TDM: Total Dad Movies with Tooky, Dave, & Mike
Mike and Dave are two Gen X Dads who grew up watching movies because there was nothing else to do. Tooky is a Millennial dad-in-training who grew up with the internet, and thus never needed to watch ROAD HOUSE on cable. Mike (a standup comedian) and Dave (an improviser and occasional academic) will present Tooky (comedian, social critic and dad-in-training) with a new (old) movie every week and answer the important questions: Are white people ok? When did Nic Cage become a whole thing?Are these movies good, or are Mike and Dave wallowing in toxic nostalgia? Every Tuesday, TDM promises to bridge the generation gap, one dad movie at a time.
Intro/outro music: "It's Almost Late Night" from the album WE HAD A GOOD RUN by Dave Rabinow, available at www.daverabinow.com
Episodes
126 episodes
CLUE
Part of being a Dad is facing - and even embracing - loss. All states are transitional, but you hope that you leave behind something that your kids (and maybe even their kids) can hold onto, something that says: "This is who I was, and this is ...
THE ODYSSEY
We usually stay away from movies still showing in theaters, but we had to make an exception for the movie event of the summer, which dares to ask the question: What if beloved Dad filmmaker Christopher Nolan made the world's biggest, longest, m...
CON AIR (encore presentation)
Guys, the Dads are all over the country taking some much-deserved vacations with their biological and hand-selected families. It's that time in the summer when the good movies have all come out (see you, THE ODYSSEY) and it's time to start taki...
INCEPTION
Are you taking your dad to see THE ODYSSEY? Trick question: OF COURSE YOU ARE. That's because Christopher Nolan is your Dad's favorite director. He checks all the boxes for a Dad Movie Experience (tm):Emotional distance (obvi);Coo...
BULLITT
Listen: I don't want to tell you how to live your life, but if your Dad doesn't want to be Steve McQueen, GET YOURSELF A NEW DAD.And if you're a Dad and you don't secretly want to be Steve McQueen, GET YOUR KIDS A NEW DAD. Pe...
WALL STREET
Before Charlie Sheen was...you know, "Charlie [makes cuckoo gestures with hands] Sheen" he was a serious actor. Your mileage may vary, but he was for sure out there trying. And as one of Hollywood's most famous sons (acting across from hi...
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
This conversation takes more twists and turns than the film does, and that's saying something, friend-o. Flip a coin to see how Dad Tooky feels about the Coen brothers' 2007 Best Picture winner NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
THE LAST DANCE (Episodes 6-10)
The second half of this docuseries is marked as much by the absence of fathers as by their presence; we barely hear from MJ's kids (and when we do, we get no insight into MJ the Dad). The surrogate Dads (Phil Jackson, Dean Smith) fall away; mos...
THE LAST DANCE (Episodes 1-5)
What if we built a whole docuseries out of Dads?MJ = the demanding DadPhil = the cool DadScottie = the young Dad who's still figuring it outBill Cartwright = the Dad who the whole neighborhood respectsJerry Re...
WRESTLEMANIA X7
You may find yourself asking the question: "Wither Wrestlemania 17?" Or even: "Wither Wrestlemania at all? These be not movies; gaze upon ye podcast title and weep!" Listem, I could explain how Dad Tooky wanted to revisit the WWF of her childho...
HOOP DREAMS
HOOP DREAMS is on the short list of great American movies. Full stop. Regardless of genre, era, etc. I don't think most cineastes would push back on that. HOOP DREAMS is also full of Dads: absent Dads, supportive Dads, substitute Da...
WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
When you're a Dad you're a Dad all the way / From your first stupid joke to your last dying day...Listen to this podcast softly and it's almost like praying...OK, I'll stop. Enjoy Robbins' and Wise's landmark 1961 movie musical WE...
SMOKEY & THE BANDIT
"This is the movie ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER wants to be." - Dad Tooky KavanaghHal Needham directs 1977's SMOKEY & THE BANDIT!
WAITING FOR GUFFMAN
Oh, Catherine O'Hara...For Dads Of A Certain Age (DOACAs), the presence of Catherine O'Hara in any project was a sign that we were in good hands. She was to Gen X what in many ways Gilda Radner was to boomers - surprising, unafraid, deep...
SUPER BOWL LX
It's the mooooost wooooonderfullll tiiiiime of the yeeeeeaaar....It's the Dad-est of all the (unofficial) holidays, it's Thanksgiving without the turkey and Xmas without the small talk plus Fourth of July without the humidity, its Super ...
STEP BROTHERS
These are dark times, friends. And in dark times, Dads need to smile. Which is why we hope our voices are like a combination of Fergie and Jesus as we dig into Adam McKay's 2008 shaggiest-of-shaggy-dogs comedy STEP BROTHERS.Stay golden, ...
BABY BOOM
This week: the Dads toast one JC Wiatt, one of the great unsung movie Moms as well one of the most luminescent movie stars of the century, the magnificent Diane Keaton, who we lost in 2025.Working from a Nancy Meyers script and featuring...
A FEW GOOD MEN
Happy 2025 from the Dads.We really wanted to mark the passing of Rob Reiner, who we've featured in our episodes on WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and THE PRINCESS BRIDE; today we discuss his 1992 blockbuster as well as his impact on our lives and ...
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION
Well, the Dads finally made it to Chevy in this most Chevy of Chevy movies.It's hard to explain the phenomenon of Chevy Chase in 2025 to someone who wasn't there. But such is the burden of Gen X Dads, much like reciting "'Twas The Night ...
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Yeah, we (Dads Mike and Dave) were as surprised as you are:Dad-In-Waiting Tooky Kavanagh did not see this film until AFTER watching BOTH parts of WICKED.The times, they are a-changin'...And it's not a bad thing: is there a ...
THE IRON CLAW
Tolstoy said "Every family is unhappy in its own way". Boy, would he have loved the Von Erichs. (Would Leo Tolstoy have enjoyed professional wrestling? I like to think so.)The Dads know Thanksgiving holidays can be rough (see: above); in...
OVERBOARD
Kurt and Goldie! Dads love a long-term relationship!Goldie Hawn can do no wrong. It’s a Dad Movie credo. Kurt Russell’s Dean Profitt is perhaps the most feckless Dad we’ve encountered yet. Like, for real: ZERO FECKS GIVEN.&nb...
THE THING
HALLOWEEN BONUS EPISODE!The Dads choose "treat" for both us and you with a surprise bonus John Carpenter episode, 1982's horror masterpiece (featuring Kurt Russell, pre-"diabeetus" Wilford Brimley, and Black All Star Keith David) THE THI...