Episode 19- Season 2, Episodes 41-45

• Episode 41 (11/27/1989): The finale-week opening leans into a carnival of quick sketches and musical moments, establishing the farewell through a mix of witty news bits, behind-the-scenes song-selection talk, a German SOLC caper with treasure intrigue, Pogostick Theater’s Christmas Carol, and a high-energy Music Day set. The day sets the mood for a bittersweet, celebratory send-off.
• Episode 42 (11/28/1989): The mood shifts to a road-trip comedy with family-style hijinks, a biology-friendly turtle segment, and a Disneyland guest spot that adds real-world warmth. The “Who’s The Baby?” game and a big group video pick up the pace, culminating in a Toupee gag that punctuates the day’s lighthearted tone.
• Episode 43 (11/29/1989): This day leans into showbiz parody and guest-driven bits, including a Mickey Mouse Show spoof, zoo guest Susie Johnson, a musical interlude by The Cowlicks, and a Blade-style promo moment. The SOLC treasure episode provides a layered caper, and the day tees up a meta-conversation about clips and inclusion, signaling a reflective edge amid the chaos.
• Episode 44 (11/30/1989): Placeholder (details not provided). The intent, given the week’s arc, is likely to continue weaving together farewell vibes with a mix of skits and guest moments, building toward the finale.
• Episode 45 (12/1/1989): Placeholder (season finale). The wrap is expected to culminate in a formal goodbye to Roque, with a fitting mix of humor, gratitude, and a clear sense of moving on for the ensemble. Details to be filled in with the exact moments of Roque’s send-off.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Abcock, also known as Kevin and Jennifer. Two anchors who have never met a tongue twister, they couldn't chew up and spit out as if they were perfectly crafted jokes. The Lumber Yard Vandals story features wood chucks as suspects, though animal activists swear it's impossible for them to chuck that much wood. And yes, I'm going to avoid having to do any tongue twisters during this segment as best I can because I'm not very good at it. How many takes do you think that it really took them to get this skit completed perfectly? Because I've been watching a lot of bloopers, particularly in the last couple of days from rap videos, and they seem to slip at the easiest little thing. But I'm very impressed with the final product from Jennifer and Kevin and the later guest that comes on. I know that it normally took three takes to get something right, or they would do three takes of a dance or a skit to get everything right. That was the magic number. But if any of you guys who were showgoers and were at this particular episode, I would love to hear your experience. The Toy Boat Corporation of Detroit has announced that they will halt all of the toy boat production in order to begin producing rubber baby buggy bumpers. Peggy very notably struggles with the pronunciation of the rhyme. Chet has to step in and try and calm her down, tell her to breathe, which is pretty much the show's rhythm in a nutshell. The toy boat builders union was marching in protest. They were shouting loudly, Toy Boat for a dramatic effect. Of course, I did this in groups of threes, and I will not be attempting it at this moment. Next, Desert Sheik laments the loss of his sick lamb to mysterious causes. He has been inconsolable due to the deaths of the last five sheeps. Next, we talk to a local woman who won her case in a bitter butter debate with a dairy farm. This rounds out the segment and it culminates in a satellite interview with Maweva delivering a flawless tongue twister that could make the tongue twister itself jealous.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

So you bought a bit of butter better than your bitter butter. And I put it in my battery and my battery is not bitter. So if you better buddy butter, that you bought a bit of better butter. You bet. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

It's silly, it's chaotic, and it's MMC in a nutshell. Next is Mousemail with Fred and Rocky. Rocky reads a letter asking who picks the songs for the videos. And the answer is delivered the music coordinator, and her name is Nancy Gregory. She looks at the charts, she leans into the songs that have staying power, she beefs up the classics and then matches the cast members to the various songs that you then eventually see. Then Fred fields a letter about what happened on day one of the show. The memory is not exactly what you would expect it to be. It was essentially a drill sergeant yelling in the faces of Josh, Lindsay, Dee Dee, Rocky, and Fred. But for some reason, this whole segment makes me think of not only a full metal jacket, but it also makes me think of the roundhouse clip I posted for my birthday.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Well, what do we have here? Hey, hey, spickin' spin! What are we doing when the ship hit the sand? What are we doing, Peeper?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

We swing back to Stoneface Country with the Secret of Lost Creek, another German dubbed episode of Coors. This episode is called Return to Stoneface, and it starts back at Gold Rush Days that are still taking place, but finds Jeannie instead of enjoying fried chicken at the Gold Rush Days, is digging into the mystery of the lake. Robert and Russie are at Travis's cage to visit him and play a game of checkers, which Robert's confusion about the game is providing more laughs than strategy. The plan to free Travis is hatched, but in the process, the German dubbing put together a sentence that confuses me. Russie asked Robert, you want to bake him in a cake with a pill in it? Yeah. This is why it's very difficult to watch this show in German. Robert asks the sheriff that is guarding the cage if he can take a picture of him. While taking this picture, Russie is supposed to creep up behind him in an attempt to grab the key, but he is not successful. So, little Minx Jeannie sidles up to him to get the job done where she puts her arm around him, unhooks it, and tosses it back to Russie. She guides the group to a teepee to share the plan, which was kind of an odd choice for me personally. She says that the river has lots of bends in it. And while it is rare, sometimes one of those bends can get cut off from the river, forming a lake. This has all their wheels rolling, their light bulbs blinking, their whatever you want to call it. The stupidity melted away for a second. She is convinced that they will find the treasure exactly where she's telling them to. The crew treks towards the lake and discover the tallest tree and plant a shovel in the very spot after they take, I think it's five paces or something like that. As soon as this is done, they are met with lame ass Bigfoot noises that never fail to terrify the baddies and even the goodies. Russy is convinced that someone doesn't want them to dig there. But they, or Travis really, dig there anyway. Travis says that with his cut of the treasure, he's going to invest some of it in a visit to Chicago because he hears it's a nice town. That just so happens to be where Jeannie lives. Next up is another episode of Pogo Stick Theater, and this is one that I did share back during the holidays for obvious reasons. Fred introduces Damon as Scrooge in a Christmas carol that's less Dickens and more three stooges. Chase stands in as Jacob Marley, Lindsay as the ghost of Christmas past, and is oddly dressed like a princess. Albert is the ghost of Christmas present, and as I learned when I posted this video back in December, the person playing the ghost of Christmas future is Brayden. So this is a leftover skit from season one. And in true Braden form, he keeps falling off the pogo stick. It's theater, it's chaos, it's all performed with loads of laughter because I can't imagine it is easy to deliver those lines and be serious while bouncing on a pogo stick. Music day for this final week of season two is coincidentally the same group that started the season off. It's New Kids on the Block. Let's rock. It's Christmas time. We're gonna celebrate it with breath. Sorry, it's in bed, it's in my DNA. I have to do it that way. Anyway, New Kids or NKO T B are back doing their thing with Jordan in front and center in his 80s glory, featuring a Puka Shell necklace and a New Kids on the Black T-shirt with a vest. Those stupidly ridiculous rat tails. Sorry, Dale, I know you had one there for a little bit of time, but okay. I watched what was it, The Revenge of the Clones or whatever, the second Star Wars movie today, and he had a rat tail coming from behind his ear, and that bothered me to no extent. Rat tails are dumb. I'm sorry. I love you guys, but they stupid. Anyway, back to the show. They'll be performing I'll be loving you. Although I think please don't go, girl, would have been a much better option. The crowd goes wild as questions come flocking in. What's it like to be pursued by fans who basically know more about you than you know about yourself? Which I think is a very valid question, especially in these recent days where I've heard in sync members rereading quizzes they had taken back in the day, like 97-98, and they're answering questions and they're like, Why in the heck did I answer the question that way? So, you know, your fans take it and they run with it. And that's what New Kids on the Block was to these people sitting in this audience, much like it is to this day with everybody else. I digress. Donnie says, at least I think it's Donnie, that it can be very awkward at times, especially when you're just trying to be out in the public buying new underwear and people are just staring at you. I can't imagine that's very comfortable. How did you guys meet? Is another question. Well, well, Jordan and John have known each other forever. Duh. And they went to school with Danny and Donnie and met Joey later. Kind of funny to hear this story now because this sounds very familiar. Uh almost like, I don't know, JC and Justin were essentially brothers. And they kind of sorta in a roundabout kind of way went to school with Jordan or Jordan, Joey, and Chris, and then they brought Lanza in later. Just you know, just you know, da-da-da-da-da-da. What about parental support? Fred takes a moment to give the new kids on the block members' parents a hand for being so supportive and keeping the guys grounded this entire time, which I do not blame him for doing because the parents always need the accolades and their flowers. They field the questions with charm that you would expect from a 15-minute segment of Super Fan Electricity. The show closes with a moment where Danny and Joey are delivering the C, and the Y is from Jordan, John, and Donnie. And then the audience turns feral. I'm actually surprised that there wasn't more security because I do kind of remember that happening with Tiffany in season one. But for this one, there was essentially no security. If you wanted to go touch a guy, or I'm sorry, a kid, you could just run up and grab him. It looks like Fanima's being had by all. And there's even one kid who looks like he's attempting to crowd surf, which is not really a Mickey Mouse Club thing, but hey, there's a first time for everything. Okay, and now it's time to dig into the Tuesday episode, which is episode 42 from season two. But before I dig into this guest day episode, I would just like to say that if you are with me here in this day and age, currently it is April the 21st of 2026, anniversary week, in case you didn't know. This week I am posting some clips from the season two rap video that I've gotten. And I'm including every day this week the various intros they did for the different days of the week. Every, I don't know, podcast I've heard from club members, they talk about the original intros they did during season one. So yesterday I posted the one they did for music day, which was cute. And then today I posted the one they did for guest day, which was super duper cheesy. I currently have that guest day song playing in my head. So stick around for the next three days of this week. And if you were coming to me later in time, just go to either TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram to see the videos I am speaking on. 42, we're gonna call my annoying dad Turtle Talk and Disneyland Day as we continue marching toward the season's end with more misadventures, a road trip that tests every mile, Turtle Talk, and a Disneyland day that would have made any kid lose their lunch money to nostalgia. I know I would have, especially if it were around Halloween. After a quick opening from Brandy, Josh, and Albert, we are tossed off to the next episode of My Annoying Dad. As the crew head south to Florida, Cocoa Beach to be specific, in a road trip that starts with Fred belting out however many bottles of beer on the wall. I think he starts around 750, so I hope to heck he didn't start at a thousand because these poor kids, he is obviously driving the car. I did say beer, I did not say root beer. He's committed to the bit as Fred always is. The kids are obviously very bored as Fred suggests that they play I Spy yet again. And of course, being in Debbie's dad form, he keeps guessing the same things over and over again. And he does the standard pointing out of the cows as they drive by, rolling down the windows and mooing, because who of us has not done that? The dialogue survives the highway as the kids beg for better tunes. But dad turns on the radio, kind of scrolls through the stations as the kids are kind of getting into it, and then he finds Polka and decides that's what they're going with. As Dad opens the window to let some fresh air in, his toupee is gently jostled and goes flying backwards right into Roger's face, and he reacts as if he were being attacked by a tribble. When they say that they're hungry, Dad announces, don't worry, I've brought lunch. And of course, it is in true MMC form, olive loaf and head cheese sandwiches. And they are stashed away immediately, and Debbie sticks it in the glove compartment, which I don't imagine is going to smell very good after at least, you know, two hours in the Florida sun. Then they ask Dad, where are we? And he pulls out a map. Because, you know, it's 1989 and we pulled out full-size maps, not atlases. I'm talking the fold-up maps you got at the gas station. And of course, darn near, you know, crashes the car. Dad then suggests they stop and ask this surfer on the side of the road for directions, but it ends up being an Eskimo, aka Lindsay, when clearly they took the wrong turn. When he asks which way to the beach, and she answers, yeah, right. The segment ends with a trip unfolding, the very chaotic way you came in, and the typical line, he's so annoying. I really wanted to clip that and put it in here after this, but the way that Damon says it at the end of the scene, it's so quiet. You couldn't hear what he was saying. Of course, like I said earlier in this episode, fuzzy sounds. Flash is back to introduce the next segment, Flash being a turtle, using a lot of long descriptive words until Dee Dee feels the need to come in and interrupt Flash to speed things up. Turtle talk commences with Warren Eckstein, who's there to school us on tortoises and turtles. The group learns that the species is over 175 million years old, and that tortoises will outlive all of us. Their shells and flippers are what separate the species. The tortoises' shells are thicker and turtles have flippers instead of just regular little feet. The turtles' teeth are basically non-existent, but they are still very big grape lovers. And it's funny, it's educational that reminds you that MMC can be both silly and oddly informative because the amount of information that I have contained in my brain from this show is kind of astounding, actually. Then we swing by Disneyland for guest day to spend the day with a club member named Deborah and a special guest, Lisi Gorensen, who was Becky from Roseanne. Side question. I'm guessing it was just contractual obligations or disputes or whatever, which separated Lisi Gorenson from Sarah Chalk, which is why Becky changed mid-series as if this were a soap opera and we would never notice. They kind of visit something similar to that in a segment they do much later on called As the Mall Turns. And when I mean much later on, I mean season five. Lisey says that her favorite place to unwind is Disneyland. And then she whisks Deborah off to the Dumbo ride, then Splash Mountain. And then of course they have to stop off at some souvenir shops to buy Mickey ears. Lisey reflects on how her family and friends treat her no differently now that she is on a show. She also talks about how down-to-earth Roseanne is and how Sarah Gilbert, who plays Darlene, is one of her best friends. It's a fun little girl talk kind of guest day episode. Next is a game called Who's the Baby? Which is obviously a guessing game based on the cast members' baby pictures, some of which are painfully obvious. The female contestant wins again, and Lindsay wraps up the moment by thanking the writers for putting pictures out there for the world to see and judge them as babies. But they were all darn cute and most of them look exactly like they do now. And they they do this segment again much later on, and the the amount of people that got these pictures wrong is astounding. But again, that's for season four. Yes, we're still in season two. The vibe remains playful and affectionate. The final video jam for this season is a big group video because they always have one per season. This is higher and higher. This video even includes Moeva and Fred with singing portions in it, which rarely happens. They might just kind of appear in the background, but they never actually sing. The whole thing is done against a giant green screen that treats the MMC world to a surreal late 80s dreamscape against like skyscrapers and and and it's just the sky and they're flying and they're doing all this crazy kind of stuff. It's a love letter to the show's energy, complete with a love fest energy that only MMC could conjure. And how else would we expect them to end out a season if it weren't with a love fest video? So we close out episode 42 with the C by Damon and Tiffany from My Annoying Dad, and the Y by Fred, as this time he removes his toupee, but it doesn't viciously attack Damon's face in the process. Kinda wish it had. Okay, next up is Wednesday. And I really wish I had thought to clip these original segment intros, because then I could play you a little in-between episode sweep going, anything can happen, anything can happen, anything can happen day. Maybe I still will. So episode 43, anything can happen day, the cowlicks and TV Babble. It's anything can happen day, as I just said, and this episode really leans into the title because literally it's not your normal episode. Albert has taken center stage with a solo opening in the control room that rips on their second favorite TV show. The energy is all over the map, and you can feel the live wire chaos in every line. We tilt into MMC's meta energy, watching a show that's within a show unfold in real time with a rotating cast that somehow makes everything feel fresh and chaotic in the best possible way. The gang follows a handful of goofy bits that feel like a showcase of MMC's improvisational heart. I I kind of wonder what the um what the writers were doing during this episode. It it's it's funny, but it's really like they leaned into the off the cuff what the hell kind of stuff for this episode. The entirety of the show takes place on a live stage of the Mickey Mouse show. Vic Slick is stepping into Johnny Carson's shoes as the host and gives a Johnny or Jimmy, take your pick, whether it's Kimmel or Fallon, type monologue with jokes such as, I was just over at Mickey's house the other night. It's just a hole in the wall, but he calls it home. Padum pa. I really should, you know, invest in like a soundboard or something. Vic's co-host is the Alec Trebek Cutout, because we know he he makes a lot of appearances in these episodes. The guest list is sprawling and starts off with Susie Johnson from the San Diego Zoo, who comes out screaming because she's currently being chased by a giant squid. So Vic will come back to her later. The musical guests are the Cowlix, aka Josh, Jennifer, Kevin, and Lindsay, and they perform You Talk Too Much, which I will probably post. For their look, just think of the Brady's polyester suits with really bad hair. As the song goes on, their tempo ramps up and they get a little bit more chaotic as the song goes on. Their post-song interview lands in unison, including a sneeze that they all do together. We then get an ad for an album by Fifi Thinkbinder, whose instrument of choice is a soda bottle. Her songs include renditions of Jingle Bells, When the Saints Go Marching In, and K Sarah Syrah. This brings a Rye product parody energy to the scene, but I would still prefer Popo's album. Sorry, Rocky. I I mean you play the Coke bottle well, but I don't know, Popo's songs are funnier, I guess. The next guest is Bombay Bruno, and he is balancing plates on sticks. We quickly learn he's not very good at doing it. Surprise! And we find out he's actually Mike Slick, Vic Slick's brother, in a disguise. He quickly plugs his bike shop and then joins his brother on the stage, since the cutout, Alex Trebek, isn't much of a talker. Susie runs by again with a giant squid still close behind her, still screaming her head off. Cindy, something or another, is the next guest. Sorry, I couldn't understand her last name due to the muffled quality of the video I was watching. She is a model-turned actress. When they ask her why it has taken her so long to get a speaking role, we quickly understand why once she starts speaking, it's it it's something else. It's it's horrible. And this is Brandy. I'm sorry I should have mentioned that. Vic then says he's going to debut a clip from her new movie. Mike's quick, sharp retort lands as a memorable comedic beat because they play off each other so well, only as brothers can do. And Cindy's role just so happens to be in the next episode of The Secret of Lost Creek, which is where we go next for an episode called Treasure Found. And a surprising twist, I actually watched this episode in English. The crew unearths a trunk that is mostly full of clothes and odds and ends, and they're kind of disappointed at first, but then they realize that there is a false bottom in this trunk that holds a 40-pound gold nugget, which they handle as if it weighs only five pounds. They are then interrupted by a towering, puppety ape-looking thing that the gang freaks out over and stupidly drops the gold nugget. What a bunch of dumbasses. Then, light bulb. Travis realizes what's really going on. When they return to the site, golly gee, it's gone! Magically, the gold nugget has disappeared. And then they turn around and see that the light has reappeared in Stoneface's eye. The youngins are told to stay back by the box while Jeannie and Travis go in search for the light. But the answer doesn't sit well with the boys. And Russie says he knows an alternate route into Stoneface's eye, head, face. I don't know what we want to call that one. The boys see stupid ass Hardy and company taking the treasure and doing something else that is really kind of hard to decipher at this moment because it's really dark. Like I guess their lighting budget was like slim to none for this segment because you can't really see what they're actually doing. Jeannie and Travis discover that the others are mining for gold, which is illegal since it is an on-federal land, and stupid ass hardy and white hair are running the whole operation. The boys are found snooping, and Whitehair, who we learn at this moment's name is actually Mr. Butler, says to tie them up and toss them in a corner. Travis's bright idea is to yank some cloaks or possibly the stupid apy costume and put that on to get past them. So, hmm, will that happen or not? Back to the show, Cindy discovers that her moment got the final cut. Cindy, honey, I've been there before. I've been in plenty of stuff where I'm like, ooh, I'm coming up next. And yeah, no, nope, nope. I feel you, girl. I've been there. She exclaims that it's terrible because she was cut out. But Mike Slick disagrees.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

Caddyshack 2 was terrible.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

That's kind of harsh, Mike, seeing as how good of a film Caddyshack 2 was. But hey, I tend to really lean into the sequels. Like personally, my favorite Revenge of the Nerds is part two and Porky's is part three, but anyway. Next up is a discussion on the book Mommy Weirdest by the practical jokester, who blames his mom for being the way that he is today. Of course, you know, deflect on the parents and all. Of course, the jokester is not the guest on the show due to Vic being the host and Damon playing the jokester. Now, the next little line is based on a poorly translated subtitle and muffled recording. But Cindy, Brandy, says about the book, and I'm not gonna imitate her voice because I'm not capable of doing that. Well, I read it too, and I've seen the tendency to overestimate the maternal influence on the developing ego is an erotic defense mechanism. Erotic defense mechanism? Yeah, somehow I don't think that's what she said. The jokester's mom comes on to rebut her son's book with her own called The Jokster is Wild. She has had no influence on her son's behavior, while she plays jokes on Vic complete with her creepy laugh, including a dirty hanky, a leaky mug, and snakes in a book. Vic demands a commercial. How can she say she has no influence on her son? When we saw a skit earlier this season, where she had just that a very huge influence on her son. Next up, we get a Captain Cheapo ad. And by now you can tell I really love Captain Cheapo. This is Abe Lincoln, Captain Cheapo style, a one-man show in Abe Lincoln tonight at the Waste Basket Theater. That's the commercial that's shown. Not much more to say about this one. Honestly, sorry, Fred. Yeah, your character just doesn't do it for me. We go back and we meet Teen Lobster. She is the last guest at the show who has a new movie called The Lobster Trap coming out, where she plays both roles. She's going to teach everybody the lobster crawl from the movie because it is such a catchy little ditty.

unknown 28:03

You snap your claws like so. Like your tail and your small potty to in the lobster crawl.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Stand up nice and call patches to win the lobster crawl.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

Back on the show, we have the play out, which is happening while we are learning the dance, the lobster crawl. And Vic closes out the show as he bumps Alyssa Milano and Kirk Cameron in the process. The only thing I can compare this to is how Jimmy Kimmel would famously bump Matt Damon at the end of just about every single big show he would have. This closing is not done in the traditional manner. They don't stand there and sing the song. Instead, they're playing the late night type music, and that's how the show closes out. So I really appreciated how they leaned into the late night talk show of it all. And next we're back with episode 44, which we are gonna call Stupid Choices and Party Trains. We are gonna kick this episode off with Lindsay Damon and surprise, Courtney, our guest mousketeer. And she's even included in the roll call. If you were listening to the last episode that I posted, there had been a contest throughout season two to be a guest mousketeer for a day. And this young lady was the winner. So she is on today as a guest moketeer. And Courtney is ready. Like I just won this contest, and now I'm opening this show ready. You can feel the excitement through the screen, and oh honey, I would, I wouldn't have been able to contain myself, honestly, because I would have just I don't even know what I would have done. It's kind of refreshing though. Everyone else is like, yeah, we do this every day. And Courtney's like, this is the greatest day of my life. We start things off with another diner skit, but this time it is stupid diner, a culinary mistake. Laura and Rob are back again, and Laura is giving Rob one more chance because this time Laura has chosen the place to eat. This time the place they're going is being run by humans, which feels kind of like a low bar considering their past experiences. Enter the stupid diner spelled S-T-O-O-P-I-D. Chase and Didi are working there. And Didi has a bucket on her head. Not metaphorically, like literally, Dee Dee has a bucket on her head. Rob sits down and immediately falls out of a chair. Yeah, because Dee Dee forgot to use glue to put the chairs together. What do you expect? We're stupid. In the typical fashion of these two. And honestly, they're honest. So instead of chairs, they get to sit on buckets. Dee Dee pours water directly on the table when they ask for something to drink, and they suggest, how about some glasses? And she actually puts the glasses on her face because of course she does. Not like drinking glasses, seeing glasses, you know, whatever. You guys get it. When Laura tries to order actual food, she says, How about a menu? And Chase is like, eh, that won't be very good because they haven't been given menus. But of course, Chase is being stupid, like, that's what she wants to eat. But Didi suggests that he try it with mustard, and hey, that's not so bad. Meanwhile, Rob could not let go of the fact that he did not want to go to the skunk diner down the street, which I don't know what that says about this place, but somehow it's still a downgrade. They ordered chicken and they are delivered a live one. Courtney is just there as part of the chaos and probably wondering what exactly she wants at this point. But she says, Hey, can I get another one of these? Because her drink is empty. And of course, they hand her another empty glass. Laura finally snaps, why do we always end up in these terrible places? And without missing a beat, we get Rob's line. And I should actually also say, What do you expect? I'm stupid because I wanted to insert that clip, but I failed to download it. We slow things down a tiny little bit with Tiffany interviewing Courtney. They talk about how she found out she won, which we had already seen. A full camera crew came into her class to let her know. And then we get this montage of her living her dream with the mousketeers, spending the day at school, hanging out at lunch, wardrobe fittings, dance rehearsals, and just being on set. It's basically a day in the life, and it looks like something I would have done anything, anything to be part of. And of course, Courtney is soaking it all in as she should. Next up is What I Wanna Be, which is a news anchor. And we meet Felicia as she spends the day with Linda Yu in Chicago, a real deal newsroom energy kind of day. They're covering a story on phobias in young children, and Felicia actually gets to conduct part of the interview on camera. Now, just standing there, she's doing the job. They head back to the station, review the footage, and Linda talks about why she loves what she does because it helps people. Not in a direct way, but in a roundabout sort of way, which, in a world of flashy TV, is actually a really grounded moment. Felicia even gets a little lesson on the teleprompter and reading it, which shh is harder than it looks, and watches a live taping. I truly hope that she was able to turn this into a career, but it's hard looking it up, not knowing married names. It's party day and the theme is travel. We're opening with Winnie and Winky running a travel agency, which immediately goes off the rail. Their destinations include them all via a reasonable bus route and a scenic bike ride to your friend's house. And at their new travel agency, they're going to reward their one millionth customer with a shiny new dime. Big spender energy. And they want to help people travel the world. But this is expensive, and they introduced travel blinds, which is basically a staycation with pictures. Yes, pull down window blinds with pictures of other cities on them. So instead of going to Paris, you just look at Paris, Michigan from your living room. And honestly, it's giving very vacation at home energy. Maybe they did introduce the staycation. I'm not mad at that. Next up, we parody those over-the-top lifestyle celebrity shows. We had previously dove into lifestyles of the rich and the plastic, Barbie style, but this time it's lifestyles of the rich and the animated. We check out the luxurious vacations of animated superstars such as Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. And somehow Mickey ends up in SingSing? Oh, what did he do? All that I can think of at this moment is this clip right here.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

That's why we went to Sing Sing.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

But what show is currently is not closest to lifestyles of the rich and the famous if it's not a Real Housewives show? And that was Real Housewives of Potomac, for those of you guys playing at home. My third love. I love me some Bravo Reality TV. Mickey ending up in SingSing escalated very fast. Next up, we have another game to play, which kind of leans into the what I would have expected from the road trip from my annoying dad in the previous episode. It's a license plate game. You get to guess which state it is based on the slogan. There's three players, license plate slogan. Simple enough, except one of the people guesses Houston. Not a state, never has been. Bold strategy though. Good thing that Damon wasn't hosting this one because I'm sure he probably would have had a thing or two to say. Next, we get into the dance for the show or the musical performance. This is Party Train with Albert, Tiffany, Dee Dee, Chase, and Damon. And a quick appearance from Courtney. And this feels like one of those moments where something is forming, if you can see what throwing at you, like you don't fully realize it yet, but you're watching the early versions of what's about to become a regular thing. The energy's there, the vibe is there. It's not official, but it's happening to become something we'll soon call the party. So the name of the song is just a coincidence, the party train. We wrap things up with the closing, and right before it ends, they give Courtney her jacket. So they totally give her her flowers, which I love. It's a full circle moment. And Courtney gets the C and Albert gets the Y, as he was the lead singer of the song. And just like that, Courtney's whirlwind day is officially ends with her part of the crew, at least for a moment. She would be a great one to interview at some point in time in my future. And next up is episode 45, and we're gonna end out this season. And it's doing a little bit of everything. We open up with Kevin, Moeva, and Brandy providing a solid lineup and ready to go. But you can already feel the energy shift because the episode is low-key, all about team spirit. And I mean full of team spirit. It is the finale, so of course we're gonna give it all we have. We're at the Midville High School Basketball Finals, or technically we're in a diner listening to them. Chase, Damon, Dee Dee, Tiffany, Albert, and Rocky are all gathered around a radio like it's a Super Bowl before cable was a thing. They're hyping themselves up, trying to keep the team spirit alive, and we roll into Hold On, but not the Wilson Phillips hold on, which confused me even as I was looking through my early notes. Quick observations. Chase is wearing one white shoe and one black shoe because he was quite the trendsetter back then. And Albert may or may not have been wearing what looked like an ugly Christmas sweater for no particular reason. Bold choice. The tension builds, but Midville wins by one point. But hey, there were some March Madness games from this year that ended the same way. Absolute chaos, the kind of win which makes you jump like you were personally contributed to the game. Next, we have Fred's breaking point. And we pivot hard. Fred has had enough. He launches into a full-on rebuttal about how comedy has gone too far. And honestly, he comes up with the receipts in showclips. He has been drowned by mushroom soup. He's been sprayed by peach soup. Apparently, soup has a vendetta against him. He's been attacked by an enraged brandy on a game show couch. Tied up, gagged, and left in a chair by Lindsay, only to escape. We don't actually know how he escapes, but he dials the phone with his nose. We know that much. And that's just the highlights. He's done with slapstick. He wants sophistication, class, intellectual humor. So he tries to elevate things. Abe Lincoln humor immediately met with water. Oscar Wilde quotes, immediately met with pudding. And you can just see the moment where he realizes this is his life. He's on the Mickey Mouse Club. Can't get much more unserious than that. For someone asking for refinement, he sure gets hit with a lot of food. Now we're gonna go into the culmination of Old Homer's Gold. Robert and Russy are tied up, and Travis has decided the best plan is distraction? Enter Bigfoot. Or at least Travis in a Bigfoot 8 type costume, trying to confuse everybody. But stupid ass Hardy immediately shuts it down by saying this.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Got the suit.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Only I wear the suit val. Or did he actually say this?

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Hey Duda! Sehr witzig, zieh das Ding aus, du clown. Das ist mein Kostüm, verstanden? Sieh es aus, los!

SPEAKER_02 40:17

Two different languages, same sentiment. It cracks me up though, that the way to say man in hey man in German is hey duda. I love that. I'm gonna have to use that. It's not the sentence you expect to hear in a mine standoff. And a full tussle breaks out. Jeannie jumps on white hair, Mr. Butler's back, Travis is throwing punches, Robert bites the dude that's holding the lantern, and the lantern, yeah, that gets dropped. Because that's what also you want to do in a cave that's full of TNT, which we are expecting has been moved from the truck to the cave at this point in time. Fire starts because of course it doesn't. Oh look, golly gosh, that TNT. Whitehair tries to put the fire out, but the boys are still tied up, which is not ideal in an active explosion situation. Then, plot twist, creepy Amish dude shows up and unties them. No hesitation, just we're doing this now. So now he's just, I guess we have to call him Amish dude and not creepy Amish dude. Everyone scrambles out of the mine, led by creep sorry, Amish dude, and somehow end up escaping via the rock slide straight into the creek. Honestly, sounds and looks like a little bit of fun if you ignore the imminent danger. And right as they make it out, boom, Stoneface's forehead explodes. Casual. But then where's Amish dude? He's gone. Meanwhile, Butler, white haired, and the crew gets arrested for illegal mining on federal ground. As Travis had mentioned before, it would happen. Cammy tells Travis he's a hero. He redirects the credit to Amish dude, which is growth because I've dropped the word creepy. And a special quote agent shows up to thank them. And could it be it's creepy Amish dude without a beard? He looks like a totally different person, to be totally honest, but of course it is. We also find out stupid ass Hardy stole the picture because it was him in that ridiculous suit, and there was a bunch of gold dust hidden in old Homer's clothing, which somehow I don't think is gonna quite compare with 40-pound gold nugget that was lost in an explosion, but hey, you know. But just when you think you're done, Travis tells Jeannie the town will never forget her cracking the code, and then randomly pivots to talking about a full moon romantic walk from, you know, because the view is fantastic from Lost Creek, which he has never taken Cammy to. He made a point to tell her that. Sir, read the room. And yes, it ends with a very awkward, very underwhelming kiss. Also, quick confusion moment, which we lead into the next segment. Mawaiva and Lindsay mention their new club movie will be starting on Monday, which it absolutely does not happen for months. Continuity? Never heard of her. Hall of Fame is next, and we meet a young lady whose name I am going to butcher because I watched the show about two weeks ago. Leela Josefowitz. I hope that's how she says it. She is a violinist. She started playing at three. She started publicly performing at eight. Practices four hours a day, and the violin she plays is 250 years old. And when she plays, she's fast. Like that guy who played the banjo fast. Like you couldn't even see his arm, his hands moving. She's the same way with her. Oh my god, I almost called it a fiddle. Her violin. Blink and miss it fast. It's one of those moments where the show just casually introduces someone incredibly talented, and you're like, oh, okay, we're doing something world. With world-class musicians now. She's still performing with orchestras to this day, from what I can tell. Then we meet John Gominiac, the court jester of magic. And he leans hard into the comedy. He's got a big goofy opener, and he's got a bunch of fake out tricks. And then suddenly he switches over to actual magic. He produces a bird from a handkerchief, does the whole gun in hand trick, and pops a balloon with yet another bird inside. Then he turns a bird into a rabbit. Who would have thunk it? Because sure, why not escalate it like that? Tiffany and Josh get pulled into a help with the rope trick, leading to the line about having two suckers on one line. Like I said, I need like a soundboard. This definitely lands differently depending on your age. We'll just leave it at that. I'm 49 now. I was 12, 13 when I watched it before. It might have been funny then. Sorry, John Gominiac. We close things out with a C by John and the Y by Fred. And Fred is still a mess from his rebuttal earlier about wanting to be serious. Because of course, right as we rap, he gets a pie in his face. So after everything, his plea for sophisticated humor, his breakdown, his speeches, he ends exactly where he started, covered in food. And that, my friends, is season two. And sadly, that's the end of Rocky's run on the show. It's a shame to lose another amazing talent. I really wish there was a way to keep all the mousketeers around for the entire run, but that is not meant to be. We love you, Rocky. You will be very much missed, but we know that you are still around. All I can say to everyone outside of Rocky, sorry. We get five new members in the next season, three of which stick with us until the end of the show. And now it's time to say goodbye. Thank you again for joining me on another episode of Mouse Cec with Mandy. Actually, I really should say in the forum that I did when we got to the end of season one, and now it's time to say goodbye to Miss Rockel Herring. We are gonna miss you, Rocky, as I just said, and I'm going to dedicate this episode to her incredibly sweet soul. I have two little notes that I need to add, which I seemed to skip over while I was recording. First of all, on the Wednesday episode, the reason that the comedy and the pacing of the show worked so well is because a lot of the writers that were working on the Mickey Mouse Club were from late night television. So there was a bunch of, or at least one, I don't know if I can say a bunch of, at least one writer from the David Letterman show. So he knew how to pace things and how to make things click. And when it came to the stupid diner, Rob couldn't let go of the fact that Laura didn't want to go to the skunk diner. She wanted to go to the stupid diner, but Rob wanted to go to the skunk. I don't see either one as being a good choice. One other little fun nugget. I just realized that this episode is actually gonna drop on the 37th anniversary of the premiere of the show. So happy birthday, the all-new Mickey Mouse Club. You look really good for 37 years old. As always, you can follow along and like, comment, contribute whatever you want to do on Instagram at MouseKecast, Facebook at MouseKecast with Mandy, and TikTok, which is simply just at MouseKecast yet again. Please like and follow and subscribe on the various podcast systems that you can listen to me on. And I'll end this out as I do every other one. Miska Mouska Mousketeer. Mouska Mandy's out of here. See you real soon with some new content, new people, and even some new transitions.

SPEAKER_01 48:01

Hey everybody, this is Smithers. I do exist. Thanks for listening to Mouska Cast with Mandy.