Latest / Children of the 80s / Cake, Tokens, and Rollerskates: The Ultimate 80s Birthday Party

Transcript

Cake, Tokens, and Rollerskates: The Ultimate 80s Birthday Party · Children of the 80s

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Children of the Eighties is brought to you by Q
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: one o six point five Internet Radio. You can find
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: it online at Q one o six five dot com
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: or download the app.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to Children of the Eighties. I am one
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: of your hosts, Jim, and I am joined as always
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: by the lady who when she was a kid had
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: a red bike named Dolly. It's my co host, Lindsey.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, I want to stand by that.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: No, you can't.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Could it be like Berenstein and Berenstein.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: No, it could not.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I mean I really feel like at one point in
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  Speaker 1: time Pee Wee Herman's red swim bicycle was named Dolly.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: No, I let you get away with it last week.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I'm not letting you get away with it this week.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: So the funny thing is is if you listened to
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: last week's episode, I say it with such conviction and knowledge,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and I was like, are you sure, and you hesitated
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and you were like.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Really, Yeah, the bike didn't have a name. Okay, I
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: think you were thinking of Dotty, which was the name
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: of the girl.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: That liked I mean, yes, I know that was Dottie,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: but I feel like I just remember him talking to
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: his bike and the bike's name was Dolly.
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  Speaker 2: No, well, he called it the best bike in the
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: whole world. Well, that it is, but he did not
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: call it Dolly or Dotty or Dorothy.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Is it in the basement of the Alamo?
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: It is not in the basement of the Alamo.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: You know what is in the basement of the Alamo?
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Believe the James Bond movie For your eyes only.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Phil Collins collection of yes, whatever historical memorabilia he.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Has, even though there is no basement of the Alamo.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: So yours wasn't the only mistake last week?
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  Speaker 1: No, And what is so kind of funny and embarrassing,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I guess. I mean, we felt like we were on
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: our game, Like we didn't, I know, come in here
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: to record like we are tonight where I feel like
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: I'm half dead.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I know.
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  Speaker 1: Like we felt good and we felt clear headed. We
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  Speaker 1: were sober.
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  Speaker 2: Speak for yourself on that one.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: You were sober. You can't drink.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: So yeah we did. You're right. We came in with
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  Speaker 2: such conviction about the movies that we were doing, and
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: there were some goof ups that we have to talk about.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: One one was Dolly. Two was the movie A Room
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: with a View. I said that was a James Bond movie.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wait, wait, he hasn't made that one yet, has he?
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  Speaker 2: So my brain got a View to a Kill mixed
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  Speaker 2: up with A Room with a View?
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  Speaker 1: Is that is a room with a view? The movie
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: with Jimmy Stewart where he's like in a wheelchair and
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: he's always watching the neighbor with his binocular.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: No, that's rear window. And I have to say that
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  Speaker 2: rear window and a View with a Kill both sound
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  Speaker 2: a thousand times more interesting than A Room with a View.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: That sounds like the boringest movie of all time, which
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  Speaker 2: makes sense now of why it won the Oscar for
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  Speaker 2: Best Adapted Screenplay. Yeah wow, because it's It's a nineteen
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: eighty five British romance film about a young woman in
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  Speaker 2: the final throes of the restrictive and repressed culture of
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  Speaker 2: Edwardian England and her developing love for a free spirited
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: young man. At least I got a British movie confused
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  Speaker 2: with a British movie.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Well, even mister Rastland number two had a bad fight
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: every now and then, mister.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Number two okay. And then as we got near the end,
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  Speaker 2: we were going through and just spouting off movies that
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: came out.
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  Speaker 1: And did we mess up again? Yes, there were three.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: There were three mess ups, one by you, two by me.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: So why I said, with complete confidence. As we got down,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: you said Quicksilver and I said, uh, yeah, that's a Western.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Quicksilver is Lassie's pony friend.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: No, okay, Quicksilver is a movie starring Kevin Bacon where
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  Speaker 2: he's a bicycleist, like messenger, like a courier. He's like
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: a bike courier, which I know. I haven't even looked
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  Speaker 2: it up, right, I just knew this when somebody called
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  Speaker 2: me out and was, like Jim said, with confidence Quicksilver
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  Speaker 2: was a Western. No, my brain red, or my eyes
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  Speaker 2: red Quicksilver. My brain thought Silverado, which is a Western.
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  Speaker 2: And that's how I messed that one up. So I
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  Speaker 2: don't know what was going on last week. Maybe it's uh,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna blame it on the kidney. Yes, yes, I'm
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  Speaker 2: gonna use that excuse until the day I die.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Well, what's my excuse?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Your excuse is that? Yeah, you're just stranger.
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  Speaker 1: I know I just dropped the ball.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I think you you thought something that just wasn't So
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: it just feels so right, right Alabama? Yeah, So hopefully
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: that corrects our goof up from last week.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I almost feel like we need to go
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: back and re record last week's episode.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: We may have to.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I mean that three so two not not our best
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  Speaker 1: look three kind of inexcusable.
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  Speaker 2: Very inexcusable. What are you going to do?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, I guess just.
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  Speaker 2: Just hope that people keep listening to us, even though
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  Speaker 2: we goofed up that.
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  Speaker 1: Bad brow ourselves up by our bootstraps and to keep
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  Speaker 1: a moving there you.
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  Speaker 2: Go, there you go. That's uh, that's what we'll do.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: So what else is going on over there?
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Oh? I entered a new fresh level of hell today.
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  Speaker 1: I don't even want to talk about you did. I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to talk about it up because I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to tell people where I was at, you know, so
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: they'd feel sorry for me. But then I didn't want
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: to overshare what was going on.
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  Speaker 2: You had to get an MRI. I had to get
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: an MRI, and those are never fun And if you're
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: claustrophobic like me, they're really not fun. And I don't
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: know about you, but I typically need uh an over
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: prescription of xanax. So to get through that.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: I did fine in the metal tube of death. I
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: did fine in that. That wasn't That wasn't the issue.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: The issue is I have extreme medical anxiety, so and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: I never know when it's gonna hit when it's not
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: gonna hit. Well, it hit in the middle of the test,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: but it didn't have anything to do with being in
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the tube. And then I have severe asthma, and they
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: kept wanting me to hold my breath not like five seconds.
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking like because I was listening to eighties music
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  Speaker 1: on my headphones. I'm talking like a good a good
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: half a Cindy Lauper song. So, and then I got
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  Speaker 1: fussed at because we had to stop and they had
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: to ask me if I was okay, and I'm like,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: blankety blank, no, I'm not okay. What do you think
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: And they're like, well, you're not following the commands and
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: we're going to have to redo it. So then I
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  Speaker 1: apologized and I tried harder and I did the best
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I could, but it was really hard.
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  Speaker 2: Did it end up working.
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  Speaker 1: Out for you in the chance that I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: overshare The contrast that I had to drink shot through
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  Speaker 1: my body like a missile and it was ugly.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, you should probably cut that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just I'm telling you it was a day.
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  Speaker 2: I'd go ahead and cut that if I were. What else,
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  Speaker 2: what else you got going on? That doesn't have to
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  Speaker 2: do what.
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  Speaker 1: I can't think of anything. I mean, I'm just I'm
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  Speaker 1: at a low point right now. But oh, got a
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: birthday coming up?
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  Speaker 2: You do have a birthday coming up?
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  Speaker 1: Got a birthday coming up?
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  Speaker 2: You are going to be this week? You are going
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  Speaker 2: to be. Let's see, there's five years difference between us.
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  Speaker 2: I'm fifty two years not there's six years. No, there's
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  Speaker 2: five years difference between us. If you'll listen to me,
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  Speaker 2: you I am fifty two and you are going to
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  Speaker 2: be fifty seven. That's five years difference.
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no, no, you better stop, turn around,
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  Speaker 1: go back.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: But do I need to nope it on back? Like Collins?
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  Speaker 1: You better nope it on back.
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  Speaker 2: You will be forty seven.
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  Speaker 1: So anyways, I got a birthday coming up a little
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  Speaker 1: bit later this week. I still have another medical procedure
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  Speaker 1: I have to get through before we can celebrate. Yea,
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  Speaker 1: but boy, I got my eye on the prize. And
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  Speaker 1: that's my birthday this year, And what's the price my birthday?
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  Speaker 2: That's the price.
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  Speaker 1: That's the prize.
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  Speaker 2: I thought the prize was the fancy New Orleans restaurant.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, you're gonna take me to a nice dinner. You
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  Speaker 1: told me. I can get a petty Manny petty. I'm
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: excited about that. Yeah, and I'm gonna stay focused on
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  Speaker 1: that and and hopefully that'll carry me through the other
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: not so pleasant things I got.
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  Speaker 2: To DO'SI a birthday present of all time. I don't
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  Speaker 2: have to do anything, I don't have to buy anything.
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  Speaker 1: And you get to eat with me. So but before
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: we get too deep into birthdation inigains, I think you
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: got something else you wanted to share.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I know because I'm middle.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: We have another submitted nomination. Wow, somebody from middle aged man.
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  Speaker 1: This is from someone else.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, this is from someone else. I'm not going to
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: tell you who anymore until afterwards because I don't want
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  Speaker 2: that to bias your your thinking on who is there.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: If someone say that the James's submission was biased James.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: So much, No, nobody, nobody had a problem with mister
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Steve Martin getting in. But I just thought because Steve
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Martin was perfect. But I did think. Okay, So if
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: you like these people, you're more likely to vote them in.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: And I want this to be a non tainted Hall
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: of Fame. I don't need uh bad players getting in
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: just because they were friends with good players on the
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Veterans Commission.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Oh okay, I get it. I get it.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: So after I announced this and whether you decide whether
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: this person's in the middle Aged Hall of Fame or not,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: then I will tell you who submitted it.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, lay it on me.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, So this week's nominee for middle legue Man Hall
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: of Fame. You get to decide is he in the
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Hall of Fame or is he banished forever, never to
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: be brought up again. It is writer and co creator
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: of one of your favorite sitcoms of all time, mister
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Larry David.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: That's a good one. Do you think, though, are we
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: mistaking middle age for the fact that he's just been
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: bald forever?
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Well, sometimes that makes somebody look older.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: That's true, because he's always been bald.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: So so no, no, no, let's back it up for
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: a second. So there's a difference between being bald is
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: in a lot of people shave their heads nowadays and
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: bald ing. Okay, he's baldy yes, somebody can shave their
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: head be bald and still look young. But when a
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: man is bald ing, it doesn't matter if he's twenty
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: five or if he's fifty five. He looks older than
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: what he really is.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, that that can be very true. He's got that.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Mm hmmm, the alo, the three quarters a lo.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say, what would you call that? But
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: that's perfect? I mean, this is a this is a
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: good this is a good nomination.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: What is your thought presence as I see you thinking?
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Tell the folks here what your thought process is as
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: you're running through it? Are you just trying to think
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: of a time when you saw him young.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: And he didn't look old? But I can't think of one.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: So there was a time he starred on the TV
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: show Fridays in the early eighties that was like ABC's
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: answer to Saturday Night Live, really, and he did. He
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: was already starting to go bald, but his hair was
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: not gray at that point. It was darker, So that
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: might be an argument against him, But I don't know
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: if it's enough just because his hair wasn't gray. So
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna let you view that picture and see if
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: that is enough.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, you may have screwed the pooch.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Why is that?
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Because I have now pulled up a picture of Larry
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: David and Cosmo Kramer.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: On Friday's Yes, now, Kramer, you looks young. I'm not
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: sure that Larry does.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Does he look let me show you?
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Okay, so what do you think he looks like? There?
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Do you think he looks like he's in his forties?
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: There he looks like a mad scientist?
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, little doc Brownish? Do you think he looks
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: like he's in his forties?
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: There?
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Do you think he looks like he's about twenty seven?
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: He does not look twenty seven, but he has a lot.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: So he's got the halo, the three fourths halo, but
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: it's a bushy halo.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like Stephen Wright the comedian.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: This is a tough one.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: But what does it mean as far as the Hall
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: of Fame?
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: I'm conflicting.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: I need you to make a decision here because we're
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: starting to lose the audience unless you're going to tighten.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: I can't do it.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: He's not in. I'm sorry. I don't feel good about it.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I can't do it, all right. That was submitted to
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: us by our friend, Brad. I knew it. I'm sorry, Brad.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: And I knew that If I had told you that
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: it was Brad probably would have let him in. So
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: that's why I couldn't tell you.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Don't hate me.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: And anytime I get submissions from now and I'm not
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: going to tell you who it's from.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, I do think I made the right decision, but Brad,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Well sorry about that, Brad. H If you disagree, well
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: then we would just have to say you can't handle
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: the truth. So mister Larry David not in the Middle
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Aged Man Hall of Fame. He'll be locked out forever.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: I'm going to maybe create a create an AI pick
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: for that.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: That's hysterical. Make sure you do his big old buffet,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: his three fourth Halo buffet, right.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: All right, Well that gets us past that portion of
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: the show. Now you brought up the fact that it
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: was your birthday. Are you ready to let the folks
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: know what today's episode is about. I'm ready to get
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: to it.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I'm ready to do Muspiel. This is a podcast that
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: looks back on the decade of the nineteen eighties. We
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: talk about things that were important to us as children,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: and what we look back on with fond memories as adults. Ultimately,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: this is a nostalgia podcast, and that, my dear friends,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: is what we are focusing on today. What nostalgia The
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: nostalgia of a birthday in the nineteen eighties.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Ooh, a birthday party, per se?
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a birthday party in the nineteen eighties. Okay, So
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: because you come from a family of a lot of kids.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: So I don't know if you, guys, ever had the
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: opportunity to have a birthday party or were you always
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: out of luck when it comes to that.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: I remember a a birthday party. At birthday I remember
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: at birthday party, Tell me about it. I think maybe
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: fifth grade. I got to invite a couple of friends
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: to this roller skating rink. If we had my birthday
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: party at the roller skating rink?
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So growing up getting to have a birthday
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: party out somewhere was somewhat of a treat. Like now
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: it's expected.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, these kids nowaday they come out of the
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: womb going what jumpy house are we going to have
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: my birthday party at? Or what trampoline park?
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Yes?
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Or what ridiculous princess fairy thing? Am I going to
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: have for my birthday party? Are you gonna buy me
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: a jumpy house? Are you gonna set it up in
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the backyard?
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: We did that one, yet, we did. We've spent upwards
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: of five six hundred dollars in the past on birthday parties.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, ridiculous.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Growing up, I think my parents, if I was lucky
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: and they agreed to do a party out somewhere, they
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: probably spent what twenty five ninety nine?
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sounds about right.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's what we're going to talk about today,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the fun of a nineteen eighties children's birthday party. Okay,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Now there are different levels.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: There are different levels. I would agree with that, even
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: though I knew about these levels only because I was
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: either invited or I dreamed about them because I never
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: got to see them myself.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: I remember most of them being at home, and since
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: my birthdays in the summer, they would set up a
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: sprinkler in the backyard and we'd all put on our
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: swimsuit and run through the sprinkler and have a birthday cake.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: And that was a party, call it a day.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: My birthday was in December, so my parents had blown
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: all their money on Christmas, so I wasn't getting a
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: birthday party or that big of a present for that matter.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: So the I don't know if you noticed, but over
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: the weekend, our neighbors across the street, I think they
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: had their grand kids over for the weekend and they
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: set up like the most epic slipping slide in their
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: front yard. Yes, and the kids stayed outside all day
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: both Saturday and Sunday, And I wanted to put my
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: swimsuit on and.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Go over that wall. So jealous. I'm like, man, those
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: kids are living life to the full with us.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, So we are going to start off by talking
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: about the fast food starter pack.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: So can I assume that we're talking about like McDonald's
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: or Wendy's or Burger King or something.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: McDonald's versus Burger King.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, so.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: This is the entry level classic party, Okay, the foundation
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: of every childhood in the nineteen eighties, I feel like
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: you started out going to a fast food restaurant, whether
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: it's McDonald's or Burger King for your very first away
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: from home birthday party. So it was a great way
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: for parents to save money in the eighties. You didn't
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: have to clean up your house, you didn't have to
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: worry about feeding them. You just had to take them
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to McDonald's. Did you ever go to a birthday party
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: at McDonald's. I did not, you didn't, Okay, So I
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: specifically remember McDonald's provided the sheep cake in a little
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: metal disposable pan and it was I think Ronald McDonald
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: in that crunchy icing. They would do his face and
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: body and that, to me was the best part of
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the whole party.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Was was eating Ronald McDonald's face like your Hannibal was
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: just that cake.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: There was something special about that cake. Maybe it was
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the Crisco they used, I don't know, the butter I
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: don't know, but there was something special about it. It
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: was always a chocolate sheet cake with buttercream icing. Now,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: this is something else I want to know if people
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: remember some locations had a special birthday party throne that
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: they would wheel out that was wooden that the birthday
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: child got to sit in to celebrate their party.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Because that seems like a throne, seems like it would
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: go with Burger King.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: This was at McDonald's.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Okay. So you said the parents didn't have to feed them,
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: didn't They didn't have to feed the kids at McDonald's.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: I mean you didn't have to like fire up the
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: grill or make the spaghetti like McDonald's handled it start
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: to finish.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: For you for twenty five ninety nine.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Now I made up the twenty five twenty nine. I'm sorry,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I'm just.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Like whoa, I mean, I guess back then, you know,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: hamburgers were like forty nine cents a piece, so you
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: probably could get a happy meal for two bucks, you know,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: and you might be able to get what if you
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: invited like eight kids, You're getting sixteen dollars worth of
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: happy meals plus a cake. I'm going to say that's
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: probably another ten bucks. Now maybe you're getting twenty six bucks.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: So I read somewhere. Let me go back and see
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: if I can find it. Okay, I found this advertisement
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: that McDonald's put out in the nineteen eighties to try
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: to get parents to use them for birthday parties. It says,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: children's birthday coming up, have it at our place and
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: save all the preparation mess, bother and washing up with
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: gifts for everyone too, for only fifty five cents per child.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Each party guest receives a party hat, Ronald McDonald balloon
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and a small gift and to be my guest voucher
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: that they can come back and use at a later visit.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: All food for the party, so like happy meals and whatnot,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: is charged at regular price. A birthday cake with candles
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: will be provided at cost, or you can bring your.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Own at cost, or you can bring.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Your own fifty five cents a child. That's it for
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: the party. Favors that they just talked.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: About that they would, but you still got to buy
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: them the.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: And the cake and the whatever else.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: That confused me for a second.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Fifty five you look confused, But to me, I feel
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: like this would be a great thing for McDonald's to
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: do for a limited time. Like I would one one
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: hundred percent go back and have a birthday party at
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: McDonald's if we could bring it back for a limited time,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: throw it back and do it the old school way.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: You know, somebody's got one of those thrones somewhere in
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: a basement. They can run out.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they absolutely can. But here's the thing. The
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: McDonald's food is not the same as it was in
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: the eighties now.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Apparently they cooked everything in beef tallow back in.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: The day, Yeah, which made it fantastic, And now it's
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: just a bunch of non food crap. They don't do that,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: GMO's and such.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: So I absolutely went to my fair share of McDonald's
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: birthday parties. I also remember the place matt that you
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: would get at a birthday party was extra special because
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the different McDonald's characters were on the place mat and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: they were celebrating with you, and that was fun.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: I was fascinated by those different McDonald's characters.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Were you, yeah, because what's a grimma?
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: Hey? I don't know.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: So I heard Grimace, I thought gristle.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: You thought like grizzle on like meat?
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Yes, because Grimace gristle, that's what. And I couldn't make
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: that correlate.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: So the the McDonald's folks and the Fruit of the
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Loom folks, to me, they were like cousins or something.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: They were like distant cousins.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: So was Grimace supposed to be a big like grape?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: I don't know, because the grape guy on Fur of
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: the Looms had many grapes.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Was an egg plant?
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: McDonald's doesn't serve egg plants, and in fact, I'm hoping
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: that McDonald's doesn't serve anything purple. For that matter. I
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: don't know what Grimace was were I know that you
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: don't like clowns, but were you afraid of Ronald McDonald?
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Ronald McDonald was my friend.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: So why is he okay as a clown? But let's
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: say John Wayne Gacy is Aha.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: That's a good point because pop culture and different subliminal
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: messages that we got a children told us that Ronald
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: McDonald was our friend. He was safe, He wanted us
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: to be happy.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: So was Bozo the clowne on WGN. Yet you're afraid
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: of him?
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah? I don't know. I mean, I get that the
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: logic isn't there, but I don't know.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know. So you had Ronald McDonald's let's
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: name them. So let's see, let's see who's gonna give out. First.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: You named Grimace, I named Ronald McDonald. Now you go
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: name a character, Mayor mccheese. Okay, the Hamburglar?
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Who is the pirate?
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: The Hamburglar?
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: No, there was a pirate.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: It was a pirate, all right. Now, I got to
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: look that up because I've got no clue what you
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: are talking about here. I don't know who the pirate was.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Captain Crook.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Captain Crook, that's right. And then you had those weird
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: little things that look like they come from Sesame Street,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: with the long legs and like the the shaggy hair
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: that maybe they look like the kid from a They
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: look like the kid from a fat Albert.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: So originally they were called goblins, but later they were
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: called the fry guys.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: The fry guys, that's what they were. Who's that duck
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: lady over there? Then Howard the Duck's wife?
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Bertie the early Bird was introduced in nineteen eighty okay,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: and she was to promote the breakfast food.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Oh okay, that makes sense, Bertie the Early Bird? And
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: then who is who's Grandpa Joe there? From Willie Wonka.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: The Professor, a bearded, eccentric scientist and inventor, often shown
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: in a lab coat. Okay, only one the picture I'm
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: looking at, he looks like he's the lost Seaman because
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: he looks like he's got a yellow like sea outfit on.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: So I'm a little disappointed here because I'm looking at
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: this picture and I don't see any mayor mcchee.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Mayor mccheese. And what about Officer Big Mac?
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Officer Big Mac?
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Did you know about him?
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: I did not?
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: All I can tell you.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, I remember Officer Big Mac now, yeah, because
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: it was always confusing to me because there was Mayor mccheese,
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: there was Officer Big Mac, and there was the Hamburglar,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: and as like a little little kid like four or
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: five six years old, I was confused because they all
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: kind of I mean, the Hamburglar was dressed different, but
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: I didn't understand Mayor mccheese and the Big macuh Officer
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Big I.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Thought they were basically one in the set, right, So
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: I got two things to say.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: They were probably cousins. They were like Boss Hog and Roscoe.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Probably. I've got two things to say about this. Where's
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Mac Tonight? Because I loved Mac Tonight?
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: You mean Mac the Knife.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: It says here he was Mac.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: To Night, I know, the from the song Mac the
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Knife Bobby Darren SMC the Night.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: No, I think he should be in this group photo,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: and they've left him out.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: I think that was a little bit later, was it,
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: I think? So, I mean it was in the eighties,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: but I think it was just a little bit later
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: than all this stuff.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: So the only other thing then I have to say
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: is I just can't wait to get through with my
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: happy meal, eat the birthday cake, run out on the
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: playground and get myself stuck in hamburger jail.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, because that's what you did, even though your mom
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: told you every single time you went to McDonald's, don't
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: do that.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Don't try to go up that narrow staircase that was
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: in a steel pipe, and then you get out at
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the top and you're in a doughnut jail. And I
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: couldn't fit. And she was always telling me, don't do it,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: and I.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Always did and how mad was she?
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: So I was talking, I think, on last week's episode
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: about my intrusive thoughts. That was one of my first
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: intrusive thoughts. I could not not do it, even though
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: I knew every time I was going to get stuck.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: You had some issues. That's all I've got to say,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: is all right.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: So okay, So McDonald's was the starter pack. Just a
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: slight step up from that would be burger King.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, burger King was a step up from McDonald's.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: It's a little bit, just a little bit. What do
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: you think would you not have made it as a
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: step up?
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, I have no idea.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Okay, So burger King really leaned into the whole like
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: royal esthetics. Of course, maybe that's why I felt like
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: it was a step up from McDonald's. But if you
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: had your birthday party at Burger King, you usually got
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: an employee who would come out wearing a brown and
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: yellow striped uniform that made them look like a corporate bumblebee.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: Sorry, you remember back in the day when they used
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: to wear those funky uniforms, all of those all the
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: fast food, all.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: The places did, and they would hand you a special
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: birthday King crown, which then you would wear for the
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: remainder of your birthday. Yeah.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: I knew about the I knew about the crown. It
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: was to me, probably the only good thing about going
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: to Burger King. That Burger King guy with that giant head,
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: he's kind of creepy. He's much creepier than Ronald McDonald.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Cloud absolutely so. Burger King Kingdom characters. We had a
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Wizard of Fries.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Oh that's a clever.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the Magical King and listen, this one might be
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: my favorite. Sir shake a.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Lot was that after sir mix allowed was this a
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: nineties thing?
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: It says it's the eighties. I don't know, So, Sir
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: shake a Lot was a knight made of fast food
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: cups who literally vibrated because he drank too many milkshakes.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, I could have applied for that job.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Do you remember, though, if you had a summer birthday
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: like I did. Uh huh. The heat on those outside
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: oh play toys.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they were at seven hundred and fifty.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Degrees nothing less than seven hundred and fifty grease. You
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: could burn the top layer of skin on literally, just
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: another example of things that made us tough back in
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: the eaties. Nobody cared.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: No, you lean your elbow against the surface of mercury, yes,
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: and uh, you learn a lesson, yes, and that is
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: your parents tell you to get tough.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: But the the Burger King burgers tasted different than the
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: McDonald burgers, and they told well, they told us it
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: was because they were flame broiled. I don't know the
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: black lines on them made them taste better. I don't know.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's probably anyways, So I never had a birthday
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: party at Burger King.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: I don't think I ever attended one McDonald's. I did.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: This is the good tear you ready like the good
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: ship lollipop. Let's talk about the showdown between showbiz pizza
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: and Chuck E Cheese. Yeah, did you have a showbiz
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: in Saint.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: Louis, We had a showbiz so we saw commercials for showbiz.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: I believe some kids had birthday parties at showbiz that
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: I wasn't invited to, and I knew I was never
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: going to get a birthday party at showbiz. Yeah, but
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: I remember one day our parents loading us up, and
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: my cousin was over there at the time, and they
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: loaded us up and they're like, Okay, we're going somewhere,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: and so we're like, okay, I wonder where we're going,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: and we're all trying to figure it out. And they're
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: driving and we're like, where are we going? And they
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: won't tell us and they're like, listen, if you get cold,
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: they're just let us know and we can, you know,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: make you warm. So them, we're like, oh, well, maybe
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: we're going to the movies or something and the air
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: condition is gonna be blastings blah blah blah. They were
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: totally throwing us off. They took us to show Biz Pizza.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: What I was absolutely in heaven like show biz pizza.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: I think that was the first time I ever went.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: And then I think I went to some birthday parties afterwards.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: But I was like in heaven. I could eat pizza,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: I could watch basically the showbiz version of Country Bear Jamboree,
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: and I got tokens for video games, and all the
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: great video games were there. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Frog
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: or Centipede, Galaga, Asteroids, Space Invaders, all that stuff. All
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: that stuff was there. It was like being in the
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Labins Castle, and and you could not supply me with
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: enough tokens. Really yeah, to stay there. I would have
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: stayed there all day. But with that being said, that
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: was really cool of our parents to take us there
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: basically for no reason.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: So I only knew Showbiz Pizza until I was much older,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: and Chuck.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: E Cheese ca okay.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: But when I was young and I would have been
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: having a party there, it was showbiz pizza. But back
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: in the day it was there was a turf war
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: that went on between the two. I didn't know anything about.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: This, so I didn't know about the turf war, but
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: I knew that we had show biziness around. But I
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: had heard of Chucky Cheese. And I remember a neighborhood
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: kid who sadly passed away from kidney cancer. Many years ago.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: He talked about Chucky Cheese really how he had been
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: to Chucky Cheese and Chunky Cheese was cooler than Showbiz,
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: and so I always wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: So Chucky Cheese actually pioneered the concept. It was created
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: by Nolan Bushnell, who was the co founder of Atari Cool.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: I didn't know that, but then Showbiz swooped in with
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: their superior robotic technology they had with their characters up
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: there on stage, and they spent the first half of
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: the decade trying to clone each other out of existence,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: until Chuck E Cheese went bankrupt in nineteen eighty four
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and Showbiz Pizza bought them. But I mean, in my memory,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: there was nothing better than the Showbiz Pizza.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: Band the Rock of Fire Explosion.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, there was just something about they were. There
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: were these giant, hyper realistic, furry animatronic animals and they
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: just stared into your soul tonight on three stages and
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: show this pizza place. The Rock of Fire Explosions.
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: Some of the as well, and sorry, the greatest fresh
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: baked pizza made to order. Over sixty new games and
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: rides don't have it all.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: So you had Fats Geronimo. It's a massive silver bat
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: gorilla on the keyboards. Uh huh, Billy Bob Bear on
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: the banjo, Uh huh, Mitzi Mozzarella singing backup. Okay, but
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: here's the thing, so I'm kind of making fun of it.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: But the technology that was incredible for the time. Yes,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: do you remember though, the specific sound that they made
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: between the sets. The band would finish his song and
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: then you'd hear the hear this massive hydraulic sh as
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: the heavy curtain fell and the they all went back
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: into place. It was just, again, just something you can't
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: even recreate.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: No, you can't know. So Mitzi Mozzarella that was her name.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: For some reason, I always thought her name was Mitzi Mouse.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: So that's funny that it was Mitzi Mozzarella.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: So Chuck E Cheese had a completely different vibe. People
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: who only know the modern friendly mouse, they have no
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: idea how gritty it was back in the day. Chuck
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: E Cheese, back in the eighties, he wasn't a sleek
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: mouse and a purple shirt having fun. He was a cynical,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: sarcastic New York rat. He wore a bowler hat, a
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: red vest and in the early nineteen eighties. The puppet
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: version literally chewed on a cigar.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. So now I really want to go back
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: and go to Chuck e Cheese. He was sarcastic. Yes, yeah,
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: oh awesome.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Early locations didn't have a unified center stage like Showbiz,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: and the characters were hanging on the walls in this
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: weird like balcony style picture frames. You'd be eating your
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: pizza and suddenly, like jasper tea jowls, this robotic hound
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: dog would suddenly spring to life in a frame above you.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: Jasper he jowel.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, jasper tea jowls. Okay, So the pizza at both
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: places average at best, pretty much like heated up cardboard.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: Nothing to write home about.
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: Right. The kids didn't care. They were there to play
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: video games.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: You were not playing. You were not there for that.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: You were there for your token cup.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: And honestly, as a as a kid now kids nowadays
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: probably know, But as a kid in the eighties, did
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: we really know what was good pizza and what was
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: bad pizza?
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: I don't think we cared because pizza for it was
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: a luxury, it was a it was a novelty thing. Yes,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: we didn't just go and do pizza. Have pizza like
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: we in the Butler House. We have pizza once a week,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: like pizza's like a staple. Back then, you didn't have pizza.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: So no, I probably didn't know good from bad pizza.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: My parents didn't either, probably, So we're there just for
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: the party, maybe the animatronics, but mostly for the tokens
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: and getting the opportunity to play the games. Yes, my
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: favorite game was the ski Ball. Oh, of course that's
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: what I was there. That's you you, that's that's one
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: hundred percent you. You're the contrarian. Yeah, you're going to
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: be there for the ski Ball. I'm going to be
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: there for the arcade games, yeah, the pac Man, Galaga,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: all those correct. So but then you finally have to
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: wrap it up at some point and you would turn
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: in your tickets and you would get like one pixie stick.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: Uh huh, yes, yes, you always got hosed on the tickets.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: You'd have like two hundred and fifty tickets and you
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: got one strawberry pixie stick, right, and that.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: Was a scratch and sniff sticker.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And it was just like it was.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: Like my parents spent fifteen dollars for this scratch and
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: sniff sticker.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Like, do you know how hard this is the day's
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: wage right here of two hundred and fifty tickets. And
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: this is what you're giving me as a crime.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: You couldn't have given me a uh a pack of
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: garbage pail kids right right now? To me, that's earned
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: for two hundred and fifty tickets. Ye, not a not
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: a pin wheel that spins around in the wind.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Now listen to this. You want to take it up
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: a couple of inches and think about the insanity of
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: this that we didn't know was insanity. Back in the
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: day you could smoke inside both places. Oh yeah, so
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: that's also taking place in amongst all of this insane.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: We probably inhaled more lucky strikes than anybody that grew
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: up in the nineteen twenties.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: So you know, back at the very beginning of this episode,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: I talked about, you know, my severe asthma. That's why.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it was the number of kent threes I
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: inhaled by secondhand smoke.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: Right. I remember when my dad quit smoking and we
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: got him either a birthday cart or a Father's day
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: cart or something, and it was my mom that picked
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: it out for us, but we all signed it. And
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: it was a picture of this Native American guy kind
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: of going, you know, hold his hand up like how
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: and it said, thank you for quitting smoking. We would
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: rather die of natural causes.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to say, almost everyone that I knew
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: and my family smoked growing up. My mom didn't and
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: her parents did not.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: But listen, like, it was nothing for us kids in
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: the eighties to be driving down the road, especially if
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: it was raining outside and us just getting hot boxed
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: in the car one hundred by all the smoke because
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: all the windows are up, both parents are puffing on heaters.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm okay, yes, I'm that's happening in my
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: car too, And I'm rolling around. I'm laying up there
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: in the back dash window thing above the seat, right,
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: I'm laid out and it rolling around. Depending on how
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: hard my dad hits the brake.
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: Probably you would rather die in a car accident the
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: eventual lung cancer that you're gonna get.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: I know, I know, it's so funny back the good
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: old days.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: That brings back the memories, doesn't it.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: Man? It one I wouldn't get to go back there
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: one more time, Jim, one more time lay it again. Sam.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, so I've got a story for you.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: Bring it on.
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: Obviously, there was Showbiz Pizza, and I think I had
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: been to Showbiz by this point. But my friend Jeff
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: from down the street was having a birthday party and
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: he told me that we were going to a place
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: called Abra Cadabra and I'm like, what's that. He's like, basically,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: it's like Showbiz only better. Okay, you have my attention now,
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: Jeff from down the street, what are we talking about here?
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: And he goes, it's like Showbiz Pizza. They've got all
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: the video games and stuff like that, but then they've
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: got a magician doing magic throw. But not only that,
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: you get the pizza, but they also have like an
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: ice cream Sunday bar and you can make your own
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: ice cream Sunday. Well I'm in. You got me in
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: at video games. Yeah, Plus we get ice cream Sunday,
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: which is great too. And so we go there. I
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: get free tokens for his birthday. You know, I took
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: them a present. I get these free tokens. I played
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: all the video games. I probably ate a little bit
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: of pizza, but then I was I was all over
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: that Sunday Bar. So I started wondering, like, whatever happened
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: to that Abra Cadabra. So I looked it up. It's
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: actually spelled Abra Kadabra Pizza, Magic Restaurants. It was owned
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: by the Kmart Corporation. No way, Yeah, And so they
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: decided to start the chain due to the profit coming
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: from Chuck E Cheese and show Biz Pizza. And so
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: the first two locations they were going to do is
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: test locations before rolling in the Mountain nationwide. One was
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: in Florescent, Missouri, which is fifteen minutes from my house,
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: and one in Would River, Illinois, which is right across
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: the river from Saint Louis. And it was in the
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: shopping center that my grandma would always go to when
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: we were little. She would take us there because her
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: bank was there, and then we'd end up going to
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: that Kmart and there were some other place that we
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: I hated going, you know on a Saturday there because
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: I just wanted to watch cartoons and play, but she
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: forced us to go there. Sometimes let us ride those
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: little ghetto horses that would go up and down, because
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: those that was fun for a quarter. But these Abra
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: Cadabra places were next to Kmart, and so it was
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: an experimental concept for Kmart. Sadly, it was only open
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: for about two years and it shut down December thirty first,
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three. But instead of an animatronic band, they
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: had magic shows with live action magician. So there was
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: a Reddit feed and somebody has a Frisbee with Abra
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: cadabra repiazza magic. It was like Chuck E Cheese or Showbiz,
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: but wizard themed or magic themed. The Kmart is now gone.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: So somebody said, I thought the name was Merlin's Castle
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: because I remember the Floressa location looked like a castle. No,
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: that wasn't it, lady. There was a castle looking thing
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: in Florisa, but it was not It was not Abracadabra.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: It was a castle that was tucked away and it's
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: still there to this day. Let's see what else I got.
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: There was a guy on Facebook named John Bick. He
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: said that he was a manager there and he gave
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: the employees free nights, free knights there to play, and
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: free food and video games because Kmart didn't do anything
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: for them when they were closing. I wish we had pictures.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: I would love to contact my friend Jeff and see
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: if his mom has any pictures from that day.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: So there were no animatronics. These were all live people
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: that entertained you.
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: Yes, so somebody has like a medallion from that place.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: Oh way, Yeah, so that was pretty cool, a matchbook
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: cover from that place. So there are a couple of
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: a couple of really cool things on there, and then
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: some articles as well about the opening of it. And
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: one of the quotes on here was lots of people
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: sell pizzas, but families come here and have fun. That
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: is so so yeah, so it was a lot of
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: it was pretty cool. Going back in memory lane, I
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: remembered you always wonder do you remember Abercadabra correctly or not?
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: So I have one last thing to mention before we
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: wrap this episode up. I would be remiss if I
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: didn't briefly touch on the fact that once we graduated
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: from Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E Cheese and Abercadabra, we
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: went on and had our birthday parties at the roller Rink.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's where I had my birthday party.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: Potentially you would have your birthday party there, probably a
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: place you would spend your Friday or Saturday night, possibly
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: had your first slow skate together with the opposite sex.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would see that. I didn't have any of that.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: I had a tragic skating rink accident, well of course,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: eighty five, and I never went back.
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: You always have tragic accidents in your childhood.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: I never went back.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: So I would see couple skate. They would skate side
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: by side holding hands.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: How did they do that?
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: Well, because they could skate. But what I couldn't. What
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: would blow me away is couples would skate like they
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: were dancing, facing each other, with one of them skating backwards.
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: That blew my mind.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: That blew my mind. I couldn't. I could never skate backwards.
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: And that car probably couldn't even roller skate anymore. You
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: would hit that carpet and come to it, it was
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: like you hit a giant pile of mud and you
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: would just go flying forward.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: U huh, yep, yep. And that carpet had seen something, yes,
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: it had in every skating rink across America where all
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: picked during the same carpet right now.
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: But they would they would give you a cake, maybe
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: some food, corn dogs or something. I don't know, and
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: then you would you'd get free skates, your friends would
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: get free skates, and you'd be able to skate with
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: your friends. Probably a cheap way to go. I mean
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: it was a good time. I loved it. You'd get
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: to listen to eighties music while skating around. Sometimes a
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: good song would come on. Then you'd skate really fast. Yeah,
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: just a lot of fun, Just a lot of fun.
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: They had that disco ball up in the center and
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: spinning around.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: And what do you think what happened when music to Uh?
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: If we went skating today, we would both die. I know,
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: I really So here's what I hate. I hate when
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: things get the best of me and I can't go
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: back and like reconquer it, and that this is one
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: of those things. Yeah.
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: I could skate when I was little, and as long
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: as I kept skating, I could skate. But if I
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: quit skating for years and years and years, I went
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: back and tried to play roller hockey when I was
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: like twenty four to twenty five, and my legs look
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: like noodles, like I was just like they were so
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: weak and I struggled to stay and if somebody just
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: bumped me, I was going down and I think I
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: got like one shot off, Whereas when I was in
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: my high school days, I could at least get a
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: couple shots off. I mean, I wasn't good, but I wouldn't.
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: At least I could skate round and look like I
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: knew what I was doing, right, I was like twenty
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: four to twenty five, and I mean I looked like
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: I looked like a new born baby deer out there
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: on the rink.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: Now, your brother Matt, who is a little bit younger
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: than you, but not a lot.
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: He's a heck of a hockey player.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, like even today, I've seen him skate around.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, he gets out on the ice and skates.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: And I mean he makes it look like it's no
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: big deal.
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: Uh huh, Yeah, he can do it. I can't. I can't.
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: In fact, I remember at one point, like I was like, okay,
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: a bunch of Matt's friends always played hockey, and I'm like, okay,
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: I'll go play, but I'm gonna be the goalie because
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: like I can't skate. Yeah, And so they were like, okay,
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: well it was a horrible goalie.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: You couldn't stay upright though.
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: They just kept like scoring on me and I was
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: just terrible. So they switched me up with my brother Mike.
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: Mike goes in there making saves like he's martanbro Door
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: or Patrick Wah. He's sliding on his side and kicking
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: his legs up in the air and making these saves.
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, where did that come from? I was
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: blown away and then I was out there skating again,
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: not being able to skate. So, yeah, my brother's got
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: the hockey jeans. I did not.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I mean that's essentially what brought you to Atlanta, right.
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean skating Saint Luisi. You need to go south.
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, Oh, you got a head to warmer, warmer weather.
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: I would be remiss if we didn't mention bowling alleys,
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: because you might go to bowling alley bowl a few
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: games with your friends. They also had video games at
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: the bowling alleys. You probably got some nachos or some
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: corn dogs or something else that your arteries, But you
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: were guaranteed at the bowling alley to come home with emphysema. No,
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: because you talk about people who smoke, the bowling alley
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: itself smoked. That's how many people smoked in the bowling alley.
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: It was like a a uh fog like fog over
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: the Chattahoochie in the morning. Cut it get through like
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: you could barely see all ten pins because the fog
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: of Winston smoke was all over the bowling alley. So
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: you'd get your your nachos, you'd get your corn dogs
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: or your hot dogs, you'd get your two games a
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: bowling of about one oh five apiece, and you'd get
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: your emphysema.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: And then you'd go home, get your emphysema. Pack that up,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: Pack that emphysema, take that home.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: There we go.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: This is a fun little trip down memory lane.
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always fun to do something a little bit
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: off tilter from what we normally do and go down
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: memory lane and talk about yep, you know, fun stuff
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: we did as kids. That's why we're called children of
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: the eighties and not nineteen eighties look back or throwback
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: or whatever.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Let's just hope we didn't butcher anything on this one.
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: Oh I'm sure we did.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: Oh I hope not. I tried my best not to. Yeah,
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: but let's hear from I'd love to hear from people
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: yet us. Know what, do you remember what was your
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: favorite eighties location to have a birthday party at what's
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: your most favorite eighties birthday party? In general?
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: And if you're from the Saint Louis area, especially the
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: North County area or maybe even Wood River, did you
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: go to abra k Debra ever for a birthday party
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: or just because?
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: And have you been checked for cancer?
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, definitely do that. If you're from the Florisan area, well,
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: we would appreciate it if you would go ahead and
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: click that subscribe button so you're guaranteed to never miss
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: a show.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: And if you haven't, you could go ahead and leave
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: us a five star rating and review because that helps
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: with the algorithm.
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know the best way to spread good
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: word is to tell somebody. Somebody you can reach out
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: to us through all social media's lindsay, what's our social
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: media handle?
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: I have no idea, but we are on Instagram, Facebook.
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: X Our handle is children of Underscore Eighties on x.
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: It is, but not on Facebook and Instagram. I just
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: found that out in the last couple of days. I
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: was like, hmmm, we're just Children of the Eighties podcast there, okay.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: And if you're into the old school.
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: Email Children of the nineteen Eighties at gmail dot com.
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: And I am getting emails and you know.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: What, people could also do find us on Patreon.
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: They can You can join our Patreon for free if
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: you want to get anything like bonus episodes, special polls
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: for paid only and join us for some fun that
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: we're gonna have. We're gonna be releasing some fun episodes
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: besides just our monthly episodes. You can join for as
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: little as five dollars a month help support the show.
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: Go ahead and check it out.
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: Well. Until next time.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: I'm Jim and I'm Lindy and we are children of
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: the eighties.
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: Next week