SURPRISE! It’s an off-week extra episode, just because we didn’t want to go ANY longer without discussing that purrfect mewowsical, directed by Tomcat Hooper: CATS! It’s a show so big, we couldn’t do it without the dual returns of Cats enthusiast, Jenny Jaffee, and musical theater authority, Ms. Natalie Walker who was AT THE MOTHERFUCKING CATS PREMIERE! We know that there’s usually a bunch of gibberish at this point, teasing stuff from the episode, but just dive in, folks! IT’S CATS!

We kick off the New Year (and the next 300 episodes?) by discussing a movie that no one has ANY strong feelings about — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. One programming note: we sort of threw together this episode at the last moment because Elliott was visiting New York, so we skip the usual letters and recommendation segments. Don’t worry, though — we still manage to talk for 100 minutes. Because it’s Star Wars.

Well, we made it to three hundred, guys. And it only took us 12 years. What a triumph of the human spirit. Or monument to three lives sorely misused. One of those two things. But hey! It’s Cagemas, when we celebrate the work of Saint Nicolas Cage! And Hallie’s here! And we’re talking about The Wicker Man! That’s a 300th birthday to be proud of Meanwhile Elliott and Stu really love pronouncing “raspberries,” Dan wonders how long you can hold bullets, and Hallie isn’t gonna let motherhood tank her Flop House Q rating.

We attempt to exploit the zeitgeist by… reviewing a movie from 1969. We may not be good at this zeitgeist thing. More to the point — since Disney+ has been in the news, we attempt to bask in some reflected glory by talking about the young Kurt Russell Disney live-action vehicle, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (thanks to longtime Daily Show producer and head researcher Adam Chodikoff for the idea). Meanwhile Stu makes the fatal error of encouraging Elliott’s singing, Elliott takes us inside the pitch meetings for our favorite cereal mascots, and Dan has the plague.

No, you didn’t dream it. Way back in January the Peaches went to the University of Wisconsin, Madison (the dead of winter being the best time to visit the upper Midwest), and they discussed the infamous anti-hero superhero movie, Venom. This is that!

Enough about small failures like Slender Man, let’s talk about massive, hubristic failures like Mortal Engines! Meanwhile Stuart discourses on other evil Valentines in fiction, Elliott’s got Morgan Spurlock’s reciepts, Dan doesn’t understand how a single goddamn thing in this movie works, and we’re joined by Brendan Hay, executive producer for Harvey Girls Forever!

Shocktober 2019 concludes with our dissection of the Internet meme/creepypasta horror film, Slender Man. Thanks to Max Fun HQ for letting us pop in and use an actual studio for once. Meanwhile Stuart tells a tale of nude figure drawing, Dan reveals karaoke antics, and Elliott’s not afraid of businessmen.

We dip our toe into Shocktober by discussing one of the million court-mandated “The Conjuring” spin-offs, The Nun. Meanwhile Dan prefers that all demon-fighting talk be kept to work hours, Elliott takes down New Age music, and Stuart demands that you stop preaching at him.