FH 32 - The Underground Adventure

[0:00] Hey everyone, and welcome to a Flophouse Mini.

Dan McCoy

[0:08] I'm Dan McCoy.

[0:10] I'm Stuart Wellington.

[0:12] And I'm Elliot Kalin.

[0:15] Stuart was so excited that I definitively started the podcast, that he was pumping his fist so

[0:21] hard that then he didn't pick up his own cue.

[0:24] No, no.

[0:24] But this is a, so normally this is a podcast where we watch a bad movie and then we talk

[0:30] about it.

Stuart Wellington

[0:30] See, I was pumping my fist and then I had to take a big deep breath because I'm very tired.

[0:35] I get tired very easily.

[0:37] Yeah.

[0:38] Yeah, I'm weak.

Dan McCoy

[0:40] So yeah, as I was saying, we normally talk about a bad movie that we have watched.

[0:46] Today we'll talk about a bad movie we didn't watch.

[0:48] Flophouse Minis are sort of, you know, Flophouse after dark.

[0:52] It's the Baywatch Knights.

[0:54] I mean, it has been tonight.

[0:55] Of the Flophouse.

[0:57] And we do whatever we want.

[0:59] Was that what Baywatch Knights was?

Elliott Kalan

[1:01] The characters just did whatever they wanted?

Stuart Wellington

[1:03] Well, in Baywatch Knights, they were detectives for some reason.

[1:06] Help, I'm drowning.

[1:07] And they're like, this is my time.

Dan McCoy

[1:10] They're like, off the clock, buddy.

[1:12] Well, I think that David Hasselhoff's character became a detective because he had always wanted

[1:17] to be one.

[1:18] So I kind of did do whatever he wanted.

[1:19] Yeah, no, you're right.

[1:21] You're right.

[1:21] Fair.

[1:22] Yeah, fair.

[1:22] So in this Flophouse Knights, in the past, now, Elliot, you have read from your son Sammy's

[1:32] writings.

[1:35] Yes.

Elliott Kalan

[1:35] And for the record, he gave me permission and then revoked that permission on air, live.

Dan McCoy

[1:39] And Stuart, you also, you read something that you wrote as a young man.

[1:45] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1:46] And I haven't yet shared something from my youth, a piece of my writing.

[1:53] But that will all change tonight.

[1:54] Oh, wow.

[1:55] Because I would like to share with you The Underground Adventure.

[1:59] Oh.

[2:00] By Daniel McCoy.

[2:00] Look at that picture.

Stuart Wellington

[2:02] Yeah.

[2:02] So who did that?

[2:03] Is that Quentin Blake did that illustration?

Dan McCoy

[2:05] The words and illustrations are both by me.

[2:09] And you can see this is a blank book that was given to me that, of course, I had to write

[2:16] my story in.

[2:19] And then the front, you've got a man, a woman, a child, and some sort of animal.

[2:26] I believe that's a badger smoking a pipe.

[2:28] I'm going to guess a mole, since it's an underground adventure.

[2:31] A mole, maybe a mole.

[2:32] Badgers live underground, too.

[2:33] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[2:34] Okay, I'm glad that you clarified that this was a blank book given to you instead.

[2:39] For a second, I thought that somebody had published this and proper found it.

[2:44] Mm-hmm.

Dan McCoy

[2:46] Okay, we've got an actual date on this.

[2:48] We've got a copyright, May 19.

[2:50] Oh, it's copyright.

[2:51] 1987 McCoy Books.

Elliott Kalan

[2:54] Usually the copyright doesn't have the day, it just has the year, but that's amazing that

[2:59] it has the day and the month, too.

Dan McCoy

[3:00] McCoy Books, I like it.

[3:01] McCoy Books.

Elliott Kalan

[3:02] So, you were how old?

[3:05] 20?

Dan McCoy

[3:06] 87, let's see.

[3:08] So, 78 was when I was born, nine years old.

[3:12] Mm-hmm.

[3:14] Although, if it was May 19th, that would be one month before my birthday.

[3:19] Anyway, moving into-

[3:20] Which would make you how old, just testing your math?

[3:22] One month short of 10.

[3:24] So, here we go.

[3:27] The octopus flopped up onto the shore.

[3:31] Wow.

[3:31] By some quirk of nature-

[3:32] I like that.

Elliott Kalan

[3:33] This is the theme of flops already early in your career.

Dan McCoy

[3:37] The octopus flopped up onto the shore.

[3:40] By some quirk of nature, it had feet.

[3:43] Although, he didn't know how to use them yet.

[3:47] There was another strange thing about this octopus.

[3:50] It had fangs.

[3:52] New paragraph.

Elliott Kalan

[3:54] Wait, I want to see that picture.

[3:56] Hold on.

[3:56] Okay, hold on.

[3:57] I can see there's a picture of the octopus with fangs.

[3:59] There's a picture.

[4:00] Very well rendered.

[4:01] Oh, okay.

[4:02] Those are the fangs.

[4:02] I can't see.

[4:03] The feet, it's hard to tell.

[4:04] But the fangs are very clear.

Stuart Wellington

[4:06] They've got, yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[4:08] Those just like bent tentacles.

[4:09] The benticles, we call them.

Stuart Wellington

[4:10] No, I like it.

[4:11] I'm into it.

Elliott Kalan

[4:11] Yeah, bent tentacles.

[4:13] Mm-hmm.

Dan McCoy

[4:14] By the seashore, a few feet away, two girls were talking.

[4:18] Mm-hmm.

[4:18] I tell you, it's an octopus, the first girl said.

[4:22] With feet?

[4:23] Ha!

[4:23] You must be joking.

[4:26] The octopus ran toward the second girl.

[4:29] So, okay.

[4:30] Mm-hmm.

[4:31] Turning the page here.

Elliott Kalan

[4:33] That's the girl that doubted its existence?

Dan McCoy

[4:37] The second girl's the one who doubted this octopus with feet.

[4:43] Don't get too attached to the second girl, because here we go.

[4:46] It jumped on her and gulp.

[4:49] Hey, I'm glad you did that, the first girl said.

[4:52] Wow.

[4:53] But before she could pat it on its head, it ate her too.

[5:00] Mm, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[5:02] Just desserts.

[5:03] Uh-huh.

[5:04] And literally dessert for the octopus.

[5:07] That's so.

[5:08] Ate them right up, said the man to the warden over the phone.

Elliott Kalan

[5:12] Wait, is this a cut to a new scene, or was he telling this story before?

[5:16] That's so grand.

[5:17] Is this a Sargasso manuscript type scenario?

[5:20] We have, uh, nested stories?

Dan McCoy

[5:22] We've shifted perspective.

[5:24] We're seeing this, uh, gentleman on the phone.

[5:27] That's so.

[5:27] Ate them right up, said the man to the warden over the phone.

[5:30] Oh no, here it comes.

[5:32] Gulp.

[5:33] The line went dead.

[5:35] The warden sighed and hung up.

[5:37] What will teenagers think up next, he said.

[5:41] But I'd better go anyway.

[5:42] The warden?

[5:43] And again, here we can see the picture of what's going on here.

[5:47] We've got a screen.

[5:49] Yeah.

[5:49] Yeah, the warden is kind of a sheriff-y type.

[5:52] Yeah.

[5:52] He's got a mustache.

[5:53] It's very diploma.

[5:54] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[5:55] Is that a bear, is that a bear light bulb hanging above him?

Dan McCoy

[5:58] Yeah, you can tell it's a police station because it's a bear light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

[6:02] Yeah.

[6:03] One Chippendale chair.

[6:04] Sure.

[6:05] Um, so moving, moving on.

[6:09] Oh, yeah.

[6:11] When he got there.

Stuart Wellington

[6:12] So, so far I like, I like it opens almost like, like Prometheus a little bit.

[6:16] Like we have this strange creature emerging and.

Dan McCoy

[6:21] It is, you know, Stuart, you love a smash cut opening.

[6:26] Yeah, yeah.

[6:26] One of those media res openings.

Elliott Kalan

[6:29] I didn't expect so much of it to take place above ground.

[6:32] Yeah.

[6:32] Well, we're getting there.

[6:33] We're getting there.

[6:34] We're getting there.

Dan McCoy

[6:35] Uh, when he got there, there were a lot of bones.

[6:39] Fish, he said.

[6:41] When the warden's clothes were found with a skeleton inside, the mayor went on TV.

[6:48] I don't know what's going on around here, but I'm going to gulp.

[6:54] I tell you it was an octopus, the TV manager said.

[6:58] Well, I've got an idea.

[7:00] We could live underground, the deputy said.

[7:04] Wow.

[7:04] Okay.

[7:05] Already.

[7:06] So they have ceded the surface world.

[7:08] Abandoned the surface world, yeah.

[7:08] To the octopus.

Elliott Kalan

[7:10] I'm here.

[7:10] You can see the mayor.

[7:11] A picture of the mayor.

[7:12] It says, mayor's stand on his podium or whatever.

[7:16] Or pedestal.

[7:17] Yeah.

[7:18] It left.

[7:19] It says up there on air, to make it clear he's on television right now.

[7:22] And there's a, there's a camera.

[7:23] No cameraman, just a camera point at him.

[7:25] I assume the cameraman already devoured by the octopus or ran away upon seeing the octopus.

[7:30] Yeah.

[7:30] And the thing is, is like, if you think about it.

[7:32] This might be a light.

[7:33] I don't know.

[7:34] Yeah.

[7:34] Or a pinwheel.

[7:35] Hard to tell.

Stuart Wellington

[7:36] If you think about it, anybody who's wearing clothes has a skeleton inside their clothes.

[7:40] You know what I mean?

Elliott Kalan

[7:41] It's true.

[7:42] It's true.

[7:43] There's a few layers in between the clothes and the skeleton, usually, but.

[7:45] Usually.

[7:47] Not always.

Dan McCoy

[7:49] Just look at Jack Skellington.

Stuart Wellington

[7:50] Here.

[7:51] You're right.

[7:51] That's, you're correct.

[7:52] Thank you.

Dan McCoy

[7:53] Yeah.

[7:54] It's just a skeleton wearing clothes.

[7:55] Here I'm about to use a term that I have no idea where it came into my mind as a nine,

[8:04] almost 10 years old.

Elliott Kalan

[8:06] Please don't let it be a racial slur.

Dan McCoy

[8:08] Yep.

[8:08] That's just what I'm hoping.

[8:08] But it's a racial slur against my own race, so I guess it's.

[8:14] Okay.

[8:14] It's a real gray area.

[8:17] That's it.

[8:17] We could run a cartoon called Honky Humor to get the kids to go underground, the manager

[8:23] said.

[8:23] And we could also warn the parents.

[8:26] Now, I don't know where that.

Stuart Wellington

[8:29] Why?

[8:30] A provocateur, even at a young age.

Dan McCoy

[8:32] I mean, it could.

[8:33] I could have just thought it was like a, you know, a show about horns.

[8:38] You know, comedy jokes, japes about horns.

[8:42] It's possible.

[8:42] I mean, you were transgressive.

[8:44] Thank gooses, geeses.

Elliott Kalan

[8:44] This is your Putney Swope.

[8:46] You're really pushing boundaries with it.

[8:48] Yeah.

[8:48] Okay.

Dan McCoy

[8:49] So, and we could also warn the parents.

[8:52] Now, 10 days later.

[8:54] That's my Bratz time jump.

[8:57] Now, who was talking in that last part?

[9:00] It just says 10 days later.

[9:02] No, no.

Elliott Kalan

[9:02] Before that, who was talking about the offensive cartoon show?

Dan McCoy

[9:07] The manager, it says.

[9:10] The TV manager.

[9:11] TV manager, yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[9:12] Didn't he get eaten?

Dan McCoy

[9:14] No, no, no.

[9:15] No, no, no.

[9:15] Oh, the mayor got eaten.

[9:17] And you mentioned, you suggested the cameraman as well.

[9:20] Oh, right.

[9:21] Okay.

[9:22] 10 days later.

[9:23] Well, a man said.

[9:24] How do you like it?

[9:26] Wah, a kid said.

[9:27] I want to go back up.

[9:29] They had just descended into the great underground tunnel by way of the safety elevator.

[9:35] Up.

[9:36] Darn.

[9:37] I knew we forgot something when we built that elevator.

[9:41] Now, here's just like a little diagram.

[9:43] You can see.

[9:45] Oh, it's a whole underground town.

Stuart Wellington

[9:46] There's a whole town underground, yep.

Elliott Kalan

[9:48] The way, yeah.

[9:49] I mean, it looks, or the way it's drawn, it looks like it could be inside of a stomach.

[9:53] Yeah, it does.

[9:54] Yeah.

[9:56] Now, I like, that's a very old-fashioned touch, Dan, that he says safety elevator.

Dan McCoy

[10:03] Way of the safety, yeah.

[10:05] That's true.

[10:06] I knew we forgot something when we built that elevator.

[10:09] The man, whose name was John, started yelling at the people, stop, go back up.

[10:16] Frida, a woman that was with them, started screaming.

[10:19] Now we're getting names.

[10:20] I love it.

Elliott Kalan

[10:21] It's a very kid way of doing it where you're like, a man who was named John.

[10:28] Yeah.

[10:28] Let me show you all the math.

[10:30] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[10:31] Let me fill out this character.

[10:34] His name was John.

[10:36] Frida, a woman that was with them, started screaming.

[10:39] But it was too late.

[10:41] Then the kid, whose name was Ike, started yelling at John.

[10:45] Okay.

[10:45] Do you mean to tell me you forgot the up button?

[10:50] Later, after everyone heard the bad news, suddenly, a mole popped out of the wall.

[10:58] And I'm just gonna, here's the...

[11:00] That's John, Frida, and Ike.

Stuart Wellington

[11:03] Right?

[11:03] Yeah.

[11:03] I didn't even have to write that down.

[11:05] I did a good job.

Elliott Kalan

[11:06] Yeah.

[11:07] Big shoulders on John.

[11:08] Yeah.

[11:08] John's a fucking beefcake.

[11:10] He's like a...

[11:11] He's like Moose from the Archie comics.

[11:14] Mm-hmm.

Dan McCoy

[11:15] Well, you know, it's always good to pause on a cliffhanger.

[11:21] A mole has just popped out of the wall.

[11:23] Yep.

[11:24] Can't get a bigger cliffhanger than that.

Elliott Kalan

[11:25] I mean, considering the body count is enormous in this story already because of a fanged octopus,

[11:30] the appearance of the mole is not a heightening thing.

Dan McCoy

[11:34] What's that mole here for?

[11:35] You won't know until after this ad.

[11:38] Hi.

Stuart Wellington

[11:39] My name is Graham Clark, and I'm one half of the podcast Stop Podcasting Yourself, a show

[11:45] that we've recorded for many, many years.

[11:47] And at the moment, instead of being in person, we're recording remotely, and you wouldn't

[11:53] even notice.

[11:54] You don't even notice the lag.

Dan McCoy

[11:59] That's right, Graham.

[12:00] And the great thing about this...

[12:03] Go ahead.

[12:05] No, you go ahead.

[12:06] Okay.

[12:06] Okay, go ahead.

[12:09] And you can listen to us every week on MaximumFun.org.

[12:15] Or wherever you get your podcasts.

[12:17] Your podcasts.

S4

[12:21] Hi, I'm Allie Gertz.

[12:22] And I'm Julia Prescott.

[12:23] And we're the hosts of Around Springfield.

[12:26] Around Springfield is a Simpsons-adjacent podcast where we talk to Simpsons folks about

[12:31] non-Simpsons things.

[12:32] That's right.

[12:33] So in the past, we've gotten to talk to legendary showrunners and writers like Al Jean, Bill

[12:37] Oakley, Josh Weinstein, Dana Gould, Mike Reese, and David X. Cohen.

[12:42] Voice actors like Maurice LaMarche, Maggie Roswell, and Yardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson

[12:48] herself.

[12:49] Hell yeah.

[12:49] So we've been away securing guests for our final five episodes.

[12:54] We won't tell you everybody, but we'll let you know that the last episode is kind of

[12:58] a big deal.

[12:59] We got Matt Groening.

[13:01] Homer's dad.

[13:02] We got Homer's dad.

[13:04] Check out new episodes of Around Springfield starting June 21st.

[13:08] On Maximum Fun or wherever you get your podcasts.

[13:11] Smell you later.

Dan McCoy

[13:15] Now, more than ever, storytellers and content creators are challenged with producing more

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[13:44] library, which, I mean, it could be groaning under the weight of all the stock.

Elliott Kalan

[13:49] The shelves are groaning under the weight of all those Storyblocks, all that footage.

[13:53] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[13:54] An ever-growing library that has over one million high-quality stock assets, including 4K HD footage,

[14:01] After Effects and Premiere Pro templates.

[14:02] You can watch that footage on Dan's TV.

[14:04] He has a 4K TV.

[14:05] We talked about it before the show.

[14:06] And Premiere Pro templates.

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[14:09] Music, images, sound effects, and more.

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[14:48] You know, Storyblocks is a great way to tell your stories.

[14:52] Perhaps someone wants to make an adaptation of The Underground Adventure by Dan McCoy.

[14:58] Now, if you want to do that, you've got to...

Stuart Wellington

[14:59] If you go so far as to say, the first person to send us an animated version of this story

[15:06] using Storyblocks, I will send them a Hinterlands t-shirt.

[15:09] Wow.

Dan McCoy

[15:11] What a great deal.

[15:13] So, why don't you explore the Storyblocks library and subscribe today at storyblocks.com

[15:20] slash flop.

[15:21] That's storyblocks.com slash flop.

[15:24] Let's return to the story.

[15:27] Oh, wow.

Elliott Kalan

[15:28] Can't wait to find out whether that mole is going to be able to help John, Frida, and Ike.

[15:32] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[15:32] Now, if you will recall, a mole has just popped from the wall.

[15:38] I'll back up a little bit here.

[15:41] A mole popped out of the wall.

[15:44] Nothing strange about that.

[15:46] Everyone went on eating.

[15:48] I say.

[15:49] Wait, they were eating?

[15:50] Yeah, they were eating when the mole showed up.

[15:53] New information, I think.

[15:54] Yeah.

[15:56] Everyone went on eating.

[15:57] I say.

[15:58] Everyone started.

[16:00] The mole had talked.

[16:02] I say, you'd better come with me, and on the way, I'll tell you why I can talk.

[16:09] Everyone followed him into the hole.

[16:13] There used to be an island where all the animals could talk.

[16:16] Yep.

[16:16] But one day, it became occupied.

[16:19] It is now called Iceland.

Elliott Kalan

[16:24] Here's a picture of the mole.

[16:26] He looks like he's wearing a turtleneck, maybe, or a sweater.

Dan McCoy

[16:29] He's got a little sweater on.

[16:31] Yeah.

[16:32] And he's got a tiny little pipe.

[16:33] He's got a lot of attitude.

[16:35] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[16:36] Yeah, yeah.

[16:36] He's got his chest stuck out like he's that Wisconsin Badger mascot.

Dan McCoy

[16:40] Bucky.

[16:41] What do you guys think about that Iceland surprise?

[16:43] It's kind of like the end of the invitation game, when you learn about where computers came from.

Elliott Kalan

[16:49] Oh, when you learn that the computer they were making, we now call them computers?

[16:52] Yeah.

[16:53] Uh-huh.

[16:54] Do you think there was anyone who was watching that movie who went, oh, at the end, when the text said, we call them computers?

Stuart Wellington

[17:01] Yeah, I was watching that, and I looked down at the computer that was on my lap, and I was like, what?

[17:09] That's your dad.

Dan McCoy

[17:13] We all went underground after that.

[17:16] Suddenly, they came to a dirt wall.

Elliott Kalan

[17:18] Oh, so this is a creation myth for moles.

[17:20] I guess they lived above ground until Iceland was taken from them.

Dan McCoy

[17:23] It was taken by the people.

[17:25] This is like a just-so story.

[17:27] Yeah.

[17:27] Suddenly, they came to a dirt wall.

[17:29] Oh, no, said the mole, whose name was Zenui.

[17:33] It caved in.

[17:35] He was sad.

[17:35] I like it.

[17:37] Look here, John.

[17:37] I should laugh.

[17:38] I'm sure that's a very normal name for a mole.

[17:39] Yeah.

[17:41] Look here, John said.

[17:43] Maybe just a part caved in.

[17:45] Start digging.

[17:46] He dug.

[17:48] Zenui's paws flew like mad, but it was no use.

[17:51] Here's a little-I'm not really sure.

[17:53] This picture is a little hard to-

[17:55] Iceland.

Stuart Wellington

[17:56] There's the colonizers arriving to kick off the moles.

[18:00] And the other animals, yeah.

[18:01] And the other animals, yeah.

Dan McCoy

[18:03] The next day, John said, according to my calculations, we are 100 miles from London where we started

[18:10] and are under the Atlantic Ocean.

[18:13] It was not a happy prospect.

[18:16] On the third day, they found-

Elliott Kalan

[18:17] So wait, so that mare that got eaten, that was the Lord Mayor of London.

Dan McCoy

[18:20] Yeah, I guess so.

[18:22] Wow.

[18:22] It didn't seem like we were in England earlier.

[18:25] It did, certainly did not.

[18:28] Partly because you weren't doing accents when you were reading those characters' dialogue.

Elliott Kalan

[18:32] The fact that the warden looked like a cowboy sheriff.

Dan McCoy

[18:37] Felt like, yeah, more of a Jaws situation.

[18:41] On the third day, they found a crack and water started rushing in.

[18:46] And I put rushing in quotes and capitalized it.

[18:49] I don't know the significance of that, but water started rushing in.

[18:53] You were quoting someone who was saying rushing.

Elliott Kalan

[18:55] Someone who was screaming it.

[18:57] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[18:58] It's a reference to Van Rush, I think.

[19:02] If it got to the center of the earth, it would produce steam and the whole earth would blow up.

[19:08] That makes sense.

Elliott Kalan

[19:09] The math checks out.

[19:10] I mean, someone's pointing to it as if to say, there's the problem, sir.

[19:16] There's the water officer.

[19:18] Arrest that liquid.

Stuart Wellington

[19:19] That kid thinks he did something.

Elliott Kalan

[19:21] Yeah.

[19:23] I will say, I think you could sell that movie.

[19:26] That there's a leak in the earth and it's going to put the core out.

[19:28] Yeah.

[19:29] And make steam.

Dan McCoy

[19:30] They built a big trampoline and the water pressure pushed against it and bounced up to the surface.

[19:37] It formed a circle that pulled in all the boats and planes that went down.

[19:41] And it is now known as the Bermuda Triangle.

[19:45] The end.

[19:47] Wow.

Elliott Kalan

[19:48] That was some story.

[19:51] You can see what happens.

[19:52] Now he's pointing at the trampoline as if to say, there it is, officer.

[19:55] That's the solution.

[19:58] Don't arrest that water anymore.

[20:00] Yeah, yeah.

Dan McCoy

[20:01] I've got one more thing here.

[20:03] It says, about the author.

[20:05] Okay.

[20:06] I am Daniel McCoy and I will be nine next month.

[20:09] I like to swim and eat a lot.

[20:11] And I hope you liked this book.

[20:14] And then there's a portrait and it says, this does not look like me even though I meant it to.

Stuart Wellington

[20:20] I don't know about that.

[20:24] Dan has more of a nose.

Elliott Kalan

[20:26] Yeah.

[20:27] Actually, now I can see it.

[20:28] No, I like it.

[20:29] I mean, I like the smile.

[20:32] Yeah.

[20:33] I like the reptilian eyes that you put in there.

Dan McCoy

[20:35] So that's the underground adventure, guys.

[20:37] I'd like to, you know.

Stuart Wellington

[20:38] So I wasn't expecting the formation of the Bermuda Triangle to be the final reveal, but I like it.

Elliott Kalan

[20:45] Yeah.

[20:45] Now, we should ask you, we should, now, there's unfortunately no book club question and answer section in the back.

[20:51] Well, that's the thing I wanted to say.

Dan McCoy

[20:52] We can wrap up pretty early because I know that everyone here is tired, but I just want to like maybe a little discussion of the themes of the book.

[21:01] Sure, yeah.

[21:02] You know, if you had any questions for the author, like things you wanted to volunteer, interpretations, anything.

Elliott Kalan

[21:11] Now, here's, I think my first question that I had for the author is, what?

Dan McCoy

[21:16] It's a good question.

[21:19] I was a kid, and I didn't really think about how you have to plan out a plot beforehand and sort of have an idea of where maybe you want to have it.

Elliott Kalan

[21:29] I mean, you clearly knew they were going underground because the title of the book is The Underground Adventure.

Dan McCoy

[21:35] I, you know, that's true, although it's possible that I went back and I titled it The Underground Adventure after the fact.

Elliott Kalan

[21:43] That's, that's very possible that you sold the book with a proposal about a vampire octopus, and, and unfortunately, the story just got away with you.

[21:50] That's not the characters.

[21:52] That's the great thing about writing is when the characters start telling you what they want to do.

Dan McCoy

[21:55] That's the thing.

[21:56] It's, you're really uncovering a story that just already exists in the universe.

Stuart Wellington

[21:59] So, did you expect Zenui to be the breakout character of the story, or was that just happenstance?

Dan McCoy

[22:06] I think I did, because I don't think you can draw a mole that smokes a little pipe and not know that he's going to be a fan favorite.

Stuart Wellington

[22:14] What's next for Zenui?

[22:16] That's a good question.

[22:17] Is, is there romance in his future?

Dan McCoy

[22:22] Or her?

[22:23] Did you specify that it was a, it was a male?

[22:25] You know, I don't know if I did.

[22:27] I, you know, I think the character, the character to me feels like a very, um, wind in the willows kind of, uh, cozy character who just wants to hang out.

[22:41] Although, from Iceland, that's the weird, like a, like a, sort of a Bjork wind in the willows, uh, maybe.

Elliott Kalan

[22:50] Now, here, I, I'm just impressed at how much you decided to tackle in this book, because you're providing us with the origin of human habitation in Iceland, why moles live underground, where the Bermuda Triangle comes from, all these things.

[23:05] Like, this is, there's a lot that you've covered in this story, uh, to the point where, you know, it's just an amazing amount of information that you've packed into these pages.

[23:15] And I was wondering about the, about the research process beforehand.

[23:18] How long did it take you to winnow down your research to just get to the vital essence?

[23:21] Yeah, this is, that's a good question.

Dan McCoy

[23:22] This was kind of like an ancient aliens, uh, book where I just made up a bunch of nonsense.

Stuart Wellington

[23:30] So, uh, what, uh, what, one more thing.

[23:33] What, uh, what happened to the octopus?

Dan McCoy

[23:36] Oh, I guess that's when everyone went underground, which might seem like an overreaction to the octopus.

[23:45] The octopus eventually starved to death.

[23:47] Starved to death because there was nothing to eat.

[23:50] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[23:51] It's just too bad they didn't put an up button on that elevator, or else they might have gotten out, you know, a few days later after the octopus had died.

[23:58] But.

Elliott Kalan

[23:59] Yeah.

[23:59] Now, did everyone go underground, or is this like 28 days later where England is living in a state of, uh, dystopia, but everyone, the rest of the world seems to be fine.

Stuart Wellington

[24:08] Yeah, I mean, that could be a follow-up story.

Dan McCoy

[24:11] It's true, there are countless unanswered questions.

Stuart Wellington

[24:15] Now, wait a minute, so, didn't the Bermuda Triangle form before the events of this story?

Dan McCoy

[24:21] Well, I mean, how do you know when this story takes place?

[24:24] I mean, that's true.

[24:26] I mean, the existence of television and an elevator kind of helps to place it somewhat in history.

[24:31] It's true, although maybe this is an earlier civilization that died out.

[24:36] I see.

[24:37] Far, far before.

Elliott Kalan

[24:38] Where they also had names like John and Frida.

[24:40] Yeah.

[24:40] And Ike.

[24:41] And London.

[24:42] Uh-huh.

[24:42] Okay.

[24:45] Now, was I right to detect some, uh, sexual tension between John and Frida?

Dan McCoy

[24:51] I think probably because they were an adult man and an adult woman and I was nine years old

[24:58] and that was my understanding of, you know, relationships at that point, uh, then probably yes.

Stuart Wellington

[25:07] Yeah.

[25:07] Okay.

[25:08] Uh, had you seen Jaws at this point or did you?

Dan McCoy

[25:13] That's a great question.

Stuart Wellington

[25:16] Well, because, like, I definitely wrote a story that was heavily influenced by the plot

[25:21] of, uh, Romancing the Stone.

[25:23] Mm-hmm.

[25:23] So I'm wondering if, if you were like, I love Jaws.

[25:27] Maybe I can improve on that shit.

Dan McCoy

[25:29] Yeah.

[25:30] Where's the pipe-smoking mole in this, Steven?

[25:35] You're like, the problem is-

Stuart Wellington

[25:36] I mean, Richard Dreyfuss is, like, not that far from a pipe-smoking mole character.

Elliott Kalan

[25:40] That's true.

[25:40] Very true.

[25:40] I mean, if you're gonna have an issue, you should take that issue with Peter Benchley, I assume.

[25:44] You know, that's, go back to the origin.

[25:47] But I, it does feel like you, yeah, you saw Jaws and you said, when are they gonna leave

[25:50] this beach?

[25:51] Yeah.

[25:51] When are they gonna go somewhere else?

[25:53] I want a new location.

Dan McCoy

[25:53] When are they gonna take an elevator beneath the ground and not be able to get back up?

Stuart Wellington

[25:58] You think Jaws is scary?

[26:00] What if Jaws came on the land and made everyone live underground?

Elliott Kalan

[26:03] Mm-hmm.

[26:04] Yeah, it's gotta, it's like if Jaws meets, uh, the fantastic Mr. Fox, uh, meets Just So Stories,

[26:12] meets The Wind and the Willows, meets A Child's Understanding of History and Science.

Stuart Wellington

[26:19] Yeah.

[26:19] Yeah, so, so get on it, uh, listeners.

[26:22] Uh, first one gets a Hinterlands t-shirt, send it to, uh, what's the email address, Dan?

Dan McCoy

[26:28] Uh, flophousepodcast at gmail.com.

Elliott Kalan

[26:31] And frankly, if you'd like to hear, if you'd like Adult Dan to write a sequel to the book

[26:36] he wrote as a child, I, cause I know I would, I mean, uh, let us know.

Dan McCoy

[26:41] Uh, well, I think that's enough for this, Manny.

[26:45] Uh, thank you so much for listening.

[26:48] Thank you for indulging this silliness.

[26:51] Uh, I, uh, know that I enjoyed sharing it with you.

[26:55] Mm-hmm.

[26:56] Um, thank you to Jordan Cowling, who, uh, is our producer.

[27:01] Uh, we just learned that she's gonna be leaving soon, unfortunately.

[27:04] We will miss her.

[27:06] Uh, we will have her for one more episode.

[27:09] But Jordan, thank you for so much.

[27:11] Oh, man, we're gonna have so many fucking bleeps in that episode.

[27:14] Yeah, it's true.

[27:16] Um, thank you to Maximum Fun for being our network.

[27:19] Uh, go over to MaximumFun.org, see a bunch of, uh, great shows, click on them, listen to

[27:26] them in your ears.

[27:27] Well, still listen to them.

[27:28] Don't you?

[27:28] You're not gonna watch the show description and you're like, oh, this one sounds good.

Elliott Kalan

[27:33] You know?

[27:34] Okay.

[27:35] So, okay, when you said see, you just meant literally like the, the icon or the, the text.

[27:38] Yeah.

[27:39] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[27:40] Put it, play it through GarageBand and look at the waveforms.

[27:44] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[27:45] Um, yes.

[27:47] Uh, but for.

[27:49] I'm on, when it comes to podcasts, I'm on a C sound diet.

[27:52] I see sound and then I listen to it.

Dan McCoy

[27:56] For, for the Flophouse, I have been the author of The Underground Adventure, Dan McCoy, age

[28:04] 43.

Stuart Wellington

[28:08] Elliot, I want you to run that C sound joke by Sammy and see what the reaction is.

[28:12] I think it's gonna be a positive one.

Elliott Kalan

[28:14] This is what I'm gonna get from.

[28:15] He's gonna roll his eyes and go, ha ha, dad.

[28:18] Although, he's, he's still learning how to roll his eyes.

[28:21] He'll, I'll say something he doesn't like and he'll just wave his eyes around, basically

[28:24] wave his head around.

[28:25] He goes, did I roll my eyes?

[28:27] And I'm like, not exactly.

Dan McCoy

[28:28] He's already rolling his eyes at a teenager level.

[28:31] Oh, yeah.

[28:31] Uh, you guys say your names and then we can leave.

Stuart Wellington

[28:33] Oh, my name is Stuart Wellington, an appreciator of The Underground Adventure written by Dan McCoy,

[28:39] age eight or nine?

[28:41] Yeah, nine at the time.

[28:43] It was probably spread out over a period of a couple of months, right?

Elliott Kalan

[28:46] Yeah.

[28:46] Dan's like Robert Caro.

[28:48] It takes him a very long time to write these books, even when he was a kid.

[28:51] Yeah, yeah.

[28:51] And I'm Elliot Kalin, appreciator, always, of Dan's talent as a young man and as an old man,

[28:58] and every point in between saying, thanks for listening.

Stuart Wellington

[29:04] Bye.

[29:05] Bye.

FH 32 - The Underground Adventure

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