Riff 103 - Goodbye Dolly, Important TV Theme Songs, Take Your Dog To Work and Menard's [The Comedian Next Door]

We go rummaging through the cultural attic, starting with TV theme songs from the ’80s and ’90s—the kind that apparently occupied permanent brain space while more practical information was evicted. That leads us to movies, music, horror franchises, familiar actors, and the peculiar nostalgia that makes an old theme song instantly recognizable decades later. Then somebody famous dies, and the internet demonstrates that grief is also a competitive event. We get into the rush to update Wikipedia, the speed of celebrity death reporting, and the emotional connection people have to entertainers they knew only through screens and speakers.  From there, we turn to pets in stores and other public spaces, where the old rules of pet etiquette seem to be undergoing negotiations. We also take on modern art and the argument over whether it reflects cultural decay, confuses the purpose of art, or simply gives everybody something else to argue about. Finally, we arrive at dental visits and appointment scheduling, because everyday life remains a dependable source of comedy without requiring a screenplay.