When Publicity Stunts Go Wrong - Mega Strange #72

[@Kenjra]

Genuinely impressed at how well Derrick can hold down a solo episode. Well done!

[@leondecastro1807]

Derrick can handle even a Mega64 podcast on his own and still captivates.

[@alois482]

dude derrick should do a serious podcast with sound fxs and higher production, maybe that would mean shorter episodes but it would definitely be wroth it

[@nuklearman8738]

Great episode! I was hoping to hear about the infamous Bug Stunt, but maybe that one was too dark for this episode.

[@DrButthugger]

This was an amazing episode! It really was a straight, concentrated one hour of mega strange without banter, without interruptions, without meandering tangents, it was incredible!! I would love to see Johnny also do a 1 hour solo mega strange just to better understand both the hosts’ presentation styles. Needless to say, I am down for more solo mega strange!

[@cubitapi4245]

i usually get impatient and lose focus at every first 30 seconds of a video, but Derrick managed to hold my attention for 6 minutes before pausing to write this. What a good story teller

[@ShawnaldGlover]

RIP Johnny not gone but forgotten Hands on a Hardbody is such an incredible study of the human condition. If it went any further it would have turned into Lord of the Flies

[@ShawnaldGlover]

Follow up if you bois see this but check out the story of "Nasubi" the eggplant man and the drama behind "Susunu! Denpa Shōnen". It was a live broadcasted tv show ala Real World where this dude got locked in a room with literally nothing, not even clothes, except for a phone, postcards, and a bunch of magazines with coupons and mail in rebates. The goal was for him to win or otherwise recieved ¥1,000,000 ($10,000). Dude started going crazy, felt more comfortable being nude to the point where he complained about wearing clothes for months after the competition, and all told it cost him 335 days of his life and a large portion of his sanity. It's worth the deep dive

[@user-zw4wh1tm9x]

I had a dream I saw Derrick and Johnny doing a presentation for an elementary school. I wanted to say hi, but I was the only adult fan there lol

[@llREDSTRIKEll]

Kony 2012 was probably the most hilarious publicity stunt to experience as a high schooler. In a matter of 1 week everyone went from wearing the armbands and advocating for it to making naked gorilla jokes when the head of it was found wandering the streets of California, high out of his gourd, punching the ground.

[@The3gi]

Love seeing the Shrek Retold VHS in the background! Much love from 3GI

[@laurslyes]

I remember the hold your wee thing. They made them drink lots of water and they weren’t allowed to go to the bathroom. The woman died from water intoxication. If she had gone pee she would have lived. So messed up.

[@flamingbunnyrabbits]

I miss Johnny, but this was a fantastic episode!

[@Fromaginator]

I like to imagine Johnny has various supernatural eras like when the lights made it loon like his coffee was blood (vampire era Johnny) and now invisible man era Johnny

[@BestCatFriend]

So I love the dynamic of Johnny and Derrick, but I could really fall in love with a podcast that is just reading crazy stories like this.

[@Shlompskii]

You should cover Balloonfest 1986. Def one of the weirdest stunts to go wrong

[@powerupyo]

We need more solo episodes. Not just Derrick, but Johnny too. I like Derrick's storytelling but I'd like to see Johnny's raw insanity too, unchecked by Derrick.

[@Kerma7]

I watched this episode when it came out but I keep thinking about it so I want to come back and say that I think this is one of the most interesting topics you guys have covered and I really enjoyed it. I had never heard about the disco or train story and the anti-disco rally in particular kind of blew my mind especially since there was so much footage of the event.

[@erikjohnson2776]

SICK HEDORAH FIGURE!

[@puppy9196]

This was a great ep, came back to thumbs up two days later, so you know it's good. Great story telling, listened while working ,

[@fidelrivera2887]

For $50,000 in the mid 90s you could have bought like 6 brand new Mazda Miatas and STILL have enough left to buy some rare Beanie Babies. I can understand the struggle.

[@YaBoiJrue]

Great episode, it wasn’t the same without SLT DDY though. Get well soon Johnny!

[@nineteenfiftysixyo]

hold yer wee for a wii was in sacramento. When I go to work, I have to pass the building where the radio station used to be--its still vacant and shortly after the incident the radio station had erected a tall iron fence. From what I heard they did this because of number of threats it was getting.

[@nineteenfiftysixyo]

107.9 "THE END"

[@MegaStrange]

This is a great follow up to such an infamous story. Thanks for sharing!

[@nineteenfiftysixyo]

@@MegaStrange I didnt listen to the station at the time 107.9 "The End" was a 90's-00's pop station. But there's a recording out there of a register nurse calling in pleading with the radio host(s) to stop the contest immediately and call an ambulance. It's pretty horrifying and tragic. Who knew water poisoning was a thing.

[@drewnibrow]

Bro u taking the solo Dan Carlin method with this one. Nice episode!

[@Lemuzaurio_streams]

What a weird coincidence, just today I was listening to episode 41 of drunkfriend podcast from 19 February 2021 in which SNESdrunk makes an impression of Harry Caray and his cohost NESfriend tells him that his impression is better than that of will ferrel on snl and a few hours later I'm catching up to megastrange and derrick makes an impression of Harry caray and talks about will ferrel on snl at around 49:20.

[@Steven_McCrae]

Was listening through headphones about to fall asleep *suddenly* DEATH 💀 WHISTLE Need to go chap flat 3 up from me to retrieve my soul 😅😮❤

[@RImeri31]

I'll miss Johnny, but Derrick is a great solo host

[@bassoonistfromhell]

The driving wheels are the big wheels on the locomotive that push the train forward on the track, so it'd be like a massive metal disk flying into the crowd.

[@selfdribblingbasketball9769]

The Wii Radio contest was from Sacramento

[@selfdribblingbasketball9769]

I remember listening to it as a kid. Lived in El Dorado Hills (a burb) and it made me want to save up and get one a few months later

[@420Pikachu]

Yo I live in Chicago and have heard that story my whole life but today I learned alotta new stuff I didn't know especially regarding the loop and the radio staff involved. My dad used to always say disco was dead and he saw it so he knew for sure it was dead 😂

[@BigRipzz]

Can’t believe Derrick literally fired Johnny

[@Nutsacc]

Nothing against Johnny or to take away from his contributions to the show at all but Derrick did a wicked job flying solo

[@AugustMeyer]

Hold Your Wii for a Wii was in Sacramento! I remember when it happened around where I grew up. The lady had kids, too :-(

[@yuricamper]

A driving wheel would have been one of the large powered wheels of the locomotive, so really really big!

[@turkeysamwich00]

I was listening to the audio version on Spotify and I genuinely couldn't tell if Johnny just had nothing to say

[@mobius2684]

Oh man the worst part of the hold your wee for a Wii was that a ton of nurses and doctors had called into the show and told the radio hosts that it was dangerous and they straight up ignored and laughed these calls off. Could have easily avoided this horrible death. She died approximately 12 hrs after the contest.

[@Digital.Justin]

how does Derrick know i’m 30 AND desperate?!?!

[@Steven_McCrae]

50 grand ! Oh I’d do damage alright Derrick ! 🤣 I’d be dead within the hour ! Haha 😆✌🏽

[@katherineperry654]

Thanks! 🙂 -Katie

[@lourahkneeri0229]

Another Banger!

[@Starman_Dx]

Wish we got the exploding whale, love that story. I know it wasn't a publicity stunt, but still. Hope Johnny recovers quick from that stunt gone wrong.

[@generalismoGrosMichel]

If you do part 2: talk about the Ohio Balloon launch

[@VOST0K]

I can't remember hearing about a publicity stunt since the Wii incident. Are they a thing of the past? It can't be worth the trouble.

[@Spawn3X5]

Garrett Hunter the real hitman heart

[@Andrew-wd3qi]

Theres the full tv broadcast of the disco night game on youtube. With Harry Carey on the call. Its pretty cool.

[@soccerx3567]

You could easily turn this into a monthly thing. Please cover the mountain dew naming contest.

[@kholt1776]

Audio listeners thinkin Johnny actually dead

[@420Pikachu]

Ah snap they disappeard Johnny 😮😢

[@JaredOutlet]

The solo episode was good but I def miss you and Johnny bouncing stuff off each other.

[@askew88tm88]

Holding it down by yourself, Bill Burr style... but what if THIS was the publicity stunt...First Johnnyless ep, this subject...hmm?

[@Tsureiki]

I missed Johnny but Derrick held down the episode well without him. Great episode.

[@hexaldecima6839]

lol I think he can even hold a podcast episode on the main Mega64 channel solo.

[@DewkyShewt]

Tight I like Derrick

[@gregbear123]

Did Johnny lose the contest of doing 72 Mega Strange episode in a row?

[@mightybison15]

Honourable mention could be balloonfest 86. Probably the dumbest publicity stunt in human history.

[@TrigunFan99]

Hell yeah

[@generalismoGrosMichel]

Burningman meets Jackass.

[@dakotaisgreat]

The really awkward and uncomfortable banter/tension was part of what made the show enjoyable to me, to be honest. It was funny, for me, as the viewer.

[@haroonabassi1821]

I can't wait till we get Johnny back but Derrick is such a pro that I actually really also appreciate just having an ep with him. Love me some solo Derrick vibes.

[@Twilleh]

where's the cool guy?

[@Utubesuxmycock]

The fat kuk johnny

[@420Pikachu]

He's right there on the screen, the other cool guy went to get smokes

[@Steven_McCrae]

Not to worry I’m here guys 👋🏽😆 , sorry I’m late ⏰

[@leondecastro1807]

I thought Derrick, A-ka, Derbe, A-ka, Lil' Banana, was the cool guy.

[@HypePerformanceGroup]

🍅🍅🍅 we love Derrick

[@TheCosmicSkeleton]

Hope Johnny is ok it's unusual for him to miss an episode

[@holeweiner1683]

wheres the main guy?

[@Steven_McCrae]

Disco sucks…. sucks ! There i said it ! ✨🕺🏽 *DISCO STU APPROVES THIS MESSAGE EEW* 🕺🏽✨

[@-iIIiiiiiIiiiiIIIiiIi-]

Just lie and say it was migraine. Poor guy getting blasted for a headache.

[@personperson2380]

the hatred of disco music, besides the general trend of hating the thing that's popular, broadly stems from the fact that the genre was pioneers and popularized by Black people. disco culture, for a long time, was indelibly tied to Black and queer culture of the era. there has always been thinly veiled bigotry behind a lot of hatred of disco music. in the following decade or so, it would be "mainstreamed" by white people edit: snowflakes downvoting this comment stay mad, lmao. sorry for violating your safe space w/historical facts

[@littleev7492]

Horrible and ridiculous opinion. You must be an absolute nightmare to have a casual conversation with. Your family and friends likely find you insufferable.😊

[@AKPiratePrince]

To the a-hole who said they were sick of Johnny saying "we're rolling" for the intro you got your wish you bully.