This Is Rad!

Author, father, groovy guy. Has come to us from Nebraska sky. And thus we three, a podcast had. Mike Bockoven talks Vincent Price on This Is Rad!   This week we welcome FantasticLand author Mike Bockoven to the podcast. As anyone listening in the last few months know, Mike's book FantasticLand is one of Kyle's new favorite books. Mike was in SoCal for a wedding and we were lucky enough to convince him to come hang with us. We talk plenty about Mike's awesome book including where the idea came from and the process of getting it written while balancing a job and a family (super inspiring stuff!) plus Mike also celebrates the illustrious career of Vincent Price. You'll learn a ton of stuff about the iconic actor that you might not have known. It's an interesting guy coming on to talk about another interesting guy. Plus we answer listener questions about both Vincent Price's career along with some fun questions about Mike's book. If you haven't checked out FantasticLand you owe it to yourself to give it a read. P

Rad me with a spoon! This week, Kyle and Matthew welcome comedian and musician Lisette Alvarez to chat about the wild world of teen movies. From the early days of delinquent films in the 40's and 50's through the genre's golden age in the 80's and 90's the trio break down some of their favorite movies and break down what elements you need to make a classic teen movie. The conversation of course breaks down and everybody goes on a tangent or two about their own experiences in high school. Lisette shares what it was like to be a teen in Miami, Florida. Plus they continue the running dialogue on This Is Rad about indoor versus outdoor high schools. It's a pretty grand adventure into the world of hormones, romantic yearnings, and sweet parties. So grab your poetry notebook, record a mixtape riddled with romantic intrigue, and transport yourself back to those heady days of high school for a festive journey into one of the once great worlds of genre cinema!   Weekly Rads:   Kyle – All At Once by The Screaming Femal

200 Episodes! Hello everyone and welcome to this very special episode of This Is Rad! Today we celebrate 200 episodes! 4(-ish) years of podcast radness! To mark the occasion Kyle, Matthew, and Laura sat down to chat about life and reminisce a little about the past four years. Plus, we have a very special guest for the episode. Back in November Kyle had the opportunity to chat with the founder of Troma Entertainment, Lloyd Kaufman. Lloyd is one of Kyle's heroes and it was a pretty surreal experience to get to have an extended conversation with one of the people that influenced the direction of his life. It's a fun chat. Troma's latest film Return to Nuke 'Em High part 2 is out March 8th. Go support some true independent cinema and check it out. Also, from the bottom of all of our hearts, thank you so much to everyone who listens to the show, tweets at us, or has ever supported the show. We constantly talk about how lucky we feel to have such cool listeners who share our sense of goofy enthusiasm for all things

Rad to the hills! Rad for your life! This week Kyle and Matthew are joined by comedian Nat Baimel and musician( and Kyle's former roommate) Eric Bryan for a chat about one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time Iron Maiden. Everyone talks about their first exposure to Maiden and they gives a few tips on how to approach the band's daunting discography. They explore the unspoken rivalry between Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and the ways in which the two bands vary in their exploration of heavy metal. Plus, this episode features one of the silliest intros the show has had in a while. Crank the volume, cut the sleeves off your t-shirt, and come hang out with four guys quietly sitting in a recording studio talking about bands! Also, check out Nat's new album “Be Nice” out February 23rd!   Weekly Rads: Kyle: Night of the Living Dead (Criterion Edition Bluray) Matthew: Dirty Money and The Naked Truth (documentaries) Nat: Mega Man competitive speed run videos Eric: Xtro (movie) plus Sonic pregnancy fan art

Who let the rads out? Who? Who? Who!? This week Kyle and Laura are joined by hilarious Las Vegas comics Jozalyn Sharp and Tyler Jolley to discuss man's best friend. We talk dogs. We talk about em a lot. Because we love them. We talk about our experiences with our own pets and tell some pretty great stories about dogs being dogs. Plus we chat about dogs in movies and answer listener questions about our for legged friends. Time was limited but there will DEFINITELY be a sequel episode one day. But in the meantime, grab a fuzzy buddy, snuggle up, and enjoy! Also, Kyle and Burnside are reunited for the first time in a month on the intro!   Weekly Rads: Burnside: Overwatch League Kyle: Jack in the Box's food truck menu and the new line of flavored Diet Cokes

When a problem comes along, you must... sit down and have an in depth conversation about Devo. This week Kyle sits down with his best friend Jarrod Gilbreath to discuss Jarrod's favorite band, the one and only Devo. They go album by album exploring the development of the band. They talk about the trend in the late 70's of art collectives that accidentally turned into rock bands. Plus they explore the world of music videos before music videos were a thing. It's a fun episode and hopefully it encourages you to check out some deeper Devo cuts, they were waaaaaaaay more than just a one hit wonder band.   Weekly Rads: Kyle: Madman and The Atomics (comic) Laura: Blue Planet 2 (show)

School is in session and todays lesson: Radness. This week Kyle and Burnside sit down with Kyle's cousin Drew Donnelly who is a high school physics teacher. While he has the most experience, both Kyle and Matthew has spent time in the teaching trenches and each of them have some pretty amazing stories to share. They discuss using snark in the classroom as a tool to fight mean teenagers. Drew recounts some insane stories of student pranks. Seriously some of his former students really redefined what it means to mess with a teacher. But for those who shudder at the idea of going back to school, fear not! Drew is one of the people who hipped Kyle to a million nerdy things and the boys go on a pretty sweet side tangent about PC gaming. Enjoy this supersized episode and thanks for listening!   Weekly Rads: Kyle: What Nerve: Alternative Figures in American Art 1960 – the Present (book) Laura: A Futile and Stupid Gesture (movie)

It's time to d-d-d-d-duel! This week we have Connor McSpadden of the Mean Boys podcast and LA comic Atlas Novack for a chat about the insane world of Yu-Gi-Oh! Both boys spent the bulk of their teen years playing this collectible card game and them attempt to explain it to Kyle and Burnside. Burnside has a little bit of advantage as he has spent some time playing the Pokemon card game (along with a now in recovery Hearthstone addiction), while Kyle is wholly ignorant to this sector of the nerd world. And man do the boys get deep. They discuss the mechanics of the game, the mythology of the show, and give their own personal insights into the idea of living in a world built around card dueling. If you are a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh!, you are going to have a good time with this episode. If you have no idea what is going on, there are some pretty sweet riffs to be had. If you've ever wondered if Connor has dreams of opening a real world duelers island out in international waters, you'll get your answer inside!   (Brief Wa

Porgs, space race horses, and a planet made of meat. Rad returns for our yearly Star Wars state of the union with our resident Star Wars experts Klee Wiggins and Ed Greer. For our fourth installment the gang have gathered together a little over a month after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi for a round table discussion of what they loved, what they hated, and everything in between. SPOILER ALERT: if you have not seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi you might want to duck out on this. But for real, if you haven't seen it yet and you're still worried about spoilers maybe you're working too much. It's been over a month and you only needed like 3 free hours somewhere along the line. Go see it if it means that much to you, and then come join this party. The gang break down this polarizing edition to the Star Wars cannon. There are also some pretty sweet riffs. Klee and Ed are always favorite guests and this episode is no exception.   Weekly Rads: Kyle: Coco/My Winnipeg (movies) Matt: Travel Man (show) Laura: Addic

You cannot be told what is rad. You must be shown. This week on the show we have comedian Ken Garr discussing the films and general radness of Keanu Reeves. They work through the classics like Point Break and Speed along with a few of their personal favorites that you might not be as familiar with. Ken and Kyle also talk about their odd friendship, for two guys who live in the same city they only ever seem to see each other at gigs out of town. Speaking of out of town, you get some fun bonus guests on the intro this week, Kyle has been doing a few dates out of town with Keith Carey and Nicole Becannon and has been pretty much sick the entire time. He'd like to thank Dave Apkarian for being a saint while the three of them crash at his place. Burnside and Laura will be back next week and they send their love!   No weekly rads this week due to illness. Unless you wanna count “not vomiting” as a weekly rad.

Seriously rad Steven Universe episode... ACTIVATE! This week Kyle and Laura hold down hosting duty as they welcome the truly delightful Kyle Shire. That's right, Laura gets to deal with two times the Kyle as they break down the Cartoon Network show Steven Universe. Kyle (our Kyle) has seen the show but does not have the deep deep knowledge that Laura and Kyle (guest Kyle) have. And boy does he get an education. The show is amazing and shows a whole new generation of people making shows for kids just how smart and progressive kids TV can be. They discuss the deep lore of the show and explore some of the cool ways that the show plays with fantasy storytelling as a way to spread messages of love and acceptance. They also answer a bunch of listener tweets because it turns out you guys have some thoughts on the show. It gets deep. Laura really shines in this one. A super fun way to kick off a new year of podcasts!   Weekly Rads: (with Bonus guests Connor McSpadden and Atlas Novack) Kyle: Paperbacks from Hell by Gr

As 2017 draws to a close, the gang meet up and Burnside and Laura's house to reflect on the past year. Now, before you run away screaming, we did a pretty good job of trying to find plenty of good that happened this year in and amongst some of the crappier parts of the year. We chat about movies, we let Burnside really go nuts talking about games (after all, this might be one of the best years for video games ever), we chat about some music we really liked this year, and Kyle shamelessly plugs “FantasticLand” again. Plus, everybody talks about how they have grown as people and how the podcast has been evolving along with those changes. But not matter what changes, just know that This Is Rad is gonna be right here every week with more rad stuff and rad people. We would also like to take a quick moment to thank everyone who listens to the show. When we started we had no idea if anyone would ever listen to the show and we honestly believe we have the coolest listeners in all of podcastland. You are all truly rad

Beer. Billiards. Rad. This week on the show Kyle and Burnside sit down with comedian Doug Fager to break down what makes a good dive bar. In the process they go on a pretty sweet side tangent about Doug's yearly Nightmoon party. It gets weird and Matthew and Laura are definitely going to have to join Kyle and Doug next year. The gang discuss the proper music and décor for a dive bar. They share stories from some of their past haunts. Kyle recounts the year he spent as a townie secretly dreaming of a life in comedy. Burnside tells some war stories from Ohio. Also Burnside is able to work in some Overwatch commentary in. Laura is also hanging out and has some pretty sweet party stories. As the cold and the stress of the hoidays reach their hight, grab a beverage of your choice and come hang out where everyone knows your name... As long as you tell it to us first. Otherwise how would we know? Come on, be reasonable. What? I'm still typing?! Weekly Rads: Laura: Steven Universe (TV Show) Kyle: Letterkenny (Canadia

I'd like to teach the world to rad, in perfect harmony. On today's show we are chatting with Greg Smith and Bridgid Ryan about the fizzy and delicious world of soda. Bridgid and Greg worked on Shudder's new series The Core with Kyle and the discuss the importance of lunch in a writers room. The group reminisce about their early experiences with soda. They also look back fondly at sodas that are no longer with us (RIP Fruitopia...). They break down the variations on Mountain Dew. They discuss the merits of Faygo. Kyle goes on a rant about the CocaCola museum in Atlanta. Plus you get some pretty interesting side tangents about social media and the concept of late capitalism. Yeah, it gets weird, but its also a lot of fun! So grab your favorite carbonated beverage, sit back, and enjoy!   Weekly Rads: Kyle: I, Tonya (movie) Laura: FoodStuff (podcast)

Feel the Rad-thym! This week Kyle and Matthew travel to the exotic land of Marina del Rey to chat with comedian/playwright/salsa dancer Solange Castro. Kyle has known Solange for years through comedy and got super excited when she showed him her youtube series where she teaches comedians how to Salsa dance. They chat about Solange's history with Salsa dancing and how something can go from a curiosity to a lifestyle based on your willingness to try. Solange gives the boys an education into what makes Salsa different from other Latin American dances and also explains that within Salsa there are a ton of style variations. Plus you get some great talk about jazz music, meditation, and the state of social media. A delightful episode. Plus: after they recorded this episode, they filmed an episode of Solange's web series. Click the link below if you want to watch Kyle and Matthew get taught some basic salsa steps. Also, Kyle is so tall he doesn't fit on camera for a large portion of the video. It's pretty great.   V

What happens when five podcasters stop being polite and start being real? They talk about the Real World (and Road Rules!). This week on the show Kyle and Burnside have an all-star line up featuring Becky Joiner, Julia Prescott, and Tom Seiniger to chat about two of the seminal shows in creating the world of reality television. In the process, they unwittingly open the floodgates for their guests to gab about their favorite reality shows in general. It turns out, The Bachelor is a very popular show and Tom, Becky, and Julia have some strong opinions. But there's still plenty of on topic discussion. Kyle and Julia chat about their love of The Real World: New Orleans and Road Rules: Latin America. Becky breaks down the modern MTV landscape and her love of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge spin off. They also chart the evolution of reality show personalities and the ways in which the format has evolved for better and for worse. They chat about how the show colored their ideas of culture and everybody feels old

Welcome to Rad-burger, home of the rad-burger. Can I take your order? This week we have another full house as Kyle, Burnside, and Laura are joined by perenial show favorites Monika Scott and Tom Seiniger to talk about the great American culinary marvel: The Burger. They talk about what makes a good home made burger. They explore the highs and lows of fancy restaurant burgers. And they dig into the labyrinthine topic of fast fast food burgers. Plus, like any good rad episode, there are some truly insane side tangents. Tom might have found the perfect name for his future podcast. Monika gets really graphic describing molten cheese. And we learn a few things about Matthew Burnside's culinary creations. If you can finish this episode without desiring some kind of burger afterwards, you have a lot more emotional fortitude than we did.   Also! We have an instagram! Follow us @thisisradpodcast   Weekly Rads: Kyle: Guppy by Charly Bliss (band) Laura: Marveloous Miss Masel (spelling) (TV Show) Monika: Deadwood (TV Sho

Body mod y'all. To the beat y'all. This week Kyle and Laura (and eventually Burnside) sit down to chat with returning guest J Gonzo and one of our new favorites, Stephanie Savage, to talk about the wild world of body modification. We get a history of modern piercing and tattoos. Kyle recounts just hours ago when J Gonzo gave him a new tattoo (the words “Slow Ride” on his back, check out our social media for pictures). Steph blows our minds with her stories about doing suspensions. Plus we answer a ton of fan questions and get really in depth about the pros and cons of getting your dick pierced. If you've ever been curious about the world of body modification this is a fun place to start with two incredibly talented people.   Weekly Rads: Kyle: His new “Slow Ride” tattoo (by J Gonzo) Laura: Thor: Ragnarok (movie) Gonzo: Bonfires on the beach Steph: Vacations

Six rads forward and five rads back. We've got (an episode about) an angry inch! This week on This Is Rad, Kyle and Matt welcome back the always wonderful Julia Prescott for a chat about her favorite play “Hedwig and The Angry Inch”. For those who don't know, this is a GREAT place to start if you want to know about this cult phenomenon. Julia recounts her first experience with Hedwig and how it has prfoundly effected her life. They also talk about the unique way that the show was originally staged, and how it defied nearly every aspect of a traditional broadway play. Kyle talks about his own personal history of hating musicals and how Hedwig (and our Joe Kaye episode on musicals) really opened him up to a larger vision of what musical theater can be. Plus, Burnside had pretty much no idea what the play was about so its pretty funny when he learns what the titular “angry inch” is referring to...   Weekly Rads: Matthew: The Xbox One X (The one he won in that Taco Bell contest) Kyle: Caifanes (band) and their se

You don't follow the rad, you go to where the rad is going to be. A deep cut quote for a hilarious (and shockingly informative) episode of This is Rad. Today we have Tom Goss (from The Mean Boys Podcast) giving us a history and state of the union for the great sport of hockey. Joining us as a bonus guest fellow Mean Boy Keith Carey, because if you have 2 co-hosts who don't know much about the sport, you might as well add a third person for additional color commentary. Even if you don't dig sports this episode celebrates the full range of hockey well beyond the game into pop culture, video games, and some recommendations for classic fight videos. Kyle chats about his love for The Mighty Ducks 2. The boys debate the best hockey video game. Plus thrill as the gang learn and rock out to the song that plays when the Anaheim Ducks score a goal. Strap on your skates and enjoy a knuckle puck of radness coming straight at you.   Weekly Rads: Kyle: The Blood Brothers – Young Machetes (Album) Matt: Super Mario Odyssey (