This Week In Despair With Peter-john Byrnes

A special Father's Day edition of This Week in Despair leads to a discussion about parenting both good and bad, with guests Adam Burke and Mary Charlene. Baby-eating dingos, kinky Swedish mothers, and Lindsay Lohan are amongst the topics. Adam Burke shares his knowledge of Australia. Mary shares her knowledge of fresh-water fish auctions.

Rhea Butcher and Katie McVay join me this week for a discussion that starts high-minded and with the best of intentions, but degenerates into topics such as Mitt Romney's state trooper cosplay fetishism, sploshing, toilet wine, and locavore meth. James Joyce is discussed, but only as it involves his flatulence fetish. Katie reveals some questionable TV viewing habits. Rhea says "yeast" repeatedly. Also: fedoras.

This week, Michael Ortiz and Dan Ronan join me to sift through the entrails of the previous week. Topics include drones, zombies, the North Carolina state legislature, and other mindless entities. The yumminess of whales is discussed. Michael gets angry about banks. The panel agrees that we're the first ones eaten when the apocalypse comes.

In this episode, James Fritz and Stephanie Hasz join me in an attempt to discuss Wall Street, global finance and the Facebook IPO, but relapses into a discussion of the films of 1982, and geographic errors in movies set in Chicago. Other topics include the oeuvre of Chuck Norris, Zac Efron's golden shower, and drones. Stephanie Hasz breaks the Ferngully seal. James Fritz keeps his David Cronenberg reference streak alive.

It's NATO weekend in Chicago, and I'm joined in the studio by the red-headed tag team of Jason Earl Folks and Stephanie Hasz as the helicopters hover overhead. Other topics include Jon Lovitz, the Chicago Cubs ownership, and the rap career of Jason Earl Folks. Also: Bigfoot!

This week's episode has Chad Briggs on the panel, where we tackle the weighty subject of gay marriage. The Minnelli Beard Scale is introduced, and we discuss Geraldo's manual manipulation, John Travolta's unhappy ending, and the 70 Year-Old Virgin.

Our first episode was intended to be a pilot that never saw the light of day, but then it turned out to be too much fun to keep to ourselves. Comedians Adam Burke and James Fritz join in a discussion that covers Ted Nugent, Scooby-Doo guest stars, Dominique Strauss-Kahn's bodily fluids, and third-party Presidential politics.