The Worst of All Possible Worlds

As has become tradition, we fielded a bunch of calls from you about what The Worst of All Possible Worlds meant to you in 2024 and stitched them together with highlights from the show. Merry Christmas and thanks for being part of our year. We also put out an extra-special Whit's Endless Summer bobus to the premium feed; check it out over on Patreon.com/worstofall! This episode includes clips from the following episodes, in order of appearance: 120 - 2 Left 2 Behind 2 Tribulation 2 Force 121 - Donkey Kong Country 122 - Far Cry 5 feat. November Kelly 124 - Alan Wake II 125 - Airplane feat. Bernie Wagenblast 128 - Supermarket Sweep 129 - Blackgaard Begins feat. Devon 130 - Heaven is for Real feat. Radio Free Tote Bag 134 - The Dutch Knight feat. Trevor Strunk 135 - The Boss Baby feat. Patrick Willems 142 - Gerbert feat. Traditional Scrench 145 - Dragon Ball Z feat. Alex Ptak 146 - Shrimp Jesus and the Death of Facebook 147 - Chrono Trigger feat. Anime Sickos 150 - The Worst of All Possible Parties (WAPP): The 150th Episode Spectacular LIVE from Colorado Springs! 151 - Moneyball 155 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? feat. Mattie Lubchansky 156 - The Magic School Bus 157 - Blasphemous II feat. Tom O'Mahony 161 - Silent Hill 2 feat. Aysha U. Farah 162 - Skibidi Toilet 163 - Blair Witch 164 - God's Not Dead 2 168 - The Nostalgia Critic 169 - Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life

The lads do battle with Mr. Potter for the heart of Bedford Falls as they cover Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic: It’s a Wonderful Life. Topics include the pernicious myth of “Capra-corn”, the art of the Jimmy Stewart impression, and what it takes to be a George Bailey in a system designed to turn you into a Henry F. Potter.   REMINDER: SUBMISSIONS FOR OUR ANNUAL CALL-IN EPISODE ARE OPEN! Call +1 347 857 9523 and leave us a voicemail letting us know what the show meant to you this year and/or what your favorite moments were. We look forward to hearing from you!   Media Referenced in this Episode: It’s a Wonderful Life! Dir. Frank Capra. 1946. 'Young George Bailey' Took Some Hard Hits by Stephen Cox. Los Angeles Times. December 15th, 1996. What ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Shows Us About The Weird History Of Building & Loans by John Wake. Forbes. December 31st, 2021.   TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com   Interstitial: “Jimmy the Raven” // Written and Performed by A.J. Ditty. 

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall   Hellloooooo, we’re The Worst of All Possible Worlds, we remember it so you don’t have to! We all remember Doug Walker, you know, that guy with the glasses, the tie, and the plain white background because they clearly couldn’t afford a better set? Well, wouldn’t you know it, he created a character called the Nostalgia Critic, a loud, obnoxious, Looney Tunes-adjacent blowhard who got famous for being very mad about Batman having a credit card. But does he have anything to say about our current critical landscape or do his over-the-top antics make him look like a groundhog on meth? Let’s take a look at: The Nostalgia Critic.   Media Referenced in this Episode: Nostalgia Critic Transformers Batman and Robin Quest for Camelot The Review Must Go On - Demo Reel Finale Nostalgia Critic’s The Wall Channel Awesome Indigogo Campaign “I Don’t Known James Rolfe” by Dan Olson “Recession breeds accidental Entrepreneur” by Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune July 21st, 2009. “The Nostalgia Critic and the Wall” by Dan Olson   TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com   Interstitial: “Foobies.com” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Featuring Brian Alford as “Sexy Brian” and Josh Boerman as “Phineas Foob” // Music: “Careful Shouting” by Highway Superstar

The lads get drafted and give Mussolini the ole One-Two as they once again remember Pearl Harbor by covering Frank Capra’s series of WWII propaganda films: Why We Fight. Topics include the language of propaganda, the shittiness of fascist art, and what it means to watch your country become the thing it once stridently vowed to fight. Media Referenced in this Episode: Why We Fight. Dir. Frank Capra. 1942-1945. TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com Interstitial: “Too Big Roosevelt” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Feat. A.J. Ditty as “Olde Timey Announcer” and Josh Boerman as “Too Big Roosevelt  

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall The lads grab their broomsticks and defy gravity as they cover Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s megahit musical: Wicked. Topics include the twisted mind of Gregory Maguire, the highs and lows of Stephen Schwartz, and how to reckon with a show that is simultaneously trying to tackle the horrors of fascism and the inherent melodrama of wanting to kiss a hot Winkie. Media Referenced in this Episode: Wicked. Book by Winnie Holzman, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Dir. Joe Montello. 2003. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. ReganBooks. 1995. Before 'Wicked' was a smash, it was stumbling in San Francisco by Jenny Singer. The San Francisco Standard. November 23rd, 2024. "Defying Gravity": Queer Conventions in the Musical "Wicked" by Stacy Wolf. Theatre Journal, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Mar., 2008). The John Hopkins University Press. “Gregory Maguire on Wickedness Post-Bush” by Erika Milvy. Clamour. February 27th, 2009. “John Bucchino and the Origins of Wicked the Broadway Musical” Still Popular: Chenoweth and Menzel Talk ‘Wicked’ by Jackson McHenry. Vulture. October 24th, 2023. “THEATER REVIEW; There’s Trouble in Emerald City” by Ben Brantley. NYTimes. October 31st, 2003. “‘They changed my ending, I felt aghast’: how we made Wicked” by Chris Wiegand. The Guardian. September 27th, 2021. “Wicked Review” by Charles Isherwood. Variety. October 30th, 2003. “Wicked Review” by David Finkle. Theatremania. October 30th, 2003. TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com Interstitial: “Baritone” // Music by Stephen Schwartz // Lyrics by Dr. Samuel Bultch, D.D.S. // Featuring Dr. Samuel Bultch, D.D.S. as “Dr. Samuel Bultch, D.D.S.” and David Armstrong as “Stephen Schwartz”.

Tom Walker (Tom Walker: Very, Very) joins the lads for his very first trip to Odyssey as they cover adventures in shock-jock DJing, international espionage, and the return of everybody’s favorite encyclopedia writing, ice-cream selling, NSA asset/God King of Odyssey: John Avery Whittaker. Topics include biblical trading cards, the logistics of owning a beef jerky co-op, and how to make propaganda that doesn’t inspire a life-long obsession with hunting down heretical texts.   Tom Walker: Bluesky // Instagram // Twitch // Youtube   Tom Walker: Very, Very: A love letter to mime (and to a coat) written by award-winning idiot Tom Walker, who keeps talking during what he insists is a mime show. Available to Stream on Amazon   Bigsofttitty.png: Demi Lardner and Tom Walker are doing this and no-one can stop them. This is a podcast for no cowards. Available on Spotify // Apple Podcasts   Media Referenced in this Episode: Adventures in Odyssey #313: “Top This!” #355-357: “The Search for Whit, Parts 1-3"   TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com   Interstitial: “A Series of Voicemails Left on Mary Mulligan’s Answering Machine by One Melvin Mulligan, Her Brother and Composer of Corporate Jingles” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Featuring Eleanor Philips as “Mary Mulligan” and A.J. Ditty as “Melvin Mulligan” // Piano Cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” by Gleesinnpiano

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall   The lads dare to speak about Christ in the classroom and face the wrath of Ray Wise as they cover Harold Cronk’s 2016 evangelical propaganda film: God’s Not Dead 2. Topics include the horrendous filmmaking, the deeply-flawed rhetoric, and what we can learn about the future of America from a film that posits a world in which the masses will be subjugated by the most annoying people alive.   Media Referenced in this Episode: God’s Not Dead 2. Dir. Harold Cronk. 2016. God’s Not Dead (2014) - Financial Information God’s Not Dead 2 (2016) - Financial Information ‘God’s Not Dead’ Producer Pure Flix Launches Theatrical Distribution Arm God's Not Dead 2: The Escalation of Christian Propaganda | Big Joel   TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com   Interstitial: “Harold Cronk Presents: The Vagina Monologues” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Featuring Brian Alford as “Brian Alford” and A.J. Ditty as “Harold Cronk”

This past summer, I wrote an essay about the church and denomination I grew up in, but didn't end up publishing it. The results of the election gave me the push I needed to finish putting it all together. I hope it helps.

Tim Sutton (Marble Hornets) joins the lads for a bit of light camping and intense witch-hunting as they cover Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick’s 1999 horror phenomenon: The Blair Witch Project. Topics include the film’s DIY filmmaking, the unprecedented marketing, and what it means to reap the consequences of a nation’s wrongdoings when you’re just trying to make a dang student film.   Tim Sutton: Twitter // Instagram   Marble Hornets: Youtube    Media Referenced in this Episode: The Blair Witch Project. Dir. Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick. Haxan Films. 1999 Curse of the Blair Witch. Dir. Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick. Haxan Films. 1999. 8 Days in the Woods: The Making of The Blair Witch Project by Matt Blazi. “The Blair Thumb”. Dir. Steve Odekerk. 2002 The Blair Witch Project: The Dossier by D.A. Stern. Onyx Publishing. 1999. The Blair Witch Project: An Oral History by Scott Meslow. The Week. January 13th, 2015. The Blair Witch Project’s Heather Donahue Is Alive and Well by Scott Meslow. GQ. September 16th, 2016. The Official Blair Witch Website The extended fan cut of The Blair Witch Project Old archived list of Blair Witch parody sites   TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com   Interstitial: “1:49 AM on November 3rd, 2024” // Written And Performed by A.J. Ditty // “Brothers on a Hotel Bed” Piano Cover by Stephen Guilbert

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall Donovan Eyre (Radio Free Tote Bag) and the lads grab their plungers and do battle with the toilets as they cover DaFuq!?Boom!’s animated YouTube megahit: Skibidi Toilet. Topics include the origins of machinima, the joys of seeing robots punching each other, and the ramifications of adding Hollywood money into a story about cameramen killing toiletmen. Donovan Eyre: Twitter // Instagram // SoundCloud Radio Free Tote Bag: A weekly relationship advice podcast hosted by Audrey and Donovan. Patreon // Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Twitter // Instagram Media Referenced in this Episode: Skibidi Toilet by Dafuq!?Boom! (Full Playlist) america - season 1 (all episodes) by Dafuq1?Boom! Blugray - demand (Official Music Video) Reupload deleted DaFuq!?Boom! by The Frozen Gorgon. Youtube. 2023. Deus Ex: The Recut (Fullscreen Original Version) by AbbyRemix. August 11th, 2018. “Dom Dom Yes Yes” by Biser King. KVZ Music Publishing. April 17th, 2022. “Garry's Mod/Skibidi Toilet DMCA Claim Has Been 'Resolved,' Creator Garry Newman Says” by Alex Stedman. IGN. July 20th, 2024. “Give It To Me” by Timbaland. Background Records/Interscope Records. January 1st, 2007. Half-Life: Full Life Consequences by squirrelking. Iction. January 23rd, 2008. How Quake Sparked a Filmmaking Revolution by Matthew Byrd. Den of Geek. August 24th, 2017. “[Mature Content] From the skibiditoilet community on Reddit: How do astro toilets reproduce?” by AcanthisittaNo2510. Reddit. October 24th, 2024. “‘Skibidi Toilet’ Film and TV Franchise in the Works From Michael Bay, Adam Goodman — Listen to the Exclusive Interview” by Andrew Wallenstein and Robert Steiner. July 24th, 2024. “Skibidi toilet is now a brand that dafuq SOLD RIGHTS to INVIZ.(IMPORTANT)” by Raptor FN. Skibidi Toilet Wiki. March 2nd, 2024. “YouTube Phenomenon, Skibidi Toilet, Makes a Plunge to the Toy Aisle with Bonkers Toys and Invisible Narratives Licensing Partnership” by Bonkers Toys. PR Newswire. May 22nd, 2024. TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com Interstitial: “Michael Bay’s Skibidi Toilet” // Written by A.J. Ditty and Eleanor Philips // Featuring Eleanor Philips as “Michael Bay.”