Hoot’n & Holler’n With Matt Mitchell

Chicken Boo and the Saturday Morning Cartoon Era

He's not a man. He's a Chicken Boo.

On this episode, we're looking back at the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. That sacred five-hour window between 7 AM and noon when kids across America parked themselves two feet from the TV and disappeared into a bowl of sugary cereal and animated chaos.

We're talking Doug. X-Men. Animaniacs. Masters of the Universe. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Rugrats. Tailspin. DuckTales. Darkwing Duck. Batman: The Animated Series. And yes, Chicken Boo gets his due.

We're also getting into the cartoons we hated, the theme songs we can still sing word-for-word decades later, the toy marketing machines disguised as TV shows, and how Saturday morning looked a little different if you grew up down here in the South than it did for kids everywhere else.

Grab a bowl of Lucky Charms, plant yourself in front of the screen, and let's get to Hoot'n and Holler'n.

Three Helmets and a Duffel Bag - Little League in the South

There is no experience more uniquely Southern than Little League Baseball in small-town Alabama. Everywhere else in the country, it's a program. Down here, it's a situation.

This week, Matt, Drake, Joey, and Eric are taking it back to the dusty infields, the borrowed helmets, and the army-green duffel bags of Dizzy Dean and Dixie Youth baseball. We're talking about the equipment that barely worked, the jerseys with vinyl numbers that would sooner take the shirt with them than peel off, and the bats so worn out nobody could tell you what brand they were. We're talking about fields that were technically pastures, dugouts that were technically a bench and a fence, and coaches who were technically just dads that didn't work Saturdays.

We're also talking about the real reason any of us showed up....the concession stand. Slush puppies. Nachos. Hot dogs steamed in tinfoil. Sour Punch straws that were basically cocaine for children. And at least one kid on every team who had already given up on playing and was just eating his way through the fifth inning.

If you grew up playing ball in the South, this one's going to hit like a cold aluminum bat on an April night. You'll know exactly what that means.

Southern Spring Break: Club La Vela vs. Club La MeeMaw

Spring break in the South meant one of two things: Panama City chaos… or a fried bologna at Meemaw’s.

 

This week on Hoot’n & Holler’n, we’re diving into what spring break really looked like growing up in the 80s and 90s before Cancun trips and credit card debt. From AEA Week in Alabama to road trips fueled by Shoney’s breakfast bars, Tiger Electronics, and empty threats of “don’t make me turn this car around,” this is the Southern spring break experience in all its glory.

 

We talk about:

• The real origin of spring break (hint: it started with Yankee swim teams in Florida)

• Why most Southern kids ended up at grandma’s house instead of the beach

• The chaos of Panama City Beach in its prime (and what happens when it’s 45° and everyone’s still partying)

• Road trip essentials: Game Boys, Walkmans, and staring out the window like you’re in a music video

• Beach debates: boogie boards vs inflatables, Coleman vs Igloo, go-karts vs mini golf

• And of course… Meemaw’s house, featuring bologna, Bob Barker, and Aunt Bee.

 

Plus, we wrap it up with a round of “Hoot OR Holler” and answer a listener question about the ultimate airbrush spring break t-shirt (which goes exactly how you’d expect).

 

Whether you spent spring break at Club La Vela or Club La Meemaw, this one’s for you.

The Tornado-Chasing Garbage Man

We’re back in the vault.

 

This episode of Scattered & Covered comes from one of our live, on-location recordings where we basically set up, see who walks by, and let it rip.

 

This time, we met a garbage man who chases tornadoes.

 

From the Boston Celtics to trash truck mechanics to real-life storm chasing in Alabama, this one goes everywhere and somehow keeps getting better.

The Episode That Shouldn’t Exist (But Here We Are)

Somehow… this became a full episode.

What started as leftover clips from our last recording quickly turned into something we couldn’t ignore. We went off the rails, stayed there, and now you’re listening to the results.

In this episode, we bounce between mariachi bands playing “Achy Breaky Heart,” an ongoing rat situation that may or may not be escalating, the chaos of Costco, competitive eating legends, hot dog rankings, and a few stories that probably should’ve stayed off the record.

It doesn’t make sense. There’s no real theme. And honestly, we’re not even sure how it all connects.

But it made us laugh… so here we are.

If you enjoy Southern storytelling, off-the-cuff conversations, and the kind of randomness that only happens when nobody hits the brakes—this one’s for you.

Pre-Internet Lies We All Believed

Before Google, before smartphones, before you could fact-check anything in 2 seconds… we just believed stuff.

 

In this episode, the guys dive into the wild world of pre-internet urban legends—the rumors, myths, and straight-up lies that somehow spread across the country with zero proof and 100% confidence. 

 

From Marilyn Manson being that kid from The Wonder Years, to Pop Rocks and Coke “killing you,” to every town having a Crybaby Bridge, we break down the stories we all heard growing up—and why we believed every single one of them.

 

We also get into:

• The Satanic Panic and the stuff people thought was “evil”

• The rumor that Procter & Gamble was secretly sinister

• Small-town legends like hitman capital of the world

• And the weird ways these stories spread before the internet even existed

 

If you grew up in the 80s, 90s, or early 2000s, there’s a very good chance you believed at least one of these… and probably repeated it like it was fact.

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The Ultimate Cable TV Movie Bracket

What is the greatest movie ever shown on cable TV?

 

In this episode of Hoot’n & Holler’n, we build the Ultimate Cable TV Movie Bracket to settle one of the most important debates in television history: which movie dominated basic cable for decades?

 

From action classics to endlessly replayed comedies, we debate and rank the movies that basically lived on TBS, TNT, USA, and FX. The bracket includes cable staples like The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, Jurassic Park, The Fugitive, Die Hard, Armageddon, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Speed, Twister, Mrs. Doubtfire, Tombstone, A Few Good Men, Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, Air Force One, Remember the Titans, Rudy, Dumb and Dumber, and more.

 

Some of these movies are genuine all-time classics.

Some of them just felt like classics because cable TV played them 4,000 times a year.

 

Along the way we ask the important questions:

Which movie actually deserves the title of Greatest Cable Movie Ever?

Which one only seemed bigger because we saw it every Saturday afternoon?

And which cable TV legend gets knocked out way too early?

Superbad, Borat, and the Last Great Comedy Era

In this episode of Hoot’n and Holler’n, the guys dive headfirst into one of the greatest cinematic debates of our lifetime: what actually counts as the greatest comedy movie ever made?

 

From Anchorman and Superbad to Borat, Step Brothers, and a few deep cuts you may not have thought about in years, we look back at the era when comedy movies dominated theaters and every line instantly became quotable.

 

Along the way we talk about the movies that shaped our sense of humor, the comedies we definitely weren’t supposed to be watching growing up, and why it feels like Hollywood just doesn’t make comedies like this anymore.

 

Plus:

• The first comedy movie we ever got in trouble for watching

• The movies our dads quoted nonstop

• The comedy everyone else loves that we absolutely cannot stand

 

If you’ve ever quoted Napolean Dynamite, argued about Will Ferrell’s best movie, or wondered where all the great comedy movies went… this one’s for you.

That’s Illegal Now

This week on Hoot'n & Holler'n we're reaching back to the not-so-distant past to a time when riding in the back of a truck, wandering the woods all day, buying cigs for your parents at the gas station, and drinking straight from the hose felt completely normal… and somehow nobody called the authorities.

The guys swap stories about growing up in an era where the main safety plan was “try not to die,” from sketchy rides and small-town gas station runs to the pre-cell-phone problem solving that built a little character (and probably a few bad habits).

If you ever got told to go outside and not come back till dark, this one’s for you.

Pull up a chair and come laugh with us about the stuff that definitely wouldn’t be allowed today.

The Great Happy Meal Arms Race

What happened to Happy Meal toys… and why did they used to be so much better?

In this episode of Hoot’n and Holler’n, we’re heading back to the golden age of McDonald’s — when PlayPlaces ruled, Boo Buckets were a necessity, and the toy inside the box was engineered like a NASA space shuttle.

We dive into the surprising history behind the 90s Happy Meal “arms race,” when competing designers were trying to outdo each other with wind-up cars, transforming food robots, licensed movie tie-ins, and toys that somehow lasted longer than most household appliances. Along the way we talk McNugget Buddies, Power Rangers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario Bros, Disney classics, Beanie Baby chaos, and the weird corporate decisions that changed kids’ meals forever.

Plus: childhood memories, thrift store toy bins, fast food nostalgia, and the realization that today’s toys just don’t hit the same.

If you grew up begging for a Happy Meal — or just miss when fast food felt a little more magical — this one’s for you.

Grab some fries and come holler with us.

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