B&T Extra: VHS Day, Straight to VHS, & Letters

Summary

The BOB & TOM Show Extra

Episode: VHS Day, Straight to VHS, & Letters

Date: July 3, 2026

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Episode Overview

This Bob & Tom Extra episode is a lighthearted and nostalgic dive into VHS Day, the near-mythical world of straight-to-video movies, and a lively batch of listener letters. The crew reminisces about bygone media formats, debates the cultural cachet of physical media, and riffs on everything from donkey towns in Arizona to bidets and awkward hotel check-ins. With trademark banter and self-deprecating humor, the hosts weave listener emails and personal memories into a richly comedic tapestry.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nostalgia for VHS & Obsolete Formats (03:59 – 08:55)

• Official VHS Day: Tom Griswold notes, “Yesterday was VHS day. Yeah, officially. They've got a day for everything now.” (03:59)
• The hosts share bittersweet memories of their first VCRs, recalling how expensive and bulky they once were.
  • Bob Kevoian: “My first VCR cost me more than my first car.” (04:13)
  • Musical Guest: “The VCR looked like it was an old suitcase...we would rent the VCR for the night to watch movies.” (04:25)
• Discussion moves fluidly to vinyl, cassettes, and even the elusive eight-track tape format.
  • Tom Griswold: “We had a big jump in sales and production when Guardians of the Galaxy came out. Because that has that whole sub thing about the cassette.” (07:38)
• Nostalgia is tinged with disbelief at how fast consumer technology moves:
  • Kristi Lee: “I don't even have a DVD player.” (06:49)
  • Bob Kevoian: “Where’s your eight track tape?” (07:32)

2. The New "Straight to VHS" Movie (05:32 – 08:26)

• Kristi introduces a novel news blurb: South African director Robert DeSantos is releasing the first straight-to-VHS movie in 20 years, a low-budget sci-fi adventure.
  • Kristi Lee: “It used to be a proper slander if someone said straight to vhs, but the whole point of this is to reclaim that...a well made film made with intention.” (05:57)
• The group jokes about the lack of VHS players and if the format will ever truly “come back,” while poking fun at the underground world of snuff films.
  • Bob Kevoian: “You can buy a snuff film. What's wrong with you?” (08:30)
  • Musical Guest: “Sure, on the Dark Web you could find one.” (08:34)

3. Comically Personal Listener Letters (09:00 – 16:10)

• Wild Donkeys and Oatman, AZ (09:19 – 10:18):
  • Listener Brian writes in about Oatman, an Arizona mining town famous for its roaming wild donkeys.
  • The hosts riff on the pronunciation (“donkey” vs. “dinky”) and joke about expectations for “donkey shows.”
  • Tom Griswold: “A lot of very disappointed guys that say, I thought we were going to a donkey show.” (09:48)
• Name Spellings—Tom vs. Thom, Brian with a Y (10:21 – 10:56):
  • The group digresses on the rare spellings of common names, with Kristi sharing her first husband was a “T H O m.”
  • Tom Griswold: “No one does that.” (10:38)
  • Kristi Lee: “My first husband spelled his name that way. T H O m. You don't remember that?” (10:48)
• Bidets, DIY, and Anxiety About Hotel Check-ins (11:00 – 13:34):
  • Michael from Alpharetta, GA writes in about his “Bob & Tom-inspired” home—including installing a bidet and having a SimplySafe system.
  • Bob Kevoian: “To avoid other elements of Chick Magee, I did not go into my attic or fall through the floor ceiling.” (12:09)
  • Bob Kevoian: “Twice you were in the attic and you...stepped on the drywall.” (12:27)
  • The bidet gets playfully tied to post-colonoscopy use.
  • Hotel check-in anxieties prompt more laughter:
    • Bob Kevoian: “I think I have a phobia about checking into hotels...I don’t want to talk to anybody.” (13:13)
• THC, Friendship & the Bob & Tom Universe (13:39 – 13:54):
  • Michael admits, “I really can't connect with you. I'm not a THC guy,” but still finds Jeffrey “amazingly hilarious.”
  • Musical Guest: “We can be friends.” (13:47)

4. Keytars, Fish, and Music Geekery (13:56 – 16:10)

• A listener asks about “keytars.” The show dives into 80s nostalgia, left-handed instruments, and deep music trivia.
  • Tom Griswold: “The keytar is when the keyboard player gets up and...straps on this keyboard and it kind of looks like a guitar.” (14:22)
• Notable fact: Fish’s Paige McConnell owns James Brown’s keytar.
  • Bob Kevoian: “Oh my God.” (15:16)
• Fish (the band) gets a nod for their live album cover sets, with a funny personal aside:
  • Musical Guest: “Did you know I met my ex-wife at a Fish show?” (16:11)
  • Tom Griswold: “How high were you?” (16:16)
  • Musical Guest: “Oh, high enough that I married her...now I hate fish. I won’t even eat it for dinner.” (16:17–16:23)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On VCR cost:
  “My first VCR cost me more than my first car.”
  — Bob Kevoian (04:13)

• On physical media’s decline:
  "Hard to believe you can get one now for, what, 30 bucks at a pawn shop?"
  — Tom Griswold (04:19)

• On straight-to-VHS pride:
  “It used to be a proper slander if someone said straight to VHS, but the whole point of this is to reclaim that...”
  — Kristi Lee quoting DeSantos (05:57)

• On falling through the attic:
  “Twice you were in the attic and you...stepped on the drywall...”
  — Bob Kevoian (12:27)

• On relationships and Fish:
  “How high were you?”
  — Tom Griswold (16:16)
  “High enough that I married her...now I hate fish. I won't even eat it for dinner.”
  — Musical Guest (16:17–16:23)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Nostalgia for VHS and old media: 03:59 – 08:55
• Straight-to-VHS movie discussion: 05:32 – 08:26
• Listener letter: Oatman, AZ & donkeys: 09:19 – 10:18
• Names and spellings tangent: 10:21 – 10:56
• Listener letter: Bidets & DIY mishaps: 11:00 – 13:34
• Keytar and musical trivia: 13:56 – 16:10

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Overall Tone

True to the Bob & Tom brand, the episode is informal, rapid-fire, riff-heavy, and peppered with asides. There’s genuine affection for each other and their audience, and as always, the hosts blend off-the-wall humor with flashes of sincere nostalgia.

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For fans, this episode is a playful ride through yesteryear’s technology with plenty of laughs, inside references, and listener shout-outs.

Transcript

[Christopher]

Welcome back. It's another Bob and Tom extra. This is Christopher. Not only is the Bob and Tom show live every weekday morning, but every afternoon. We'll give you a little extra in case you missed anything on today's big show. VHS Day. Straight to vhs and letters on the way. In just a minute.

[Bob Kevoian]

Jim Rome takes on sports.

[Jim Rome]

I will always have a complicated relationship with this game, but people evolve. So do sports. Do not make me regret this. Do not make me devolve back to that guy that so many clones wish that I still was. And do not embarrass the entire country. Now I can go back. I can get there fast. Lose tonight and you got a real problem. Do not blow it.

[Bob Kevoian]

The Jim Rome show podcast.

[Jim Rome]

You've been warned.

[Tom Griswold]

Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

I let it slip on by now I'm in trouble deep the last two years in a row I forgot our anniversary so I come rushing in

[Tom Griswold]

12

[Musical Guest / Singer]

rows, roses in bloom Said, honey, would you like a romantic evening out under the stars and the moon? She didn't say no but in her eyes I could see that this wouldn't turn out to be the enchanted evening I thought it might be yes, she found out I got a long way to go she didn't say no she said, hell no. So she kicked me out about 6 weeks ago I told my buddies down at the beer joint this cowboy's headed

home

Broke into her house, broke into her climbed right up in her bed When I asked her she would still, you know what she said? Oh, she didn't say no but in her eyes I could see that this wouldn't turn out to be the stary tale ending I thought it might be yeah, sure. Found out I got a long way to go she didn't say no

she

said, hell, no yeah, so found out I got a long way to go she didn't say no all together now. She said, hell, no.

[Tom Griswold]

If you missed something yesterday, maybe you'll hear it now.

[Bob Kevoian]

This is Bob and Tom Extra.

[Tom Griswold]

Yesterday was VHS day. Yeah, officially. They've got a day for everything now.

[Kristi Lee]

Yeah.

[Tom Griswold]

But in celebration of the VHS and Ace, I know you have dozens, if not hundreds, of old VHS tapes lying around.

[Bob Kevoian]

You know, my first VCR cost me more than my first car. Wow.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Man.

[Kristi Lee]

I believe that.

[Tom Griswold]

Hard to believe you can get one now for, what, 30 bucks at a pawn shop? Yeah, but yesterday, I remember my dad

[Musical Guest / Singer]

would rent one, like, would rent a movie. And the vcr and the VCR looked like it was an old suitcase.

[Kristi Lee]

Oh, yeah.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

And you would like you know, we would rent the VCR for the night to watch movies.

[Bob Kevoian]

We recorded our senior speeches on a reel to reel. It was a VTR videotape recorder. That wasn't a cassette.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Whoa.

[Bob Kevoian]

You had to line them up.

[Tom Griswold]

And that's gone. That's going way back.

[Bob Kevoian]

That's going way back.

[Tom Griswold]

I remember the electricity. The first cd. The first CD player. The first CD player they bought in here was a couple thousand bucks. And I think it's still back there. Tascam. Yeah, but. And I can remember the. When the, the, the Earl. In the days of radio, when they shifted from vinyl to CDs and now it's all digitized and put on computers, et cetera, et cetera. But there was a time, and I don't know when National CD Day is, but we do have a. We do have a story. Maybe we should get that out of the way. Yesterday really was VHS day and they talked about it a little bit on some of the morning shows on television.

[Kristi Lee]

But yeah. South African director Robert DeSantos is releasing the first straight to VHS movie in 20 years.

[Tom Griswold]

Remember, for those of you not familiar with that chick, do you want to explain what a straight to VHS movie was?

[Bob Kevoian]

It just comes out on VHS cassette. It never goes into the theaters or anything.

[Tom Griswold]

Yeah, they didn't want to spend the money to.

[Bob Kevoian]

Or stick it in theaters or the movie bombed so badly at the box office. That's straight to vhs.

[Kristi Lee]

This movie is called this Is how the World Ends. A low budget sci fi adventure about a brother who sets out to find his sister at a hedonistic party deep in the desert dubbed the last party on Earth. Mr. DeSantos told Variety it used to be a proper slander if someone said straight to vhs, but the whole point of this is to reclaim that and say, look, straight to VHS is actually saying that this is a well made film made with intention for an audience. He added that it's a deliberate middle finger to the growing encroach of AI. Pre orders from customers around the world have already surpassed 1000 copies.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Wow.

[Jim Rome]

Really?

[Tom Griswold]

It really shouldn't count unless you can only rent it.

[Kristi Lee]

Yeah.

[Bob Kevoian]

Do you have a. You have VHS hooked up in your home? No, no, I don't think so. Yeah.

[Kristi Lee]

I don't even have a DVD player.

[Bob Kevoian]

Yeah, I, I would have to plug it in if I want a dvd.

[Kristi Lee]

I don't even have one.

[Bob Kevoian]

I have one somewhere.

[Kristi Lee]

Really?

[Tom Griswold]

I got somewhere in a box. Yeah. I mean, been in honor of VHS day yesterday. I did see that Blockbuster was waiving all Late fees.

[Bob Kevoian]

So if you've still got only one left or something.

[Tom Griswold]

I think there might be one left.

[Kristi Lee]

I. I thought they turned it into like an Airbnb and could be.

[Bob Kevoian]

Oh, you could spend a night in a blockbuster. Remember when he wanted to do that? Nope, never.

[Tom Griswold]

There's a. Oh, yeah, what was it? Somebody I know that there are a number of artists that are doing stuff on cassettes.

[Kristi Lee]

Again, vinyl's still out there.

[Tom Griswold]

Yeah, we have vinyl. Yeah, there's a. That's a.

[Bob Kevoian]

Where's the eight track tape? My favorite format. Where's that?

[Tom Griswold]

I don't think.

[Bob Kevoian]

Where's your eight track tape?

[Kristi Lee]

I think you're gonna see that one come.

[Tom Griswold]

I'm not even sure there's a manufacturer. Ah, there is a cassette place. And we had the story that they. They had a big jump in sales and production when the movie Guardians of the Galaxy came out. Because that has that whole sub thing about the. The cassette.

[Kristi Lee]

Yeah.

[Tom Griswold]

And somebody just released. Somebody famous, just like Taylor Swift or somebody just released one of their albums on cassette. But it's also on whatever. It's on vinyl and it's. It's available streaming, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But this guy's allegedly only released this movie on vhs. So it's. They said it's the first one in some 20 years. Well, that isn't a snuff film.

[Bob Kevoian]

Yeah, those are made. Still made. I assume you can get them.

[Tom Griswold]

I assume those are.

[Bob Kevoian]

You're in the know you can buy a snuff film. What's wrong with you?

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Sure, on the Dark Web you could find one.

[Kristi Lee]

Oh, I'm sure. Yeah.

[Bob Kevoian]

I had to jump through hoops to get a reel to reel audio machine. Not even a video. It. I had to meet a guy in a parking lot. Midnight in a closed circuit. Yeah, parking lot. Hey, you got to cat.

[Kristi Lee]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bob Kevoian]

Here you go.

[Tom Griswold]

Yeah, I don't think this VHS thing will catch on, as you indicated earlier.

[Bob Kevoian]

You don't think.

[Tom Griswold]

Who has. How many people have a player? Do you have a functioning VHS player, Ace? Okay, so you're the exception. Yeah, but. So we'll see. Special time to get to some letters here. If you want to get a hold of us. It's Bob and Tom at bob and tom.com chick.

[Bob Kevoian]

Huh? Is that me?

[Kristi Lee]

I have a letter.

[Bob Kevoian]

Oh, go Chrissy.

[Kristi Lee]

Hi. Listen to your show all the time. Well, thank you, Brian. Spelled with a Y. Boo. Brian.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Boom.

[Kristi Lee]

Last week I heard you talking about donkeys. If you ever have the chance to get to Arizona, you have to go to Oatman. This isn't the first letter we've gotten like this. It's an old mining town. They have wild donkeys roaming all over the place.

[Christopher]

Oatman.

[Kristi Lee]

Oatman. The donkey. The donkeys. The donkeys walk in and out of all the stores. Store owners give them treats. It's like they just walk up to your car.

[Tom Griswold]

There are a lot of. A lot of very disappointed guys that say, I thought we were going to a donkey show.

[Bob Kevoian]

What the hell are you. You impressed me. You're in. You. Your elitist attitude. You don't say donkey.

[Tom Griswold]

Why would I say dinky?

[Bob Kevoian]

Well, there's some people that. It's not donkey. Kind of a U flavor on the O. Yeah, donkey. Donkey. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

[Kristi Lee]

Donkey.

[Bob Kevoian]

You. You fit the profile to you say, not fair. Donkey.

[Tom Griswold]

Donkey.

[Bob Kevoian]

I think it's incredibly accurate.

[Kristi Lee]

Thank you, Brian. I'll. I'll check out Oatman now.

[Bob Kevoian]

Brian with a Y. What do we know? That guy's a. He's a fight star.

[Tom Griswold]

Is there a distinction there? What is the. What is Brian with a white? Does that mean. Is that Irish heritage or something?

[Kristi Lee]

No idea.

[Bob Kevoian]

No, it's just he. You know, it's like you spell Tom T H o m, a U M or something.

[Tom Griswold]

No one does that.

[Kristi Lee]

Excuse me.

[Tom Griswold]

T H o m is very rare.

[Kristi Lee]

Yeah, the shoe place.

[Tom Griswold]

Tom. What?

[Kristi Lee]

My first husband spelled his name that way. T H O m. You don't remember that?

[Musical Guest / Singer]

That didn't tip you off?

[Kristi Lee]

H o m, M, actually, T H O m. Yeah.

[Tom Griswold]

And that didn't tip you off? If I could repeat what Jeffrey said.

[Bob Kevoian]

Double crazy.

[Tom Griswold]

That is way too much work. Dear Bob and Tom show. Yeah, hope you are well. I realize I have devoted my weekend to channeling aspects of each one of you. I have a bidet in my primary bathroom. By the way, the term primary bathroom is a tip of the hat to Christy Lee. Because you're a real estate agent, on occasion, you can't use the phrase master bathroom anymore.

[Kristi Lee]

Right.

[Tom Griswold]

For some reason. And the bidet, of course. Josh. Josh has an aftermarket bidet at his house, which he'll probably be using later today. Post procedure, he's having a colonoscopy, so that'll help him do a little extra cleanup back there. By the way writes, Michael, the bidet is amazing. Michael, by the way, is writing us from. Do you know where this is? Alpharetta.

[Bob Kevoian]

Alpharetta, Georgia.

[Tom Griswold]

Yeah, very good. Alpharetta, Georgia. He continues, honoring my hero, Chick Magee. I installed the bidet myself. My home by the way, Chick is protected by simply Safe.

[Bob Kevoian]

Nice. Well done, sir.

[Tom Griswold]

To avoid other elements of Chick Magee, I did not go into my attic or fall through the floor ceiling. And experiencing the exquisite pain he has often described.

[Bob Kevoian]

So funny.

[Tom Griswold]

Well, I think he's referencing the fact that you on one occasion.

[Bob Kevoian]

Twice.

[Tom Griswold]

Twice.

[Bob Kevoian]

Fell through the roof.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

What? Twice?

[Bob Kevoian]

Twice you were.

[Tom Griswold]

You were in the attic and you.

[Bob Kevoian]

It was like years apart, but yeah,

[Tom Griswold]

you stepped on the drywall.

[Bob Kevoian]

And rather than more of a stumble, it's more of a. I'm sneaky clumsy. If that means your fault.

[Tom Griswold]

You didn't follow all the way through, did you?

[Bob Kevoian]

No, my testicles broke my fall. Oh. I was bruised all the inner side of my thighs, Jeff. Purple and yellow and blue and man.

[Tom Griswold]

Now this is my favorite part on my birthday each year, I observe it. One day. Separated from Tom, I channel his energy into an extra long conversation with the hotel clerk as I check into a room. This is, by the way, Pat Godwin. The hotel has a pool. That's Michael from, I think, Georgia.

[Bob Kevoian]

I think I have a phobia about checking into hotels.

[Kristi Lee]

Why?

[Bob Kevoian]

I just don't like it. I don't care for it.

[Kristi Lee]

You give him a fake name.

[Bob Kevoian]

That non. Checking in. I. Where you just pick up your key and go. That's. That's my jam. I don't want to talk to anybody. Give them the phone number. Your phone number. Well, we might let you stay here and then again, we might not.

[Tom Griswold]

All right, that's a little paranoid. And then by the way, P.S.

[Bob Kevoian]

he says it's a lot paranoid.

[Tom Griswold]

He says, jeffrey, I really can't connect with you. I'm not a THC guy.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

That's all right, buddy.

[Tom Griswold]

But he finds you hilarious.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

We can be friends.

[Tom Griswold]

He says. No, no. He says the amazingly hilarious. Oh well, Jeff, Oscar, this guy loves that.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

And frame it at home.

[Christopher]

He's right.

[Tom Griswold]

Jeff is amazingly hilarious. You can reach us Bob [e-mail]. this gets a little obscure, this next one. And in the interest of repeating myself, I'm going to ask Chick to help me here. I forget, why were we talking about the so called keytar?

[Musical Guest / Singer]

The what? Were

[Bob Kevoian]

we talking about it a lot? Somebody had a guitar solo and somebody wanted to know, did anybody have a keytar solo? And I don't know.

[Tom Griswold]

Yeah, the keytar is when the keyboard player gets up and it's. He straps on this keyboard and it kind of looks like a guitar because it has. It's narrow for the left hand.

[Kristi Lee]

It was big in the 80s and music videos.

[Tom Griswold]

I wonder if they make a left handed keytar.

[Kristi Lee]

Probably.

[Tom Griswold]

That would be. Boy, that's obscure. Tough enough getting a lefty guitar, but.

[Bob Kevoian]

Well, they don't make a left handed keyboard though, on a piano.

[Tom Griswold]

Well, wouldn't it be because the keytar. The keys are on the bottom of that shaft, right?

[Bob Kevoian]

Yeah.

[Tom Griswold]

What's on. What's on the shaft? Part of those keys or is that something.

[Bob Kevoian]

I think it's just for looks. I want to say chords on the shaft, but I don't think that's right.

[Tom Griswold]

Yeah. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe it's designed for both. I don't know. But this is a nice letter from Ben. In Iowa, Paige McConnell, the keyboard player for Fish, owns James Brown's keytar.

[Bob Kevoian]

Oh, my God.

[Tom Griswold]

And Fish.

[Bob Kevoian]

We are officially in the weeds, kids.

[Tom Griswold]

Well, but. And they'll. They'll do it. He'll use it to play a cover of Edgar Winter's song Frankenstein.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Oh, that's cool.

[Tom Griswold]

It's a great song. And we were. One of the folks we've seen play a keytar is the great Edgar Winner. Terrific musician.

[Bob Kevoian]

He's now Bino, right?

[Tom Griswold]

Yes. Yeah, his brother was a Johnny Winner.

[Bob Kevoian]

Very album.

[Kristi Lee]

He was albino too.

[Bob Kevoian]

Yeah, but they're not twins.

[Tom Griswold]

No longer.

[Bob Kevoian]

What the hell's going on there? Let's get some pigment in this family.

[Tom Griswold]

Edgar's. Edgar's a. He's got a terrific album, an old one called Edgar Winter. White Trash Roadwork. Highly recommended. All of his stuff is great. Now. Thank you very much for the letter about that. That's kind of cool. Fish does all kinds of interesting stuff where they'll cover. They'll take an artist and do the. The artist's entire album as part of one of their shows.

[Kristi Lee]

I've never seen them.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Did you know I met my ex wife at a fish show?

[Bob Kevoian]

Really?

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Yeah.

[Tom Griswold]

How high were you?

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Oh, high enough that I married her

[Kristi Lee]

that day.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Yeah.

[Bob Kevoian]

No, now I'm.

[Musical Guest / Singer]

Now I hate fish. I won't even eat it for dinner.

[Christopher]

That's it for another Bob and Tom show. Extra. Catch us on itunes, Google play and stitcher. For Bob and Tom. Extra. This is Christopher. Take care, everybody.

[Tom Griswold]

The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer Podcast.

[Kristi Lee]

The place where I, Megan Klingerberg, a World cup expert, teaches you everything that you need to know for this summer's World Cup.

[Bob Kevoian]

How special is it that we've been

[Tom Griswold]

able to follow this young group of guys?

[Kristi Lee]

It's been such a rollercoaster of emotions.

[Bob Kevoian]

You can feel the intensity. Quite a bit of time, energy, effort, everything along the way on these guys making the country proud. And I think they will this summer.

[Kristi Lee]

The U.S. soccer Podcast, presented by Henkel.

[Tom Griswold]

Follow and listen on your favorite platform.