Gag Me With the 80s: Weird Stories from Pop Culture’s Greatest Decade

JHughes Productions
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Gag Me With the 80s: Weird Stories from Pop Culture’s Greatest Decade revisits the scandals, mysteries, forgotten celebrities, bizarre news events, television moments, music controversies, toys, commercials, fads, and strange true stories that made the 1980s unforgettable. Hosted by Scott Barrett, each episode digs beneath the nostalgia to uncover the wild stories behind familiar names, vanished stars, failed products, urban legends, and unforgettable moments from life before the internet.

Episodes

  1. Aug 11

    The Dark Side of Diff’rent Strokes: Gary Coleman, Dana Plato & Todd Bridges

    For millions of viewers, Diff’rent Strokes was one of the defining sitcoms of the late 1970s and 1980s. Gary Coleman became one of the most famous child stars in America, Todd Bridges was the big brother everyone recognized as Willis, and Dana Plato played the seemingly perfect Kimberly Drummond. But away from the Park Avenue penthouse, their lives were far more complicated. In this episode of Gag Me with the 80s, we go behind the laughter of Diff’rent Strokes and explore the extraordinary rise of Gary Coleman, Dana Plato, and Todd Bridges, the pressures of childhood fame, the battles happening behind the scenes, and the troubling stories that eventually led tabloids to talk about a so called “Diff’rent Strokes curse.” It’s a story about money, fame, addiction, family, exploitation, survival and what can happen when a child becomes a television star before they are old enough to understand what fame will cost them.

  2. Aug 5

    Van Halen’s “Jump” - The Dark Story Behind the Rock Anthem

    Van Halen’s “Jump” sounds like one of the brightest, most uplifting songs of the 1980s, but its lyrics began with a far darker image. In this episode of The 80s Bunch, Scott Barrett explores the true story behind Van Halen’s only number-one hit, from Eddie Van Halen’s rejected keyboard riff and Ted Templeman’s resistance to David Lee Roth’s unexpected inspiration for the chorus, and how it helps reveal the song’s deeper meaning about fear, rejection, confidence, and taking a chance. This is the hidden story behind “Jump,” the album 1984, David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, the synthesizer controversy, and one of the most unforgettable rock songs of the 1980s.

  3. Aug 4

    The Noid Hostage Crisis - The Dark Story Behind Domino’s 1980s Mascot

    In the late 1980s, Domino’s Pizza turned a strange red-suited creature called the Noid into one of advertising’s most recognizable mascots. His mission was simple: ruin pizzas before they could arrive within Domino’s famous 30-minute delivery window. Then, on January 30, 1989, a man entered a Domino’s restaurant in Chamblee, Georgia, and took two employees hostage. He believed the “Avoid the Noid” campaign had been created specifically to annoy and persecute him. This episode explores the bizarre rise of the Noid, Domino’s high-pressure delivery promise, the terrifying five-hour standoff, and the complicated truth about why the mascot eventually disappeared.

  4. Aug 3

    The “Draw Me” Art School Ads - The Truth Behind the 1980s Talent Test

    If you grew up in the 1980s, you probably remember the strange little advertisements asking you to copy a turtle, donkey, pirate, or glamorous face and mail it to an art school in Minneapolis. The promise was irresistible: professional artists would examine your drawing and determine whether you had real talent. But what actually happened after you mailed it in? This episode uncovers the story of Art Instruction Schools, the famous correspondence course connected to real artists. We trace the history of the “Draw Me!” talent test, the hopeful children who answered it, the representatives who contacted their families, and the federal investigation that exposed what was happening behind the advertisements. It was a real art school offering real lessons—but the drawing test may have been measuring more than artistic ability.

  5. Aug 2

    The Max Headroom Broadcast Hijacking - Chicago’s Unsolved TV Mystery

    On November 22, 1987, television viewers across Chicago watched as two stations were taken over by a mysterious figure wearing a Max Headroom mask. First, the intruder interrupted WGN’s evening news. Nearly two hours later, he returned during a broadcast of Doctor Who on WTTW, and this time, station engineers could not stop him. Who was behind the bizarre transmission? How did the hijackers overpower two television signals in a single night? And why, nearly four decades later, has no one ever been identified? Join Scott Barrett for the strange true story of the Max Headroom broadcast hijacking, one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in television history.

  • 5 Episodes

About

Gag Me With the 80s: Weird Stories from Pop Culture’s Greatest Decade revisits the scandals, mysteries, forgotten celebrities, bizarre news events, television moments, music controversies, toys, commercials, fads, and strange true stories that made the 1980s unforgettable. Hosted by Scott Barrett, each episode digs beneath the nostalgia to uncover the wild stories behind familiar names, vanished stars, failed products, urban legends, and unforgettable moments from life before the internet.

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