Nice Pull!

Chris Alvarez and Jeff Thill

NICE PULL! is the ultimate nostalgia-fueled showdown where two pop culture obsessives battle it out for obscure reference supremacy. Each episode dives headfirst into the glittery abyss of '70s, '80s, and '90s TV, toys, music, commercials, and cereal box lore—scoring each pull by just how deep or weird the reference goes. Expect rants, retro chaos, and the occasional appearance by Danny Bonaduce (seriously). Whether you’re a trivia tyrant or just miss the smell of a freshly cracked VHS tape, this show’s for you. 🎧 Hosted by Chris and Jeff. 📼 Scored by AI. 🏆 Winner gets bragging rights.

  1. Men Without Hats, Videos Without Meaning, and the Slow and Painful Death of MTV.

    12/13/2025

    Men Without Hats, Videos Without Meaning, and the Slow and Painful Death of MTV.

    Jeff and Chris start with the news that MTV has “scaled down” (which is a polite way of saying the network has finally admitted it’s been cosplaying as its former self for about two decades). From there, it turns into a glorious Gen X memory stampede: the first times they saw music videos “in the wild” (before MTV hit everywhere), the weird magic of having to wait for afavorite video like it was a solar eclipse, and the way MTV didn’t just play songs—it basically re-wired pop culture,from fashion to film editing to how commercials and TV started cutting like they’d been shot on espresso. They hit the golden era stuff without getting too precious about it—more like: “Yes this mattered… and also look at us, two grown men passionately discussing people’s haircuts from 1983.” There’s a running thread about how MTV made careers, made certain artists unavoidable, and also exposed the darker, dumber sides of the machine (including the era’s… let’s say… “selective” inclusivity and the brutal reality that once MTV got huge, it got less interested in your weird little cult bands). Then the episode really turns into a deep-cut buffet: the kind where you suddenly remember a song you haven’t thought about since a couch smelled like indoor smoking and wood paneling. If you grew up with music videos as a life event, this one’s a fun ride. If you didn’t, it’s still a fascinating glimpse into why Gen X reacts to certain synth riffs the way sharks react to blood in the water.

    48 min
  2. Gen X, Gen Z, and the Infamous Red Lion’s Head Heist

    11/20/2025

    Gen X, Gen Z, and the Infamous Red Lion’s Head Heist

    Episode 74 is the one where Nice Pull! accidentally becomes a three-generation support group for nostalgia, back pain, and bad life choices involving comic books. Jeff and Chris start in the smoldering ruins of Halloween, ranting about neutered “trunk-or-treat” events that feel like tailgates with training wheels, and reminiscing about when kids had to walk dark streets, risk urban legends, and deal with angry old men who now. Then the “mystery guest” steps out of the liquor cabinet: Jeff’s 26-year-old son, Jarod, a self-proclaimed outlier who has listened to 73 episodes and absorbed enough Gen X trivia to function as a walking Nice Pull! wiki. He rants about trying to play Halo with friends and discovering you now need multiple accounts, a laptop, and probably a blood sacrifice just to do what four controller ports used to handle. The trio mourns the death of malls, third spaces, and random bounce-house block parties, compare notes on being so deep in thought people assume they’re having medical events, and trade injury stories (“I picked something up wrong and now I can’t move for two days”). At one point, Chris casually admits he financed his entire childhood comic habit by embezzling quarters from his dad’s red lion’s-head bank like a tiny, nerdy mob accountant. It all ends with a glorious comic-book rabbit hole: shiny ‘90s Venom that isn’t paying anyone’s mortgage, a 1968 “dirty hippie” JimmyOlsen issue, and a full Green Lantern theology session about willpower, and alien space cops.

    1 hr
5
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

NICE PULL! is the ultimate nostalgia-fueled showdown where two pop culture obsessives battle it out for obscure reference supremacy. Each episode dives headfirst into the glittery abyss of '70s, '80s, and '90s TV, toys, music, commercials, and cereal box lore—scoring each pull by just how deep or weird the reference goes. Expect rants, retro chaos, and the occasional appearance by Danny Bonaduce (seriously). Whether you’re a trivia tyrant or just miss the smell of a freshly cracked VHS tape, this show’s for you. 🎧 Hosted by Chris and Jeff. 📼 Scored by AI. 🏆 Winner gets bragging rights.