Day 21: We celebrate the 30th anniversary of the “Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special” the only way we know how: With lots of screaming, lots of fruitcake, and lots more screaming.

On this episode

1. Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), a completely ignored, dog-shaped chaise lounge no one ever sits on or talks about.
2. Erin Evans (@mserinmevans), a talking iPad on wheels whose idea of a family reunion involves a small sacrifice of personal space.
3. Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames), an anxious flying dinosaur from a place that existed long, long ago.
4. Joey O. (@ImGonnaDJ24), an artificially intelligent pile of home appliances made even more useful when instigating loud chaos with a single word, from Y-Not Radio and Words with Nerds.

Topics and Tangents

1. Magic Johnson recorded his segment hours before playing in — and winning — a Lakers game. We don’t know the precise date, but one win was against the SuperSonics, possibly (but probably not) on Ice Cube’s “Good Day.”
2. One commercial break includes a bizarre Pringles commercial starring a young Brad Pitt.
3. Pee-wee’s Big Holiday on Netflix.
4. When did fruitcake become a punchline? Christmas Past has something of an answer. Or is fruitcake is a byproduct of the Joys of Jell-O era?
5. A mini ode to the Picture Phone, a giant, stationary Skype machine.
6. The working script and storyboards for this special.
7. Who mailed Grace Jones to the Reagan White House?
8. Pee-wee performing “Surfin’ Bird” in “Back to the Beach.”
9. The King of Cartoons’ cartoon: 1936’s “Christmas Comes But Once a Year.”
10. My feelings about snow mirror this one, particular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, published 5 days after this special aired.
11. k.d. lang’s Twitter reply about her crazy, wonderful performance of “Jingle Bell Rock.”
12. The awkward moment when we realize the Dinosaur Family has a pet dinosaur.

Previous episodes of this podcast mentioned

• Season 1, Episode 3: Honey Nut Cheerios Christmas Commercial
• Season 2, Episode 7: Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration
• Season 2, Episode 10: McDonald’s Holiday Commercials

You can visit the Advent Calendar House on the web at adventcalendar.house, on Twitter @adventcalhouse, and on the Christmas Podcast Network.