🎄It’s the year 2000, and Christmas and Hanukkah have crossed path at my doorstep in the form of Santa Claus and his part-Jewish friend… a weird turtle man. In honor of Christmas Day and the first night of Hanukkah sharing a day on the calendar this year, we’re revisiting some old Friends, an escaped tarantula, a restaurant we may never be allowed i…

🎄It’s 1986, and the only way Drew Barrymore can save her new friends is to believe in the magic of toys… and Cincinnati. From director Clive Donner comes a bonkers adaptation of “Babes in Toyland” starring Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, and Richard Mulligan as a weird, evil guy who lives in a bowling ball. **** 🎙 Guests: Molly Patton (MollyPatton.co…

🎄It’s 2010, and I’m hiding in a closet from a flying shark that ate half my screwdriver. I’ve finally caught up with the timeline of people who have been requesting that I watch the “Doctor Who” Christmas specials, particularly this twisted take on “A Christmas Carol” starring Michael Gambon in the Scrooge role and the 11th Doctor as at least 2 gho…

🎄It’s 1970, and a couple of bear cubs have jumped through my window and are eating all my marshmallows. Join us on a deeper than expected dive into a Christmas special by former Hanna-Barbera animator Tony Benedict that almost wasn’t released till the owner of a now-defunct Florida theme park swooped in and saved it. CONTENT WARNING: No animals wer…

🎄It’s 2003, and nothing puts me in a festive mood quite like a bar fight. Join us as we spend Christmas break with the Justice League — well, most of it. Wonder Woman’s off doing something else, and Batman… you know, smells. **** 🎙 Guests: Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Bluesky) James Riley (Twitter) **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Mike talks “Comfort and Joy”…

🎄It’s 1986, and Santa looks different after arriving late to the mall due to a flat reindeer. Unfold that TV Guide you crafted into an angel centerpiece and join us for a semi-festive Christmas episode of “Mama’s Family” that will have you believing in either Santa or ghosts at the end of it. **** 🎙 Guest: Joe Fulton (Christmas Aficionado) **** 💬 T…

🎄It’s 1990, and Santa’s lost in my confusing network of chimneys. Prepare yourself for a more silly than spooky Christmas special that takes us from Castle Duckula to a concussion-induced space adventure and back. **** 🎙 Guest: Adam Parker Sibun (Merry Britsmas) **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. “A Christmas Quacker” on the Internet Archive (it’s mislab…

🎄It’s 2020, and a gift-wrapped puppy licked my face and made my skin turn blue. From the Chiodo Brothers comes a charming stop-motion Christmas special about how an alien invasion of the North Pole almost ruined Christmas — and the entire planet’s gravity, but also Christmas. Plus: A “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” Easter egg, some cameos from “El…

🎄It’s 1982, and I’m trapped at sea while Mickey Rooney butts into everyone’s conversation. Join us as we embark on a Christmas cruise aboard the Pacific Princess for a very merry episode of “The Love Boat” featuring Maureen McCormick, Donny Osmond, and Mickey Rooney as an angel in disguise as your nosy neighbor. **** 🎙 Guests: Guy Hutchinson (Point…

🎄It’s 1988, and the Spirit of Christmas just broke down my bedroom door to say hello. This edition of Scrooge Sunday turns everyone’s favorite festive tale of redemption on its head and blows it out its enormous, muscular backside as great philanthropist and all-around softy Ebenezer Blackadder learns from watching his ancestors and descendants tha…

🎄It’s 2001, and a rock giant is chasing us across the ocean, which has been entirely frozen over by fairies with minty fresh breath. From the makers of “ReBoot” and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” music video comes Barbie’s first feature-length movie, complete with motion capture of the New York City Ballet, revolutionary hair animation, and Tim …

🎄It’s 1984, and Santa’s in front of a firing squad because his executioner didn’t appreciate the socks he got last Christmas. The slime is an extra festive shade of green in this Christmas episode of the show that defined Nickelodeon’s early years, featuring an all-star cast of the 5 most featured kid actors of “You Can’t Do That on Television.” **…

🎄It’s 1995, and Robert Downey Jr. may or may not be holding Kermit the Frog hostage until he gets his perfect Christmas tree. The Advent Calendar House is back in time for a freakin’ country bear jamberoo as a family of Muppet mice risk their lives to bring home the top of the top of the top of the top of a Christmas tree fit for an eccentric futur…

🎄It’s 1992, and there’s no such thing as Buster Bunny. The Advent Calendar House wraps up Christmas in July with the unofficial series finale of “Tiny Toon Adventures,” when Buster wishes he’d never been on the show, and the horrors within Montana Max’s Biff Tannen Pleasure Palace or whatever. **** 🎙 Guests: Adam Pope (Geekster, YouTube, Remember T…

🎄It’s 1990… or 1962… and a quantum physicist forgot to powder his boss’s underwear. This Scrooge Sunday edition of the Advent Calendar House involves time travel of a different sort as we follow Dr. Sam Beckett on a mission to save a mission, and the soul of the man trying to tear it down. * CONTENT WARNING: This episode briefly discusses the death…

🦃 It’s 2015, and in my search for a noisy cryptid I accidentally freed 175 roided-up turkeys, but neither of those things is the real monster. Join us as we rediscover a long lost Thanksgiving special concept Jim Henson dreamed up in the 1960s and meet the Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow. **** 🎙 Guests: Ethan (The Hungry Reader, A Special Present…

🎄 It’s 1992, and my daydreams of snow are melting into a bucket of water getting dumped on my head from an airplane. Join us as we dive down the rabbit hole to the strange world of The Disney Channel’s “Adventures in Wonderland,” where the White Rabbit wears Rollerblades and the halls are decked with fresh produce, the way Christmas was meant to be…

🎄 It’s 1988, the monsters under my bed are real, and they’re stealing Christmas. Follow us under the covers through a wormhole to the home of ’80s kids’ bedding sensation the Pillow People in a Christmas special so obscure, it’s not even listed on IMDb. But it’s real, and it’s ironically nightmarish. **** 🎙 Guest: Ethan (The Hungry Reader, A Specia…

🎃 It’s 1986, and one student at a magical boarding school is struggling to fit in while having to deal with a hard-nosed potions teacher and bullying from a golden child whose father will hear about this, but finds comfort in broom flying and encouragement from the kindly old headmaster. No, not that one. Before Harry Potter, there was “The Worst W…

🎄 It’s 1977, and the cast of Broadway’s hottest new musical is taking drastic measures to convince 4 different unions keep the theater open for a Christmas party because they forgot to book a venue. Join the original Broadway cast of “Annie” as somewhere in between themselves and their characters in a unique TV Christmas special which may very well…

🎄 It’s 1981, and a jolly swagman who may or may not be Santa Claus is flying me around the world in a sleigh built out of a bench and some rope we had lying around to search the globe for a lost baby kangaroo. Today’s Christmas in July episode begins where it’s actually winter in July, and only gets stranger and more inappropriate from there. It’s …

🐰 It’s 2004, and a stuffed toy rabbit voluntold me to clean his house. The Advent Calendar House celebrates both Easter in July and Scrooge Sunday with a trip to the Hundred Acre Wood as Rabbit does double duty as both the Easter Bunny and Scrooge, all while Christopher Robin is somewhere else entirely. **** 🎙 Guests: Sammy Hain (Sammy’s Easter Tai…

🎄 It’s 1983, and my emotional support jack-in-the-box is not providing much help for my Imposter Syndrome. Prepare for a deep dive into another pre-ALF puppet special from Paul Fusco starring a very depressed elf in training trying to find where he belongs in Santa’s workshop by first finding everywhere he doesn’t belong. Plus: Santa’s Swedish Chef…

🎄It’s 1979, and an evil king is having abandonment issues after his entire kingdom left, so he made an army of robots instead of going to therapy. The Advent Calendar House has once again emerged from hibernation after declaring 4 more months of winter to pretend it’s still winter. Join us as we encounter what might be the least Christmassy Rankin/…

The Advent Calendar House has awoken early from its long winter’s nap to take the Leap Year challenge as prescribed by Dr. Frasier Crane on one unseasonably warm February morning in 1996. On the way we look up the “Frasier” cast’s Christmas connections, explore the world of complicated opera solos and bad Western ballads, and call in to a PBS pledg…