It’s that time again! Join us as we celebrate the glorious triumphs and the embarrassing whoopsies of 2023! We’re revisiting all the episodes we listened to last year. Then, based on listener polls, the keen insights of esteemed special guests, and our own incoherent ramblings, one episode shall travel a Long Distance to The Black Tie Affair and another will be forced to Hideout in the Junkyard! Will your hosts go to the Black Room in the Cabin? Will they get Milwaukee Deep in the Devil’s Workshop? And which host will be arrested for taking a standardized test nude? Listen for yourself and find out!

This week, we take a gamble on a new-to-us series, Diary of Fate! “David Dexter” is the story of a grifter trying to con a recently remarried widow. But Fate has other plans for the man who calls himself David Dexter! When past crimes come back to haunt him, there are no guarantees for who will get the better of whom! Will this woman discover his true intentions before it is too late? What happened in the past that connects these two? Why is Fate so judgy? Listen for yourself and find out!

Joshua’s old college friend John suggested we listen to “The Gorilla Man” from The Shadow. So we did! Thanks, John! The story features a man who takes care of a large gorilla at the zoo. He finds himself growing to resemble the beast in his care, and the more he does, the further he retreats from the rest of humanity. But when Lamont, Margo, and Shrevvy find a corpse at this zoo, it’s up to the Shadow to uncover the truth! Is the Gorilla Man really turning into an animal? How exactly does the staffing in this zoo work? Why does Eric keep saying, “Ski-U-Mah”? Listen for yourself and find out!

This week we’re listening to an episode of X Minus One recommended to us by our Patreon supporter, Evan. Thanks, Evan! “The Lifeboat Mutiny” is an adaptation of the Robert Sheckley story of the same name. The plot features a crew of space travelers who get a bargain on a used lifeboat. But when the automated lifeboat decides the crew is in peril, it becomes a bizarre battle to retain control of the ship! Why does this intelligence think the crew is being threatened? Why does it do such strange things to “care” for them? What made the podcast host decide to “sing” in this discussion? Listen for yourself and find out!

We’re checking out a new-to-us series this week, The Eleventh Hour for an episode entitled “The Tomb!” Robbers take a hostage to help them break into a jewelry shop’s safe, but lives are on the line when the plan takes a turn for the worse! Will their hostage survive? Will the heist ultimately succeed? Is there anything that will make Joshua truly happy? Listen for yourself and find out!

This week we pay our first visit to The Adventures of Sam Spade for an episode entitled “The Mad Scientist Caper”! The story features Dashiell Hammett’s famous detective working for an inventor who believes that that the secrets of one of his creations have been stolen. But the inventor himself may be a bit unhinged! Who exactly is a murderer and who is a madman? Will Spade end up in a mental institution? What elaborate selection process did Eric use to bring this episode? Listen for yourself and find out!

As we head into August, we’re listening to the Suspense adaptation of W.F. Harvey’s story, “August Heat”! Ronald Colman stars as an illustrator who inexplicably starts drawing a man on trial. It’s a man the artist has never seen before. Caught up in a strange sense of foreboding, the artist wanders out into the oppressive heat to discover the bizarre fate that awaits him. What is the meaning of this drawing? What madness does this summer heat inspire? What hilarious TikTok content are we considering? Listen for yourself and find out!

Special guest Shanan Custer joined us at the Bryant-Lake Bowl for this live recording of the MORLS as we listened to “The Edge of the Shadow” from Dark Fantasy! The story features a farmer investigating a strange cut on his cow’s leg, which of course leads to a romantic betrayal, strange omens of the future, and an exciting eye rinse. What is the secret behind this bovine injury? Can this farmer avert inevitable disaster? Can Scott Bishop? Listen for yourself and find out!