I’m not a podcast guy. I listen to a few, but I’m hyper-particular. I enjoyed Wolverine: The Long Night because I love a good Marvel story, and I’ve been a fan of Lead Singer Syndrome with Shane Told for a while because it’s so deeply connected to the music I grew up on. I listen to SelfMade Stories, my company’s podcast, and My Favorite Murder, because who doesn’t. But of all the podcasts in my small library, there is one that I look forward to every single week and am never disappointed by: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Show.
Never heard of it? Good. I’m a big fan of pointing people in the right direction. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Show (which I will refer to from here on out as the Show Show) is a podcast where Jeremy Kaplowitz and Mark Roebuck, two editors from The Hard Drive, review the late 80s Super Mario Bros. Super Show episode by episode. If you’ve never read anything from Hard Drive, check out their Twitter here. They’re a spinoff publication from The Hard Times that posts satirical articles about video games and video game culture, and they are funny as hell. On the Show Show, Mark and Jeremy spend about an hour per episode doing a deep dive review of an episode of the Mario Super Show. If you’ve never seen the Mario Super Show (I hadn’t before the podcast), it’s absolutely absurd. The show begins with a live action segment which moves into a cartoon in the middle before “tying up” the live action bit at the end. The production is horrible, the plots are nonsensical, and it blows any and all Mario lore to smithereens. As Mark and Jeremy like to point out, it’s as if they never took a 2nd take for the live action and never played a single Mario game while writing the cartoons.
Despite how horrible the original show is, the Show Show reviews (in classic Hard Drive satire style) treat the show as if it’s a misunderstood masterpiece. Their reviews are almost always positive, with the few exceptions being the absolute worst of the worst. Normally this wouldn’t work, but somehow the hosts do an incredible job of expressing a sincere love and appreciation for the show. Their investment into it, made clear by the 1 hour episodes reviewing a 25 minute kids’ show, makes it infinitely more entertaining to dive in to. From Jeremy’s running tally of whether Toad is actually a mushroom or wearing a hat to the explanation of the various Super Mario Bros. 2/Doki Doki Panic (look it up) characters, watching each episode of the Mario Super Show has you thinking “I wonder what they’ll have to say about THIS bullshit.”
Taken from the intro to give you an idea.
If you like goofy retro shows, you like video games, and you like satirical smartass humor, this is the podcast for you. Anything that is funny enough to make watching the absolutely piss-poor Super Mario Bros. Super Show! worth it is an absolute gem in my book, and that’s definitely the case here. Bonus Points: The Show Show also reviews the connected and abysmal Legend Of Zelda cartoon episodes, and has had an interview with an original cast member of the Super Show. Watch episode 1 of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! on Netflix here, then give the first episode of the Show Show a listen here and let me know what you think.
To the bridge, paisanos!