Junk Filter

Junk Filter: a podcast about strange and overlooked artifacts from the worlds of film, music and popular culture with a generous side order of jokes and politics. Hosted by Jesse Hawken with guests from the worlds of Politics Twitter and Film Twitter. Original music for the program by Marker Starling. Follow us on Bluesky: @junkfilterpod

Junk Filter is a comedy podcast hosted by Jesse Hawken, with 207 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jesse Hawken hosts Junk Filter, a comedy show with 207 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Junk Filter

  TEASER - 232: Herb Alpert & Other Delights (with Marker Starling)

  Jul 31, 20265 min

  Access this entire 70-minute episode (and additional monthly bonus episodes) by becoming a Junk Filter patron! https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter/posts/232-herb-alpert-165373100 The Toronto-based musician Marker Starling (aka Chris Cummings) returns to the pod for a discussion of the career of Herb Alpert, who at age 91 is on tour with his new lineup of the Tijuana Brass; we went together to see his Toronto show at Massey Hall. It is hard to imagine today, but during the sixties only The Beatles dominated the American pop charts more thoroughly than Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, who famously landed four albums in the Billboard Top 10 simultaneously in 1966. Their era-defining smash, 1965’s Whipped Cream & Other Delights , served as a sonic harbinger of the massive cultural changes about to sweep America. The band's music quickly became ubiquitous, soundtracking everything from commercial jingles and game shows to house parties. Interestingly, while framed as a band, many of their early albums were secretly recorded by the legendary LA session musician unit The Wrecking Crew. Though changing musical tastes eventually landed millions of these vinyl records in garage sales and dollar bins, their cultural legacy remains, as evidenced by hip-hop samples and viral TikTok memes. We discuss all 13 Tijuana Brass albums but also explore Alpert's visionary work co-founding A&M Records, including key signings like The Carpenters, Chris Montez, and Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66. Finally, we discuss Herb's collaborations with Burt Bacharach and Hal David, the massive influence of A&M’s jazz label CTI in mainstreaming bossa nova via Antonio Carlos Jobim and Quincy Jones, and tell you what it was like to get to finally see Herb & the Brass in concert. Follow Marker Starling on Twitter and Instagram . Here are links to Chris’ most recent releases: Lammping/Marker Starling/Drew Smith - RISKY (2026) Cici Arthur - Way Through (2025) Marker Starling - Diamond Violence (2022) Herb Alpert music videos This Guy’s In Love With You (1967) Rise (1979) Route 101 (1982)

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  Junk Filter

  TEASER - 230: Prefab Sprout: Jordan: The Comeback (with Jared Bailey)

  Mar 31, 20266 min

  Access this entire 161-minute episode (and additional monthly bonus episodes, including the entire Prefab Sprout series) by becoming a Junk Filter patron! https://www.patreon.com/posts/230-prefab-with-154429820 On the fifth episode of the Junk Filter miniseries exploring the work of the cult UK band Prefab Sprout, Jared Bailey, the cohost of the Southern Accents pod, returns from Columbia, South Carolina to discuss their magnum opus, 1990’s Jordan: The Comeback . Conceived by frontman Paddy McAloon as a collection of “nuclear-powered Walt Disney film themes,” the 19-track album was produced by Thomas Dolby and reportedly cost half a million dollars. Structurally, it's divided into four distinct suites: a set of pop songs, a galaxy-brained section centered on Elvis Presley (including the idea of his faked death and surprise return), a medley of love songs, and a final movement contemplating God, death, and redemption. On Jordan , McAloon fuses the accessible melodicism of The Beatles and The Beach Boys with the lyrical and musical intricacy of Steely Dan, all filtered through his own literary and theatrical sensibilities, to create a dreamy, atmospheric, forward-facing masterpiece that sounds like nothing else and holds great appeal to modern ears. Jared and I go track-by-track on the album, which includes many of the band’s greatest songs. My thanks to the Sproutology website, the ultimate online resource for the band. Follow Jared Bailey on Twitter and Bluesky . Jared is the co-host (with @fenderbelly ) of the new Tom Petty podcast Southern Accents . Listen to the show and support their Patreon ! Radio Love (Prefab Sprout b-side from 1982) Music video for Carnival 2000 (1990)

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  Junk Filter

  229: The Secret Agent (with Gus Lanzetta)

  Mar 13, 20261h 34m

  CW: Spoilers for The Secret Agent. Writer and podcaster Gus Lanzetta joins us from São Paulo for a deep dive into two recent works of the great Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho. We explore how the northeastern coastal town of Recife serves as a lifelong muse for the director, starting with his 2023 personal "audio-visual essay," Pictures of Ghosts , which maps the fading movie palaces of his youth. That film sets the stage for his newest period piece, The Secret Agent , a “hangout thriller” set in 1977 starring Wagner Moura as a man on the run in Recife during the military dictatorship. Gus helps decode the local nuances for the non-Brazilians in the audience, explaining the historical "mischief" the film depicts, its powerful themes of memory, family and resistance and why Kleber is a director you just have to trust. Plus: is Toronto’s Matt Johnson Canada’s answer to Kleber? Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter Follow Gus Lanzetta on Bluesky. Trailer for Pictures of Ghosts ( Retratos Fantasmas - Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2023) North American trailer #1 for The Secret Agent ( O Agente Secret o - Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2023)

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  Junk Filter

  TEASER - 228: Prefab Sprout: Protest Songs (with Patrick Svensson)

  Feb 27, 20267 min

  Access this entire 115 minute episode (and additional monthly bonus episodes, including the entire Prefab Sprout series) by becoming a Junk Filter patron! https://www.patreon.com/posts/228-prefab-songs-151720106 In the fourth episode of the Junk Filter miniseries exploring the work of the UK band Prefab Sprout, I’m joined by Patrick Svensson, a library worker in Seattle, for a track-by-track discussion of their “lost album” Protest Songs . Recorded quickly and cheaply in Newcastle right after Steve McQueen, Protest Songs was intended for release at the end of 1985 but shelved by CBS Records to avoid cannibalizing sales of the hit single “When Love Breaks Down”. After four years of bootlegs and rumours, the album was released without fanfare in 1989, serving as a stopgap between From Langley Park to Memphis and Jordan: The Comeback , yielding no hit singles while still making the Top 20 UK album charts. Patrick and I wish to make a case for this album as one of their best releases, with a more stripped-back, less hyperproduced sound that captures the band's live energy and provides further background on Paddy McAloon’s upbringing and sensibilities, as he delivers “protest songs” about the struggles of daily existence in Thatcher’s England as opposed to stridently political material. We dive into our favourite Protest Songs tracks, era-specific B-sides, and the unmistakable influence of Steely Dan on McAloon’s songwriting. Follow Patrick Svensson on Bluesky . My thanks to the Sproutology website, the ultimate online resource for the band. Demo version #2 of Talkin’ Scarlet from 1983 - more of a duet, with a different set of lyrics. Tiffanys , live in Munich, December 1985

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  Junk Filter

  227: Predator 2 (with Brian Abrams)

  Feb 24, 202658 min

  The film writer Brian Abrams returns to discuss Predator 2 (1990), directed by Stephen Hopkins. The sequel swaps Arnold Schwarzenegger for Danny Glover and transplants the action to a sweltering, near-future Los Angeles in 1997, where climate collapse and gang warfare create the ideal hunting ground for an extraterrestrial predator on safari. Often dismissed as a crass, hyper-violent downgrade from the original, Brian and I argue that Predator 2 is the only other truly worthy entry in the franchise. Its appeal lies in sheer excess, using escalation to meaningfully expand the series’ mythology. Nearly saddled with the newly introduced NC-17 rating due to its extreme violence, the film now plays like a meathead action satire in the vein of RoboCop . It offers a contradictory vision of future America—one shaped by imperialist blowback—depicting Los Angeles as a literal “concrete jungle,” populated by a multicultural cast trapped within a racially insensitive landscape of Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels and an ambulance-chasing tabloid culture, while a dreadlocked interstellar hunter methodically racks up bodies. We also dig into why Arnold didn’t return, how Steven Seagal was briefly considered as the lead, the film’s chaotic production history, and more. Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter Follow Brian Abrams on Twitter and Letterboxd . Trailer #1 for Predator 2 (Stephen Hopkins, 1990) Some Predators and Danny Glover dancing on the set of Predator 2

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