KA-POW! The Pop Cultured Podcast · www.youdownwithkpp.com

Ka-Pow the Pop Cultured Podcast #454 A Stinker

·1 hr 26 min·5 clips

The episode turns on whether pennies should be eliminated even though it costs about four cents to make one.

1. KA-POW! The Pop Cultured Podcast #454, "A Stinker," centers on a year-end wrap-up that moves from 2025 frustrations to conventions, books, pennies, and family traditions. 2. Jordan Lowe, Cliff Barnes, and Seth host the show, while guests and names like Carly, Alicia, Michael, Christopher Priest, Kevin McGuire, Dan Mora, Simon Pegg, and Ben Schwartz matter because they anchor the episode’s personal and pop-culture references. 3. The episode asks what is worth carrying into 2026, using 2025 complaints, a new book, Christmas routines, and penny politics as the main frame. 4. Jordan says his local history book came out of genealogy research and is now in stores in Marietta, including the museum gift shop and other local shops. 5. He says he has had to restock the book a couple of times and prefers that local businesses sell it rather than only a historical bookstore. 6. Jordan argues that the point of the book is to keep historical stories from disappearing, and he tells listeners to check family basements before old objects get lost. 7. The hosts connect that idea to feedback, with Jordan comparing reader responses to messages from people who liked the book and to feedback for podcast creators. 8. Christmas comes up through Cliff’s reflection on adult children, family traditions, and the way habits get passed between partners and households. 9. Cliff says he and Alicia have been together since fall 1996, and he notes that some childhood customs still survive in his home and in his kids’ lives. 10. Jordan’s main obsession is pennies: he cites the four-cent cost to make one, a 1990 bill, a 77 percent poll result, and an 84 percent approval figure after explanation. 11. He says Donald Trump issued an executive order in February telling the Treasury secretary to stop making pennies, and that the move created shortages and confusion. 12. Jordan points out that New York City and other places have laws about exact change, so businesses have had to improvise rounding rules to avoid breaking local rules. 13. He describes carrying two pennies in his wallet, one from 1980 and one from the current year, as part superstition and part habit. 14. The penny discussion also reaches his store counter, where a Spider-Man soap dish has served as a "leave a penny take a penny" tray since before the store opened. 15. Jordan says he has been collecting wheat pennies for about 20 years after finding them in cash drawers, and he treats the glass bank as a marker of time. 16. He and Cliff joke that the bank never looked like retirement funding, but the pennies still feel symbolic now that circulation is shrinking. 17. The GalaxyCon Columbus recap becomes the longest stretch of the episode, starting with Friday’s trip, the cold weather, and a screening of "Hillbilly the Bloody Affair" at a theater. 18. Saturday’s convention day includes ice on the sidewalks, metal detector complaints, a bag search, a capped Simon Pegg line, and a contrast between celebrity lines and comic-guest tables. 19. Listeners who like comics conventions, local history projects, and year-end personal updates will get the most out of this episode. 20. Listeners looking for a tightly focused topic or a short runtime may want to skip it.

As heard by us

A year-end hangout that drifts through wrap-up chatter and lands on the good stuff by way of memory and comic history.

Kapow closes out 2025 in a loose, conversational way, moving from year-end fatigue into a 2026 movie preview and the Poobah Awards before wandering into a long stretch about meeting Kevin McGuire.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a year-end fan-culture hangout with a convention story, Kevin McGuire, and some very frank December fatigue.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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