Two Designers Walk Into a Bar · Evergreen Podcasts

Monster Sponsors - Gritty from Philly and Monster Cereals from General Mills

·41 min·2 clips

Gritty is described as “someone you’d high five, but not hug” and possibly meet in a dark alley.

Horror Month arrives sideways. Elliot and Todd set up a seasonal run on characters built for the young and young at heart, then immediately let the bar chatter knock it loose. Gritty goes first. The cold open puts the Flyers mascot on the ice with Zamboni energy and an orange Cookie Monster resemblance, which is about as dignified as this episode plans to get. Then General Mills takes over. The monster cereal stretch moves through voices, slogans, and the odd second life of breakfast characters. Cocoa Puffs gets a callback, and Paul Freese becomes the thread tying Boo-Berry to Toucan Sam, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and Boris Badenoff. The correction about the Doughboy turns into more than trivia cleanup. It becomes a quick defense of voice actors as real performers, exactly the kind of design-adjacent hill this show likes. Fruit Brute gets the timeline treatment: launched in 1974, gone in 1982, then pulled back into the monster cereal conversation during the 2000s. Yummy Mummy follows, with its 1988 run leading to a language tangent the hosts try, briefly, to mark as outside the podcast. It does not stay outside for long. Carmella Creeper brings the newer lineup into view as a zombie DJ and the first female character. Then come the discarded agency ideas, including the 1990s General Mills pitches from Saatchi & Saatchi: Bride of Frankenberry, Phantom Berry, and the kind of brand weirdness that practically asks for links. The landing is all Philly: a full-story link, Clover Clubs, and cheesesteak temptation circling back to Gritty.

As heard by us

Mascots, cereal lore, and Philly chaos make for a brisk design history listen.

Two Designers Walk Into a Bar treats monster mascot design as a piece of pop culture memory, moving from Gritty in Philly to General Mills' monster cereals.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If Gritty and General Mills monster cereals both live rent-free in your head, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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