Scandalous Games

Scandalous Games is a video game history podcast that takes a closer look at video game related controversies. Every episode, historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story about a scandalous event from gaming's past to his friends who offer commentary on moral panics, ill-advised advertising campaigns, unusual figures, and any and all topics related to video game scandals and how they shaped the medium. New episodes drop on the first and third Tuesdays of every month! Check out more info, including show notes and sources, at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

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Scandalous Games

Uwe Boll's Postal, Part 1: Uwe gotta be kidding me

August 05, 2025 • Scandalous Games • Episode 65

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. For our first episode coming off Scandalous Games Summer, we stick around the world of movies and take a closer look at Uwe Boll's 2007 film Postal, Uwe's raunchy, satirical comedy adaptation of Running with Scissors' only franchise. This time, we look at its development, production, and its very, very poor box office showing.

Topics discussed include: Kevin bravely doesn't bother Running with Scissors on social media, Uwe Boll vs. Billy Zane, and which doomed Postal: political correctness or a director who's box office poison?

Uwe Boll vs. Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3M_wGfYewo.

Check out Uwe Boll's demise in Postal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq0G9DPatWw

For more on the history of the Postal movie relative to the games, check out Brock Wilbur and Nathan Rabin, Postal (Boss Fight Books, 2020): https://bossfightbooks.com/products/postal-by-brock-wilbur-nathan-rabin.

For a brief history on the term "going postal," see: Aaron Gordon, "The Legacy of ‘Going Postal,’"Vice, https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-legacy-of-going-postal/

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.