How Did This Get Made? · Earwolf and Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas

Date with an Angel LIVE!

February 13, 2026·1 hr 26 min·5 clips

The movie begins with a brain tumor, an angel, and a secret mission from God.

The movie is Date with an Angel, 1987: a man with a brain tumor falling in love with an angel who has a broken wing. The hosts call it a Splash ripoff. The filmmakers claimed they wrote it before Splash came out, but it came out after, and the hosts aren't buying the timeline. The episode is recorded live in Minnesota — the first time the show has played there — and the hosts open by noting that while it's cold outside, they're here to warm hearts with a romantic comedy about a brain tumor and a broken wing. Jason Manzoukas joins on stage, gloved up against the Minnesota weather and already worn down by it. There is supplemental material, and the host isn't hiding how ready he is for it. A subplot follows a group trying to capture the angel the way you'd handle a stray: net, French fries as bait. They're also pre-selling merchandise for an angel they haven't caught yet. One host compares this to selling tie-in shirts for a film that doesn't exist yet — the pitch makes no sense, no one knows what you're talking about, the product isn't available. The same group holds a press conference and informs the assembled press that the dress code is casual. The hosts have no precedent for this. They cannot move past it. A character referred to as BBK probably should have been shooting these people, the hosts observe. At another point, the protagonist takes the angel to a church and the priest tells them to go find the Baptists. Any real priest with a real angel in the building, the hosts note, would be losing their mind with joy — we did it, it's real — and yet the protagonist responds by telling the angel he doesn't want to look at her. The brain tumor functions as a romantic plot device throughout and doesn't appear to inconvenience anyone. The episode closes with a nod to Last Looks for listener responses the following week. Dinosaur Improv is back at Largo with the regular crew. Dark Web runs free on YouTube every week. Subscribers are reminded to check their settings and confirm automatic downloads are on.

As heard by us

Jason Manzoukas joins the live panel in Minnesota for a 1987 romantic comedy the hosts have clocked as a Splash ripoff.

Date with an Angel, the 1987 romantic comedy its creators claimed to have written before Splash despite coming out after it, gets a live panel recording in Minnesota with Jason Manzoukas on stage.

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Why you'd press play

You want to hear someone argue with 1987 about why a brain tumor qualifies as a romantic premise.

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