Brilliant Observations

It's Microwave Mania, Dear Listener, as the Brilliant Household bares its disfunctional soul for all to hear. Not to be outdone, Biohazard Amy makes another unscheduled, yet inexplicable appearance.  And Melissa continues her yearly Crusade against Christmas "Culture." Screw you, Santa. 

We're shooting squirrels and picking up girls, Dear Listener, so why not load up on the bad decisions, grab your favorite friend by the cheeks and give em a great big smooch on the mouth! Or maybe take our New Year's Prompt to heart and consider not doing any of that stuff... and decide instead to look forward as you look back.  What will you Stop doing in 2024?  What will you Start doing?  We certainly know what you'll Continue doing — and that's listening to our beloved show. Find us on TikTok just as soon as we start videotaping our recordcing sessions. Note to future self: must Start. Must Start. Must Start. 

If ever you’ve wondered when it was time to stop doing what you’re doing, try reading your mail. Brilliant Observations Administrative Team receives a surprising Cease and Desist letter from a loser with no ideas. And Missy takes decisive action.  Plus, big shocker, Amy finds herself a little too mouthy with just about everyone. But don't worry, kids. It all works out in the end. 

It’s the Fancy Pants episode, Dear Listener, replete with holiday tips and tricks for shaming fellow passengers on international flights. Hot cocoa recipes, dueling cheese straws, jingle bells, men’s footwear fashion, and all the lighthearted conversation you’d expect among strangers at a holiday party. Pull out your fancy sweatpants, kids. This one’s special!  Plus, Missy slides down skanky sponge mountain. And Amy shares how (once again) to continuously operate a vehicle without a single drop of gas.  Bonus Content! Ho-Ho-Who Let This Grinch Come To The Party?  Amy attends a client’s (dry) end of year gathering, only to be cornered by a disgruntled stranger ready to unload a year’s worth of feedback. Good thing she pretended to be someone else. 

To Be (right) or Not To Be (rude), that, Dear Listener, is the question we tackle this week, along with a healthy dose of Who Needs Evidence?, Guess This Postal MESS, and the Florida Follies! Are you ready? How could you be.   Join Melissa and Amy for another lighthearted romp through their post-Thanksgiving-holiday week, including airplane shenanigans, mildly senile parents, and one very special weekend for the boy across the pond.  Get the tissues ready. Not that way. Ew. 

Dear Listener, do you suffer from Resting Bitch Face? Boy, do we have the internal oral massage for you (with gloves, of course). Laugh in moderate disgust as we joke our way through the glories of wrinkle-reducing face tape, broken Thanksgiving ovens, spilled cocktails and the endlessly fascinting people that you meet at the Dispensary (Family Edition). Wanna hear the full Thanksgiving menu? Complete details, tasting notes and a hint at preparation methods at the very tail end of the show. It's an apple cider brined turkey, y'all. Shut yo damn mouth.

Looking for an old-fashioned antidote to all those Thanksgiving blessings? Try the Catholic method and focus on CONFESSING! Amy kicks things off with several low-grade felonies, including retail fraud and vehicular wrecklessness. Then Missy joins the fun with a free-wheeling endorsement of this week's spa-based "treatment," the exotic Six Hands Massage.   It's a thing.  Sibian much?  Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Listener. If you can make it all the way to the end, hear Missy tear up as we describe in vivid detail just how grateful we are for you. Now go spread some love, ya filthy animals!

Two things can be true, Dear Listener. First, Missy donates her hard-won discretionary time — at great personal risk, we might add — for the betterment of democracy. And, Missy realizes she's currently living in the Best Time of Her Life.  Is this is a disconnect? Has she somehow diassociated from the throngs of far-too-easily ruffled eligible voters of southern Pennsylvania? Nah. She's just grateful for everything these days. Especially banana taffy.  Share this episode with a friend. Or better yet, make a new one by sharing the entire show. Just text someone who loves to laugh and tell them to give Brilliant Observations a try. We're grateful for you.  Now let's get TOSSED! 

Best names ever, the art and science of being a poor sport, plus a special trip to Shartford, Connecticut. We cover it all this week, Dear Listener, and just in time for the weekend (even though with Daylight Savings Time and jet lag it should really be...) Special shoutout to the lovely "asshats" (surely she didn't say "asshat") at the Mindful Mavens podcast — give them a listen for peaceful, enlightened conversation.  Grateful for you, kids. Mean it. 

Ever have a “friend” act more like a rabid raccoon? It’s a Write-In Mystery this week, Dear Listener, and as predicted, Amy and Missy love not to help. Hear our off the cuff advice for a Listener suffering the indignities of an over-stepper doing a little too much helping himself-ing.  Plus, the 80s theme 50th birthday party featuring karaoke is a huge hit. So why is Melissa so mad? Oh, that’s right. Because Amy refuses to do anything she’s told.  Surprise, surprise!  All this and still so much more. Give us a listen! You’re gonna like the way you look.  

Can you believe it? It's Skimpy Sequin Season, Dear Listener, which means everything from sacred relious ceremonies to time-honored teen traditions are awash in too short, too sheer, too sparkly and too shocking "formal" wear. All of which leads us to lament the untimely death of Suzanne Somers (as you do), sample new and various weed gummies, and partially report on the latest family scandal. (It's a doozy!) So what say you? Are you ready for some scandalous whoremongering? Of course you are.  Why do we even ask?

What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding? How often we take it for granted. Ride along with us as we explore all the ways we can tap into joy, effortlessly uplift each other, find the unfiltered laugh, call happiness to us in everyday life, and expand the dense and infinitely available goodness that flows all around us in this fractured world.  Give it a try. You never know what it will change.  And it case it wasn't patently obvious, we stand with Israel. We stand with Jews. We condemn terrorists and terrorism in all its forms.  Speak out for Jews, and #standuptoJewishhate. Your friends are listening. 

Looking for a laugh this week? Boy, did you come to the right place! We're talking all things light, breezy, and lemon-squeezy this week, including a healthy mistrust of celebrity, the beloved Deborah Gibson, and (you guessed it) a recurring fascination with the anal region. Why listen to anything else?  Celebrate life. Embrace joy. Love your neighbor. Love your other neighbor. And find happiness wherever you can. The world needs you! 

From a scantily clad, knife-wielding Brittany Spears-a-thon (or is it Spears-a-thong?) to the mystery ingredient in hot dogs, we've covering all things terrifying this episode. Join us as we delve into such bouncy topics as the Hundo List, adult loneliness, Tuscon on the horizon, and you guessed it, porn. What's not to love? 

The Hallowieners are at it again, Dear Listener, and this time they're not even the worst of the worst we cover this week. Join us in flabberghasted awe as we giggle through the existence of Dog Doo DNA Kits, dangle death skeletal decor, Paul Simon's inexplicable mortality and the Four Personality Types (and How To Beat Them). We also cover Adults Behaving Badly, Theatre Edition, Jewish New Year, the rise of Cat Stevens (or is it Stevie Nicks?), Rick Rubin and the Creative Act, and Missy's trip down childhood memory lane (straight into the cabbage patch). Lots to love. Tell a friend. 

You heard it here first, Dear Listener... just as Missy predicted, the cops got wise and sent in the dogs to finally catch the escaped Philadelphia area prisoner — but not before he made a special ghostly appearance over Amy's shoulder while recording this week. Listen in for the fright of your life (that actually turns out to be the gardener).  Missy even predicted that K9 units would save the day.  All that, plus magic gratitude numbers, Stuart takes his life in his hands Kitchen Edition, and Ekhart Tolle part 2 (featuring Abraham Hicks). Woo-woo!

It’s a shocking turn of events this week, Dear Listener, and poor Missy is stunned into silence over Stuart’s inexplicable — and uncharacteristic — inability to properly manage the three dogs. Visiting the Margate beach house takes a wild, if temporary turn. And yes, a police cruiser is involved. Rest assured, Dearest. In the end, all's well that ends well in doggy-dom. (Even if Stuart himself may never escape the doghouse again.) We also chat through the realities of semi-adult children flying the nest, the glories of a little light shoplifting (college edition), the miraculous sounds of laryngitis-tinged laughter and your favorite: turkey sandwich food porn.  Where is that terrible waitress, again? Check please!

It's the vacation, vocation, medication episode, Dear Listener, complete with teen drivers behaving badly, young adults fleeing the nest, and teary-eyed besties rekindling their love affair with time, talents, and three decades' worth of  friendship. Gratitude, anyone?