Joe Bob Briggs’ Drive-In Jamboree & the Mystery of Upflush Toilets

Recorded together in the same room for the first time in July 2021, Michelle and Henrique Couto trade their usual remote setup for one microphone, a mixing board and a hastily improvised connection after a USB cable fails. The unusual arrangement follows Michelle’s trip to Vermont and Henrique’s first substantial road trip since the pandemic interrupted their visits between Pennsylvania and Ohio.Henrique recounts attending the 2021 Joe Bob Briggs’ Drive-In Jamboree at the Mahoning Drive-In in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. He explains why Joe Bob’s work on MonsterVision and The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs mattered to him, then celebrates the venue’s 35mm screenings, VHS Fest and layered nostalgia of watching VHS projected at a drive-in. More than celebrity access, the weekend gives him a welcoming community of horror and cult-film fans.The event also arrives amid a preservation scare. As Henrique understood the situation that weekend, a proposed solar project that could have displaced the drive-in had been withdrawn, and the venue’s operators hoped to purchase the land. He remembers the crowd turning “the drive-in will never die” into a celebratory rallying cry while small acts of kindness—including help with a low tire—made the gathering feel unusually generous.Then the conversation moves from movie history to a less glamorous rental-house mystery. After a broken bed, questionable showers and unpleasant bathrooms, Michelle researches the upflush toilets Henrique encountered and describes their macerating pump design while both hosts wonder why anyone would add the extra machinery. Their comic investigation is an anecdote, not plumbing or building-code advice. A closing Vermont update brings frogs, newts, dragonflies and Michelle’s completed home-inspection classes, with her exam still ahead.LinksEmail the hosts: [email protected]