Remember Happy Meal Toys? (with Danny Pellegrino)
How Did We Get Weird with Vanessa Bayer and Jonah Bayer
All Things Comedy
4.8 • 713 Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2023
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You may know Danny Pellegrino as a screenwriter, New York Times bestselling author or host of the "Everything Iconic" podcast, but did you know that he's from the suburbs of Cleveland just like the Bayer siblings? On this episode of HOW DID WE GET WEIRD?, Jonah and Vanessa dig deep into the suburban memory well to discuss controversial Burger King closings, sneaking into Solon Cinema and the fuzzy moral area that surrounds "tasting" bulk candy. Danny also takes us on a deep dive into his childhood and adult obsession with Happy Meal Toys, the emotional impact that comes with being able to attain something that seemed impossible as a child and our favorite fast food marketing mash-ups. We also play a round of LEGIT MOAN OR UNNECESSARY GROAN where we discuss the lack of physical copies of the White Pages, why some people are not fans of cellphones/social media (we get it) and if there's any situation where it's OK to take up two parking spaces. You'll definitely want to listen to this iconic episode and share it with everyone you know! AND be sure to pre-order Danny's new book "Jolliest Bunch Unhinged Holiday Stories," which is out on October 24th.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Vanessa Bayer and this is my brother Jonah. |
| 0:05.7 | We're two siblings who love to talk about our childhood and nostalgia and how it shaped us into the people we are today. |
| 0:10.6 | Who are really iconic, if I do say so myself. |
| 0:13.6 | Welcome to How Did We Get Weird. So Jonah, I think we were thinking today because our guest, who are so excited for it, |
| 0:33.4 | because he is also a fellow Clevelander, I think you wanted to talk about a story that's related to us |
| 0:39.2 | growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland. Yeah, this is a pretty brief story, but I'm curious if our |
| 0:43.5 | guests will remember this. This was probably mid to late 90s, Shagrin Boulevard. There was a Burger |
| 0:49.6 | King there near our high school, and kids in my grade really love this Burger King. I don't know why. |
| 0:55.4 | And at one point, at close, they built a McDonald's at one point. And Vanessa, you might remember |
| 0:59.6 | this. I think we went to like the opening of the McDonald's. It was like, and that does make us |
| 1:03.6 | sound like a little bit. I don't know. But like it was like a big deal. McDonald's was opening |
| 1:08.2 | the area. Because it had a big playground in the back of it, too. It was like a big deal. McDonald's was opening the area. Because it had a big playground in the back of it, too. |
| 1:11.0 | It was like a very fancy McDonald's. |
| 1:13.7 | It felt fancy at the time. |
| 1:15.1 | If you saw it now, maybe, you know, you just see McDonald's. |
| 1:18.4 | Okay. |
| 1:19.0 | But so I think it put the Burger King out of business, basically. |
| 1:22.5 | Right. |
| 1:22.8 | They were across the street, right? |
| 1:23.9 | They were across the street, right? They were across the street. I think they were on the same side of the street, but just very close to each other, on chagrin. And so anyways, Burger King closes, they open a |
| 1:31.4 | right aid. And I remember kids in my grade being very upset about this and being like, |
| 1:36.5 | don't go to right aid. Like, we're boycotting right aid because we think if we don't shop there, |
... |
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