Original Geek

Original Geek Creative
  • 4.9 (10)
  • TV & Film
  • Updated Weekly

Two Gen X geeks who grew up hiding D&D dice from their parents now break down the franchises that built modern geek culture. Stand-up comic Steve Scarfo and Forever DM Jeff Shaw argue about Star Wars, Marvel, D&D, Star Trek, Fallout, comics, horror, and the shows everyone's actually watching — with comedy, sharp opinions, and zero gatekeeping. New episodes weekly. No homework required. 🎙️ New episodes bi-weekly.  Subscribe, roll initiative, and embrace your inner geek.

  1. 8h ago

    J.D. Barker: Interviewing Killers, Pantsing With Patterson & Fan-Casting the 4MK Series | Original Geek | S1E41

    Connect with us! Thriller author J.D. Barker spent a year interviewing murderers in Florida prisons before he wrote The Fourth Monkey. He tells us what he learned and why he wanted readers to empathize with the killer. JD joins Steve and Jeff to talk about The First Scarlet Door, his new prequel that tells Anson Bishop’s origin story. He walks through two decades of ghostwriting bestsellers under other people’s names, the leap to full-time author, and his rules for juggling multiple points of view. He also explains how he got James Patterson to write a book with no outline. In the Random Review, JD agrees with the AI’s critique of his detective and explains why that was the plan. With Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions adapting the series for TV, we fan-cast Porter, Bishop, Nash, and Clair with the author himself weighing in. Then Geek Court rules on whether adaptations should stay true to the page. The First Scarlet Door is out now. Find J.D. at jdbarker.com. Subscribe wherever you listen. 🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it. Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw. 🔔 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube 🌐 originalgeekpodcast.com 📬 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 📱 @OriginalGeekPodcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook

  2. Oct 19 ·  Bonus

    Mike Spring and the 80s Movies Nobody Wrote About (Live from Granite State Comic Con) | Artists Alley | Original Geek

    Connect with us! Artist Alley is where you meet the creators behind the work, from the legends to the people you’ll be glad you stopped for. At Granite State Comic Con, we stopped for Mike Spring, writer and publisher at Outtatime Comics. His table was all 80s art, and his sign made us laugh before he said a word. Mike talks about I Want My Two Dollars, his book on 20 cult-favorite 80s movies. He couldn’t afford to make a documentary, so he wrote the book instead, with strict rules: no sequels, under $40 million at the box office, and a devoted fanbase. He names his two favorites, The Monster Squad and Ladyhawke. He also talks about his video-game comic 8-Bit Slasher, a cousin in tone to Dungeon Crawler Carl. Then he gets candid about what working a con is like when you’re a writer who can’t sketch people over to the table. Find Mike and Outtatime Comics: [handles / link] Original Geek is a podcast about Gen X geek culture: sci-fi, fantasy, D&D, comics, and everything that shaped us. If you’re enjoying the show, follow, rate, and leave a review. It genuinely helps. 🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it. Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw. 🔔 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube 🌐 originalgeekpodcast.com 📬 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 📱 @OriginalGeekPodcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook

  3. Oct 16 ·  Bonus

    The Butcher’s Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 5), with a Roll from Felicia Day | Random Review | Original Geek

    Connect with us! The rules of Random Review are simple: we set the topic, and the d20 sets the direction. This time we got some help. At Granite State Comic Con, Felicia Day, actor, producer, and outspoken Dungeon Crawler Carl fan, agreed to roll the first die for us and give her take on the spot. She lands a 17 and talks about Carl’s new Agent Provocateur subclass, and why she’d never play a bomb-maker herself but loves watching someone do it well. Then Steve and Jeff dig into Book 5, The Butcher’s Masquerade: Carl turning the Hunting Grounds against the tourists who came to hunt crawlersThe doomsday device that’s got to come back eventuallyA failed fortitude roll on the vampire dinosaur outbreak, and whether it was neededHow Miriam Dom’s story changes everything for PrepotenteSpoilers through Book 5. Original Geek is a podcast about Gen X geek culture: sci-fi, fantasy, D&D, comics, and everything that shaped us. If you’re enjoying the show, follow, rate, and leave a review. It genuinely helps. 🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it. Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw. 🔔 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube 🌐 originalgeekpodcast.com 📬 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 📱 @OriginalGeekPodcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook

  4. Oct 12

    Granite State Comicon: Felicia Day Rolls the D20, 80s Cult Classics & the Dirty Shirley Pub Crawl | Original Geek | S1E40

    Connect with us! This episode covers a full day at the Granite State Comicon in Manchester, New Hampshire. Steve and Jeff recap the con they’re calling the Goldilocks of comic cons. They interview writer Mike Spring in Artist Alley about I Want My Two Dollars, his book on 20 beloved 80s movies that flopped at the box office. Then Felicia Day joins the Random Review for Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 5, The Butcher’s Masquerade, rolls a 17, and weighs in on Carl’s bomb-making career. You’ll also hear from Felicia’s panel on The Guild reunion movie and why you should never stop writing. The day wraps at The Bookery’s Dirty Shirley Pub Crawl, where Steve won a complete set of bedazzled DCC books that he already owned. He’s giving all eight away on our socials. Follow Original Geek on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook for the giveaway. Subscribe wherever you listen. 🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it. Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw. 🔔 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube 🌐 originalgeekpodcast.com 📬 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 📱 @OriginalGeekPodcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook

  5. Sep 24

    Coyote vs. Acme Review & the Real History of Looney Tunes | Original Geek | S1E39

    Connect with us! Warner Bros. finished Coyote vs. Acme, then shelved it for a tax write-off. Ketchup Entertainment rescued it, and it's been filling theaters since August. We saw it ten days in to a mostly full house and came out with a theory, a grudge, and a whole lot of Looney Tunes history. The dice send us into Will Forte's chemistry with a coyote who was never in the room, and into the courtroom slapstick, where the gallery is packed with Easter eggs. Along the way we get the contract that forced Bugs and Mickey to share screen time down to the second in Roger Rabbit. In Geek Flashback, it's Rabbit of Seville, "abracadabra, hocus pocus," and the tyranny of being in front of the TV by 8 a.m. on a Saturday. Geek Court puts Foghorn Leghorn, Esq. on the case against the Censored Eleven, until Jeff, a former high school English teacher, breaks character to argue why hiding history is more dangerous than showing it. Geek Evolution covers why these cartoons were never made for kids, how they were built to sell sheet music, and why the answer was in the name Merrie Melodies all along. Then Jeff takes on the executives who pull their own classics off their own streaming services. Critical Hits and Epic Fails lands on Batgirl, Smoky Bones, and what "not profitable enough" actually costs the people who made the thing. Coyote vs. Acme hits digital September 28. The classic shorts are streaming free on Tubi. 🎲 Original Geek Podcast — Steve Scarfo & Jeff Shaw  📧 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 🔗 stevescarfo.com 🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it. Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw. 🔔 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube 🌐 originalgeekpodcast.com 📬 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 📱 @OriginalGeekPodcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook

  6. Sep 17 ·  Bonus

    Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 4 Review — The Gate of the Feral Gods | Random Review | Original Geek

    Connect with us! We set the topic. The dice set the direction. This week: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods — the bubble floor, four castles, and one very large puppy. The first roll sent Steve and Jeff into the Gate itself, and into an argument with the question: did Vadim's death really unleash Emberus? They pull the whole chain apart on the fly — the flooded sub, the last watch, the assembled gate, and what actually came through the Nothing. Jeff's read on the artifact comes from twenty years behind a DM screen: give the party something incredible, attach a horrible consequence, and delight in watching them use it anyway. As Steve puts it, it's the moment the crawlers hit peak screw it — this or we die here. The second roll landed on the parasite extraction, ripping the worm out of Chris. Jeff's response: that's not even close to the most grotesque thing in this book. It's the Jimbo stew. Also in this one: why Dinniman loads the story onto the odd-numbered floors, how Maggie My's setup was hiding in plain sight since the second floor, and the realization that somebody looked at race selection and chose to be a worm. Heavy spoilers for Book 4 throughout, plus a few glances forward. Stick around past the outro — we accidentally recorded Jeff explaining that his input on scheduling is an illusion, and he asked us to keep it in. Book 5 is next. See you at the Butcher's Masquerade. 🎲 Original Geek Podcast — Steve Scarfo & Jeff Shaw  📧 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 🔗 stevescarfo.com 🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it. Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw. 🔔 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube 🌐 originalgeekpodcast.com 📬 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 📱 @OriginalGeekPodcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook

  7. Sep 14 ·  Bonus

    Lanterns Episode 1 Review — Tom King, Kyle Chandler & Aaron Pierre | Random Review | Original Geek

    Connect with us! We set the topic. The dice set the direction. This week it's Lanterns, episode one — and both of us walked in already sold. The first roll landed on Tom King's fingerprints, which stung a little, since we were standing in the same building as him at Boston Fan Expo and never made it to his panel. What we got instead is a Hal Jordan who is nothing like the Silver Age version: worn out, cynical, driving like a maniac, and handing off the ring by rolling out of a moving car and leaving his successor on the side of the road. It is the single worst mentor handoff in superhero television and we both loved it. That leads into why DC has never been our default, why Marvel got to the damaged-hero thing first, and how a squeaky-clean Superman and a wrecked Hal Jordan can share a universe. The second roll fell apart completely — the question was about CGI suits from a movie that isn't this show — so we re-rolled into Aaron Pierre's John Stewart. Buttoned up, watchful, very dry, and quietly running the whole scene. Plus the counterfeit twenty in the jukebox, the True Detective of it all, the best line in the episode delivered over a grill, and the childhood flashback with a pistol, an apple, and a wall full of bullet holes that says everything about who this man became. Spoilers for season one, episode one only. New episodes Sundays on HBO Max — go watch it, then come argue with us. ⚠️ Explicit — a couple of f-bombs in this one. 🎲 Original Geek Podcast — Steve Scarfo & Jeff Shaw  📧 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 🔗 stevescarfo.com 🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it. Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw. 🔔 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube 🌐 originalgeekpodcast.com 📬 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 📱 @OriginalGeekPodcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook

  8. Sep 10 ·  Bonus

    Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3 Review — The Dungeon Anarchist Cookbook | Random Review | Original Geek

    Connect with us! We set the topic. The dice set the direction. This week the d20 pointed us at Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3, The Dungeon Anarchist Cookbook — and Steve and Jeff had no idea which two questions they'd be answering until the dice landed. Roll one sent them into the Iron Tangle, which surfaced a real split between the hosts: Jeff took Matt Dinniman at his word — don't worry about the map, just enjoy the story — and cheerfully ignored the mechanics. Steve did the exact opposite and obsessed over every loop, portal, and ghost train until his brain melted. Jeff was not surprised. Roll two landed on Carl and Donut, and the conversation turned into why this series actually works: how a book that gives you Splash Zone the Stripper and the penis parade can put you on the edge of tears two chapters later, how Katya goes from the crawler nobody wants to a member of the family, and how Dinniman keeps planting seeds of doubt about where Donut's loyalty really sits. Plus: the thing on the Book 3 cover that nobody notices until you put it under a black light, Donut's slanderous cocker spaniel testimony, and a moment where our AI may have been fooled by the book's AI. Spoilers for Book 3 throughout. Books 4 through 8 are coming — roughly one a week. Got a different take? Tell us. We read everything. 🎲 Original Geek Podcast — Steve Scarfo & Jeff Shaw  🔗 stevescarfo.com  📧 steve@stevescarfo.com 🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it. Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw. 🔔 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube 🌐 originalgeekpodcast.com 📬 originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com 📱 @OriginalGeekPodcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook

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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Two Gen X geeks who grew up hiding D&D dice from their parents now break down the franchises that built modern geek culture. Stand-up comic Steve Scarfo and Forever DM Jeff Shaw argue about Star Wars, Marvel, D&D, Star Trek, Fallout, comics, horror, and the shows everyone's actually watching — with comedy, sharp opinions, and zero gatekeeping. New episodes weekly. No homework required. 🎙️ New episodes bi-weekly.  Subscribe, roll initiative, and embrace your inner geek.

Information

  • Creator
    Original Geek Creative
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    61
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Original Geek Podcast
  • Show Website
    Original Geek

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