a post World War II entrepreneurial spirit and how they joined forces to combine business ambition with their passion for all things ICE CREAM! Together they built nothing short of a worldwide ice cream institution. For THIS is the Ballad of BASKIN ROBBINS! Let’s step into the fun house! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! This is where we talk about Retro Pop Culture, Toys, Games and All the Fun Stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy… but before we get into it here, I have some sad news to share. EMMA-LOU The Dandy Dog 2009-2023 You may remember Emma-Lou the Dandy Dog who appeared in our episode about the game SOGGY DOGGY and also hosted our episode counting down the Top Ten Dog Friendly Attractions in America. On Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 around 4:30pm, Emma-Lou passed through that great doggy door in the sky after 14 wonderful years of hugs, kisses, doggy parks, noses out the car window, interstate travel and being the very best friend a doggy daddy could ever ask for. If you’re fortunate enough to have an amazing dog, cat, guinea pig, parrot, donkey or just love animals in general, give yours an extra hug today and tell them it’s from Emma-Lou the Dandy Dog. She would have liked that. Now on with the show! Burt Baskin Irv Robbins Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins were brothers-in-law with competing ice cream shops in Glendale California post-World War II. 1945 to be exact. Burt had been a Navy Lieutenant who honed his ice cream making skills at sea for his fellow troops. His shop was called Burton’s Ice Cream. Irv worked in his father’s ice cream shop as a teenager and had developed a passion for the confection at a young age. Irv’s shop was called Snowbird Ice Cream. Burt only sold 10 flavors while Irv sold 21. After a few years of fledgling success, Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins decided to combine their talents. But they still kept their brand names separate. They just offered the same products and used their strengths to mutually advance business. Within just a couple of years, the ambitious brothers-in-law had opened 6 locations of Burt’s and also Snowbird Ice Cream with no sign of stopping! As the company grew past their abilities to personally oversee each store, the pair made the brilliant move of offering their locations for sale as franchises to their store managers which enabled them to strap rockets onto their expansion plans! By giving ownership opportunities to their managers, this helped maintain quality standards since the managers had a stake in the success of the stores. This was the very first time a chain of ice cream shops had ever been franchised! In 1949 Burt and Irv purchased their first dairy located in Burbank, California which was right next to their headquarters in Glendale. This allowed them to have complete quality control over production and assisted with development of new flavors. They continued their streak of smart business moves when in 1953 they employed the consulting services of Carson-Roberts Advertising agency who made the now obvious decision that the two individual ice cream brands should lose their separate identities and become one delicious tour-de-force under the name BASKIN ROBBINS. They also implemented the colors of pink to invoke cherries and brown to hearken thoughts of chocolate, sprinkling in polka dots to remind people of the circus. They also decided they should build upon the number 31 which was the total number of combined flavors at the inception of Burt and Irv’s merging. WHY 31 FLAVORS? The ad agency felt that a person having the option of a different flavor for every day of the month would be a great marketing position. Baskin Robbins has since introduced over 1300 flavors. The following year in 1954, Baskin Robbins began competing against other ice cream makers at State and County Fairs across America racking up gold medals and blue ribbons earning them a grassroots reputation for quality with their unique flavor-ribboning technique. Then in 1962 Baskin Robbins invented and introduced the iconic ICE CREAM CAKE which they have become synonymous with over the decades. In case you’ve been living under the Rocky Road and aren’t familiar with ice cream cakes, they basically consist of three components: white or chocolate cake, choice of ice cream flavor and frosting. You can even put a customized message on the cake. And in 2019, they introduced the PhotoCake where an actual custom photograph can be printed directly onto the cake with edible ink! Now THAT is really something! CREAMY FUN FACT! Did you know that Baskin Robbins had to come up with special recipes for the add-ins in their ice creams that would be freeze-resistant!? That’s right! Gumdrop

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! Sha Na Na WAS an American rock and roll doo-wop cover group. Undoubtedly the singlemost SUCCESSFUL doo-wop cover group in the history of doo-wop cover groups! I might even go as far as to say they were the KINGS of all doo-wop cover groups ever in the history of like, ever! Formed in 1969, but performing a song-and-dance routine based on the previous decade, they simultaneously revived and parodied the music and tough New York street vibe of the 50s. They made their first mark on the national stage performing on an actual sinking stage at Woodstock, a little more fame thanks to their contributions to the mid-70s juggernaut known as GREASE and cemented their rightful place in the history of American pop culture with their syndicated TV show that ran from 1977 through 1981. As of December 5th, 2022, the final live performing version of Sha Na Na have announced that it is indeed time to sing “Goodnight Sweetheart” for the final time. BUT with their story now complete, WE can finally TELL the complete story of SHA NA NA! And this we shall do… right now! Let’s step into the Fun House! Sha Na Na started in 1969 as a group of college kids at New York’s Columbia University. They wanted to combine their love of theater with 50s rock n’ roll. The original concept for the group was dreamt up by a man named George Leonard, a Humanities Graduate Student. George recruited the members for his brainchild from undergraduate members of Columbia’s “Kingsmen” glee club accapella group. At the time they were wearing turtlenecks and blazers and singing choral versions of 50s rock songs. They quickly incorporated costumes into their routine and George became their choreographer. The group eventually added instruments and started playing 50s throwback sock hop theme parties at Columbia where students came dressed in 50s outfits. They stole a new name for the band from the song “Get A Job” by the Silhouettes and SHA NA NA was born (not to mention the name KINGSMEN was already taken). Their first performance outside of school was at a nightclub called Steve Paul’s Scene and this place was frequented by well-known musicians and music industry business types. It was at The Scene where one Mr. Jimi Hendrix noticed and took a liking to this clunky and campy but entertaining college group and they became fast friends. Steve Paul It was only shortly after striking up this friendship however that Sha Na Na quite unceremoniously ENDED their run of shows at Steve Paul’s Scene because (according to an interview with Sha Na Na co-founder Donny York) the owner was refusing to pay protection money to the local mob . So on the final night of the club’s existence Sha Na Na huddled in their dressing room while mobsters busted up the joint. And… SCENE! WOODSTOCK 1969 With the Scene no longer on the scene, Sha Na Na needed a new place to play. Their new friend Jimi Hendrix decided to throw them a bone by inviting them to perform at a little get together know as… WOODSTOCK. This would be their 8th professional performance! Yes, it was the Summer of Love, Hippies and Mud and Sha Na Na were going onstage right before Hendrix who was closing the festival. They almost didn’t go on at all due to delays from rainy weather and festival management trying to bump their performance from the schedule completely to make up for lost time. Their original timeslot was supposed to be 9:30pm Sunday night but they ended up hunkering down in the back of a U-Haul all night while storms pounded the event grounds to go on the next morning and only made it to the stage (which was sinking in the mud) on the insistence of Jimi Hendrix who refused to take the stage (He was the big-name festival closer) until his friends Sha Na Na had been given an opportunity to perform as promised. Sha Na Na took the stage in the final morning of Woodstock barely running on fumes from lack of sleep and woke up the remaining 40,000 attendees (down from 400,000 the previous days) in their gold spray-painted boots, greaser costumes and doo-wop campiness winning over the groggy crowd of hippies, many of whom had eaten those infamous oranges and weren’t quite sure if what they were watching was even real! After their performance, Sha Na Na drove away in THEIR orange U-Haul to the sounds of Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled banner around 11am. You might be wondering why they didn’t hang around while their biggest supporter was taking the stage but remember these guys had been awake for about 28 hours by this time and had a 2 hour drive back to Columbia. They were toasted and wouldn’t have made it through Jimi’s first song if you propped their eyes open with toothpicks and poured coffee up their noses with rubber hoses! GREASY FUN FACT! Sha Na Na’s website claims their $350 paycheck from Woodstock bounced! Money.c

watch the video!   listen to the podcast!   In this episode of the Dandy Fun House we’re going to unpack the tale of how a college student’s 1960’s class project based on surviving Death Valley on foot was sold for next to nothing to a company who redesigned it into everyone’s favorite surgery game trying to cure a guy named Cavity Sam! You and I have been trying to fix him for over 60 years in the game of… OPERATION! We’re also going to unbox, assemble and play the 2023 version of OPERATION while sharing fun facts and history along the way. Are you ready doctor? Let’s step into the Fun House! Here in my hot little hands, I have the 2023 version of everyone’s favorite game of surgical skill… OPERATION, featuring the man with more maladies than Super Dave Osborne, Cavity Sam! Let’s get scrubbed up and head to the operating table where we’ll put him together, pull him apart and tell his story! John Spinello The game of Operation was originally invented at the University of Illinois in the 1960’s by an industrial design student named John Spinello. John was given an assignment by one of his professors to design a toy or game. John drew his inspiration from a traumatic childhood memory of sticking his finger in an active light socket. So he decided to design a game where the object was to guide a probe through a groove that ran between two metal plates with a small electrical charge running through them. If the probe touched a plate, the circuit would complete and sound a buzzer indicating failure. Marvin Glass John’s fellow students enjoyed the game so much that they encouraged him to show it to his Godfather, Sam Cottone, a model-maker for the iconic toy company, Marvin Glass and Associates. Mr. Cottone then showed the game to Marvin Glass himself and Mr. Glass so generously offered the student inventor a whopping $500 for the rights, his name on the patent and the promise of a job upon graduation. John took the 500 bucks and didn’t think much of it. In fact, he didn’t join the company at all until 1976. After selling the rights to Marvin Glass, John’s Godfather, Sam Cottone got right to work on coming up with a theme and landed on the idea that the game should take place in a desert setting with players using the probe to pretend to extract water from holes in the ground. The working title was Death Valley. Mel Taft That is until Marvin Glass resold the rights to Milton Bradley who had a brilliant designer named Mel Taft who reimagined the game into the surgical silliness we enjoy to this day and OPERATION was admitted into the surgical theaters of the world’s kitchen tables in 1965 with everyone’s favorite patient, Cavity Sam! FUN FACT: SAM is actually an acronym used by cardiologists which stands for Systolic Anterior Motion which is a condition that occurs in a heart’s ventricular cavity. The game remained largely unchanged during its first 40 years. That is until someone at Milton Bradley came up with the genius idea to ask the public what new condition they would like to inflict on Cavity Sam! The masses spoke loud and clear. They wanted brain freeze! And Cavity Sam’s new ailment was revealed on an episode of SCRUBS where the tv doctors played the new version of the game on the actual show! UNBOXING: So here we have the 2023 version of OPERATION! The graphics look decently updated from the classic and the playing surface is showing his actual head through the box with a graphic that says PRESS MY NOSE! (It lights up and buzzes). Right off the bat before even cracking the box open, I’m noticing absolutely no indication of brain freeze. They made such a huge deal about it when it came out that I’m puzzled as to why they wouldn’t keep it as a permanent part of the game!? Looking at the box’s sides, they just have the logo and the tag line of “Be the Doctor In This Classic Game!” On the back it shows what the game looks like (he has a little teddy bear with a band aid… awwww…) and tells you the three very simple steps on how to play. 1. Pick a card to see what funny ailment you need to fix. 2. Carefully “operate” to remove the ailment. Watch for the BUZZ! 3. Flip the card over and earn the money on the back. Earn the most money to win! So basically we’re teaching kids that the field of medicine is all about the Benjamins! Nice! ANOTHER FUN FACT! Andrew Goldstone, MD Did you know that the game of OPERATION also inspired an actual medical procedure? Thyroid surgery used to be a lot more risky than it currently is today, largely because any small slip one way or the other in the patient’s throat could cause damage to the patient’s vocal cords. Thus a surgeon named Andrew Goldstone who played the game of OPERATION as a child (who didn’t?) got a brilliant idea from the game and installed an electrode t

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! In this episode of the Dandy Fun House we’re clowning around on the basketball court to bring you the story of the Harlem Globetrotters! Where they came from (not Harlem), their many historic achievements, how they didn’t just just penetrate the color barrier of the NBA, they shattered it like a cheap glass backboard without ever even BEING an NBA team, what spawned their innovative act: part circus, part comedy, part sports, PURE ENTERTAINMENT, and what they’re up to now! It’s time for the tipoff! Let’s step into the Fun House! If you grew up in the 70’s and 80’s like me, I’ll bet you spent more than a few Saturday mornings watching the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon on tv. You might have even watched their live action variety show called the Popcorn Machine or even caught some entertaining moments from them while your Dad was watching Wide World of Sports! You know – “The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat!” While you might think of the Harlem Globetrotters as merely an entertainment phenomenon of the 70s and 80s, you might be surprised to learn that their history goes back farther than that! MUCH FARTHER!!!!!!!! It’s the year 1926 in Chicago’s South Side and the historic Savoy Ballroom is experiencing declining audiences for their dances. They decide to try the interesting combination of holding exhibition basketball games before the dances to expand the appeal. Fellas come for the ball game and then apologize to their gals by staying for the dance, at least I think that was probably the idea. One of the exhibition teams was called the Savoy Big Five who were comprised of the core players of what would eventually become the Harlem Globetrotters after a dispute amongst players in 1928 that caused a split. Departing members formed the “New York Globe Trotters” but they were pretty much New York in name only. A year later, a man named Abe Saperstein took over management and promotion, changed the name to the “Harlem” Globetrotters to capitalize on Harlem being considered as the epicenter of American black culture at the time and began touring the team everywhere he could. Over the next decade, the team played throughout the United States and achieved a huge career-boost in 1940 by winning the World Professional Basketball Tournament! With newfound acclaim and improved operating budgets, The Harlem Globetrotters continued dominating the world of basketball due to their monopolization of the entire talent pool of black players who were not welcome in other teams and leagues of the time. The NBA finally took notice of the opportunities they were missing and started recruiting black players beginning with Globetrotter Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton who signed with the New York Knicks in 1950. While this was a long overdue change for the positive, it also placed the Globetrotters at a crossroads as their cornering of the black talent pool came to end. But in a stroke of either genius or desperation by team member, Reece “Goose” Tatum to keep the team viable, they began working comedy routines and acrobatic tricks into their games. They incorporated juggling, ball-spinning, trick shots and some of the funniest routines ever performed. Part vaudeville, part circus, part sports and ALL PURE ENTERTAINMENT! With their new theatrical basketball extravaganza, they set out on their first international tour performing for 75,000 people at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium which earned them the title “Ambassadors of Extraordinary Goodwill” by the US State Department. They later would go on to earn special acknowledgements from Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Gerald Ford for their service to global mankind. The following year in 1951, Columbia Pictures created a dramatic film around the team simply titled “The Harlem Globetrotters.” The movie was about a young college player named Billy Townsend who convinces Globetrotter Manager, Abe Saperstein to let him drop out of school and join the team. But Billy, while being a great player, disobeys too many of the coach’s orders and takes too many risks on the court eventually resulting in a knee injury which gets him benched. Poor Billy! Being the independent-minded young lad that he is, Billy then sneaks out of his hotel room against team rules to marry his girlfriend and while trying to sneak back in, accidentally trips over a trash can in the dark further aggravating his knee injury. Billy’s not exactly the brightest bulb in the pack! The following day, he hobbles to the game, convinces the coach he is good to play but the knee buckles on the court during a critical play, the Globetrotters lose, everyone finds out Billy lied, he is given his hobbling papers and sent packing. BUT! Being the silver-tongued dribbler that he is, Billy manages to sweet talk t

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! The amazing hippopotamus! The 2nd largest land animal on earth! They eat almost 80 pounds of grass per day! But there’s one certain type of hippo that eats nothing but marbles! And they’re always HUNGRY! HUNGRY! HIPPOS! In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’m going to unbox, assemble and show you 3 different ways to play the classic game Hungry Hungry Hippos. I’m also going to give you some history along the way about this pop culture classic! Let’s step into the fun house! If you wanna win the game You gotta take good aim and get the most marbles with your hippo! Playing Hungry Hungry Hippos! Hungry Hungry Hippos! (Original Hungry Hungry Hippos theme song, 1978) ORIGINS It’s been very difficult to really dig down into the origins of this game. What I do know is that it was originally created by a Japanese toy company called Agatsuma and was called simply “The Hungry Game.” I haven’t been able to determine whether or not the original version had hippos or not. In fact I can’t find a picture or description of the original game anywhere and believe me I have scoured the interwebs for this! I have not been able to find anything about the actual individual or individuals who invented the game. Any pictures or descriptions of its original forms. The origins of this game are very much shrouded in mystery! What I did find is a historical timeline on a website for Agatsuma Co., LTD which also apparently operates under a brand name called Pinocchio. A lot of their online presence is written in Japanese characters so that was a bit of a struggle for me. https://agatsuma.co.jp/company_english/history.php Anyway, this timeline shows the launch of the Hungry Game in 1977 and verifies that soon thereafter it was released in the US as Hungry Hungry Hippos by the toy company Hasbro. An article on Mental Floss claims that Hungry Hungry Hippos debuted in the US in 1978 and was licensed under a deal brokered by a man named Fred Kroll who sold his rights to Hasbro who proceeded to release the game under the Milton Bradley label. The original names for the hippos were Lizzie (purple), Henry (orange), Homer (green) and Harry (yello). So 3 dudes and one filly! That’s ok, Lizzie holds her own just fine! UNBOXING AND ASSEMBLY Looking at the box itself, from the front it appears as if the game comes already assembled. Thankfully that’s not the case otherwise I wouldn’t be able to show how to assemble it which is one of the most fun parts about doing these reviews. The Orange Hippo enshrines all sides of the box and on the back there is a picture of 3 kids playing the game… ALL ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE TABLE! Ummm… I don’t think it works like that! Opening the box, it has AUSTRALIA printed inside the flap. So of course I pull the contents out upside down! On the underside of the game board are the headless bodies of all 4 hippos snapped into holding tabs. It appears to be a very efficient method of storage! I detach the bodies from the underside and find a detachable round tray snapped into place as well. I would find out later that this is for storage of the marbles although they aren’t in there at this time. Where are they??? They are inside of a plastic blister package along with the hippo heads which were cleverly displayed through the front of the box in such a manner that the game appeared to be pre-assembled! Pretty sneaky sis! I struggle with the blister pack taped to a cardboard backing and of course marbles come pouring out the second I breach an opening and spill all over the place! I start attaching heads to bodies and then try to figure out how to attach hippos to the game board. Some of the tabs on the hippo bodies are for snapping into place on the underside of the board for storage and other tabs are for snapping into place on the topside for game play. Once I figure this out, I’m off to the races and get everything secured in place fairly quickly. One other issue though. All the necks are stuck in an extended position! As I wrestle with this issue for a few minutes, I eventually discover that this is how the action levers are kept depressed and the necks are held by a small tab at the top of the hippos’ backs. Just slide the neck off the tab and everything repositions correctly. NOW WE’RE READY TO PLAY! BUT FIRST… 3 FUN HIPPO FACTS! Did you know that hippos secrete a red-colored ooze that acts as a sunblock? Hippos can hold their breath under water for 5 minutes. Their ears and nostrils close up to keep air in and water out! Hippos tend to live up to 40 years in the wild, but up to about 50 years in captivity. So I guess the moral of this story is that if you’re on a mission to save the hippos, you’ll want to get busy capturing them. But I wouldn’t recommend it. Hippos tend to be very aggressive and tangling with one is j

(watch the video below) (listen to the podcast below) Dr. Demento, the man who brought comedic novelty music to the masses for 40 years disappeared from the airwaves in the year 2010 and has not been heard on terrestrial radio in over a decade since. Was he abducted by bloodthirsty clowns? Did he join a monastery? Did he move to the planet Meep Morp? In this episode of the Dandy Fun House I’m going to attempt to answer the question on nobody’s mind… WHERE IS DR. DEMENTO!!!!!????? …Let’s step into the fun house! Ray Stevens   Jimmy Durante   Spike Jones   Judy Tenuta   Weird Al Yankovic   Dr. Demento Dr. Demento, the maniacal force for all things musically absurd commanded the terrestrial radio airwaves for 40 nonstop years from 1970 through 2010. He helped bring much-deserved attention to such iconic artists as Ray Stevens (who still performs regularly at his own dinner theater, the Caba-Ray in Nashville), Jimmy Durante, Spike Jones, Judy Tenuta and of course the notorious Weird Al Yankovic among countless others. He suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the airwaves in the year 2010 and I did promise in the show opening that I would attempt to uncover where he went. But before we get into all that, I think some back history on the good doctor is in order. Because you might think of him as just a nasally-voiced, horn-honking, slide-whistling disc jockey. But I can assure you, there’s more than meets the eye to Dr. Demento. MUCH… MORE…!!!!!!!! (Sherman, ignite the Wayback Machine!) 1941 – THE WORLD GETS A LITTLE DEMENTED Let’s go all the way back to 1941… April 2nd, 1941 to be exact. Minneapolis, Minnesota’s very own Barret Eugene Hansen (whom the world will eventually know as Dr. Demento) comes kicking and screaming into the world although he hasn’t yet been weaned on slide whistles and bicycle horns. There was nothing really unusual or noteworthy about his midwestern upbringing at least until the age of 12 when in 1953 Barret stumbles across a treasure trove of thousands of 78 RPM records at a local thrift store for a nickel apiece, starts spending all his allowance and becomes raptured in music from across the ages falling deeply in love with the recorded art form. He spends the next 7 years immersing himself in sounds transcending cultures and genres straight through his high school years. 1960 – COLLEGE RADIO Reed College, Portland, Oregon UCLA, Los Angeles, California Then in 1960 while attending Reed College in Portland Oregon, he was presented with an opportunity to work at the school’s station, KRRC and earned his way up to becoming Program Director and eventually General Manager. While at Reed, he studied classical music and then after graduation, went on to UCLA earning a masters degree in folklore and ethnomusicology. Spirit   Canned Heat And like every young adult who spends a fortune in time, energy and money to get through college, he put these degrees to very good use by hanging out with rock and roll hippies and becoming a roadie for the legendary bands Spirit and also Canned Heat. But Barret DID put the relationships he built during this time to very good use and parlayed them into becoming a talent scout for the record label, Specialty Records. He also took a job at the radio station KPPC-FM in Pasadena, California where he began broadcasting his own weekly oldies radio show. As his music industry connections build, Barret Hansen finds himself putting together compilation albums for Warner Brothers as well as writing articles for music magazines like Rolling Stone and Hit Parader. Barret was a very, very busy guy! 1970 – DR. DEMENTO DEBUTS! Obscene Steven Clean Then one day in 1970 while doing his show at KPPC-FM, Barret played one song that would change the course of his life forever. It was “Transfusion” by Nervous Norvus. (I actually had that record when I was a kid. Put a gallon in me Allan!) Another DJ going by “Obscene Steven Clean” called Barret “Demented” for playing it. Somehow the “Demented” label stuck, wouldn’t unstick and eventually morphed into his now iconic nomenclature of “Dr. Demento!” Barret Eugene Hansen embraced his new handle wholeheartedly and began seeking out and playing the most absurd music on the planet, incorporating them into his oldies show and destiny was set into motion as he officially changed the title of his show to the Dr. Demento Show. The offbeat novelties became so popular with listeners that he altered his format completely to solely concentrate on bringing wacky tunes to the airwaves. Within a few short years, popularity grew and he was picked up and syndicated across America by the Westwood One Radio Network airing mainly late Sunday evenings on FM rock stations. The 80’s – THE ROBERT YOUNG ERA In 1982, production of the Dr. Demento Show was

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to look ahead to the great new amusements coming in 2023 from the worlds of theme parks, pinball, toys, board games and movies! I’m also going to share my favorite episodes from 2022 and let you know what’s been going on going on behind the scenes over here and where things are headed. This is NOT a “best of / year end roundup” that most shows churn out this time of year as easy content. I’d never cheat you like that! Good stuff ahead! Let’s step into the fun house! Neil Dandy here! 2022 has been velly velly good to me! I’m currently on sort of a holiday stay-cation if you will and enjoying a 3-day getaway to a cabin in Lynchburg, Tennessee, the home of Jack Daniels Distillery. The family and I are holed up in a cabin in single-degree weather with a stockpile of snacks, wifi and cable tv just 45 minutes from our home in Murfreesboro, and yes, Emma-Lou the Dandy Dog is here as well. I figured what better way to wrap up the year than by bringing you a forecast of the best frivolities on the horizon for 2023, so let’s get to it! And we’re starting with THEME PARKS! Ok, this theme park overview is NOT going to include roller coasters! Why??? Well… everybody and their brother is opening a new roller coaster in 2023 and there’s an endless amount of coverage out there for them. It’s like most theme parks can’t think of anything else to do. I like coasters as much as the next person, but at some point it gets old. They lift you up, hurtle you down a track. Spin you, Loop you and there you go! My goal here at the Dandy Fun House is to bring you things that I think are fresh and interesting! And it doesn’t get much more fresh and interesting than… Katmandu Park, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic who is going to hold the distinction as the Caribbean’s very first top-class theme park. This park will be centered around the characters of the Katmandu Fantastical Universe. This park will only be available to guests staying at the all-new Falcon’s Resort and tickets are included with your guest reservation. So if you find yourself planning a trip to the Dominican, this might be something to fit into your travel plans! Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay, Florida – Serengeti Flyer: A high-velocity screaming swing ride that takes you 135 feet high at speeds of 68 miles per hour! The promotional picture looks as if it carries about ten people at a time! Ok, that’s not exactly something ground-breaking, but at least it’s not a roller coaster. Meanwhile… Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia is permanently closing their Mach Tower, the massive drop tower which has been plagued with constant maintenance issues since its opening in 2011. In fact, the only thing that was ever newsworthy about the Mach Tower would be the rare occasions when it was actually open and operational! Good riddance Mach Tower! Universal Studios, Florida – Villain-Con Minion Blast: This will be a motion-based pathway attraction where you get to compete to become a member of Despicable ME’s Vicious 6! Now THAT sounds like fun! Universal Studios, Hollywood is getting a new augmented reality ride for Mario Kart called Bowser’s Challenge. I love augmented reality rides when they’re done well and Universal does them well. One I really love is Spider Man at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. It really makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of all the action. It’s amazing what they can do with this stuff. Universal Studios Singapore – Opening of Minion Park, a Despicable Me themed land. Let’s move on to… PINBALL Coming in 2023 I have a nice list of “rumored releases and I’ve whittled it mostly down to the ones that aren’t just new releases of themes that are already out there. These are ones I uncovered that truly seem exciting to me and I hope you feel the same! STERN: Foo Fighters, He-Man, Venom and Cobra-Kai! I’m a little surprised that the Foo Fighters haven’t had their own pinball machine yet. Kudos to Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and the boys! JERSEY JACK PINBALL: Elton John, Van Halen, Journey and Billy Joel. I’m fairly certain that Van Halen and Journey have already had pinball machines in the past. Not so sure about Elton John and Billy Joel. Those seem real interesting. I guess Jersey Jack Pinball Manufacturer must have a thing for dad rock. That’s ok. So do I. AMERICAN PINBALL: Galactic Tank Force, Wrath of Olympus and Robin Hood all rumored for 2023. SPOOKY PINBALL: Scooby Doo and Evil Dead. I guess Halloween must be their thing over at Spooky Pinball. CHICAGO GAMING COMPANY: Pulp Fiction. I wonder if the launcher will be a giant adrenaline needle? HAGGIS PINBALL: War of The Worlds, Centaur, Medusa. It’s interesting how these

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below!   In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’m taking Emma-Lou, the Dandy Dog to the dog wash! I’m also going to unbox, assemble and show you how to play the TOTY Award Winning game – SOGGY DOGGY! Let’s step into the Dandy Dog House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video show, podcast and blog – the home of your favorite frivolities! I am set up here in the Dandy Ranch half bath and laundry room to give Emma-Lou the Dandy Dog her monthly bath and I do expect to be fully drenched by the time we’re done here! You might remember Emma-Lou who hosted episode 17 where she told you all about the Top Ten Dog Friendly Attractions in America! I thought it only fitting that I ask her to help me out today so we can bring you the unboxing, assembly and show you how to play the Toy of the Year (TOTY) Award-winning game SOGGY DOGGY from Spin Master! BACKGROUND Before we get into the dog bath, let me tell you about Spin Master! Spin Master started in 1994 with just a $10,000 investment and a toy line called Earth Buddies which was basically a ball of panty hose with a face on it stuffed with saw dust and grass seed and you grew the grass like hair. So part sock toy, part chia pet and part Mr. Potato Head. Through innovation and acquisitions, these guys grew Spin Master over the years into what is now an absolute global powerhouse in the field of children’s entertainment with such notable toys and games as Kinetic Sand, Batman, DC Universe, Etch A Sketch, Hatchimals, Monster Jam toys, Orbeez, PAW Patrol, Rubiks Cube, Jumanji, Giant Candy Land, Giant Sorry, and earth-friendly versions of classics like Connect Four, Chess, Jenga (although I don’t think they’re allowed to call it Jenga) and so much more it would take this entire episode just to explore and ain’t nobody got time for that! Go on over to spinmaster.com to read their story. It’s absolutely fascinating! Alright, I’m going to finish scrubbing Emma-Lou here (her favorite part is at the end where she gets baby-wrapped in the towel!). I’ll give her an after bath treat and then we’ll head over to the kitchen table and dig into this SOGGY DOGGY game! So here we are in the Dandy Fun House Studios kitchen! Emma-Lou has finished her bath, gotten her treat and we’ve got this Soggy Doggy game box to get into. Let’s crack this puppy open and see what we’ve got! As previously mentioned, this game won the TOTY Award for 2018 (Toy of the Year). Great graphics on the front, the sides are pretty much all the same but with different orientation and the back (as usual with these sorts of things) shows kids playing with the game and having fun. Pretty much par for the course thus far! Soggy Doggy is the Showering, Shaking Wet Doggy Game and the highlight of the whole thing is this big shaggy dog toy that sits in a bath tub and shakes water all over the place. Right off the bat HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS THING!? The game appears to be targeted to little kids (ages 4+) but looks like it would be fun for everyone which is pretty much what drew me to it. The quick synopsis of the game play is to race around the board, wash Soggy Doggy and if he shakes, you go back to the start. Sounds pretty simple! Let’s put unbox this thing, grab a screwdriver and 3 AA batteries (not included) and put it together! UNBOXING The box itself is pretty easy to open with just one adhesive tab holding the lid closed and right on top is the Soggy Doggy himself to greet us. SD is about the size of a small hand puppet and is made of very soft rubbervery much like those Koosh toys, which is pretty much what the Soggy Doggy is. A few cardboard spacers to dig out and you get to the game board which is pretty much a plastic ring about the size of a Frisbee. The battery-operated bath tub. And last but not least are the little plastic bags which hold the parts and pieces such as the dog’s skeleton / frame which you dress the kooshy-puppet dog over, mounting brackets for mounting into the tub and all the game pieces which are small to the point that you really don’t want to let kids that are too little play this unsupervised as these could obviously (in my opinion) be choking hazards. For the game pieces you have a bar of soap, paw print, bone and rubber ducky. There are also game tokens which are used to get out of going back to start if the doggy shakes on you. Sort of like a get out of jail free card. ASSEMBLY You’ll need a small phillips-head screwdriver to take off the battery door on the underside of the tub and then insert your 3 AA batteries and screw the cover back on. Now why don’t they just make this a spring tab door instead of having to mess with a screwdriver? One would think it’s because they don’t want the kids playing with the batteries, but since the game pieces are small, you obviously alre

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! Don’t adjust your dials! This IS the Dandy Fun House, but today my good friend, Neil Dandy asked me – COUNT DRAHOON to fill in and guest host this very special HALLOWEEN episode! This will not be your typical Dandy Fun House episode, but instead will be the Count’s SPOOPY, SPOOKY SPOOK SHACK! And on the Spook Shack today, I am going to do a little tasting of all the classic Monster Cereals and give you my expert opinion on which one is THE BEST! Let’s dive right into THE SPOOK SHACK! I have great friends, but strange friends. I was honored and yet perplexed to be asked to eat… cereal. VAMPIRES TYPICALLY DON’T EAT CEREAL in case you didn’t already know that little factoid but we’re going to do our best. So what better use to call in a favor from a vampire friend than to have him try MONSTER CEREALS! (I couldn’t think of a better use of my time) so I am here to do a little taste test of these 4 cereals that I have here, put out by General Mills. You’re probably familiar with at least two or three of them. We have the classic COUNT CHOCULA! Wait a minute… I’ve always thought that this particular Count looked like my cousin Al. And there is a striking resemblance, but I’m not aware of any place in the vampire kingdom that is covered in chocolate. I’ll have to do my research. Next to Count Chocula we have the FRANKEN BERRY! Which looks like a really offensive caricature of my son, Darrell. But he’s sort of a more berry-infused version of Frankenstein’s Monster. I like the color but I don’t know how I feel about a berry taste. Basically, what I’m doing for my taste test is that I’m splitting this up in the rules of professional wrestling, or as they say way further south of the Mason Dixon Line, “Rasslin’!” Our main event being Franken Berry vs. Count Chocula preceded by our undercard match with the other two cereals. Here we have a ghostly little fellow called BOO BERRY! (that’s a delightful little pun!) He’s a bit like Casper but it looks like he maybe had some experience in vaudeville. Maybe he did a vaudeville act where he ate too much cereal and now he’s a ghost, who knows? And to the right of the Boo Berry we have the FRUTE BRUTE! I’m not really sure why it called a Frute Brute other than it’s a fruity cereal. The Brute isn’t actually a brute, it’s a WEREWOLF! So I’m thinking that maybe the marketing firm at General Mills ran out of rhymes and so had to come up with something on the fly. And I’d also like to note that there seems to be a disproportionate amount of berryism here. We only have the one sort of savory-sweet cereal with the Count Chocula and then everything else is fruits and berries. I feel like Count Chocula is sort of left to dry out here on his own. Such is the life of a vampire. HISTORY The line of monster cereals was actually released in 1971. And spooks and spookettes, if you know your monster movie history, this sort of coincides with the monster movie renaissance of the that was kicked off by famous monsters of filmland. There was a big demand of monster culture and old school monster films. And so General Mills probably felt this was a good opportunity to cash and give us a whole line of monster cereals and thus Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Boo Berry have been with us ever since. These are wildly popular cereals. I DON’T EVEN EAT HUMAN FOOD and I know what they are! The line also included two othere cereals, Frute Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy which was actually discontinued sometime in the 80’s and Frute Brute went away for a while as well but this year they brought it back! So with this feta four-way, let’s dive right into… THE TASTING! UNDERCARD MATCH! FRUTE BRUTE vs. BOO BERRY! FRUTE BRUTE: Since they’ve recently resurrected Frute Brute from the dead, I’m going to dive right into the Frute Brute! Oh, no toy. Now keep in mind that I’m not a cereal conisseur. There’s a first time for everything. It’ looks tasty. It smells very fruity, but is it Brutey? (crunch, crunch..) interesting… so this is cereal. My favorite part is the marshmallow. I don’t really know what they’re in the shape of so we’ll just call them diamonds. Diamonds are a ghoul’s best fiend. I have to say that marshmallows in the cereal are kind of a strange texture to me. It sent chills down my spine and I don’t know if that’s an appropriate response. The grains of the cereal are sort of in the shape of little ghosts which is disappointing because you would hope they would have something in the shape of the brute like a werewolf. It’s an enjoyable experience eating food. So far so good. My first time eating cereal. Not bad! BOO BERRY: And now we go for the contender in this un

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re braving the tundra to bring you the TOTY-award-winning game, YETI IN MY SPAGHETTI! Let’s step into the Dandy Warming Lodge before we freeze! Today’s mission is to unbox and show you how to play this modern classic from PlayMonster. PlayMonster has also been charged with continuing to bring you such classic toys and games as Wooly Willy, Spirograph, Fashion Plates, Colorforms and many others! Kudos to Play Monster for keeping the classics alive! It’s also TOTY-Award winning (toy of the year in the category of games). Nice going! THE BOX Whoever designed this box is a freaking genius! It looks like an Italian kitchen table and also has the actual Yeti figurine poking out of the box! The back shows kids playing and having a great time with it. It’s unique and immediately catches your eye on the shelf (at least it did mine). The marketing team absolutely knocked it out of the park with this one! UNBOXING A couple of adhesive tabs keeping the theives at bay secure the flap. This leaves the unfortunate choice to either slit the tape or tear it and mar the box. I chose to be a brute and mar the box. Inside you have a big red pasta bowl, a plastic bag containing the instructions and 30 strands of wavy, plastic spaghetti and then you have the YETI. The Yeti is under a bubble pack of its own glued to a cardboard insert which makes it poke out of the front of the box. It took me a minute to figure this out and slide the insert from the box. Then I tugged at the back of the Yeti before finally pulling the plastic bubble pack away from the cardboard backing to give birth to my Yeti and feed him his first taste of spaghetti! THE OBJECT You have 30 strands of wavy plastic spaghetti and you lay them across the top of the bowl in a criss-cross random pattern. You then set the Yeti on top of the spaghetti strands and players take turns removing strands of spaghetti one-handedly until someone makes the Yeti fall into the bowl. That person is the LOSER! Just that simple. Just that fun! It’s sort of like Jenga except this is actually interesting. Does Jenga have a cute little Yeti toy? I don’t think so! GAME PLAY After taking just a few seconds to lay my strands of spaghetti across the bowl and set my Yeti atop, I started pulling strands. Very simple at first, but once you’re about 10 strands in, things start to get hairy! The waves in the spaghetti grab each other making it a challenge to remove one without disturbing the other strands and making the Yeti move. But eventually I did lose to myself and make Mr. Yeti fall into the bowl to his awaiting fate in the pretend marinara! CONCLUSION I’m in my 50’s and I HAD FUN! I had fun unboxing it, setting it up and also playing with it. It’s a great time for kids and adults of all ages and there are no parts small enough to be a choking hazard unless you try to play sword-swallower with a strand of plastic spaghetti, but those are so long that you could probably just pull it right out anyway. Hey, maybe Play Monster could make a sword-swallowing game! Just a thought! I can see why this won game of the year. It’s so simple and fun! On a scale of 1-10, I give Yeti in my Spaghetti a SASQUATCH! SHAMELESS BEGGING IF YOU ENJOY THIS CONTENT AND WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE PRODUCTION OF FUTURE EPISODES, PLEASE CONSIDER CONTRIBUTING VIA OUR PATRONAGE PAGE AT http://www.dandyfunhouse.com Supporters gain access to exclusive bonus material! Super Supporters also gain access to bonus material PLUS we’ll mail you some wacky stuff straight from the Dandy Fun House Studios if you give us your mailing address! DON’T FORGET Next month is our annual Halloween episode and this one is going to be a doozy! We’re having a Monster Cereal Showdown! The undercard match will be Frute Brute vs. Boo Berry with the main event being the two titans of the monster cereal world going head-to-head! COUNT CHOCULA VS. FRANKENBERRY! Be sure to get right back here to the Dandy Fun House where everything is always FUN AND DANDY! Neil Dandy is the creator of The Dandy Fun House and the alter-ego of Neil Smith, the Big Cheese at Neil Smith Entertainment and Productions, musician, DJ, Emcee and author. Aren’t you impressed?

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re gonna pop it, lock it, drop it in the oven! No pushin’, no shovin’, gonna bake a little lovin’ ’cause we’re gonna make one of those strange desserts that could only come from the south… SODA CAKE! Let’s step into the Fun House! Head chef, Neil Dandy here! If you’ve been itchin’ to produce some Southwatering flavors from your kitchen, you’ve come to the right place! Because today we’re going to make soda cake! Soda Cake is one of those oddball sweet treats from south of the Mason Dixon Line like RC Cola, Goo Goo Clusters, Moon Pies, Chess Pies, Sweet Tea you can stand your spoon straight up in and for some reason God only knows – molded Jello with marshmallows and fruit inside! Yikes! But this confederate confection promises to perch right at the top of that redneck mountain of sweet treats because it’s supposed to be delicious and it’s supposed to be oh so simple. Why am I saying “supposed to be? It’s because I’ve never made nor tasted soda cake, but apparently all there is to it is to simply purchase a boxed cake mix of your choice, mix in the soda of your choice (no other ingredients even if the box calls for them! No butter. No eggs. No nothing.) and bake it in the oven per the instructions on the box. Just that simple! Or so we hope… There are many different combinations depending on the cake you want to make such as Creamsicle, Purple Cow, Strawberry Shortcake, Ginger Spice, Very Cherry Chip, Devil’s Cola, Zesty Lemon and Chocolate Rootbeer Float. I’m sure there are many others, but these were from a graphic I found online which has been circulating around the internet recently so I’ll just stick with these for now. So the big question now is WHICH ONE TO MAKE!? To help us decide, let’s head over to one of my favorite internet destinations, spinnerwheel.com where indecisive folks like myself input our options, spin a digital wheel of destiny and let Mother Internet decide! I’ve designed my wheel and chosen a circus theme, input our choices and here we go! PURPLE COW CAKE IT IS! MOOOOO! For this, all we need is 12 ounces of grape soda, a boxed white cake mix and frosting. Let’s go shopping! I went to three different stores in my hometown of Murfreesboro, Tennessee where people told me I could find Southern brands of grape soda like NuGrape, Grapico and Nehi. First I tried a local soda shop all all they had was some French stuff called Grape du Raisin (ummm…. no.) Then I tried a favorite local bbq joint that has a cooling tub full of vintage-style sodas (no grape there). And unfortunately I also struck out at Cracker Barrel! So off to the regular ol’ grocery store I go! I found my self at the Kroger about a mile from home. The grape sodas were a bit slim pickins here too. I found a 2 liter of Fanta, a 12 pack of the generic Kroger brand and individual 20 oz bottles of grape Crush. Just what I needed. So I grab a bottle of grape Crush and head to the baking aisle for some Betty Crocker white cake mix and some fluffy white Betty Crocker frosting which I plan to mix my excess soda into and turn purple! So here we are back at Mrs. Dandy’s Kitchen. She lets me in here every once a while and I make a horrible mess. First off, we need to properly grease and flour or baking pan (this is only going to make enough for a single layer cake). Since I don’t have any lard in my pantry, I got my Paula Deen on and coated the pan in buttah! Then of course a good dusting of flour. First we’re going to preheat our oven to 350 degrees just like the instructions tell us and while that’s warming up, we’re going to start mixing our batter, starting with our 12 ounces of soday (cup and a half) slowly adding in our mix and keeping up our stirring until everything is nice and smooth. And I’m using a wooden spoon in honor of my grandmother Alma who used to beat me senseless with a wooden spoon when I was a child (and I deserved every whack I got!) Then we’re going to gently pour our batter into our cake pan, being sure to scrape the sides of our mixing bowl so as not to waste. Waste not want not my mama always said! and of course, lick the spoon! Alright, our alarm has gone off indicating that our oven is fully up to temperature and we’re going to gently set our pan onto the center rack, close the door and set our timer to 30 minutes just like the box tells us. But we’ll come back in 20 minutes and do the toothpick test. The toothpick test is where you stick a toothpick into the center of your cake and if it comes out wet, you need to put the cake back in a bit longer. If it comes out clean, your cake is baked! While our purple cow is baking, we’ll prepare our frosting! I was warned by a couple of friends when they le

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re gonna rock! BED ROCK actually! Because This show’s all about… The FLINTSTONES! How one of the most loved animated series in television was born, interesting history, fun facts, star-studded guest appearances, near death experiences, merchandising fever, reasons to fear the Flintstones Kids, jumping the shark and to top it all off I’m going to conduct a head-to-head taste test of the Flintstones cereals Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles! Are you ready to Bedrock!? Let’s step into the Fun House! The Flintstones ran on ABC television from 1960 to 1966 and holds the distinction of being the first animated series in history to run in prime time. It’s also the first animated series to ever be nominated for a Prime Time Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1961 (They lost to the Jack Benny Show). It also held the record for being the longest-running animated series until 1997 when that record was broken by the Simpsons. Produced by Hanna-Barbera, It is of course all about the adventures of the prehistoric middle-class family of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their neighbors, Barney and Betty Rubble. Back in the early 60’s, Hanna Barbera were largely known as producers of children’s cartoons but had a desire to expand to adult audiences. They had many ideas for the setting of the show including ancient Rome, American Indians and even hillbillies before eventually setting on the Stone Age. The original working title for the show was THE FLAGSTONES and Hanna Barbera pitched storyboards relentlessly for 8 weeks straight to networks and sponsors, sometimes repeating their 90-minute storyboard presentations for the same companies multiple times because this executive or that prospective sponsor wasn’t at the first or second presentation. There were many supposed interested parties but nobody actually pulling the trigger on buying the show until on the final day of the solid 8 weeks of presentations, Hanna Barbera pitched to a young network willing to take risks called ABC who bought the show in the first 15 minutes. If that hadn’t happened, Hanna Barbera were simply going to place their storyboards into the archives and move on to something else. And THIS is how close The Flintstones came to never being made! The show was largely believed to be inspired by film and TV legend, Jackie Gleason’s character, Ralph Cramden from his show THE HONEYMOONERS whose similarities to Fred Flintstone are hard to deny. Hanna Barbera even used a couple of Gleason’s writers in the production of the show! Jackie Gleason was reportedly at one time considering a lawsuit over the Flintstones before being talked out of it by his lawyers who asked if he really wanted to be known as the man who killed Fred Flintstone? THE VOICES Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone Bea Benaderet as Betty Rubble Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble Daws Butler temporarily filled in as Barney Rubble Flinstones cast recording at Mel Blanc’s hospital bed The original voice cast was comprised of Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone, Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone, Bea Benaderet as Betty Rubble and Warner Brothers legend Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble except for a brief hiatus during the second season when he was involved in a near-fatal car crash! Daws Butler filled in for five episodes before a temporary recording studio was set up for the entire Flintstones cast at Mel Blanc’s bedside for the remainder of the season. And over the years The Flintstones hosted an absolute star-studded cast of guest voices such as Tony Curtis, Ann Margret, Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York from Bewitched and many, many more! SPONSORSHIPS AND MERCHANDISING Many of the early episodes were sponsored by Winston cigarettes and as was the custom of the time, Fred and Wilma Flintstone appeared in their advertisements smoking like prehistoric chimneys for the first two seasons of the show until the introduction of… PEBBLES AND BAM BAM The Flintstone and Rubble families didn’t originally have children until the third season when it was decided that Wilma should become pregnant. The show’s producers originally were considering that they should have a boy. In fact, the original concepts of the show included a character called Fred Jr., but in the interest of merchandising, market research showed that girl dolls vastly outsold boy dolls and the merchandising dollars were calling! And so Pebbles Flintstone was born, toys were produced, Winston cigarettes exited the show and Welch’s grape juice became the new head sponsor while the Flintstones altered course onto a more family-oriented path. Welch’s also dove into the merchandising head first and started putting their jellies into jars that featured Flintstones characters that could be reused as drinking glasses once empty.

Watch the video below! Listen to the podcast below! Rube Goldberg was an American author, sculptor, inventor and cartoonist who lived from the late 1800s through 1970. He was perhaps best known for his very elaborate drawings and cartoons of very convoluted machines doing very simple tasks such as operating a napkin or striking a match. These drawings were the inspiration for the world’s first 3-dimensional board game which is still a hot product to this day. I’m talking about the game of MOUSE TRAP. Mouse Trap was invented in 1963 by Marvin Glass and Associates who made no secret about drawing inspiration from the drawings of Rube Goldberg although they had no deal with Rube nor did they ever pay him a penny. It is believed that Goldberg protested a bit but never pursued legal action mainly because he didn’t feel he had a winning case. General ideas are unfortunately not copywritable. Rube did eventually strike a deal with the Modern Toy Company to protect his remaining drawings and intellectual properties that were able to be protected. Ok, onto the game. The box has a modern, updated blue design which touts an easier setup. The back shows children playing with the game and having a great time. Upon opening the box, there are many various plastic pieces along with a smaller box to hold the smaller pieces including a metal ball which I’m pretty sure would be considered a choking hazard for very young children. This is probably one reason the game is rated for ages 6 and up. In earlier versions, (from my research) the object used to be working with your opponents to put the machine together while playing the game, but in the modern version you apparently erect everything first before game play. Then the object is to collect 6 pieces of cheese while keeping your opponents from collecting cheese and catching them in the trap. I started trying to put it all together by just looking at the outlines on the board but quickly found that to be nearly impossible, but nowhere near as impossible as trying to fit the pieces into the slots on the board which I was never able to accomplish after many attempts. I finally started following the instructions which weren’t always very clear but I did eventually manage to finish putting the contraption together. I tried several times to trigger the chain reaction by snapping the stop sign against the boot which is supposed to kick the bucket over sending the choking hazard metal ball down the stairs, blah blah blah. But no matter how many times I snapped that dang stop sign, the boot simply would not kick the bucket over. I readjusted and readjusted with no luck. Finally I just knocked over the bucket by hand and as the metal ball got about halfway through the various chain reactions, it would always bounce off the side forcing me to chase it, lose it, find it, catch it, etc. and all this action on the board would sometimes cause the basket trap at the end to fall prematurely. Getting the basket back to the top was a frustrating challenge as well. Eventually I did get the entire chain reaction (with the exception of the stop sign kicking the boot) to successfully complete and by that time I was pretty much done with this frustrating mess of a game. I can’t imagine giving this thing to a kid and expecting them to put it together. I promise they’ll be calling for your help almost immediately. The fact that they would tout this as having an easier setup right on the box is a complete joke. If this is an easier setup, I would hate to see what it was before. So I’m guessing by now, you know how I’m going to rate this product. I give it an absolute THUMBS DOWN! If you want an exercise in frustration, this one’s for you! I personally gave myself some post-Mouse Trap therapy by beating the entire contraption against my kitchen table and throwing the whole mess across the room. Then I carefully boxed it all back up and donated it to the youth group at my church! Bwa-ha-ha! *** IF YOU ENJOY THIS CONTENT AND WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE PRODUCTION OF FUTURE EPISODES, PLEASE CONSIDER CONTRIBUTING VIA OUR PATRONAGE PAGE AT http://www.dandyfunhouse.com Supporters gain access to exclusive bonus material! Super Supporters also gain access to bonus material PLUS we’ll mail you some wacky stuff straight from the Dandy Fun House Studios if you give us your mailing address! Neil Dandy is the creator of The Dandy Fun House and the alter-ego of Neil Smith, the Big Cheese at Neil Smith Entertainment and Productions, musician, DJ, Emcee and author. Aren’t you impressed?

Watch the video below!   Listen to the podcast below! In this installment of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to melt down the history of MAD Magazine! How it all started, the back stories of some of their most iconic contributors, battles with J Edgar Hoover, corporate takeovers and how a lawsuit against MAD Magazine filed by Irving Berlin set in place the legal protections for parody and satire that we take for granted today! Some of what we’re going to talk about might make you crazy. Some of will probably make you MAD! So without further adieu, let’s step into the Fun House! EC Comics William Gaines Harvey Kurtzman, inventor of MAD Back in the 1950’s there was a comic book company called EC Comics run by a man named William Gaines. His publications were best known for horror and slasher comics like Tales From The Crypt. William had a young, hungry artist / writer named Harvey Kurtzman who was fresh out of the military and mainly wrote and illustrated stories related to war. But he also had a funny bone and desperately wanted an opportunity to express his more humorous side AND get paid for it! His big idea was to start a comic book that essentially made fun of the other comic books of the day. He presented this idea to his boss William Gaines who gave it the green light. Except it wasn’t called MAD. At least not yet. It’s first publishing happened in 1952 and was packaged as sort of a takeoff from their Tales From The Crypt series and was entitled Tales Calculated To Drive You MAD. Unfortunately their first 3 editions were met by the comic-reading public with a resounding yawn and they sold terribly. But things turned around quickly in issue #4 after refocusing their sites on a more SUPER target… Issue #4 unveiled a new character called SUPERDUPERMAN lambasting rival publisher Nation Comics’ biggest character, Superman. Word about the satire spread faster than a speeding bullet gaining them newfound notoriety along with a flurry of cease-and-desist letters which EC Comics ignored entirely while proceeding full-speed-ahead raking most every aspect of popular culture over the coals! They shortened their name to just “MAD Comics” shortly thereafter and circulation quickly grew to over 3 quarters of a million copies! Let’s talk about ALFRED. I bet you’re wondering about MAD’s mascot Alfred E. Neuman right about now. How and when he appeared on the scene, and what his origins are. And THAT’S an interesting story all in itself! Harvey Kurtzman lifted the name Alfred Neuman from an old radio show and had been using it in EC Comics various publications as just sort of a fill-in name for random minor characters. One day while visiting the offices of a fellow publisher, Harvey saw a poster with a gap-toothed, moronic character that had been floating around for about 50 years or so in various print-ads and political campaigns. This poster had a caption that said “Me Worry?” on it. Harvey fell in love with it and MAD Comics began using this character but hadn’t applied a name to him. It was instead the FANS of MAD that started applying the moniker of Alfred E. Neuman to the character and the editors followed their lead. The character of Alfred was polished and perfected by MAD Magazine artist, Norman Mingo and has been the face of MAD ever since. Antonio Prohias, creator of Spy vs. Spy Now if I were to pick a MAD feature that’s almost as synonymous with the publication as Alfred E. Neuman, there is no doubt that I would have to put Spy vs. Spy at the top of that list. Spy vs. Spy was created by Antonio Prohias, a Cuban refugee who came to America in 1960 with dreams of being a cartoonist. He visited MAD headquarters with his spy drawings tucked under one arm and not knowing a word of English, had his daughter Marta act as his translator. The editors went MAD over his work and not only was he hired on the spot, he became a mainstay at MAD for decades to come. Al Jaffee, creator of the MAD Fold-In Al Jaffee created the MAD Fold-In and started producing them around 1963 and continued doing so for 56 years! He was inspired by pinup fold-outs of the time that some publications included in the center-fold. He decided to do the opposite and create fold-ins instead which basically required the reader to damage the magazine in order to see a hidden picture and message. Jaffee was also known for contributing such recurring themes as Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions amongst other satires until the year 2020 when he retired at 99 years old ! TROUBLE IN PARODY-ISE! MAD got in lots of trouble over the years too. Printing a middle finger on the cover, encouraging readers to apply for draft-dodging cards during war time and send extortion letters to the FBI drawing the ire of one J. Edgar Hoover. They even created a $3 bill with Alfred E. Neuman’s face which actually worked in some of the more basic change machi

Watch the video below! Listen to the podcast below! Hi! I’m Emma-Lou the Dandy Dog! I bet you’re wondering how a dog can write an article. It’s simple! I just use bark-to-type! Anyway, in this extra special installment of the Dandy Fun House we’re gonna pull out some new tricks, roll over and invite you into the DANDY DOG HOUSE instead where we’re going to explore the TOP TEN PUP-FRIENDLY ATTRACTIONS IN AMERICA! Sit! Stay! We’re going for a ride… INTO THE DANDY DOG HOUSE! This one took a lot of research to find attractions you can actually go through with your doggie that aren’t just a greenway, state park or garden of some sort. Not that we don’t love these things because there’s always lots to sniff, but most people have walking paths and greenways and state parks within an hour or two of where they live. And here at the Dandy Dog House, we explore the world of amusements not the world of nature trails! So it really took some digging to find the treats! So without further adieu, here is our TOP TEN LIST OF THE BEST DOG-FRIENDLY ATTRACTIONS IN AMERICA! #10 TWEETSIE RAILROAD, Blowing Rock, NC https://tweetsie.com This one just barely squeak-toyed into our top ten and almost didn’t make it at all because pups aren’t permitted on any of the transportation, dining areas, rides or even the zoo! BOO! BUT there ARE dog-friendly theatre shows, a really cool path where we can check out a bunch of old-timey trains and there’s even a Frisbee Dog Demonstration! Sounds like I could learn some new tricks! #9 ALLIGATORS UNLIMITED AIRBOAT TOURS, Lake Wales, FL http://www.mildtowildairboattours.com This place offers a thrilling airboat ride through the Florida Everglades! Doggies are allowed on a case-by-case basis, so if your dog just can’t resist jumping in for a swim, this might NOT be the best idea for you. We like to eat the treats! We don’t wanna BE the treats! #8 PIMA AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM – Tucson, AZ https://pimaair.org If your pup’s a real space-cadet, this could be the perfect day trip for you! This is one of the biggest air and space museums in the world with over 300 air and space craft including many with major historical signifigance! Leashed pets are welcomed in all public spaces except the restaurant and tram tour. #7 TALLAHASSEE AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM – Tallahassee, FL https://tacm.com If your doggie is like me and loves to go for a ride, you’ll love this Fido-Friendly museum with a great collection of over 130 classic muscle cars, movie cars, motorbikes (hopefully with doggie side cars) and other awesome antiquities! *** #6 HAS INFORMED US POST-PUBLICATION THAT OUR RESOURCE WAS INCORRECT AND THEY ACTUALLY DO NOT ALLOW DOGS! SORRY! *** #5 FLORIDA MANATEE ADVENTURES – Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, FL http://floridamanateeadventures.com If you’ve been thinking about going on a manatee or dolphin tour, good-dogs are welcome! Drinks and snacks are provided on your three hour tour! Three hour tour! #4 FANTASTIC CAVERNS RIDE-THROUGH CAVE TOUR, Springfield, MO https://fantasticcaverns.com This is almost a full-hour Jeep-drawn tram tour which takes you through the ancient underground riverbed where you can see all the amazing natural cave formations! Leashed pups are allowed to ride through the cavern and also into the building! #3 THE INTERNATIONAL UFO MUSEUM and RESEARCH CENTER, Roswell, NM https://www.roswellufomuseum.com If you believe the truth is out there and want to dig into it with your doggie, you and rover can go right over and be allowed inside the facility! Here you’ll learn in-depth information relating to the 1947 Roswell Incident and UFOs! And sorry, but I can’t resist here. It’s just a pet peeve of mine. The term UFO, doesn’t necessarily refer to aliens. It only means a flying object that hasn’t been identified. Next thing you know, people are going to start believing in article-writing dogs! #2 DINOSAUR WORLD – Cave City KY https://dinosaurworld.com/kentucky I took my family here a few years back and we had a bone-boomer of a time! We walked trails with lots of full-sized dinosaurs, dug for fossils and posed for fun pictures in some of the many awesome photo areas! I totally dug this place! #1 KNOEBELS AMUSEMENT RESORT – Elysburg, PA https://www.knoebels.com According to BringFido.com this free-admission theme park not only allows dogs into the park, but there are also a few gentle attractions like the train, vintage cars and even certain water attractions you can actually take your pooch onto! There are even dog-friendly dining areas! Two Paws waaaay up! Hold on! I’ve got one more for you! Here’s a BONE-US TIP! One fun thing we found while doing the research for this publication is that in almost every community we searched in, there were dog-friendly ghost tours where you can learn all about the spooky history and

watch video below! listen to the podcast below! In this episode, we’re going to explore the storied history of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus and break the story on its imminent comeback! Phineas Taylor Barnum, or as he’s better known… P.T. BARNUM! If you’ve seen The Greatest Showman, you already know it was an amazing movie! It was based on the life of the legendary P.T. Barnum and was about as entertaining as anything the man himself may have presented and unfortunately just about as accurate too. But it’s a very tall order to condense a life as storied as Barnum’s into just 2 hours and change. After all, he was a newspaper publisher, showman, politician, philanthropist and so much more. But most of all, he looked NOTHING like Hugh Jackman! Not a lot of people recall this about P.T., but he actually served two terms as a Republican in the Connecticut Legislature, most notably speaking in favor of the 13th amendment to the constitution abolishing slavery. Although he DID have the museum of oddities in New York when he was younger, P.T. Barnum didn’t actually get into the circus business until 1872 when at the age of 60 he teamed up with entrepreneurs Dan Castello and William Cameron Coup. Together they formed P.T. Barnum’s Great Traveling Exposition and World’s Fair which is believed to be the first circus to add a 2nd ring which doubled the number of simultaneous performances and increased seating capacity. They also made it into a train traveling show pioneering the model for the railroad circus. This allowed them to take their show to towns in the midwest who didn’t get nearly as many opportunities for this type of entertainment as towns on the coast. Remember those boxes of animal crackers with all those lions, tigers and bears on the train cars? P.T. partnered with circus business veteran James Bailey from the Cooper and Bailey Circus 10 years later in 1880. That’s right, PT Barnum was 70 years old when Barnum and Bailey’s circus, The Greatest Show On Earth was established with Barnum as the face of the show and Bailey as the businessman. Together, they added a 3rd ring to the (at the time) circus standard of 2 rings and created the enduring standard that we know today as the 3-ring circus! Ten years later at the age of 80, PT Barnum passed away from a stroke and James Bailey carried on with the circus they founded as well as taking on the management of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Who were the Ringling Brothers? The Ringling Brothers were the 7 sons of German harness-maker Heinrich Friedrich August Rüngeling and a French-descended lady named Marie Salome Juliar. In 1882, 4 of the brothers Albert, Otto, Alfred and John formed the Classic Comic Concert Company, a touring song-and-dance troupe. After 2 years on the road, they began adding circus entertainers to their show and launched the Ringling Brothers Circus on May 19th, 1884 in their hometown of Baraboo, Wisconsin. It was a slow building process for the first 4 years as a circus troupe, that is until 1888 when they got an elephant and business started to rampage! In 1890, they followed P.T. Barnum’s lead taking to the railways with their show and by 1900 they were one of Barnum and Bailey’s largest competitors helped along by their penchant for buying up other circuses like the Forepaugh-Sells Circus and upon James Bailey’s death in 1906, purchasing the Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1907. Thus the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus was born and were instantly the leading circus in all of America! In 1929, Ringling Brothers expanded their empire even further purchasing the American Circus Corporation bringing the total number of circus organizations operating under their control to 11. Their shows were massive for this time in history with a big top seating capacity of 10,000 people! The Ringling Brothers family continued their domination of the circus industry throughout the decades thrilling ladies, gentlemen and children of all ages until 1967 when it was purchased by Feld Entertainment, who own it to this day along with other shows such as Monster Jam, Disney on Ice and Marvel Live. Feld took the reigns and ran the circus like a well-oiled clown car including the Florida amusement park, Circus World which I actually had the pleasure to visit as a child and got stuck on a roller coaster that wouldn’t stop its first time back to the gate and I got to go an extra turn while my Mom freaked out! Beginning of the End At the turn of the millineum, animal rights groups began targeting the Ringling Brothers circus as they did incorporate Asian Elephants into their shows which were categorized as an endangered species. There was a lawsuit alleging violations of the endangered species act which was dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing, but the bad publicity still stung. In 2015, Feld Entertainment re

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW!   LISTEN TO THE PODCAST BELOW! RINGLING BROTHERS CIRCUS IS DEAD! … OR IS IT!??? Hello my favorite frivolitizers! ‘Tis I, Neil Dandy, host of the Dandy Fun House – the home of your favorite frivolities. And I’m sitting here doing a little research for my next episode which is going to be about the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus which as most people know, died in 2017. It was shut down, they lowered the big top and said “That’s it! It’s just too much overhead! Too expensive to run! Times have changed! Tastes have changed! Goodbye! Circus is part of history! We’re all done folks!” So, in my current phase of research, I was wanting to dive into the demise of the circus because I’m sort of at the end of putting that episode together. I get on the Ringling Brothers website which has all the indications of something that’s died because there’s not much there. You can sign up for a mailing list and also find links to their social media profiles which also haven’t been updated in many years. There is also a teeny-tiny unassuming text link to the Ringling Brothers online store. It’s so small that you really wouldn’t see it at all unless you were on a mission like mine where you are there scouring for any and all information you might be able to find. The store has a few hats, a few kids shirts, nothing at all under the link for men’s clothing but they DO have a nice selection of vintage show posters for sale which is pretty neat. But overall, hardly anything there like it’s been abandoned. You can almost feel the cobwebs on this website which saddened me to no end. Having not found anything on the official Ringling Brothers website, I then turn to their parent company’s website, Feld Entertainment. There were updates and press releases about all the various shows they currently produce such as Jurassic World Live, Sesame Street Live, Trolls Live, Disney on Ice, Marvel Universe and Monster Jam. Not a stitch about Ringling Brothers.   I click through the various navigational menu items to see if I could find something, ANYTHING AT ALL and finally come to the page for “Performer Auditions.” And what do you think I find as the very first option under performer auditions? That’s right! Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus! It was really just the logo itself along with the logos for all of Feld Entertainment’s various productions. I didn’t really know if I should think anything of it or not because it could have merely been a list of the various productions that they own and nothing more although it was curious to me that the only production of the bunch that had been shuttered was at the very top. So what the heck, I click on it and… MIND BLOWN! Clicking on that logo takes you to a page that says “RINGLING BROTHERS AND BARNUM AND BAILEY! THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH! LIVE AUDITIONS WORLD TOUR! BE OUR NEXT SUPERSTAR!” and lists locations all over the world where auditions are being held including: Paris France, Cape Town South Africa, Las Vegas USA, Buenos Aires Argentina, Moscow Russia, Ulaanbaatar Mongolia, Beijing China. There is a list of various performers being sought such as physical comedians, athletes, musicians (including beatboxers), street stunt performers, daredevils and various innovative acts. No mention of animal acts probably because animal rights groups protesting the circus are largely believed to be what started the beginning of the end ultimately leading to it’s closure in 2017. But the absence of animal acts is something that stuck out to me on this list The page appears modern and fresh, so I ASSUME it’s current and not just an old page they neglected to delete, but I don’t know this for sure because every other indication I’ve come across to this point has largely solidified the common knowledge that Ringling is dead, dead, dead! But there IS a button on this page for starting the audition process, so of course I click it. This link takes me to a pretty sterile page with a very unassuming Ringling logo and just below that in a somewhat smallish type font it says WORLDWIDE AUDITIONS 2022! Ok, NOW I’m getting excited, so what do I do? Well, I figure I owe it to you guys to get to the bottom of things, so I call the Feld Entertainment Corporate office and stay on hold for about 5 minutes before a recording comes on that allows me to leave a message, so I do leave a message requesting confirmation regarding the return of the Ringling Brothers circus and any other information they may be able to share with me. After that, I find a number for their marketing department and leave a message there as well as sending a general email to an address I found on the website. The very next day, just as I am working on publishing the video of my findings (and of course while my

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! In this installment of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to unpackage and taste test the iconic Stuckey’s Pecan Log Roll which I picked up from a roadside stand while driving through Alabama. You may be saying to yourself, what’s the big deal about some candied nut roll from the side of the road? Well… this particular pecan log roll is from the brand new batch in the brand new packaging from the brandly newly acquired factory from the brand new reorganization and revitalization efforts spearheaded by new CEO and granddaughter of W.S. Stuckey Senior himself, Stephanie Stuckey. We’re going to discuss the inspiring rise and the tragic fall of this chain of roadside stops that became part of Americana folklore with their tasty treats and kitschy, tacky, crazy souvenirs that would make your grandma blush and run straight to the safety of Cracker Barrel’s lobby. And of course we’re going to cover the underdog comeback fight currently being waged to bring this blast from the past back to its former glory. Ya feeling lucky Stuckey? Let’s step into the Fun House! Stuckey’s “was and is” a chain of roadside snack, convenience and souvenir stores mainly found throughout the United States Midwest and South with its headquarters located in Eastman, Georgia. Now why would I say “was and is?” Well, mainly because a large number of Stuckey’s locations you might have come across over the last decade or two have either been closed, abandoned, or if open; fallen under horrible neglect and disrepair. But that’s not the way it’s always been. In fact, in its heyday, Stuckey’s was that funky, fun joint your family might have stopped at while toodling down the highway to grandma’s house after playing car games like Punch Buggy, I Spy, or the License Plate Game because… no cell phones. Dad might have bought a toilet-shaped ashtray, your brother might have picked up a suction cup bow and arrow and tried to shoot you with it between the aisles and your sister might have gone gaga over a fairy disco roller skating doll while Mom was buying Pecan Divinity treats for everyone because… that’s what Moms do. Talk to anyone over the age of about 40 or 50 and they’re sure to have some fond memories of stopping at Stuckey’s for a bite to eat, something wacky tacky snacky, and gas to get em’ going way back in the day! Imagine it’s the early 1930’s in the farming and timber town of Eastman, Georgia. W.S. “Sylvester” Stuckey Sr. is enjoying a bumper crop of pecans harvested from his family’s orchard. He borrows $35 from his grandma to buy some of the family harvest and sets up a lean-to roadside stand to sell pecans to Florida-bound tourists on Route 23 and makes a tidy little profit in the process. Clever business man that he is, he keeps the ball rolling, opening more stands along more routes while Ethel his wife whips up batches of treats like Pecan Divinity and of course the Stuckey’s Pecan Log Roll. The first official Stuckey’s store was built in 1937 which added a restaurant, novelty shop, gas pumps and finally that trademark blue roof! Now Stuckey’s no dummy. He’s got FOMO figured out long before it becomes an acronym (fear of missing out). He knows customers will come if they think others are already there. So what does he do? He has employees bring their cars and park them out front so they always look busy! Expansion continues until World War II and a brief decline due to sugar rationing. But after the war ends, Stuckey’s restarts like a rocket. Franchising and building a candy factory to supply their now over 350 locations! They also buy their own trucking and sign companies so they can stick their billboards right between the Coppertone Kid with the pants-pulling pooch and See Ruby Falls! 1964, Stuckey’s merges with Pet, Incorporated, makers of evaporated milk and other foodstuffs. Under this new ownership and eventual takeover by a Chicago conglomerate, locations unfortunately dwindle to less than 75 before the Stuckey’s brand is repurchased in 1985 and brought back into the family by W.S. “Billy” Stuckey Jr. who introduces “Stuckey’s Express – a store within a store” which is basically a stand of products placed inside various non-Stuckey’s stores where they license space. A third-party contractor is brought in to run the candy plant and this restructuring breathes new life into the company bringing Stuckey’s Express into 175 locations. Fast forward to the recession of 2009. Stuckey’s gets hit hard by the economy and the candy plant closes although their goods continue to be manufactured by outside vendors. During this time, many of the legacy locations of Stuckey’s had also slowly been falling into neglect, disrepair and abandonment altogether. It’s a bad decade to be a Stuckey. UNTIL… 2019. A spark of hope flickers when the granddaughter of founder W.S. Stuckey Sr., Stephanie Stuckey sinks her life savings and purchases the remnants of the family business. 10 mon

watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! In this installment of the Dandy Fun House, instead of coming to you from our usual haunts of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, we figured we’d go inster-state-ular to the great state of Florida! We’re taking a family day-trip to Busch Gardens Tampa and you’re invited! Come on and step into the FUN HOUSE! We begin our day by checking out of our plush accommodations at Motel 6 just a few clicks north of Tampa. M6 is our go-to (always read the online reviews first though because they’re not all the same!) because we always travel with our Dandy Dog, Emma-Lou! Motel 6 is the one budget motel chain we never have to worry about being dog-friendly or being up-charged for bringing her. But keep in mind, some of them do hold a $50 deposit on your credit card until the room is inspected for damage afterwards. On this trip (which was actually a week long), we did spend one night in a M6 in Birmingham, Alabama (coliseum location) which demanded a $50 CASH pet deposit which we weren’t informed of prior! Thankfully I had it on me from a cash tip I received after DJ-ing a wedding the night before we embarked. This is not the typical standard and a letter to corporate ensued and they responded that this is certainly not their policy. So all this to say, read the reviews before booking, especially when traveling with Fido! Anyway, once we arrived at Busch Gardens and paid our $30 for parking, we set about to find the tram from the parking lot to the park itself and also the onsite kennel. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the pet boarding is located right next to the tram boarding location which we found very convenient. The kennel is all indoors and air conditioned. It was clean and not only were the people working there extremely polite, but several of the kennel staff came out personally to meet our doggie and introduce themselves. I have NEVER experienced customer service on that level before in my life! And the kennel was only $25 for the day! What a great deal! We then make our way to the tram and they waved us right on (because we had already stood in line with the pooch before we discovered where the pet boarding was!). A short jaunt to the park entrance and there we were. We start making our way toward the gates, passing what we thought was the line to buy tickets only to discover that the line we were passing was the line to enter! We go to the back of the line which unfortunately was stretched all the way back to the tram drop-off spot. There was nobody directing the crowd at first, but then the guy who helped us at the tram boarding by the kennel showed up and started corralling people the proper way and all was good. From there, it took about 20 minutes to get into the park. Once inside, we discovered the park map which showed it being laid out in a loop which is a great and efficient design. We could go right or left. We chose left and immediately found ourselves in an area where everything started with the word “Gwazi” so I figured we were in Gwazi-land or something like that. We got to see a new roller coaster being built and expected to open in 2022 called the IRON GWAZI and it looked like an absolute beast! Something for coaster enthusiasts to get excited about! Exotic locations of the world are what this park is mainly themed around. Africa, South America and parts of Asia, but mostly Africa from what I could tell. Christmas Town closed gates! Cheetah Hunt closed for renovations Because this was Thanksgiving week, they had their holiday decorations going full blast and even had a section of the park called CHRISTMAS TOWN. We came upon the gates of Christmas Town Village but unfortunately, they were closed. In fact, a lot of things were closed I’m sad to say. There are always a few things closed for maintenance at most any park and that is to be expected. Upon entrance, it was posted that the sky cars which transport people over the park would be closed along with the iconic Cheetah Hunt roller coaster with the corkscrew looping track that has been a mainstay attraction for decades. Also one other coaster was posted as being closed, but that’s not what I’m talking about. MANY of the more mid-range rides were closed. But thankfully for us, the things that were closed weren’t really anything we were that interested in anyway. It was just hard not to notice. Along with many rides being closed, many eateries were also closed causing the lines for the ones that were open to have extremely long wait times. I’m not referring to any actual sit-down restaurants, I’m talking about the ones where you just walk up and order a sandwich to eat at a picnic table. The wait for just those were about an hour! Thus we decided to skip lunch in the park and instead plan on a good dinner afterwards while being thankful we stopped for McMuffins on the way to the park! Thankfully, just about

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! Today we’re going to explore the legendary origins and history of Kenner Toys, the company behind… Baby Alive, Banjo-Matic, Batman, Beetlejuice, Care Bears, Cassette Movie Projector, Close and Play Record Player, Easy Bake Oven, Ghostbusters, GI Joe Extreme, Hardy Boys, Hugo Man of a Thousand Faces, Jurassic Park, Knight Rider, Play-Doh, Predator, Raiders of the Lost Ark, RoboCop, Six Million Dollar Man, Spirograph, Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake, Stretch Armstrong, Terminator Transformers and many, many more! If there was a popular movie or TV show back in the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s there’s a good chance Kenner was crankin’ out a line of toys for it! But their history goes back farther than that. (echo voice) MUCH FARTHEEEEEERRRRRR!——- (scooby doo diddly doo wavy time travel transition) LET’S GO BACK TO THE 1940’s! Kenner Products was founded in 1946 by 3 brothers, Phillip Joseph and Albert Steiner along with Albert’s son Robert in Cincinnati, Ohio in an office located on KENNER STREET! Their company actually started out as an extract, soap and flavoring business. Every foul-mouthed kid around the world owes a debt of gratitude to the Steiner family for without whom, there would be no flavor at all while their mouths are being washed out with soap! Ask me how I know! Kenner Products’ very first toy was released in 1947; the Bubbl-Matic Bubble Gun which was an aluminum bubble-shooting gun designed by Albert Steiner who became inspired by watching children play with bubble wands (presumably after their little foul mouths had been washed out with soap!) He consulted with a beverage-chemist who explained how the bubbles were made then threw himself into the design lab until he eventually emerged with the perfect gateway firearm for children. The Bubbl-Matic Bubble Gun! Seeing as how the new bubble gun was a natural fit to accompany their line of soap products, Joseph Steiner, head of sales and marketing, took the Bubbl-Matic Bubble Gun under his wing and proceeded to fly throughout America and Europe touting it internationally. THE FIFTIES! The most notable moments in history for Kenner in the 1950’s would be … 1957: Kenner releases their Girder and Panel Building sets which they become synonymous with for almost 2 decades. 1958: Kenner becomes the first toy company to run national television advertising and becomes one of the first sponsors of the Captain Kangaroo Show! THE SIXTIES! Hey man, in the early 60’s Kenner created and introduced it’s corporate mascot, the Gooney Bird! 1963: Kenner brought us some brownies by giving birth to the legendary Easy Bake Oven which they acquired the licensing rights from inventor Ronald Howes. Raise your hand if you’ve ever eaten a tiny chocolate cake cooked by a light bulb! 1966: Kenner reimagined a set of psychedelic architectural design tools and gave us the Spirograph which was invented by Denys Fischer whom Joseph Steiner met during one of his many trips to merry old England. Kenner ended up purchasing the licensing rights and teamed up once again with Ronald Howes to further refine the concept before spinning the Spirograph into homes across the globe! 1967: Kenner’s awesomeness gets noticed and they get bought out by the man! General Mills purchases Kenner and grows them to become the world’s 4th largest toy company and brings Play-Doh into the Kenner line of toys along with the Close and Play Phonograph which finally made it safe for young children and spaced-out hippies to play records! THE 70’s! 1971: The founders of Kenner, the Steiner Brothers retire as extremely wealthy men and proceed to live out their days at Studio 54!? Or maybe they just paraded around with top hats, monocles and diamond-encrusted walking sticks just because they could! Who knows what they did!? They were rich baby! 1974: Kenner also retires the Gooney Bird. Who loves ya Gooney!? Not Kenner! 1976: Kenner purchases the licensing rights for the initial line of toys for Star Wars for only $25k and 5% royalties making it one of the most lucrative deals in toy business history and this helps propel Kenner’s annual revenue to over $200 million in sales! In addition to Star Wars, during this time period they also produced the toys for the Six Million Dollar Man TV show which goes down in history as the world’s first successful license for a toy line based on a television show! Also during this time, Kenner Products makes the decision to move from their headquarters on Kenner Street in Cincinnati and into their new headquarters on Vine Street in Cincinnati as well as relocating their manufacturing to Tijuana, Mexico. THE 80’s 1984: Kenner produces the Super Powers Collection of DC Comics superhero characters! 1987: Kenner is purchased by… Tonka??? The big yellow toy dump trucks and tractors company? Hu

watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! It’s that time again folks! Wanna check out the Halloween Spirit Store with me and see what’s new for 2021!? Let’s do this! I got a wild hair on a Saturday as I tend to do and decided to drag the bodies of my wife and son to our local Halloween Spirit Store in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and do sort of an undercover investigation! As soon as we enter we are greeted by a life-sized animatronic Beetlejuice! A oldie but a goodie! And right next to him, it’s a life-sized animatronic creepy clown wielding a giant hammer. We made our way past the obligatory Pennywise mask and came across an entire section dedicated to DJ Marshmello, (apparently just going by Marshmello these days)! What a cool surprise. Treat bags, body suits and of course the Marshmello head. They even had a green Dias De Los Muertos version of the Marshmello head. And speaking of Dias De Los Muertos, there was a dedicated section just for that as well including facial appliques and beautiful female and male masks. Fortnite gets a lot of love this year as well along with their own dedicated section. Bananas, burgers, bulldogs and weapons oh my! And weapons? Yep! We’ve got weapons! A medieval mace with a spiked skull for the business end? You’ve got it! A knife with brass knuckles for the handle that actually looks real and might get you in lots of unintended trouble? Booyah! Baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire? Time for some melon ball! A ketchup-spattered circular saw blade club!? Better keep the Tylenol handy! Inflatable costumes are still in style this year too! Wanna be a wacky wavy inflatable arm waving tube man? Ride a bull? Ride an ostrich? Ride a dragon or go for the gusto and just run around as a giant inflatable Chicken!? Girl I Gotchoo… I couldn’t resist trying on a full banana head piece. After all I’m a banana! I’m a banana! I’m a banana! Stop! Look at me! Meanwhile, my 12-year old son Evan is running around the store completely unsupervised and bringing me the most disturbing items he can find. Like these two severed heads sewn together back-to-back, a baby’s decapitated noggin on the end of a stick, and a bit later I turned down an aisle to find him cradling a very bluish infant with vampire teeth. I think I’ll sleep with one eye open tonight… I did notice that the devil was relegated to just an end-cap this year which was nice to see. Beezelbub’s popularity waning, at least here in the bible belt! Moving along I come to the t-shirt collection with lots of new designs in the vein of classic children’s books such as Let’s Sacrifice Toby, Easy Bake Coven, Let’s Summon Demons, and of course… My First Knife Fight, Scooby Doo and the whole Mystery Machine gang gets mad respect this year with some well-deserved updated costume designs. Zikeys! Rick and Morty fans won’t be disappointed either. Spirit Store’s got you covered! You thought steam punk was just a passing fad? Think again! Steamy punkers have a lot to be excited about this year with jackets, hats, glasses and doo-dads galore! The dark-side of the Bayou gets a special nod this year with an end cap full of dark magic outfits and accessories straight from the swamplands! And of course there is a costume section paying homage to the various trades that keep our lives humming along such as mechanical, plumbing, farming and folks that work with their hands. RESPECT! Right next to that we come to the wacky hat section. Avocado and Beer Mug headwear, bamboo hats, cactus, flamingoes and a whole lot more. And what pleasantly struck me was that for the more normal types of headwear, the prices didn’t seem all jacked up for the holidays. There were actually a few hats I might be interested in picking up myself once the clearance sale hits! A whole-head latex mask of Iron Maiden’s mascot, Eddie from the Piece of Mind era wearing a military helmet! The Trooper, baby! Did I try it on? Oh, you’d better believe it! Fans of The Purge will be pleased this year as there is a special area set aside just to make you happy too! As we make our way towards the exit (and our impending lunch), I couldn’t help but admire a hungry baby gleefully getting his fill of black spiders. I tipped my own hat to the nice lady working the door and bid a fond farewell to our local Spirit Store! Reflecting on our visit, I’m going to have to say that my personal favorite trend of this year would have to be steam punk. So many cool hats, glasses, jackets and crazy accessories not to mention the retro angle of it all! Alright, well after our family visit to the Spirit Store and a spider-free lunch, the family and I decided to pop into our favorite independent local theater, Premiere 6 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee to check out the new Venom movie, Let There Be Carnage. And while the Dandy Fun House isn’t necessarily a movie review platform, it’s also not NOT a movie review platform, so what the heck, let’s do this thing! First off, I absolutely loved the fir

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW!   LISTEN TO THE PODCAST BELOW! I hope you’re strapped in because today we’re going to get into the nuts and bolts of one of the most enduring action-packed games with over 50 years of metal skull-punching mayhem! I’m talking about none other than ROCK EM SOCK EM ROBOTS! And I did procure the 2021 version by Mattel Games just for this review. Now if you’ll harken back to episode 9 of the Dandy Fun House you can enjoy my unboxing of this little slice of awesomeness along with my ham-handed attempt at assembling this without referring to the instructions because I’m a guy and that’s what we do. I DID eventually get it assembled and working, so in this installment, we’re going to learn the interesting history and backstory of Rock Em’ Sock Em’ Robots (some of it very dark and macabre!), look at some of the changes it’s gone through over the years including some interesting versions and fantastic failures. I’ll also announce some late-breaking news about Rock Em Sock Em Robots that will knock your block off and then we’re going to top it all off with a best-of-3 round death match to see who will be crowned the Dandy Fun House Rock Em Sock Em Robots Champion of 2021! Let’s get ready to crunch metal! ding ding! err… plastic metal! WHAT IT IS: While I’d like to assume that everybody under the sun already knows what Rock Em Sock Em Robots is, for anyone who maybe just arrived from the planet Zoltor I’ll quickly explain. This is a boxing game between 2 players who control 2 boxing robots, the Blue Bomber and the Red Rocker (hello Sammy Hagar!). The object is to land a direct chin blow on your opponent’s robot which pops his head back and up off of his neck and shoulders, effectively “knocking his block off!” It’s just that simple, that awesome, that classic. HISTORY: Rock Em Sock Em Robots was designed by Marvin Glass and Associates who were founded in 1941 and are also the designers of such classic toys and games as the James Bond 007 toys of the 60’s, Lite Brite, Inchworm, Super Sunday Football, Ricochet Racers, Mousetrap, Ants in the Pants, Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle (which we have done an episode on), Smash Up Derby, Hugo Man of A Thousand Faces (which is really weird and I personally owned as a child which might explain a few things), Mystery Date, SIMON, and Don’t Blow Your Top along with many, many, MANY others! Their very first licensed product was the Yakitty-Yak Talking Teeth which was produced and distributed through the H. Fishlove Company. Marvin Glass and Associates existed until 1988 designing toys most notably for Fisher Price, Hasbro, Ideal, Kenner, Matchbox, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers and of course Marx Toys, who in 1964 unleashed Rock Em Sock Em Robots upon our humble planet! Marvin Glass himself passed away in 1974 and was succeeded by CEO Anson Issacson whom along with two other company employees were shot and killed at the company’s offices in Chicago by a highly disturbed 33 year old employee named Al Keller who had been working at the company for 4 years as a toy designer. Keller ultimately turned the gun on himself and no motive was ever established. Anyway, let’s get back to our star of the show. Rock Em Sock Em Robots (according to Wikipedia) was inspired by boxing games people would play in the arcades of that era. Marvin Glass had actually cancelled the development of this boxing toy in 1963 due to a notable boxer named Davey Moore dying in the ring, fearing it would be in bad taste. Marvin’s partner, Burt Meyer didn’t want to give up on their boxing toy project and came up with the idea of dehumanizing the boxers by making them into robots that fall apart rather than people who fall over. And thus, Rock Em Sock Em Robots as we still know it today, was born! It was produced by Marx Toys and was sold for over a decade virtually unchanged until 1977 when Star Wars became all the craze, so they gave it a space-themed makeover for a while. In 2000, Mattel Games took over production and still produces it to this day. VERSIONS: As you might imagine with this toy coming up on 60 years in existence, there have been a lot of different versions including ones where the figures aren’t even in a boxing ring but standing on their own platforms. I particularly love the Batman vs. Superman version. There are also miniature discount store versions where the heads just sort of flop backwards. In the 1970’s, it was sold in the U.K. under the name “Raving Bonkers.” Other notable versions have been a Transformers version featuring Megatron vs. Optimus Prime. There have also been some video game versions produced but none of them were either designed very well nor were they very popular, so that’s about as far as I’ll go down that road today. DEATH MATCH! How could I do a full review of this iconic toy without hol

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW! LISTEN TO THE PODCAST BELOW! In today’s adventure, I figured I would do an unboxing and assembly of a classic action toy that started in the 60’s but is still selling strong today. It’s one from my childhood and perhaps from yours too. I’m talking about none other than the bang em’ up, clang em’ up action of Rock Em Sock Em Robots 2021! I won’t be doing a full-on review here, just an unboxing and my ham-handed attempt at assembly without reading the instructions! BUYING MY ROBOTS: I started by ordering online from Walmart for a pick up, so as to avoid shipping charges. I immediately hit a snag when the Walmart I ordered from promptly canceled my order about 30 minutes after processing it and didn’t give an explanation, just that they needed to cancel and offered their apologies. This despite there being 4 Walmarts in the town I live in, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I then placed my order online once again, this time simply choosing a different store for pickup that was about an equal distance from my home. This one went through, I began my day by pulling up in front of the store and a nice man in an orange vest brought it straight out to my emasculating minivan. Thus I had my prize and was so excited that I took a selfie with it and posted it absolutely everywhere. And this selfie is indeed the thumbnail for the installment of the Dandy Fun House you are hopefully enjoying right at this very moment. One final complaint about my Walmart Pick Up experience was that they stuck the pick up label directly to the box which was not shrink wrapped. The not being shrink wrapped part doesn’t bother me, but now if I want a nice, pristine box for showing off, I have an unwanted project on my hands of trying to figure out how to remove this label without damaging the box. (insert sad face here). In my opinion, Walmart could improve their online ordering and pick up process by simply offering a different pick up location instead of outright canceling the order should the initially-chosen location be out of stock. But I digress. Let’s move on to the packaging! THE OUTER PACKAGING: The toy is still to this day, produced by Mattel. So I’m guessing the sales of this product over the years has been strong enough to keep as a forefront item rather than licensing to a 3rd party to market as a niche throwback. Which is nice to see. Looking at the box, it is obvious that they are attempting to evoke nostalgia with subdued colors, a matte finish to the box, what I can best describe as very simplified vintage-style graphics and even the picture of the two kids playing with the toy is in black and white with the exception of the toy itself which they did colorize. The main picture is 2 giant fighting robots! What could possibly be better than that!? It’s obvious that they really went out of their way to keep this thing looking retro, probably to market to adults like me desperately clinging to their pasts. The sides have the logo for the product, a smaller version of the main fighting robot graphic and the text which says “Knock His Block Off!” So it’s safe to assume that both robots are still male. On the back of the box, the pictures are more vibrant and less throwback showing how to play the game by using your own robot to punch the other robot in the face via thumb controllers until you dislodge your opponent’s head from his shoulders which just means that the head pops up. To continue, you just pop the head back down and keep fighting. You have a red robot (The Rugged Red Rocker) and a blue robot (The Bruisin’ Blue Bomber) and apparently, the red one is the defending champion and the blue is the challenger. UNBOXING THE BOXERS! : The first thing that struck me as I opened the box and emptied the contents was that there was absolutely nothing individually wrapped. No extra cellophane bags of items. No inner boxes. No padding and no space fillers. You basically just open the box and dump everything out on the table. I think this is great. Every piece is large and there’s nothing small to keep track of and worry about losing. And the fact that this is indeed a game of violent contact means that all the components are durable and don’t require any gentle handling which is also very nice. ASSEMBLY: The very first thing I did was to pick up the small paper assembly instructions and set them aside without reading them at all because… I’m a guy and that’s what we do! Then I set the boxing ring upright and of course immediately checked out the fighters who both felt very solid. More solid than I remember them from my childhood (IF I’m remembering correctly) which was also great to see. I then tested them to see how they get their blocks knocked off, which is with a direct blow to the chin and both heads did indeed pop up and away from their shoulders. I’m not sure if my childh