The 1986 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!
The time has come! The most anticipated Purple Stuff episode of the year just dropped, and oh yes, it’s time for us to dive into another old Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! And boy, we picked a GOOD one…
Join me and Jay from Sludge Central for an hour-long celebration of the 1986 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is definitely in the running for the best ever.
The three-hour broadcast is nonstop insanity from start to finish, and features everything from He-Man to Barbie to rogue clowns, and even Phyllis Diller driving a goose-shaped car.
This is a big one. Might be my favorite of all the parade episodes we’ve done!
Click here to listen to the new episode!
…which you can also find on Apple, or Spotify, or wherever else you listen to podcasts.
If you’ve never experienced this particular parade, you’re not gonna believe your ears. Even the “bad” stuff is amazing. Hell, even the commercial breaks are incredible – and yes, we’re covering a few of those, too!
Actually, on that note: In addition to the new episode, we also just dropped a surprise bonus show over on Patreon, where we’re covering another two commercials from the parade broadcast. Sign up now to hear that, and to get instant access to our enormous back catalog of bonus episodes!
I also put together this montage of clips from the parade featuring all of the performances (and commercials) that we’ll be discussing. This was made using BMan78’s complete upload of the parade, which you can view here and here. (Montage made with permission – thank you, BMan!)
We hope y’all enjoy the show. We always have a blast recording the parade eps, and this was no exception. If it puts you in the mood for more Macy’s action, feel free to dive back into our older parade reviews:
1988 | 1989 | 2001 | 1990 | 1994
Thanks so much for listening, and for sharing the show around! The holiday season is here, and we hope this helps you kick it off with a laugh or three.
Dino Drac’s November Funpack is here!
Dino Drac’s November Funpack is here, and I’m so excited about this one. The November pack is always one of my favorites to do, even if it’s probably the most labor-intensive box every year. A lot of work goes into these babies!
It’s an extremely festive holiday-charged box, and if you’re a current subscriber, good news: You’re locked in!
Subscriptions are currently closed, but I do have a small number of spares that I can sell on an individual basis. The price is $25, shipped anywhere in the United States. Skip to the bottom for ordering info (and please read the fine print), or keep reading to learn about everything in this month’s box! Read More…
Dino Drac’s 2023 Daily Halloween Thing!
Welcome to Dino Drac’s Daily Halloween Thing! The 2023 edition! Check back every day from now through 10/31 for a haunted hodgepodge of spooky reviews, memories and more.
Tuesday, October 31st:
Happy Halloween, everyone! Yeah, on a Tuesday! I know that isn’t optimal, but I hope you’re still managing to squeeze some last spooky drops out of the season.
I realized earlier that Halloween the Cat hasn’t appeared on the site all season, so it’s only fitting that he gets to close out this year’s tiny-sized Halloween Countdown.
(His new thing is begging for me to bring him outside to sit for a few minutes. He has no interest in wandering around, and with his condition, I wouldn’t be able to let him, anyway. He just wants to observe the world, and swipe a few treats on the way back.)
I hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s Countdown, however small it was. It was an interesting experience, as I barely even mentioned these updates on social media. It was really just for you old schoolers, and in many ways it was nice to remove the usual pressure to make everything “link-worthy.”
Gotta thank everyone who’s been commenting along the way, too, whether on this page, or in the Spooky Foods Graveyard, or on After Dark. I can’t even remember the last time I checked my traffic, so comments are really the only “metric” I have to know that people are reading at all!
I do plan to run a similar diary feature for the holiday season, though I haven’t decided exactly how that will look, or what the frequency will be. But yes, expect something! In the meantime, you probably know my socials, but if not, look for me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, and Bluesky.
I’m going to throw on Halloween III and try to resist these leftover packages of Sour Patch Kids. Happy Halloween to us all, and may the Harry & David catalogs land in our mailboxes tomorrow afternoon. Love ya. Read More…
The Spooky Foods Graveyard!
Welcome to the Spooky Foods Graveyard! Enjoy this look at *40* seasonal snacks from yesteryear, and try not to wake the dead while you browse.
#40: McDonald’s Pumpkin Pie!
(Introduced in 1984)
I’ve been sitting on this one for weeks, because it seemed like the perfect food to end this feature with. Introduced in 1984, it’s the McDonald’s Pumpkin Pie!
Now, I know that McD’s still sells variations of pumpkin pies during the Halloween season, but they’re not like this. See, this is from back when McDonald’s still fried the pies, giving them a pastry shell that resembled a thrice-fried egg roll from a really shady Chinese takeout place. (It’s a compliment.)
McDonald’s switched to baked pies in 1992, and while healthier, it’s hard to argue that they’re tastier than yesteryear’s, which were like desserts from a no-fucks-given country fair.
Pumpkin wasn’t the only “limited time” pie that McDonald’s offered back then. Dig deep and you’ll find evidence of everything from pineapple to blueberry pies. Ronald hit every fruit, but only one could possibly headline our stay in the Spooky Foods Graveyard, and you’re looking at it. Read More…