The Comedy Club Podcast · The Comedy Club of Kansas City

Nathan Macintosh on Comedy & Pop Culture Nostalgia: Horror Movies, Cartoons, & More | Ep 38

·27 min

Dustin Kaufman opens by introducing Nathan McIntosh as a returning guest at the Comedy Club of Kansas City. Nathan points out that this is his second time on the show. Dustin reminds him that the first visit was as an opener for Akash, and the two talk about the small group of comics who have gone from feature to headliner there. Nathan treats that like a strange but real badge of honor. From there, the talk drifts into absurd future-planning. Nathan riffs on a made-up next gig at the Deep Ridge Dorito Dome in Duluth. The joke keeps snowballing as he piles sponsor names onto the fictional venue. Dustin goes along with it while Nathan sells the whole thing like it is a perfectly normal career step. The conversation then turns to childhood pop culture. Nathan starts talking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and how the movies and cartoon themes stuck in his head. He remembers the hats, the schoolyard obsession, and sneaking into the theater to watch Turtles II as a kid. Dustin follows the thread and keeps the energy light. Nathan comes back to Turtles II with a lot less childhood forgiveness than he had before. He says he loved it as a kid and thought it was cinematic back then. When he watched it again years later with a friend, both of them realized it was rougher than memory had made it. The movie becomes a joke about how nostalgia can be kind of a liar. They keep working through the soundtrack and theme songs. Nathan and Dustin compare the original movie song, the cartoon theme, and the bits they can still remember from the lyrics. The chat turns into a half-serious breakdown of who remembers what and why certain kids' hooks stay stuck forever. The tone stays casual and specific the whole way through. Nathan and Dustin do not really separate topics so much as pivot whenever a new memory comes up. Wrestling keeps slipping into the mix, especially when Nathan starts making exaggerated comparisons between masked heroes, movie villains, and wrestling personalities. That gives the episode its rhythm: club banter, old media memories, and wrestling nonsense feeding each other. The middle of the conversation is where the nostalgia really opens up. Nathan talks about the difference between what he loved as a kid and what still holds up now. Dustin responds like someone who knows exactly how that rewatch disappointment feels. They land on the same basic point without making it heavy: some movies are better left in the version your brain kept for them. Even when the episode gets a little scattered, it keeps moving because both speakers know exactly what kind of room they are in. The jokes are not polished and the transitions are not polished. That is part of the charm. It feels like two comics in a room, happy to let one silly memory lead to the next one. The closing stretch comes back to the club and the show itself. Nathan and Dustin joke about still touring, still showing up, and still needing the audience to subscribe. They plug the Comedy Club KC social accounts and the venue website. The whole thing ends the way it began, with a hang that knows exactly what it is and does not pretend otherwise.

As heard by us

A loose club-room conversation that turns old pop culture into easy comic banter.

Dustin Kaufman and Nathan McIntosh spend this Comedy Club of Kansas City episode in a loose, club-room hang that drifts from comedy lineage bragging rights to fake stadium sponsorships, then lands in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wrestling, and other old pop culture obsessions.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want comics trading stories about turtles, wrestlers, and bad movie memories.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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