Advent Calendar House
Home Episodes People Tags Decades Seasons
YouTube Instagram Bluesky Email
Subscribe
Home Episodes People Tags Decades Seasons Subscribe
YouTube Instagram Bluesky Email

Search Results

Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 in total

A Rugrats Chanukah
S1 #6 Dec 18, 17

A Rugrats Chanukah

🕎 In the Advent Calendar House’s first Hanukkah episode, we follow the Rugrats on their mission to stop the “Meanie of Chanukah” and make him take a nap.  🎙️ Sarah Shay joins the search and helps count all the misspoken “babyisms” along the way.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Sarah’s top 2 favorite spellings of “Hanukkah.”  E.G. Daily (Tommy) as Dottie in “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.”  A tale of 2 panics: Babies climbing up to open flames vs. babies trying to blow out Hanukkah candles.  Stu’s giant, tacky menorah vs. the Miami Marlins’ home run celebration monstrosity.  The TV trope of the Sitcom Arch-Nemesis.  Our worst on-stage mishaps.  ****  “A Rugrats Chanukah” © 1996 Klasky-Csupo, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s1 #1990s #hanukkah #nickelodeon
Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah
S2 #4 Dec 04, 18

Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah

🕎 Hanukkah is here, so here’s a 1995 special starring sock puppets hanging out with Mr. Miyagi, the dad from Growing Pains, and the mayor of Gotham City.  🎙️ Sarah Shay returns to the Advent Calendar House to reintroduce me to “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah,” which miraculously brings together Pat Morita, Alan Thicke, and Lloyd Bochner as both dinner guests and computer-generated, one-dimensional superheroes.  There’s now a better copy of “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah” on YouTube. The one we watched for this podcast was from some guy holding his iPad’s camera up to a TV.  Check out Sarah’s albums: “You Have Queer Street Cred” and “The Shay & Shay Radio Hour.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Shari Lewis’s amazing single-color red dreamcoat and stylin’ menorah.  Alan Thicke on “Celebrity Family Feud.”  “Lamb Chop in the Haunted Studio,” an earlier Halloween special also featuring Alan Thicke.  Charlie Horse’s prize-winning superhero, the stuff of someone’s very specific nightmares.  They almost make it through a whole Hanukkah special without mentioning Christmas, but blow it at the end for no reason.  ****  “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah” © 1995 8 Candles Production, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1990s #hanukkah #puppets
Shalom Sesame - Chanukah
S3 #11 Dec 22, 19

Shalom Sesame - Chanukah

🕎 Kick off Hanukkah with the objectively better son from “Growing Pains” spinning bad puns like he made them out of clay.  🎙️Sarah Shay stops by as we shine a light on a 1990 episode of “Shalom Sesame,” an on-again, off-again co-production of “Sesame Street” and its counterpart in Israel, “Rechov Sumsum.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Shalom Sesame” on Muppet Wiki.  Israel’s Big Bird stand-in, Kippi Ben Kippod, is mistranslated as a porcupine despite clearly being a hedgehog. A similar but unclothed costume was used in Spain’s Barrio Sésamo for Espinete, who’s identified as a hedgehog.  Jeremy Miller, as Linus, sings “The Vigil” in “Snoopy! The Musical.”  Yoav Tzafir’s other credits include the Hebrew-dubbed voices of Ninja Turtle Michaelangelo and Super Mario. Later he directed Israel’s version of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”  The real, actual, annual Hanukkah Torch Relay.  Moishe Oofnik, Israel’s counterpart to Oscar, looks less like a grouch and more like a standard Muppet monster. Probably because he has a nose.  Baby Bear teaches Telly Monster how to play dreidel.  A supposed folktale listed on the Wikipedia entry for sufganiyah may or may not be full of something that’s not jelly.  Sarah met the head puppeteer from “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah.”  Nell Carter, a Jewish convert, appeared on other episodes of “Shalom Sesame” as herself.  ****  “Shalom Sesame” © 1990 Children’s Television Workshop.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s3 #1990s #hanukkah #muppets
The Weinerville Chanukah Special
S5 #5 Dec 10, 20

The Weinerville Chanukah Special

🕎 Marc Weiner and his puppets won’t stop screaming in Nickelodeon’s first Hanukkah special.  🎙 April Ryley joins us as we noisily snowmobile back to 1995 to try and figure out what everyone’s yelling about. Unexpectedly, it all started in outer space.  📺 You can watch “The Weinerville Chanukah Special” on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Weinerville.com is alive and well in 2020.  Marc Weiner as Swiper the Fox and the Map in “Dora the Explorer.”  Marc Summers on his OCD being “blown out of freakin’ proportion,” and why he dropped his given last name.  Sour cream vs. applesauce for latke dipping.  Michael Gunst (Sinrek) may or may not be this puppeteer and mask maker.  Brian O’Connor (Antidorkus) as Schemer on “Shining Time Station.”  Thanks to Nickelodeon being under the MTV Networks umbrella, this special featured music by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Miami Sound Machine, and the B-52’s.  The bulk of this special was filmed at the Summit Lodge in Killington, Vermont.  Telephone booths still exist at Walt Disney World.  Liver as a go-to food kids hate.  Kevin “Diesel” Nash was still WWF Champion during taping, but lost it shortly before the special aired.  The art of making your own menorah out of household items, recyclable objects, or fruit.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Kmart Holiday Commercial starring Rosie O’Donnell and Penny Marshall (1995)  Holly Jolly X’masu.  ****  “The Weinerville Chanukah Special” © 1995 Nickelodeon.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s5 #1990s #hanukkah #nickelodeon #puppets
Chanuka at Bubbe’s
S7 #3 Dec 06, 21

Chanuka at Bubbe’s

🕎 It’s 1988, and we’re getting lit at Bubbe’s Boarding House for Hanukkah. 🎙 April Ryley joins us for a spin with a bunch of puppets you’ll never hear from again.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  A Simpsons animator designed the puppets for this weird, wonderful ’80s Hanukkah special (Splinter, 2014)  “Caps for Sale”  Anton and his Easter Island head.  April’s very non-kosher latke recipe.  Mayim Bialik explains the letters on the dreidel and other Hanukkah facts.  Calvin getting trolled by his dad in “Calvin and Hobbes.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  1970s/’80s PBS Logo ID.  1985 Teddy Ruxpin “Frankenstein” Commercial, preserved by Dinosaur Dracula. Teddy Ruxpin voice actor Phil Baron co-wrote this special.  Cool Kids Club.  ****  “Chanuka at Bubbe’s” © 1988 Pan-Imago, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1980s #hanukkah #puppets
The Nanny - The Hanukkah Story
S9 #10 Dec 20, 22

The Nanny - The Hanukkah Story

🕎 It’s 1998, and we’re praying for a miracle after getting stuck in a snow bank on the side of a dark highway with only an eighth of a tank of gas.  🎙 April Ryley joins us on an enlightening revisit to the Flashy Girl from Flushing on her first Hanukkah as a married woman. Also, Ray Charles is here!  📺 You can watch “The Hanukkah Story” for free on Facebook.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  April visits the Sheffield residence, and so can you.  Fran Drescher in “UHF.”  Fran Drescher says she had to fight to let ‘The Nanny’ be Jewish (L.A. Times, 2020)  Benjamin Salisbury (Brighton) on “Teen Celebrity Jeopardy” in 1997.  Daniel Davis (Niles) on “The Fran Drescher Tawk Show” in 2010.  Max’s childhood memory of his dad at Christmas reminded me of Bruce Wayne’s long dining room table.  What to do if you’re stranded in a car during a winter storm.  Kenny Rogers Roasters still exists, but only in Asia.  ****  📼 Commercials:  3 Musketeers Commercial starring Fran Drescher (1998)  Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.  ****  “The Nanny” and “The Hanukkah Story” © 1998 Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Co. Medien KG.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1990s #hanukkah
Full-Court Miracle
S11 #4 Dec 08, 23

Full-Court Miracle

🕎 It’s 2003, and a team of Hebrew school basketball players think they’ve found the ghost of Judah Maccabee in a random guy living in a van.  🎙️ April Ryley and J.W. Friedman join us for a Disney Channel Original Hanukkah Movie very, very loosely based on the true story of former college basketball star Lamont Carr and a yeshiva’s struggling team looking for a leader.  📺 “Full-Court Miracle” is available on Disney+.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Lamont Carr’s obituary in Virginia Magazine (2017)  Psychocandy, an experimental pop duo of Cassie Steele (Julie) and Jase Blankfort (Stick).  UVA’s Athletics website circa 2003.  Alex’s prized Dr. J basketball card isn’t even a rookie card and isn’t that valuable.  “Jewball,” a novel featuring the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association basketball team.    Sadly, the only upload I could find of the hip-hop cover of the Dreidel song is a smartphone recording of a TV playing this movie.  This basketball movie’s NBA star cameo is provided by Jerome Williams.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Microsoft Encarta Commercial (1995)  Returning Student.  ****  “Full-Court Miracle” © 2003 Disney Enterprises, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s11 #2000s #hanukkah #disney
Friends - The One with the Holiday Armadillo
S13 #13 Dec 25, 24

Friends - The One with the Holiday Armadillo

🕎 It’s the year 2000, and Christmas and Hanukkah have crossed paths at my doorstep in the form of Santa Claus and his part-Jewish friend… a weird turtle man.  🎙 Becca Petunia and April Ryley join us as we revisit some old Friends in honor of Christmas Day and the first night of Hanukkah sharing a day on the calendar this year. Plus: An escaped tarantula, a restaurant we may never be allowed in or out of again, and an unforgettable interfaith holiday mascot fit for a new millennium.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  How often does the first night of Hanukkah fall on Christmas? (Vox, 2016)  What the ‘Friends’ Holiday Armadillo Episode Gets Right About Interfaith Families (Hey Alma, 2021)  The “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” drum roll outtake reel.  A transcript including deleted scenes reveals Ben wants Santa to bring him an ant farm.  Formication (with an M, y’all), the false sense of feeling like bugs are crawling on you.  Halloween Adventure is real and still open.  Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.  ****  📼 Commercials:  AT&T True Savings with David Schwimmer (circa 1996)  The Studio Demands It!  ****  “Friends” and “The One with the Holiday Armadillo” © 2000 Warner Bros. Television.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s13 #2000s #hanukkah
Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree
S15 #9 Dec 16, 25

Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree

🕎 Celebrate Hanukkah with a community talent show we don’t even get to watch.  We’ve miraculously found another Hanukkah special — with yet another spelling of it — so join us as we instantly reappear back in 1991 with a bunch of Canadian animal puppets to discover the magic of the holiday Under the Umbrella Tree.  🎙️ April Ryley is our lovely assistant as we meet a humble shopkeeper and former magician once known as “The Great Goldberg,” played by the equally great Harvey Atkin.  📺 As of this recording, you can watch “Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree” on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Holly Larocque in “The Big Band Broadcast” (2008)  Stephen Brathwaite’s (Jacob) artwork portfolio.  Bob Stutt (Iggy) as Wander McMooch on “Fraggle Rock.”  David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.  “Peoples is peoples.”  Today’s TV Trope: Magicians Are Wizards.  A Star is Borscht: The Harvey Atkin Young Jewish Performer Competition (2022)  “Under the Umbrella Tree: The Mask Special” (2020)  ****  📼 Commercials:  Happy Holidays from “Under the Umbrella Tree” (CBC)  Hallmark “Old Friends” Hanukkah Card Commercial (1993)  Remember That Show?  ****  “Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree” © 1991 Noreen Young Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.  #s15 #1990s #hanukkah #puppets
Previous Page

Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 in total

Next Page
Advent Calendar House

Advent
Calendar
House

Menu

Home Episodes People Tags Recent Appearances Christmas Podcasts The Retro Network Decades Seasons Subscribe

Subscribe

Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast Pocket Casts Amazon Music YouTube RSS Feed

©2017–2026 Advent Calendar House. Programs reviewed are property of their respective owners.

Broadcast by transistor logo
YouTube Instagram Bluesky Email