'How Did This Get Made?' has kept me sane this past year

I have been late to the podcast game, and even now I wouldn't call myself an aficionado of the genre. That being said, my favorite podcast -- and the one I've been obsessively listening to for the better part of the past year, has been "How Did This Get Made?" a masterful takedown of the worst movies of all time, hosted by three comedic geniuses -- Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael (who also happens to be Paul's wife) and my personal favorite -- Jason Mantzoukas, whose blunt honesty really reminds me of myself.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, and taking stock of things we are thankful for, I wanted to pay tribute to this podcast, which has lifted my spirits during many bad days at work and helped me get some more perspective on my favorite art form -- the movies.

It has become abundantly clear since the election of Donald Trump as president, that we are now entering a scary new area where facts are treated no differently than opinions, and people are creating their own alternative realities that essentially confirm their pre-existing worldviews.

The Lawnmower Man

In a climate like this -- there are few things you can be certain of anymore. So it's comforting, in a way, to hang on to the simple pleasures of life. And for me, that includes horrifically bad movies.

What "Zouk," Paul and June Diane do (as well as their excellent array of mostly comedian guests) is not simply take cheap shots and films that failed miserably.

They really deconstruct these movies and in some cases -- like with the exploration of then-Bruce Jenner's nascent sexual curiosity in the abominable Can't Stop the Music -- they see what is worthwhile or even compelling about some of these catastrophes.

In other words, they give credit where credit is due (Gene Kelly's performance in Xanadu) and eviscerate the rest. They are smart, funny and hyper woke to issues of race, gender and intersectionality that the filmmakers often couldn't have conceived of at the time of their films' release.

They select some obvious targets -- The Room, I Know Who Killed Me, much of Nicolas Cage's oeuvre, but they also do some deeper cut flops too, some of which I'd never heard of and have felt compelled to check out after listening to the show.

Would I have sought out Cindy Crawford's Fair Game on my own? Probably never. But it was so good-bad, that I am glad that I did.

Most recently, the gang at HDTGM took on another movie I've never seen and hadn't ever given much thought to -- 1992's hopelessly dated and politically incorrect sci-fi thriller The Lawnmower Man. This time capsule of a movie boasts a pre-James Bond fame Pierce Brosnan, some horrendous looking special effects, and some of the most problematic sexual politics I've seen in quite some time.

Watching this movie, and then reveling in the HDTGM podcast's excellent dissection of it, was a real delight amid a frustrating Thanksgiving holiday and an even darker period in our nation's history. At the end of the day, it's just a podcast but it's one of the few things that makes me smile right now.

Besides, of course, my wife, who introduced me to it.