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DANDY FUN HOUSE PODCAST

DANDY FUN HOUSE PODCAST

By: DANDY FUN HOUSE PODCAST
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 Retro Pop Culture! Toys and Games, Retro Amusements, Arcade Alerts, Theme Parks and More!copyright 2024 neil smith entertainment Politics & Government
Episodes
  • HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025! – Dandy Spook Shack episode 55

    HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025! – Dandy Spook Shack episode 55
    Oct 25 2025
    watch video below! listen to the podcast below! It’s scary season once again which means it’s time for the Dandy Spook Shack Halloween Special! This year we’re haunting the Spirit Store to see what’s new. We’ll also have a look at the new MUPPETIZED Monster Cereals with one very conspicuous absence and I will share my favorite fright flicks of 2025 along with what’s hot on the horizon! It’s alive! Halloween 2025! Let’s step into the SPOOK SHACK! Hello and welcome to the DANDY SPOOK SHACK annual Halloween special! 2025! I’m your ghost, Necro Neil Dandy and in this season’s spooktacular, we’ll be visiting the Spirit Store to see what’s new this ghoul year. We’ll also talk about the most notable scary movies of 2025 thus far and the ones to watch out for on the creepy horizon. And last but not least, we’ll feast!… Our eyes upon the new box designs for the classic Monster Cereals by Jim Henson Studios with one very notable character that has apparently been given the deathly cold shoulder! BUT FIRST! I’d like you to drink in these frighteningly fashionable DANDY FUN HOUSE t-shirts! Woven from the threads of my dungeon spiders, you’re going to look drop dead fabulous. They come with fronts AND backs because nobody should be backless walking through the chill of a nighttime graveyard alone don’t you agree? Want to abscond with one for yourself? Simply visit the Dandy Fun Shop at the official Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com and orders yours this evening. And if you’re watching closely watching on YouTube, we have a miniature Dandy Fun Shop set up there as well! Absurdity is Amplified at the Dandy Fun Shop! Ok, let us begin with a visit to the Spirit Halloween store to see what’s freshly alive for 2025! SPIRIT STORE 2025 We visited the Spirit Store in Nashville’s Opry Mills where the legendary theme park Opryland used to stand… but that’s a story for another time. We wanted to see what was new for Halloween 2025 and we were not disappointed. As we entered, we noticed the centerpiece for this year was haunted subway system. Very original. Of course it was monster rat infested which was quite a shock to the conductor. Once we escaped the train we took in a little animatronic target practice on a decapitated clown. Mama’s not gonna like this! Scary clowns seem to be a thing this year. Moving on from the animatronics, we find an assortment of un-welcome mats for the front door including the Bates Motel complete with bloody footprints, Mars Attacks, with Killer Klowns and Pennywise keeping the clown theme alive. M3gan seems to still be holding her own with the young ladies (you know it’s the dance)! And for the little ones we have the cutesy line of dolls known as Tiny Terrors with adorable baby versions of Chucky, Frankenstein’s little monster and Little Mikey Meyers. Moving on to more costumes we find many food items like pizza and ramen which is about all you’ll be able to afford after blowing your paycheck in this place, hard tea and you can also make yourself a few fries short of a happy meal dress as a pack of french fries. For the couples you can be chips and salsa, plug and socket, peanut butter and jelly or milk and cookie Awww! There’s also a great assortment of inflatable costumes like the inflatable banana, penguin, alien abduction, blow up chicken, big rubber chicken so you can throw yourself at Svengoolie, chicken abduction and giant balloon animal! Also I didn’t realize that Spongebob was still so popular but there’s an entire wall with every sort of Spongebob Squarepants character you can imagine and you can even buy your own supersized spatula perfect for flipping your crabby pattys and also for scraping your carcass out the door and back into the mall once your cash has all run dry in the Spirit Store 2025! Ya know, every year I always wonder just how the Spirit Store is going to top itself from the previous year and they always do. The animatronics get better, the products overall get better and there’s always something new like for example, I don’t recall seeing the Terror Tots before this year and I just thought making those iconic movie monsters into cute dolls was just a really neat idea. And speaking of movie monsters, I think it’s time we have a look over… THE MOST NOTABLE SCARY MOVIES OF 2025! Ok, now why am I calling this the most NOTABLE scary movies of 2025 instead of my favorites? Quite honestly it’s because, while I have seen my fair share of them, I haven’t seen them all. There’s just too many and when it comes to certain types of scary movies like vampires, zombies and themes that have really been beaten into the ground, it’s tough to motivate me to go see a show about a type of monster I have already seen a thousand times before. Therefore I’m going to do a rundown of the notable ones that stand out to me whether I’ve seen them or not and also give ...
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    20 mins
  • WILD WORLD OF WHAM-O! – Dandy Fun House episode 54

    WILD WORLD OF WHAM-O! – Dandy Fun House episode 54
    Sep 22 2025
    watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! Hula Hoop. Slip n Slide. Frisbee. Super Ball. What do these names mean to you? To many, these are just the names of some fun toys from years gone by. But to others, these names all culminate into just one… WHAM-O! And in this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to tell their story, have a deeper look into some of their most iconic products and discover what’s on the horizon for this epic company! Bam-O Slam-O let’s dig into WHAM-O! And let’s step into the FUN HOUSE! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog! This is where we slam right into the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this episode, we’re going head first into the world of Wham-O! But first! I want to stick your head into one of these slammin’ Dandy Fun House t-shirts! Woven from the leftover strands of recycled superballs, you’re gonna look like a million bouncin’ bucks or no money back! They’ve got a front and a back because winter’s on the way and we very thoughtfully cut four very strategically – placed holes in em! That’s right! One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke your arms through! How much would you pay for luxury like this? It really doesn’t matter because we’re not changing our price! Just head over to our Dandy Fun Shop located inside the Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com and see for yourself! And if you enjoy this show on YouTube, we have a miniature Dandy Fun Shop set up there too! That’s the Dandy Fun Shop where we have Absurdity Amplified! OKAY! WHAM-O! Where do I even begin with an enigma like this? Wham-O is THE toy and sports product company responsible for such instantly-recognizable products such as Frisbee, Slip ‘N Slide, Hula Hoop, Hacky Sack, Super Ball, Boogie Board, Trac-Ball, Silly String and many, many more! You might think of Wham-O as a classic novelty company from the 70s and 80s but their history actually goes back farther than that. MUCH FARTHER!!!!! The year is 1948 and two eager upstarts freshly graduated from the University of Southern California named Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin who were friends found themselves frustrated with their post-grad occupations and decided to team up and start of all things a business making extra-powerful slingshots out of Richard’s garage. Why slingshots you ask? Both being falconry enthusiasts, they would use slingshots to shoot food up into the air for their birds. They called their line of slingshots the WHAM-O Slingshot and it was made from ash wood. They promoted and sold the Wham-O Slingshot by visiting various sports clubs and holding demonstrations. Both men were very skilled slingshot marksmen and their product quickly popular amongst these clubs for competitive target shooting and small game hunting. DANDY FUN FACT! The name Wham-O was derived from the sound of a slingshot hitting its target! Knerr and Melin quickly outgrew the garage and rented their first proper business location on S. Marengo Avenue in Alhambra, California where they remained until 1955 when they once again found themselves in need of a location that could handle and even greater capacity of manufacturing. So they relocated to the neighboring town of San Gabriel, California where they would remain for the next 3+ decades. With a greater capacity for manufacturing in place, they began looking to expand beyond the business of slingshot-making and came across the idea of re-branding the Australian bamboo exercise hoop, producing them from a type of plastic called Marlex and trademarking the name these hoops had been loosely called by since the 18th century “Hula Hoop.” And the rest is history. Within 4 months of releasing the Hula Hoop onto the world it became literally the largest toy fad in history, catapulting Wham-O to 25 million units sold. Within 2 years, sales of the Hula Hoop would exceed 100 million units. Hula Hoop mania continued to rage through the end of 1959 and by the time the world stopped spinning, the 1950’s came to a conclusion with Wham-O netting a staggering $45 million (which would be around $500 million today). These two college friends who just a few years earlier were making slingshots out of a garage found themselves riding into the 60’s on a gravy train with biscuit freaking wheels! Not ones to rest on their laurels, as the Hula Hoop fad was beginning to wane, Wham-O was looking for their next big thing and they found it in 1957 when they purchased the design of a plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter from an inventor named Fred Morrison, quickly changed the name to Frisbee And once again, Wham-O had another hit on its hands! ANOTHER DANDY FUN FACT! The name Frisbee was...
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    17 mins
  • JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH MOVIE REVIEW and RAVENOUS RAPTORS GAME REVIEW! Dandy Fun House episode 53

    JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH MOVIE REVIEW and RAVENOUS RAPTORS GAME REVIEW! Dandy Fun House episode 53
    Jul 19 2025
    watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! Death, Taxes and new Jurassic Park movies. 3 things that apparently are certain to continue forever. In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’ll be giving my thoughts after seeing the new Jurassic World Rebirth movie starring Scarlett Johansen while I simultaneously unbox, assemble and review the Jurassic World version of Hungry Hungry Hippos where the hippos are replaced with Velociraptors entitled RAVENOUS RAPTORS! That’s right! It’s all things Jurassic today! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House where we get all archeological on retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and today we’re doing something special: It’s a movie review intertwined with a game unboxing, assembly and review! And there will be some Dandy Fun Facts along the way… BUT FIRST! How about we DIG on these Dandy Fun House t-shirts! Woven from 100 percent fake dinosaur hair, you’ll not only feel extra toothy but JURASSIC gonna look great! And you’ll help put my kid through community college. Want one? Just head over to dandyfunhouse.com where you’ll find the Dandy Fun Shop with tons of other absurd designs because the Dandy Fun Shop has ABSURDITY AMPLIFIED! Oh and FYI – there’s also a mini Dandy Fun Shop on our YouTube channel if that’s where you like to enjoy the show. That works too! OK, let’s start with the new movie (at the time of producing this episode) JURASSIC WORLD – REBIRTH! Starring Scarlett Johanssen whom I must say is still in absolutely incredible shape. Not only that but she’s also a great actress which is important when your profession is acting I suppose. Unfortunately she is THE ONLY big name actor listed. I won’t give any spoilers about whether there are or are not any special cameos that one might expect but Scarlett is indeed the only A-list actor being promoted. But honestly, when you have Scarlett Johansen, do you really need anyone else? Let me know your thoughts. I will give away the very first line of the entire movie however and this will be the only real spoiler I’ll share so cover your eyes and ears unless you’re driving. The very first line of dialogue in the entire movie is someone saying and I quote: “How many times are we going to keep doing this?” Which I thought was hilarious seeing how this is what the 5th or 6th sequel of the franchise??? It was like they uncovered the wooly mammoth in the middle of the room right off the bat and I respect them for that! We’ll dive into the movie some more as we go along but let’s go ahead and start having a look at this game of RAVENOUS RAPTORS. I usually like to a littly blurb about whomever produces the games I review on this show but in this case, there is no toy or game company listed, just the JURASSIC WORLD branding. So I guess we’re skipping our history of the manufacturer for this one. Looking over the box, the front has cartoon velociraptors from the movie looking sort of Saturday morning breakfast cereal looking. They’re sort of smiling which raptors never do. But whatever. Looking at the little picture of the game on the front, it’s obviously a version of the classic HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS game but honestly in the picture, the raptors look more like alligators to me. It’s like they made an alligator farm version of the game, scrapped the idea and repurposed the molds for this. It also shows the Jurassic World logo in the center of the game field which is nice touch as well as some metallic fencing reminiscent of the habitats from the movie. On the back, there’s a picture of a couple of older kids playing it and very oddly they are both sitting on the exact same side of the table. I mean there’s not much more to say here since it’s really just a retooled version of HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS, but there is a QR code on the box that takes you to a video on how to build and play the game. I find that also very thoughtful. Now upon clicking the QR code it takes you to a 1:08 YouTube video on the ToyMonster channel, (so now we know who makes it) which very concisely explains how to do exactly what it says. It shows you how to unpackage, prepare the pieces, how to set it all up (which appears much simpler than when I reviewed Hungry Hungry Hippos) and even the added bonus of how to properly pack the game up when you’re all through. That last one is something I NEVER see a game manufacturer pay any attention to. It’s so frustrating to set up and play a game and then you can never get it back in the box. THAT is amazingly helpful. THANK YOU TOY MONSTER! JURASSIC FUN FACT! in Jurassic Park, the Lost World, the Japanese tourists running from T-Rex in San Diego are saying in Japanese, “I left Japan to get away from this!” An obvious hat tip to Godzilla. Ok, back to the movie. Product placement? Yep! Lots of it. Mainly Snickers and Altoids. In fact, a littered ...
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    Less than 1 minute
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