GBBP Unplugged 1: 'Star Wars' Merch and 'Spy Vs. Spy'

The Great Big Beautiful Podcast: Unplugged Episode 1

You can listen on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and YouTube; you can follow the RSS feed; or you can listen right here!

Welcome to the first of what will be semi-regular “bonus” episodes of The Great Big Beautiful Podcast. Since our show has grown into an interview show, these extra episodes are an opportunity for us to just talk about random topics with a few guests in a “roundtable” format. We’ll also use these shows to present other content, including short interviews that wouldn’t otherwise make a whole episode. That’s what we’ve done here.

Why “unplugged”? Why not, really? Sure, we know it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but we’re “unplugged” from our longer interviews and free to just shoot the breeze with friends about whatever we want.

For this first episode, we’re joined by fellow GeekDads Gerry Tolbert and Sean Hallenbeck, and we tackle the evergreen topic of Star Wars merchandise. We launch our discussion of Star Wars by referencing this article about Target’s decision to swap out Leia for Luke on a “boy’s” t-shirt.

We talk about what’s available for The Force Awakens, how it compares to what was available in advance of The Phantom Menace, and our favorite Star Wars toys from our youth.

The second half of this episode is an interview I did at this year’s New York Comic-Con. I sat down with the editor-in-chief of Mad Magazine, John Ficarra, and the current (i.e., for the past 15 years) artist/author of the Spy Vs. Spy strip, Peter Kuper. We chat about the new book – Spy Vs. Spy: An Explosive Celebration – and about why the strip is so enduring.

During my chat with them, I reference this video that John Ficarra put out in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in France.

Thanks for listening, and enjoy!

**Reminder that if you leave us an iTunes comment/review between now and when our episode with Ian Doescher airs, you could win a copy of Shakespeare Star Wars: The Phantom of Menace!

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