Penny Men

This week on The Penny Men, Tom, Greg, and Ben broadcast live from the newly-renamed Artist Formerly Known as Ben’s Apartment (formerly Skywalker Ranch II: Special Edition, formerly Ben’s Apartment)! The boys nod politely, kiss a baby, and immediately fall apart!What follows is a heroic attempt to explain Flash Gordon that derails into:A crash course in newspaper comicsA heated debate about whether newspapers ever truly existedA tour of every museum in OhioA Jack Cole appreciation hourThe Teapot Dome Scandal???The Pennsylvania Avenue song making an encore nobody asked for!Meanwhile, Tom tries to outline the entire 1930s Flash Gordon plot:Rogue planet Mongo shows up to wreck EarthZarkov pulls a gun on strangers, as scientists doFlash (polo player, not space guy, not yet) gets kidnapped into spaceMing is here. He is merciless.Every society on Mongo hates each other AND Ming, which is honestly impressive!By the end, you’ll learn:Why Flash Gordon is basically Hercule Satan in spaceWhy every planet is somehow divided into Bird People, Tree People, and Fish PeopleWhy Star Wars quietly owes Flash Gordon about 40% of its personalityWhy comic strip fans in the 1930s were built different!Come for the history! Stay for the derailments! Leave knowing way too much about the MSU comic archives!

Grab your cereal, kids, because we’re taking a nostalgia-powered plunge into the chaotic, colorful world of Saturday morning cartoons! In this episode, Ben, Tom, and Gregory dissect, debate, and reminisce about the shows that defined a generation—both the hits and the weird, slightly forgotten ones!Here's what’s on the docket!The Big Three: Doug, Recess, Pepper Ann—who really deserved the crown?Doug moves to Bluffington, meets Patty Mayonnaise, Skeeter, Roger, and the Dinks!Recess taught life lessons disguised as playground antics!Pepper Ann pushed the boundaries with dry humor, awkward crushes, and a memorable time capsule finale!Character deep dives:Mr. Dink, Quail Man, Bebe Bluff, and Porkchop the dog!Pepper Ann’s tomboy sister Moose and her badass mom!Mark Hamill guest-starring as himself. Alex Trebek running a recurring joke!Cartoon Network Classics:Dexter’s LabJohnny BravoPowerpuff GirlsCow & ChickenSheep in the Big CityTime SquadWhatever Happened to Robot Jones?I Am WeaselGrim & EvilEd, Ed, and EddyMike, Lu, and OgCourage the Cowardly DogCodename: Kids Next DoorAnd more!Neo-era gems: ChowderFlapjackClone HighMegas XLRSquirrel Boy!Disney Afternoon & Beyond:Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (with Patrick Warburton)!Mighty Ducks, Tarzan, Teamo Supremo, L.T. Grey, and other nostalgic hits!Timon & Pumbaa, Hercules, and the intricate history of Mickey Mouse Works → House of Mouse!Space and Beyond:Lloyd in Space: Recess… but intergalactic!Galaxy High School: 80s space-school hilarity with Amy Brighttower & Doyle Cleverlobe!Magic, live-action, and teen drama:Sabrina the Animated Series (Emily Hart voicing a young Sabrina)!Even Stevens, Lizzie McGuire, Braceface, and Ginger confusion galore!Pop culture tangents:References to Song of the South, Lion King SNES game rage, ProZD movie recaps, and more!From childhood memories to deep dives into character dynamics, voice actors, and network programming strategies, this episode is a loving (and occasionally hilarious) tribute to Saturday mornings of the ’90s and early ’00s! Expect wild tangents, obscure trivia, and the occasional debate about which show was really the best!

Welcome to the Ultimate Donkey Kong Fan Cast… sorta! This week, we’ve traded barrels for backpacks and explored the magical, chaotic, totally legitimate world of Disney’s One Saturday Morning!Join Ben, Greg, and Tom as they take you on a nostalgia-fueled ride through:How much stuff can an elephant crush? (Spoiler: a lot!)Mrs. Munger’s Class – the original animated yearbook chaos!Centerville – same photos, more backgrounds, catchphrases on repeat!Manny the Uncanny & Mr. Lighter-than-Air – live-action educational adventures!Tube Dwellers → Monkey Boys – slapstick in a television, literally!Timon & Pumbaa explain science (sort of!)Robin Williams as Genie teaching history – “Great minds think to themselves!”Main shows: DougRecessPepper AnnSaturday mornings were a five-hour workout for your eyeballs, where kids in black-and-white photos said unfunny things that were somehow hilarious!Warning: Listening may cause sudden urges to yell “Grace!” or animate your own yearbook!

It’s the 100th episode spectacular! Ben, Gregory, Tom, and West Coast cousin Michael gather at last — the four heads of the Penny Men Mount Rushmore — for a centennial celebration of nonsense, nostalgia, and nerdom! The guys attempt to recall anything they’ve ever said across 99 episodes, but mostly end up reading lists, assigning points that don’t matter, and starting a 100-question quiz they’ll never finish!Topics include: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the invention of “guy with two personalities” literature!Arabian Nights, murder wives, and genies!Outlaws of the Marsh, Chinese super-monks, and proto-anime Vegetas!Batman: Nightfall, Punisher crossovers, and the golden era of too-many Batmen!Secret Identity by Alex Segura, TMNT’s 150-issue odyssey, and literary homework piles!The eternal question: Is Bane Thomas Wayne’s son?It’s chaos, it’s scholarship, it’s friendship — it’s 100 episodes of penny-sized philosophy culminating in one enormous mess of celebration!Tag it under: #TMNT #Batman #Comics #Literature #PodcastMilestone #ThePennyMen #Episode100

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve done it 98 times—and we’re doing it one more time! The Penny People are back in the galaxy far, far away for The Clone Wars, the animated fever dream where every Jedi gets a haircut and every clone gets feelings! Ben, Gregory, and Tom take the long way ‘round hyperspace, stopping to ponder the big question: what is Star Wars, anyway?Along the way, we meet: Compassionate clonesCelebrity JediAnd the tragic tale of General Stanky—hero of the 14th Quadrant!There’s:Tax disputesBaby HuttsAnd a crash course on the West End Games RPG!The boys debate:Why Clone Wars feels like M*A*S*H*How Anakin got a Padawan before he got a clueAnd whether Jar Jar deserves redemption (Spoiler: he does not)!Featuring:Dissertations on the politics of midi-chloriansTom’s theory that clone troopers are just unionized stormtroopersGreg’s impression of every droid ever builtAnd a surprise tangent on samurai films, AI generals, and space bureaucracy!It’s lightsabers, philosophy, and bad impressions—your classic Penny Men mix!This is Episode 99: The Clone Wars – The Rise of General Stanky!

The Penny Men are still trapped in Ben's apartment — or possibly Skywalker Ranch 2: Special Edition — and discover George Lucas has been hiding a Wookie jar, a Red Tails podcast, and several unproduced sequels to Strange Magic! Meanwhile, Ben, Tom, and Gregory try to remember the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe from memory, covering:Cindel Tawani’s journalism careerLuke’s secret ooze girlfriendAnd Cade Skywalker’s death stick problem!Along the way, the boys accidentally pitch: A live-action Jetsons movieA Street Fighter reboot starring Jack BlackAnd the new Penny Men format: “Draw From the Phantom Jar”!Featuring guest appearances by George Lucas, Admiral Sushi Bar, and Yuck Yuck Binks!

The Penny Men continue their 24-hour Star Wars binge and quickly lose track of time, space, and pizza delivery etiquette! George Lucas lurks in the cornerWatto and Jar Jar fight for stage timeSomehow a Hungry Howie’s girl sneaks into The Skywalker RanchGreg and Tom debate the video game canon (Knights of the Old Republic, Battlefront, Rogue Squadron)Ben orders a pizza mid-recordingAnd everyone wrestles with the Legacy of the Force novels, Fate of the Jedi, and why every Skywalker has to lose an arm!Along the way: Chuck E. Cheese rebrands itself as Pasqually’sMace "I Don’t Do Windows" is bornAnd Earth, Wind & Fire nearly become canon!It’s the Star Wars Expanded Universe like you’ve never heard it before — live from the bar that never closes, with blue milk on tap and George Lucas picking toppings off your slice!

The Penny Men return from their longest break yet and find the party at The Skywalker Ranch 2 hasn’t slowed down! Ben, Gregory, and Tom kick things off with a debate over Clueless and the great teen rom-com continuum before sliding back into their booth at the galaxy’s most chaotic cantina! Between dodging E.T.’s stares and Alf’s interruptions, they wrestle with the big question: what’s so great about Star Wars? This week, it’s the Legacy of the Force era:Jason Solo’s visionsBen Skywalker’s trainingBug warsPolitical schismsAnd the shocking possibility that Mara Jade might’ve had a hand in Padmé’s fate!Plus, appearances from George Lucas, Jar Jar's stand-up set, and a cat named KitKat who may or may not be Force-sensitive!

The Penny Men are back, this time broadcasting live from an alien dive bar where the comedy lineup is as unpredictable as the Star Wars Expanded Universe itself! Jar Jar Binks takes the stage as “Yuck Yuck Binks” with a new set of groaners, George Lucas lurks in the corner heckling his own continuity, and Seinfeld barely makes it past the wings! But in between spilled drinks and bad puns, the guys tackle:The New Jedi Order booksThe Yuuzhan Vong invasionChewbacca’s moon-crash deathHan’s midlife crisisMara Jade’s poisoningAnd Jason, Jaina, and Anakin Solo being pulled in three very different directions!It’s bird-Jedi philosophies, bio-organic war machines, Luke Skywalker fumbling through Jedi Council leadership, and the fall of Coruscant—all told with the energy of a roast battle gone off the rails!Grab your desserts (Chew-baklava, anyone?) and settle in for the chaos!

Welcome back to The Penny Men, live (sort of) from what used to be Ben’s apartment and is now apparently an alien supper club, nightclub, and George Lucas vanity project!There’s a line out the door, Jar Jar Binks is headlining under his new stage name Yuck Yuck Binks, and Dexter Jettster is threatening to spit in our drinks! In between ordering orange whips and dodging chandeliers themed after Alderaan, your three hosts try their best to recap the entire Star Wars saga in chronological order!Featuring: The ancient Republic and Darth Bane’s Rule of TwoQui-Gon Jinn sassAnakin’s immaculate conception conspiracyThe Clone Wars Red Dwarf fan recommendationsAnd every era of the galaxy far, far away! Along the way we:Complain about too many Jedi surviving Order 66Debate who belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Star WarsRevive Bubsy (again)And discover the hidden comedy album of Jar Jar Binks!It’s history, it’s chaos, it’s a nightclub floor show!What’s so great about Star Wars? George might say “money,” but we’re here to figure out the rest!

It’s the Revenge of the Sith episode of The Penny Men, and somehow it’s also amateur night at the George Lucas Comedy Club! We came here to do a clean, straightforward lightning-round recap of Episode III, but between Yakko Warner singing Gilbert & Sullivan, surprise Animaniacs geography lessons, and Jar Jar Binks insisting on his own Gungan stand-up routine, we’re barely making it through the plot!Still, in between the bad puns and Ewok waiters pitching Dulok spinoffs, we actually do cover the big stuff: Anakin gets promoted to “spy on everybody” dutyObi-Wan gets stuck with lizard-riding and robot-coughingYoda takes a detour to the Wookiee planetMace Windu takes a flying lesson courtesy of Palpatine’s force lightningThe Jedi Council is suspiciousPadmé is worriedAnd Anakin is somehow convinced that the best way to save his wife is to join the guy who looks like melted candle wax!It’s our Revenge of the Sith breakdown as only The Penny Men could do it: part recap, part roast, part variety show hosted by George himself!If we survive this night at the Lucas Lounge, maybe we’ll actually finish Star Wars!

The Penny Men return for their 15th episode—this time with a live audience, three Orange Whips on the table, and a floor show courtesy of none other than Jar Jar Binks himself!George Lucas has turned Ben’s apartment into some kind of intergalactic supper club, complete with menus, Metro D security at the door, and a rotating cast of aliens, droids, and forgotten Expanded Universe icons drifting through the crowd! While Jabba tries to squeeze into a booth and Droopy McCool pretends he’s booked, our hosts press on with their ambitious mission: breaking down Revenge of the Sith, the sixth Star Wars film (eighth if you’re really counting), and the long-awaited turn of Anakin Skywalker!Along the way, they talk Clone Wars cartoonsDark Horse comicsQuinlan Vos, Aayla Secur And the rise of General Grievous!They relive Elevator shaft mishapsCount Dooku’s last standAnd R2-D2’s questionable fire-based comedy routine!And all the while, Jar Jar keeps barging back in with his own set of Gungan one-liners, trying to turn the podcast into a late-night show! Will our hosts make it through the first ten minutes of the movie before the floor show takes over completely? Or will George Lucas buy another apartment just to keep the party going?It’s chaos, it’s comedy, and it’s Star Wars history—served with extra Jawa-made java burgers!

There are a lot of Star Wars movies, folks, and we’re doing them all! This is hour two of our deep-dive into Attack of the Clones, the alleged favorite of George Lucas himself (is that true? we may never know)! Your hosts — Wicket W. Warwick, Figurine Dan, and Droopy McCool — are joined, as always, by unexpected guests who somehow keep breaking into the studio! Lock the door, guys!In this installment, the Penny Men (or Penny Guys, or the Larry Fine Fan Club, depending on the moment) tackle everything from Anakin’s Tusken Raider massacre to Obi-Wan’s asteroid belt chase, from the Coliseum cat-fight to Yoda’s surprisingly spry lightsaber duel!Along the way, they: Debate Padmé’s questionable dating choicesReimagine droid factory slapstick with “Yakety Sax” Mourn the fate of poor JangoAnd chart the rise of everyone’s favorite secret Sith puppetmaster: Jar Jar Binks!Also on the docket: Kenan & Kel cameos that never wereMace Windu almost dropping the F-bombThe logic of C-3PO’s detachable headTrilogies within trilogiesAnd the eternal truth that all Star Wars stories eventually become toy commercials!It’s chaos, it’s canon, and it’s everything George never wanted you to hear — live from the 64-bit avant-garde cast!

🎙️ The Penny Men are back in a galaxy far, far away, but this time it’s the prequels — brighter, clunkier, and full of baffling Jedi logic! Gregory, Tom, and Ben dive into The Phantom Menace, where podracing rules, Sith reveal themselves with double-bladed sabers, and young Anakin is either the Chosen One or just a kid with a Slipknot-style slave bomb in his neck! Then it’s on to Attack of the Clones, featuring awkward romance, Obi-Wan playing hardboiled space detective, and an entire clone army signed off without a single Jedi reading the fine print! And of course, George Lucas himself drops by the studio to defend battle droids, sleep on the couch, and remind everyone that Jar Jar was essential to his “vision!”

The Penny Men return to Tatooine, where things are as sandy, strange, and slave-collared as ever! Qui-Gon Jinn is out here negotiating with Watto like he’s on Pawn Stars, waving Republic credits around while the Toydarian tells him to take a hike! Padmé, meanwhile, is doing her best “shocked princess” impression straight out of The Hidden Fortress as Shmi lays out how slavery works on this backwater desert planet!We get the grand tour of Anakin’s life: His pod racerHis gang of child friends (who might or might not include a proto-Greedo)And of course the legendary introduction of “Naked C-3PO,” the most merchandise-ready moment in cinematic history!You’ve never truly lived until you’ve seen Anthony Daniels without his golden shell!Then it’s time for the main event: the podrace! Part Ben-Hur, part Nintendo 64 loading screen, part live-action Wacky Races with Sebulba throwing banana peels and fireballs at a ten-year-old! Greg Proops is there as a two-headed announcer, Jabba the Hutt is briefly conscious long enough to wave at the crowd, and George Lucas is off-screen mumbling, “This will make the kids scream!”Between laps, Qui-Gon is running blood tests and muttering about midichlorians, casually dropping the bomb that Anakin’s got a higher power level than anyone—including Yoda! Is it Dragon Ball Z? Is it dog police? Is it the immaculate conception subplot nobody asked for? All of the above!Meanwhile, on Coruscant, the Galactic Senate is revealed to be the least cinematic thing possible: Thousands of floating beanbag chairsToo many fish-faced ambassadorsAnd Palpatine’s first big move toward becoming Emperor!Jar Jar accidentally sets himself on the road to political office, and the word “democracy” has never sounded shakier!But we’re not done—because the movie’s not done: Padmé reveals she was the Queen all alongThe Gungans get drafted into a war they didn’t wantAnd somewhere in the shadows Darth Maul is revving his motorcycle lightsaber, ready to crash the whole party!It’s a podrace, it’s a senate hearing, it’s a prophecy, it’s a red velvet cake of bad decisions: this is The Phantom Menace, Penny Men style!

The Penny Men return, but they’re not alone! George Lucas has crashed the recording yet again, dragging Jabba, Seinfeld, and half of the extended muppet-verse into Ben’s apartment!They swear this time it’s going to be an “official” episode, but between Ewoks in the guest room, Christopher Walken wandering the halls, and Jar Jar trying to grab the mic, it’s hard to tell where the party ends and the podcast begins!Somehow, though, Tom and Greg actually dive into The Phantom Menace! They break down:Trade disputesThe Gungan life-debt clauseBoss Nass’ bongoAnd Weird Al’s clairvoyant songwriting!George offers “notes” from the kitchen while frosting a nine-layer cake, Jar Jar insists he’s the best part of the movie, and Chris for sure has some strong feelings about toasters!Topics covered include:Did anyone really want the Special Editions, or was it just the toy companies?The hype machine of 1999: Pepsi cans, Taco Bell, and endless waiting in line!When exactly George decided Star Wars needed prequels!Which camp counselor from Camp Candy could actually talk to animals!Why there are always bigger fish!It’s the prequel trilogy kickoff you never asked for but definitely deserve!Naboo is under attack, the Penny Men are under siege, and the only thing more confusing than trade negotiations is why George keeps bringing up Patch Adams!

This week on The Penny Men, Ben, Tom, and Gregory pry open the carbonite-sealed vault of Star Wars Legends—because somebody had to suffer so you don’t have to! We start by debating the lost art of fight pacing, from kung fu cinema’s lightning kicks to wrestling’s slow-burn feuds, and how those ideas crash-land into the galaxy far, far away! Then we hit hyperspace into the weirdest corners of the Expanded Universe, where the rules of canon are made up and the names are blue!Topics:Grand Admiral Thrawn makes his big brain debutMara Jade shows up to make everyone nervousHan Solo accidentally wins an entire planet in a card gameLuke falls in love with a computer (sure)Emperor Palpatine refuses to stay dead—coming back not once, not twice, but so many times you start rooting for the guy!We talk about:The Sun Crusher (a ship that’s somehow stronger than the Death Star)The Force witches of DathomirAnd the questionable fashion choices of 1990s sci-fi art!Expect tangents about Remington SteeleZorroJohn BravoThe Courtship of Luke’s Sister (oops)And why every clone has to spell their name with an extra “u!”It’s lore overload, but we’re doing it for you! Buckle up as the Penny Men wrestle with the wildest Expanded Universe stories ever printed—because once you’ve stared into the abyss of Legends, the abyss starts quoting Timothy Zahn back at you!

Welcome one, welcome all, to What’s So Great About Star Wars?, the 64-bit avant-garde cast starring your Penny Men hosts in full obscure-character cosplay: Bib Fortuna, Salacious Crumb, and… Koopa? Sure, why not!The Penny Men—past, present, future; now and forever—are here for Episode 86, and yes, that number is totally on purpose (don’t fact-check us)! Why? Because this week, we’re diving into the most unexpected corners of the galaxy: Ewoks: The Battle for Endor!If you thought Caravan of Courage was wild, buckle up!We’ve got it all:Orphaned kids and talking teddy bearsSpace marauders who barely understand their own technologyA shapeshifting witch with raven powers (and questionable motives)Wilford Brimley as a grumpy old hermit who bakes muffins and owns a secret spaceshipStop-motion creatures, awkward musical interludes, and a song about stars that might haunt your dreamsAn actual battle (sort of) for Endor, complete with traps, moats, and marauders falling on their buttsPlus, we ask the hard questions:Why kill off Mace five minutes in? Did George Lucas really write this? How fast can Teek run? And how does this all fit in with Star Wars canon—or does it?Grab your slingshot, prep your hang glider, and join us as we decide once and for all: Is Ewoks II better than Caravan of Courage, or just a fever dream sponsored by oatmeal?

“Ewoks, Droids, and the Forgotten Star Wars Cartoons”Before Baby Yoda, before Clone Wars, there was… a galaxy far, far away that woke up early on Saturday mornings! That’s right—we’re talking Ewoks and Droids, the animated sidequests of Star Wars that aired in the mid-’80s and somehow lived in the deep recesses of your VHS tapes!This week, The Penny Men grab a bowl of sugary cereal, kick back on the carpet, and dive into:The Nelvana Era: Why the animation looks so Canadian and what that says about George Lucas’s choicesTheme Song Fever: From Ewok singalongs to Droids’ weird synth intro that sounds like your cousin’s garage band in 1985Economics of Endor: How the Ewoks somehow mastered barter systems and guerrilla warfareThe Droid Adventures: C-3PO and R2-D2 wandering into pulp sci-fi trouble with villains like Kaibo Ren (yes, before Kylo stole his thunder)Deep Cuts & Fun Facts:Alison Court (yes, the voice of Jubilee from X-Men: The Animated Series) pops up as MilaniWhy Boba Fett keeps showing up like he’s checking in on the wrong showHow this was all technically canon… until it wasn’tThe Big Question: Were these cartoons charming Star Wars world-building or a fever dream Lucas had during a sugar crash?Plus: Weird triviaEmbarrassing theme song singalongsAnd us trying to figure out if this was better than the Holiday Special (spoiler: yes, but only slightly)!Strap in for a nostalgia trip through a corner of the galaxy most fans pretend doesn’t exist—but we went there, and we brought receipts!

The Penny Men are back—and this time, we’ve crash-landed on Endor (and maybe in a Kmart toy aisle circa 1985)! Join us as we dive headfirst into the Ewok era, that magical post-Return of the Jedi time when Lucasfilm said, “No lightsabers? No problem!” and gave us a pair of made-for-TV epics, an Ewok cartoon, and a reason to learn Ewokese without subtitles!This episode is a nostalgic hyperspace jump through the parts of Star Wars you probably forgot, featuring:Caravan of Courage and Battle for Endor – Why these TV movies existed, what they got right (Gorax design, practical FX), and how Burl Ives somehow ended up narrating both Ewoks and Frosty the Snowman!The Great Canon Debate – Movies, holiday specials, Ewok cartoons, Marvel comics, coloring books, trading cards, and novels! What counts? What doesn’t? Does Steve Sansweet control the entire galaxy of lore from his Skywalker Ranch vault?The Origin of “Mary Sue” – A quick detour to Star Trek fanzines, the most polite insult ever invented, and how it became the internet’s favorite hot-button topic!The Toys That Made Us (and Ruined Our Budgets) – From Kmart clearance bins to Toys R Us holy grails, we share the action figures that started wars in our households! (Hint: no one wanted Gonk Droid, but someone always got stuck with him!)Unmade Sequels and Spaceballs Dreams – Why we never got Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money and how that fake poster still haunts our collective nerd brains!Math That Should Never Be Done in Public – Ewok years vs. dog years vs. Wookiee years! What even is time on Endor?Ewokese: A Linguistic Challenge – Why these movies said “subtitles are for cowards” and whether anyone on Earth can actually speak fluent Yub Nub!Also featuring:Warwick Davis appreciation hour (seriously, the man is a legend)!Gorax nightmare fuel that makes Rancors look like puppies!The Caravan of Courage debate: essential viewing or just a bold Lucasfilm tax write-off?It’s equal parts nostalgia trip, canon chaos, and absurd trivia showdown—all wrapped in a cozy Ewok blanket! So press play, grab your favorite vintage action figure, and join us as we celebrate a time when the galaxy far, far away got very, very weird… and wonderful!Yub Nub forever!