An updated studio version of “Stuck in the Slammer Blues”, a new injury for Chris, and we breaking in the new Pizza Pizzazz after getting a recommendation from Steve Dahl, Philip Donald Performs, Baba Gonesh Jokes.
Featured Artist of the Week: Brett Mikels
An update on Baba’s new restaurant, prosthetic legs for sale, movie trivia, phone calls from the listener hotline, and another installment of “Where’s Tisha?” – the first Tisha Chicken sighting.
Featured Artist of the Week: Justine Bennett
Chris and Ally honor the brave men and women who have died serving our country in this special Memorial Day episode. Also, Baba Gonesh opens his new restaurant and delivers his weekly installment of “Baba’s Folk Tales”. An update on Tisha Chicken.
Featured Artist of the Week: Adam Woodall Band
National Turtle Day honored, Peet calls in asking for technical help with his VCR, Baba Gonesh tells an Indian folk tale, the true cause of Elvis’s death is discussed, and a story about a fatal accident involving a toilet brush handle.
Featured Artist of the Week: Adam Woodall Band
Former WDGC-FM radio partner Daryl Woltman visits the SmorgShow studio. Ally teams up with her friend, Kat for this week’s show while the dads go out for a Portillo’s run; Riddles and stories; Baba Gonesh Comedy Camel.
Chris gets tickets to the upcoming Roger Waters The Wall tour and tries to get Ally excited about going; Chris and Ally explain the sport of Geocaching and launch the official SmorgShow Podcast Cache and Tisha Chicken Travel Bug into the wild; Baba Gonesh gives a lesson on how to clean your camel litter box, and strange news of the week.
Featured Artist of the Week: Allison Crowe
Chris discusses his torn rotator cuff. The SmorgShow Players reenact the old-time radio drama, “On A Country Road”. Also, Baba Gonesh returns with another “Thought for the Day”.
The origin of “ChickenTongue” is discussed, Chris and Ally discuss the teenagers who thought it was cool to destroy their new iPad; Chris plays an old recording of a phone call to Chicken Alaska, Ally wins the “Critic’s Choice Award”, Chris discusses his 25th year high school reunion, and Baba Gonesh Comedy Camel, the search for Dave Jackson continues, and weekly wacky news.
Featured Artist of the Week: Amy Courts
Ally’s performance in the Solo/Ensemble Choir Festival, Baba Gonesh Comedy Camel, the case of the loogie-laced Whopper sandwich, and new artist of the week debut.
Featured Artist of the Week: Dan-O
While Chris goes out for a pizza, Ally sneaks into the studio and does the show by herself. Philip Donald makes his debut appearance on the show.
Sympathy for the Deejay: Chris plays an old audio clip of what got them in trouble on the old Smorgasbord radio show. Chris and Dave reenact the night when Fred Moore called the radio station in an outrage. Fred as a contestant on the game show, “Get a Life”. Chris calls Peet to bust his chops for not listening to the podcast. Peet admits to not being tech savvy enough to download the show. Baba Gonesh Indian Folk Tale, “The Dog Bride”.
The SmorgShow players recreate the classic 1943 radio drama, “Sorry, Wrong Number”. Also, strange news stories of the week, Baba Gonesh’s Indian Folk Tale of the week, and a 2010 remix of “Slime”, from the Cow Dung and Chicken Tongue collection.
‘Murder in the Mansion‘ radio play. After Ally’s recent birthday party where she hosted a murder mystery, the SmorgShow Players create a radio-play version of the party’s script.
This began the springboard for us in creating all the subsequent old-time radio dramas in our SmorgShow Theater series.
We call Peet to ask for his advice and help on a plumbing problem since he has been in that industry for 25 years. He offers no more assistance than if we had referred to the Moen website ourselves. Chris’s dad who lives in Paris comes in for a visit so we give him a French culture quiz to see how well he is assimilating in France.
With Ally off celebrating her birthday with her friends, Chris does the show solo and brings out some old Chris and Dave Smorgasbord show bits (including Talent Line, “Get a Life”, the ‘Algebra – Not Just for Homework Anymore’ commercial, and Comedy Camel). Then, Baba returns from India with a classic Indian folk story to wrap up the show.
Ally’s Birthday Show: Chris and Ally discuss the origin and copyright protection of the “Happy Birthday To You” song; a discussion about birthday traditions around the world, Baba Gonesh calls in from India while celebrating the Indian holiday, Holi. Chris calls old WDGC partner Daryl Woltman, to discuss their daughters’ shared birthday; Peet’s Perspective.
Our version of the ‘The Dating Game’, another installment of ‘Peet’s Perspective’, Ally takes a current events quiz, and Baba Gonesh returns with another profound Thought for the Day.
Valentine’s Day Special: Baba Gonesh comes out of an extended retirement to recite some Valentine’s Day love poems and gives tips on how to prepare for that special date. Peet McCain returns to the program with the debut of his new weekly feature, “Peet’s Perspective”. Judy the Child whips up a special Valentine’s Day dinner, and Chris and Ally submit an entry into the Norah Jones karaoke contest.
Other features: For President’s Day, Ally recites the U.S. Presidents in record time. We receive a call on the feedback hotline from Canadian Astrologer, Mystical Melinda who last appeared on the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord Radio Show back in 1984. Chris unearths an old recording of his love song from 1982 called “The Black Cow”, and we wrap up the program with some very odd news stories.
Peet joins us by phone and talks about the origins of the Smorgasbord Radio show title as well as how Match.com has been working out for him. Ally gets outstanding academic achievement recognition. New game show “What did I say?” and an update on former WDGC-FM General Manager, Fred Moore.
Chris revives the old Smorg brand name after 25 years since Chris and Dave’s last show. This time Chris pairs up with his daughter, Allison in this new weekly podcast series. On this first episode, Chris updates the audience on what everyone has been up to since the original Smorg crew disbanded. Chris and Ally experiment with a helium tank and then make a road trip to the local Sonic.
This was actually recorded 4 years after Episode 1. This serves as a prequel to the SmorgShow Podcast Series for anyone just now stumbling upon our program. Chris and Ally discuss the experience of doing the show together and provide an overview of what the program is all about. If you are just only now discovering our show, we hope you continue to explore the rest of our production catalog.
The SmorgShow Podcast originates from the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord radio show which aired on suburban Chicago high school radio station WDGC-FM between 1982-1984. The show was known at the time for its edginess for a high school radio program. Chris and Dave’s all-talk format broke the mold by deviating from the station’s rock genre and often pushed the boundaries of acceptable community standards.
In 2010, Chris resurrected the Smorgasbord brand name and paired up with his daughter, Ally to create a new podcast series staying true to the original spirit and variety format of the old radio show.
After serving as co-host and contributing to nearly 100 episodes, Ally is now grown up and has flown the coop, leaving Chris to fend for himself. As a result, the show has taken a bit of a different turn. Chris now pairs up regularly with original Smorgasbord Radio Show co-host Dave Jackson as well as Jerry Malauskas who serves as the show’s Chief Conspiracy Correspondent (CCC). And let’s not forget ‘Master of the Wide Open Spaces Between the Ears’, Baba Gonesh – who after 40 years of being featured on our show, serves as our International News Correspondent, sending his views and breaking news directly from his homeland of India.
While Seinfeld was said to be “a show about nothing”, the SmorgShow Podcast is a show about anything.
As we discussed in the last episode, we determined it would be extremely difficult to continue forward with the Smorgasbord Radio Show in its current form following the passing of co-founder Dave Jackson earlier this year. Have no dispair though, because Chris and Jerry will be launching a new podcast in early 2025.
In order to finish this podcast series properly, it only felt right to return to how it started in January 2010 – with Chris and his daughter Ally teaming up on the mic. In this final episode, Chris and Ally discuss all the life stages we have moved through and the milestones that we have achieved over these past 15 years. A lot of ground was covered during this time. After all, Ally was only 11 when we started the show and now she is only a couple weeks away from closing on her first home. We reflect upon how the podcast format began and all the challenges and learnings that we faced as we tried to get the show off the ground with the relatively primitive technology. From our first episode recorded in our kitchen, to seeing the show evolve over the next 15 years, we believe we hit all of the main highlights in our retrospective.
As mentioned in the show, we reserve the right to occasionally add an episode here and there to the catalog, but this episode essentially marks the end of our 42 year run (15 years in podcast form and the years 1982-1984 when the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord was heard on high school radio station WDGC-FM). We would like to thank everyone who has been on this journey with us at one point in our timeline or another. We certainly had fun bringing our creativity to you and we appreciate all your support and encouragement over the years.
It truly has been a great run!
It started over 40 years ago at suburban Chicago high school radio station WDGC-FM as the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord. The program broke the mold at the time for what you would expect to hear on high school radio airwaves. Chris and Dave were among the first to explore the conversational talk show format. In 2010, Chris dusted off his old recording equipment to re-launch the show in podcast form with his daughter Ally. Over the next 15 years, the SmorgShow Podcast continued forward in the old spirit of the program by featuring co-hosts Dave Jackson and Jerry Malauskas. In 2024, Dave passed away leaving Chris and Jerry to determine what to do with the show moving forward. Dave would want them to continue on but how does the Smorgasbord brand name work without one of the original co-founders? The answer was to create a new spin-off series. Here we bring you Chris and Jerry’s Supper Club. It will be very familiar in style as the Smorgasbord Radio Show, but gives us a bit more freedom to explore topics often avoided on the SmorgShow Podcast.
After a rocky launch of this new podcast with Jerry nearly coughing up a lung on the last two episodes, Chris and Jerry are back in fine form. The men honor Dave Jackson on what would have been his 60th birthday and look back on their formative years as teenagers growing up in suburban Chicago. They reflect on Dave’s influence with introducing them to their first cup of coffee, late night road trips and smoking a full pack of cigarettes. They also offer their thoughts on the first two months of the new Trump administration.
Listen to the Wisdom of Baba Gonesh and understand why he is known worldwide as ‘The Master of the Wide Open Spaces Between the Ears’.
A Fashion-Conscious Monkey is cited on the streets of India and Baba Gonesh was there to capture it all.
SmorgShow Theater is a collection of classic, old-time radio dramas from the golden age of radio. Sit back and relax, turn off your lights and let us transport you to a world where your imagination takes over. If you have a favorite radio show that you would like to hear us present, email us at feedback@smorgshow.com. Check out Smorgasbord Radio (The SmorgShow Podcast) for more of our creative antics.
In our 11th installment of SmorgShow Theater, we re-enact ‘Knock at the Door’, which originally aired in 1942 on the ‘Lights Out’ radio drama series that centered around horror and the supernatural. This tale is narrated by Ella who describes her descent into madness – how she married a nice fellow and mama’s boy Jay who adores his mother to the point of Ella feeling pushed out of the way. Our narrator, after hearing some convincing voices in her head, pushes her poor mother-in-law down a well and seemingly doesn’t have to deal with her anymore. But how wrong she is when the couple hears a knock at the door while eating dinner one night…
The SmorgShow Players are: Ally Bockay (Ella), Chris Bockay (Jay), Kim Bockay (Mrs. Kruger)
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