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Who’s feeling down about saying goodbye to 2020? We know January 1 is just an arbitrary day and that things don’t magically change at the stroke of midnight, but there is something comforting about a fresh start. Let’s hope 2021 is better for all of us.

To start off the year, we invite back to the studio not one, but two former Smorgasbord Radio Show hosts – Dave Jackson and Jerry Malauskas…The first time since the lockdowns of 2020 began and we don’t care what Dr. Anthony Fauci or Illinois Governor JB Pritzker have to say about it.

This episode is a reflection back on the year (is it 2020 vision or 2020 hindsight?) – the lessons it taught us, and what we expect to see in the coming year.

Baba Gonesh is hopeful in travel resuming again in India soon and has invited the listeners to visit his homeland by offering up some of his favorite cities to celebrate the new year.

Other Topics:

• Dawn Wells of Gilligan’s Island Dead from COVID-19 at age 82.
• Phillip Donald announces plans for his new album
• What is with Mark Zuckerberg allowing soft porn on his platforms?

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We welcome our Chief Conspiracy Correspondent (CCC) Jerry Malauskas back to the studio again to co-host this episode of the SmorgShow Podcast.

With the COVID-19 lockdown still in effect and no end in sight, Chris and Jerry sample a flight of moonshine.

As 2020 comes to a close, Chris and Jerry reflect back on the year and the state of affairs we find ourselves in.

Van Morrison launches the Lockdown Financial Hardship Fund to support musicians who are facing financial hardship as a direct result of government restrictions.

International News Correspondent Baba Gonesh reports on a wedding that was canceled, not due to COVID-19, but rather the decision to serve chicken biryani instead of mutton biryani.

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It’s hard to believe that is has been 8 years since the last time we took to the woods, but after a long year of being cooped up indoors due to the pandemic, we head back to the Great Outdoors – this time at Hoover Forest Preserve in Yorkville, IL – to record a very special episode of the SmorgShow Podcast – Campfire S’morgs edition! Unfortunately, most of the gang is not in attendance this time around. In fact it is just Chris and Jerry. Is it wrong for two men to share each other’s company in the woods?

We try to make the best of it by telling scary campfire stories as well as discuss some topical events.

Other Features Include:

• Our famous Campfire S’morgs Recipe is shared
• Baba Gonesh records his first installment from his recording studio as things start to loosen up in India and he can travel more freely. This week, Baba delivers another installment of “Baba Blue – Spicy Baba“. Apparently Bollywood Actress Sunny Leone is back in the news and is spatting on social media with another film actress who is shaming other actresses who used to be in the adult entertainment industry and trying to break into the Bollywood scene.
• Tech Update: Facebook Lawsuit around image recognition
• 5 Types of churchgoers who will never return to church after COVID-19.
• Jerry goes to church!

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OktoberFest 2020 – With the official festivities in Munich being canceled this year due to COVID-19, the SmorgShow Podcast brings OktoberFest to you! In this 3rd annual tradition of celebrating the occasion, Chris is joined once again with Jerry Malauskas live in the studio and Dave Jackson via Zoom.

We discuss some interesting Oktoberfest facts and test the guys’ knowledge with a game of trivia.

Chris is now officially an empty-nester after Ally moves away into her own apartment. The guys share some stories about their days of being roommates together, and living on their own for the first time.

Other Topics Include:

• Apple iOS14 and the new COVID-19 Exposure Notifications.
• Geoffrey Gleason Tech Talk:  Apple Watch Handwashing Notification and special tips on how to properly wash your hands.
• Baba Gonesh – Breaking Baba News: The monkey mayhem continues in India as monkeys steal COVID patient blood samples.

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Special guest co-host Jerry Malauskas joins Chris live in the studio. Jerry is the first visitor to the SmorgShow lounge since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March, so we hope for the best. We celebrate Jerry’s 55th birthday (wow, is he old!), discuss Chris’s altered vacation after three previous getaway plans were canceled due to the virus shutdowns. Jerry discusses current happenings in the city of Chicago with respect to riots and violence.

International news correspondent Baba Gonesh is still in lockdown in Chennai, India but still manages to cover the breaking news. The monkey mayhem continues throughout his country where monkeys have taken over the local pools as they become increasingly confident by the lack of human being presence on the streets.

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Indie-pop band Echosmith joins Chris and Ally via Zoom on this episode of the SmorgShow Podcast as the COVID-19 lockdown continues.

The Sierota siblings just finished the first leg of their tour to promote their new album ‘Lonely Generation’, but now they are living through the Coronavirus pandemic just like the rest of the country. 

They join us to discuss how they are dealing with life during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order.

Additional Features: Geoffrey Gleason Tech Talk : Online Dating Tips during COVID-19 and Breaking Baba News – Monkey Mayhem! International News Correspondent Baba Gonesh reports from Punjab, India while in lockdown: Monkeys invade India government buildings!

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Life During COVID-19: We bring this episode to you during the midst of the Coronavirus lockdown where Chris and Ally, through the miracle of technology, connect remotely with co-hosts Dave Jackson and Jerry Malauskas via Zoom.

We discuss many of the subtle ways life has changed during the stay-at-home period and even the positive things that have come out of it.

Jerry Malauskas – our Chief Conspiracy Correspondent shares his views on what is happening as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baba Gonesh, also in lockdown in India, but still manages to serve his role well as International News Correspondent for the SmorgShow Podcast.

Monkeys Rule the Streets of India during the COVID-19 Lockdown!

In the latest installment of Breaking Baba News, Baba discusses how monkeys have reclaimed the streets of India during the lockdown.

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Jerry Malauskas is our special guest host for this latest podcast installment. In this post-Valentine’s Day episode, Chris talks about his experience with ordering a heart-shaped pizza from Lou Maltati’s as well as a new, local restaurant establishment and their impossible-to-follow instructions for calling ahead for seating.

Jerry shares a story of how he earned the ‘pat-on-the back’ good citizen award for rescuing a squirrel from being torn apart within the elevator shaft at the Mount Prospect Public Library.

Baba Gonesh‘s investigative reporting exposes the India textbook industry for reporting that Japan bombed the USA in WWII (among other poorly translated historical facts)…the latest of Breaking Baba News!

Finally, Gwyneth Paltrow‘s new candle line with a vile brand name.

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First there was Valentine’s Day, then Galentine’s Day. Now Chris and Dave bring you the first annual Palentine’s Day…a celebration of manhood. 

On this episode we talk about the top recommended male bonding activities as well as the origins and purpose of the man cave. 

Baba Gonesh delivers another installment of Breaking Baba News where he discusses the disturbing trend of Bride Burning.

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It’s really hard to believe we have been at this little hobby of ours for 10 years, but the calendar confirms it. This episode is a look back on the past 10 years. This is not the same type of retrospective that we did when we hit our 100th episode. Rather, Ally and I look back on life’s events and major milestones of the past decade. Considering we began this podcast when Ally was in 6th grade and now she has graduated college and planning a wedding, we have a lot of ground to cover.

We’d like to thank all our listeners who were in some way entertained by our brand of crazy antics over the years. This is certainly not the end of this podcast, even though at times this episode sounds like we are winding things down. This has been a part of my DNA since I was 7 years old so I imagine I will continue doing this for another 10 years.

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Recorded and published on the longest night of the year, this episode is dedicated to my father, William Nicholas Bockay, who passed away after a long illness on November 23, 2019.

On this episode, I discuss the last several weeks that I spent with my dad, including the final hours I shared with him in the hospital.

My dad has made a couple of appearances on this program over the years and I share those clips again here. Recordings include the French quiz we gave him to test his knowledge on French culture before he went to live in Paris as well as the time that he phoned into ‘Date Line’ on my high school radio show. I also share the eulogy that I delivered at my dad’s visitation which provides a glimpse into my childhood and the influence that my dad had on me during my formative years.

Peet McCain also phones into the studio to share some of his memories of my dad.

My dad’s passion was classical music and he adored my daughter Ally’s musical abilities. To close out the show, I play Ally’s recent original music composition, “Danze delle Piume” (Dance of the Feathers), which was the last sounds my dad heard as he drifted from this world.

Slideshow Celebrating the Life of William Bockay

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This is perhaps the most personal episode that I ever recorded. In fact, it wasn’t really going to be an episode at all. I had an idea just to turn the recording equipment on and start talking. Whether it ended up being interesting enough to share out was yet to be seen. In the end, I think what we ended up with is something worth preserving and adding to our catalog of shows. Also, at 1 hour and 45 minutes in length, it violates our recent format change where we made a decision to make each episode shorter in length for easier consumption. I could have easily made this into three separate episodes, but decided in the end to leave it in tact as one continuous recording to capture the essence of the conversation.

The first 20 minutes of the episode I share my feelings about Ally’s recent engagement and my latest life transition that includes watching her leave home and in less than two years, seeing her get married. Having Dave present to hear me out was very therapeutic.

We then go through a box of old memories that I had stashed away in the archives for several decades. The box contained a journal that I apparently wrote almost 30 years ago, documenting the ups and downs of a particular relationship from the time. I don’t remember ever writing it, and I had not read it prior to reading it aloud on this episode. It shed a lot of light on what was going on in my life in the early 90’s.

In the end, I think we made this entertaining enough to be put along side of the other Smorgasbord material.

As an added bonus, Baba Gonesh returns with a lesson about Diwali for the kids in the audience.

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Chris and Dave are back in the studio together again sans Jerry Malauskas. On this episode we air Dave’s exclusive interview with legendary blues guitarist, John Primer. John was the last guitar player to play with Muddy Waters and Dave got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview him at Johnny’s Blitz in Westmont, IL. 

Chris is also celebrating his 53rd birthday and shares his experience of attending his 35th year high school reunion.  

Spicy Baba Gonesh returns with another installment of Baba Blue, this time in a Breaking News story about a man in Delhi who has reported getting hundreds of calls daily from men looking for exotic Bollywood film actress Sunny Leone after she gives out his phone number in the new film, Arjun Patiala.

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Jerry Malauskas joins Chris in the studio again this week. In fact, he never left after Episode 106. Jerry shares his experience with diversity training at work and specifically their new ‘Cultural Competence and Implicit Bias’ program. Jerry is none-too-pleased about it.

Next, Spicy Baba returns with a new installment of ‘Baba Blue’. Geoffrey Gleason returns with another ‘Tech Talk’ and tips to know whether you are addicted to your cell phone.

Finally, Chris and Jerry take a road trip to pick up Dave Jackson before heading to a blues club where Dave is scheduled to interview legendary blues guitarist, John Primer. We will likely include that interview in the next episode.

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We are pleased to welcome Jerry Malauskas back to the studio. On this episode, Chris discusses the news of Ally’s recent engagement and the process of accepting change. What will become of the SmorgShow Podcast without Ally? Chris shares his own personal journey toward marriage and reconciles that her journey through life will naturally be different.

Other features: To celebrate Oktoberfest, Chris challenges Jerry to a German history quiz, Baba Gonesh returns with a new feature ‘Baba Blue’. You’ve never heard Baba quite this way before. Finally, we introduce ‘Q’, the world’s first genderless AI.

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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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This is the first episode where I host the show with someone other than someone from the SmorgShow gang. This week I welcome Eric Coleman to the SmorgShow lounge. Eric has been serving as the AV technical/worship arts leader at Harvest New Beginnings Church in Oswego, IL where I have been running sound and assisting the tech team for the past couple of years. Eric is one of the few people who can appreciate the complexity of running a podcast and can “geek out” over the lights, sounds and smells of our studio. Eric has been asking to be on the podcast for several months and it’s taken me a while to figure out how to create an episode around him given the unique format of our show. I also needed to ensure I could connect with a millennial in terms of finding the right content that fit within the framework of the program.

The result is something completely unique to what we have ever done before. We talk about about Eric’s faith and his journey that brought him to this point of being involved as a worship arts leader for Harvest New Beginnings church. Somewhere along the way we determine that puppet shows had influenced us both at an early age and inspired us to pursue our passions in life. We spend some time chatting about relationships in the high-tech world of online dating apps. Eric also performs a couple original songs as well as a more current, popular worship song.

This episode is nothing like we have ever done before, but since the SmorgShow is “a show about anything”, I think this fits in quite well with the format.

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The passage of time: We discuss some theories on why time seems to pass more quickly as we get older and ways to slow it down.

Social media distractions and pressure to be “liked”.

Breaking Baba News

Classic Chris and Dave Rewind: “Algebra – Not Just for Homework Anymore” commercial (from Season 1 of the Chris and Dave Smorgabord, 1982)

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Chris, Dave and Jerry host this episode of the SmorgShow Podcast. Chris is very upset to learn that Baba Gonesh’s podcast has surpassed the SmorgShow in number of subscribers. Baba’s recent marketing blitz and updated podcast artwork has caused Apple to take notice. Baba’s show was recently featured in “New and Noteworthy” section and is among the Top 5 Indian Culture podcasts on Apple. Given that Baba has been given the SmorgShow as his creative platform for 35+ years, it was a little shocking to the gang that this “spinoff” show has become so successful. It prompts the gang to brainstorm on how to get more listeners. Perhaps the show needs a fresh makeover or some gimmick to attract more listeners.

On this episode we discuss the recent Supreme Court case of a California fashion designer who was denied a trademark registration due to its “scandalous” and “immoral” brand name, which uses the acronym for “Friends U Can’t Trust”.

This is the first episode of the new format where we will begin to publish more frequent episodes in a shorter, more concise format.

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The SmorgShow quartet returns with the first episode of 2019 after a rather long hiatus. A busy spring sent Ally to New York City to perform with the North Central College Women’s Chorale at Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Carnegie Hall. Ally talks about this amazing experience and some of the other things she has been involved with as she gets closer to graduation.

The second half of the episode picks up where Episode 99 left off. Chris and Dave interview Jim Swick from Downers Grove North High School class of 1966. Jim was largely responsible for making high school radio station WDGC-FM a reality.

Jim takes us back to the pre-launch days of the station’s origins and discusses how he established the first radio signals that would be the start of what would become an incredible legacy and would influence the lives and career paths of so many individuals.

Chris and Dave set the record straight that 2019 is actually the 50th anniversary of the station, not 2018 as was celebrated last fall with the station’s alum. Jim shares some of his favorite stories from his career in broadcasting.

Finally, Chris shares an embarrassing story about his childhood.