If you ever wondered what the backstory behind apple Slice soda or Real Ghostbusters Kenner Proton Packs were, you may have heard of Matt and Jay of The Purple Stuff Podcast. They also go by the internet pseudonyms of Dinosaur Dracula (Matt) and Sludge Central (Jay). Matt and Jay have been broadcasting The Purple Stuff Podcast everywhere you can download podcasts and on Patreon since 2015. They are what I would call experts of all things retro and use their platform to talk about anything and everything nostalgically remembered by the youth of the 1980s and ’90s with a passion and humor that is more infectious than the mutagen in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I want to go a little bit into my love of these two larger than life internet celebs to talk about my history with them and also my rediscovered love of all things retro because of them. Wayne and Garth dream fingers. (No, even I’m not that funny, they used this gag on their recent episode where they visited a vintage in tact bowling alley for an episode. These guys crack me up.)
Discovering The Purple Stuff Podcast
It all started in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. We were in our own little lockdown midway through the year, and I had just started doing Mr. Dave Pizza. Everything was a virtual hellscape that year. I was living with my mom and we were hunkered down in our country house, bleaching our packages and living off Amazon Prime corn. Anyway, I was spending a lot of time on the internet that year (what else is new really, but I digress.) To kill time, I tried listening to a few podcasts. It was a buzzword to me really, nothing I ever was too interested in honestly, mostly because the ones I had listened to in the past were akin to hot garbage for my aesthetic. Regardless, I became fascinated with it as a format for content after diving deep into the options–just something to distract my mind during that mess really. One day, as I was looking for new podcasts to listen to, Spotify recommended to me a podcast with a great logo called The Purple Stuff Podcast.
Purple happens to be my favorite color, which I’ll admit, I’m easily plied by, but I later connected the podcast name with the classic Dave Chappelle skit about a Sunny D commercial from the 1990s. Anyway, my mind was a chaotic mess around this time, but I was drawn into the all-nostalgia-knowing voices of the two hosts. They were talking about things which I knew about but had not really ever heard anybody talk about in a frenetic fervor of conversation since college. I love a good digression to be perfectly honest, and these guys were talking about something that was neither political nor depressing in any way. In 2020, Matt and Jay were making me smile. I proceeded to listen to every single episode and discovered a cornucopia of awesomeness.
It was a little late into listening to The Purple Stuff Podcast before I realized that Matt, of Dinosaur Dracula, was the founder of a website I had come to know and love as a teenager, X-Entertainment. My ex-girlfriend and I even talked about this website on multiple occasions long before I ever knew about Purple Stuff. Jay of Sludge Central, also ran a similar website for years before the podcast called The Sexy Armpit, an homage to all things retro with a heavy New Jersey twist. Jay reminds me a lot of my older brother, who also loved professional wrestling, music, TV, and macho stuff when we were growing up.
Matt reminds me of my own inner child, even colored with the same literary spirit I’ve always identified with. He captures as an adult exactly what it was like to be a kid for many of us. His dry humor yet partiality toward the innocent side of things always charms me and I’ve come to know and love everything he produces as a real genuine fan. I’ve even interacted with him a few times on social media and subscribed to his Fun Pack subscription service for a period of time, where he mails out all sorts of nostalgic goodies and snacks each month. Many of those ephemeral items are scattered throughout my room.
Better Than Ecto-Cooler
Some of my favorite episodes of the Purple Stuff Podcast have been the Thanksgiving Day Parade episodes, the Halloween specials, anything related to McDonalds, the numerous eBay digs, and I especially loved their visit to the vintage bowling alley and Blockbuster stores– the last two of which were live action adventures. These guys really deserve some sort of podcast award for all of the stuff they’ve covered.
The show has made me appreciate a lot of things I took for granted before, from the toys I played with as a kid, to garage sales, to old TV commercials, and even holiday traditions from the golden years. And Matt’s epic history as a website owner and blogger has made me take my own writing more seriously (and less, if you know what I mean.) These guys have truly changed my life. I subscribe to their Patreon to support them and look forward to every episode like Christmas Day. From the retro topics to the humor to the awesome audio production of each episode, there’s a lot to behold in the Purple Stuff Podcast.
Check ‘Em Out
Please note to my readers, The Purple Stuff Podcast does contain some adult language and themes, although I find it mostly tasteful or at least hilarious, but I do not use this type of stuff in my own content. I simply wanted to share my love for a very good duo of guys who have inspired me to keep producing content and share it for anybody looking for anything to listen to.
Anyway, that pretty much sums up my short endorsement of them. Once again you can find Matt and Jay on The Purple Stuff Podcast which streams on-demand monthly everywhere you usually download podcasts. Their Patreon also has a bonus episode every month.
Matt’s website Dinosaur Dracula is here: https://dinosaurdracula.com
Jay’s website Sludge Central is here: https://sludgecentral.com/
Thank you Matt and Jay for your awesome content, and thanks for helping me get through a rough time in my life!
And thank you, for reading Mr. Dave Pizza! I mostly talk about retro and indie games here, but I’m expanding my horizons to some new topics in a section I call “Pizzapost,” so stay posted for that. I’m also on YouTube, where you can subscribe to me if you want to follow more of my content.
In the meantime, may the force be with you! And remember to call 555-2368 if you have any ghost problems. Peace out everyone.📼✌️
