By the way, not quite related to any one podcast, but I just found out that there really is a show called CAKE BOSS. I always assumed it was just a character Paul F. Tompkins made up from scratch.
I'm sorta unplugged from pop culture references, i thought exactly the same thing! ...
I was vaguely aware that the Cake Boss was a real thing, but I have yet to see or hear the actual show/person ... not sure there's any particular reason to do so.
But my whole life I've always stumbled upon pop-culture touchstones via the backward lens of comedy. I remember reading the
Mad Magazine parody of
A Clockwork Orange when I was maybe seven years old. The drawn images were freakish and fascinating for the young me, and I probably didn't get a lot of the jokes. But it made an impression. 10+ years later I saw
Clockwork Orange for a fancy-schmancy film appreciation class in college, and I was all like "oh yeah, this is that movie from
Mad Magazine".
Let's see ...
Mad also introduced me to "the Godfather", "Apocalypse Now", and "Jaws". I still haven't gotten around to a proper viewing of "Jaws", believe it or not.