In a world of endless sequels, prequels and extended universes, one film history / improv comedy podcast will attempt to create the most pointless cinematic spin-offs imaginable. Join comedians Sonny Yang and Rory Machell each episode as they improvise a wholly original tale about a nameless and unimportant background character from a random movie or series. 9 times out of 10, the character dies! Opening theme by Timepiece Follow us: Instagram @pointlessspinoffpodcast TikTok @pointless.spinoff Twitter @PointlessSpinff YouTube @pointlessspin-off-podcast
Pointless Spin-Off is taking a mid-season break but we just thought we'd drop an episode for our adoring fan(s) as a token of our appreciation and to let you know we haven't forgotten about you. Enjoy our improvised spin-off to The Whistleblower (2010) / bittersweet ode to Doug Walker the Nostalgia Critic and we'll catch you in the second half of the season!
In our very 51st episode, join us as we journey to Rory's ancestral homeland and embark on a good old fashioned hard-boiled detective caper with all the hallmarks of a classic neo-noir thriller: saxophone music, someone's bare asshole, a GameFAQs guide, etc. Inspired by the 2012 film 'Grabbers'.
In our special extended 50th episode extravaganza, Sonny, Rory and special guest improviser Phillip Whyte journey into Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon' universe to bring you a space operatic tale like no other. Suck it LucasFilm!* * Make more of those classic LucasArts adventure games, then we'll talk.
In our long awaited Season 4 premiere, Sonny and Rory return to the studio (and then back to Rory's apartment after we got kicked out for running over time) to bring you a pointless spin-off of John Carpenter's 1980 classic 'The Fog'.
In our first of probably three Halloween special episodes for 2023, Sonny and Rory take to the skies of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes as we thankfully avoid the aforementioned hills altogether in the safety and comfort of a US Air Force fighter jet.
Go, go, go, go, go, go. Go, Rory. It's your birthday. We're gonna party like it's your birthday. We're gonna sip Bacardi like it's your birthday. And you know we don't give a hoot it's not your birthday. You can find Rory in the club, bottle full of bub'. Look, Rory's got the X, if you're into taking drugs. Rory's into having sex, he ain't into making love. So come listen to Rory's 3rd Annual Birthday Spectacular Episode, if you're into getting rubbed.
In our very forty-sixth episode, Sonny and Rory embark on a globe-trotting* adventure** with one of the background waiters from the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as they find out if you really can teach an old dog*** new tricks****. * in and around a single city ** series of fruitless tasks *** some prick **** ways to die and suffer
Sonny and Rory return from their hiatus to bring you the premiere episode of Pointless Spin-Off Season 3! Join them in their new studio space as they cook up a tasty improvised sequel to Aardman's Chicken Run.
In our combined belated Halloween / Xmas / Season Two Finale special episode, Sonny and Rory present a spooktacular pointless spin-off to Tim Burton's and Henry Selick's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which also doubles as a prequel to our very first episode. It's been a bumpy season, but we hope you enjoyed it nevertheless. Happy holidays and happy 2023!
You are not well. We recommend staying at home and listening to our latest Pointless Spin-Off of 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'. It's the best thing for you. (the gag is that this episode synopsis resembles an interaction between a caretaker and a 'patient' as if it were an instance of Munchausen by-proxy syndrome)
In our very forty-second episode, Sonny and Rory present their very own take on the classic tale of Pinocchio the silly wooden boy, specifically the prop Pinocchio toy from Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King (1991). Featuring the debut of Rory's Robin Williams impression (it's pretty good).
In this week's episode, Sonny and Rory face the unimaginable as COVID forces them to record the podcast remotely via video call. How will they cope not being in the same room together? Also, it's Rory's birthday again.
In our very special 40th episode spectacular, Sonny and Rory present the unofficial romantic comedy prequel to the 2011 Canadian film 'Starbuck' that examines the secret lives of the millions of sperm cells within a single donation vial. Whole lotta cum talk in this! TW: self-harm
In our very thirty-ninth episode, Sonny and Rory present the completely pointless and unnecessary canine spin-off of Francois Truffaut's Oscar-winning classic 'Day for Night' and also share some scandalous* behind-the-scenes stories of their own experiences working on films sets. * (mundane)
In our second back-to-back One Year Anniversary Special, Sonny and Rory put on their journalist hats and get the inside scoop on the murky world of underground student protestors from some guy who, sadly, isn't Timothee Chalamet.
In Part 1 of our much belated One-Year Anniversary Special, Sonny and Rory ponder what would happen if one of the murderous school children from Kinji Fukasaku's BATTLE ROYALE happened to play hooky on that fateful day. Featuring our first ever bonus Pointless Spin-Off of a piece of printed media!* * a novel tie-in to a video game
Some new Marvel legends arrive in our ver first Pointless Spin-Off of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Sonny and Rory follow a trio of truffle-hunting lab pigs on a relatively low-stakes globe-trotting mission to prove that they have what it takes to collectively become the next Black Widow. Featuring the obligatory discussion about whether Marvel movies are true cinema.
In our very thirty-fifth episode, Sonny and Rory leap, flip and tumble across the rooftops of a pre-Apocalypse Jerusalem as they join a ragtag gang of parkour enthusiasts in their unofficial prequel to 'World War Z' titled 'World of P'. The 'P' can stand for either parkour, prequel or podcast, let's be honest.
In our second ever venture into the Barbie multiverse, Sonny and Rory encounter a couple of low-level guards who'll do anything to rise through the ranks and become just like Barbie and her elite musketeers - even if it means resorting to toxic incel behaviour!
Teaming up for one last job (until the next episode), Sonny and Rory embark on a mission to help a college freshman lose his virginity in 24 hours, before an old family curse does something vaguely bad to him.
In our finale episode of Season Two: Volume One (that's right, we're breaking our seasons up into volumes now - such is our power), Sonny and Rory present a Pointless Spin-Off first as we clumsily re-tell the events of cult supernatural thriller The Empty Man ... IN REVERSE. Stay tuned for Season Two: Volume Two coming May 2022!
In our very thirty-first episode, Sonny and Rory hyper-focus on the in-universe 'Deal or No Deal' broadcast in the opening scene of cult Aussie film 'Animal Kingdom', because it's better than anything else in the movie, let's be honest. Featuring the worst Australian accents by two people who are actually Australian.
In our long and frankly over-indulgent 30th episode special, Sonny and Rory are transported to the PAW Patrol universe where they help a young goat achieve his seemingly impossible dream of joining the aforementioned elite dog squad despite a lack of canine features and any kind of positive support network of friends and family who care about him.
In our very twenty-ninth episode, Sonny and Rory infiltrate the cutthroat world of global politics as they witness the meteoric rise of an ambitious go-getter who will stop at nothing until she achieves at least one of her vague, buzzword-filled goals.
In an all-new exciting chapter of the Pointless Spin-Off saga, Sonny and Rory journey to the DRAGON BALL universe as they witness the marital breakdown of a middle-aged peasant couple. Featuring the debut of Rory's James Corden impression.
In our very twenty-seventh episode, Sonny and Rory tell a slice-of-life story 10,000 years in the making as they delve into the daily grind of a struggling background musician from Disney's Brother Bear. Weep as he tries to make a comfortable living doing what he loves. P.S. - Excuse the constant ceiling fan and water bottle noises. It was a hot day when we recorded this.
Sonny and Rory return for the Season Two premiere with a wholly improvised spin-off of George Lucas' debut feature film 'THX 1138', in which two bored security guards hatch a plan to shake things up in the totalitarian shaved-head facility where they work.
In our epic holiday-themed Season One finale, Sonny and Rory shack up in a manger with two tree deliverymen in Feudal Japan as they contemplate the true meaning of what makes Jesus so damn special anyhow. We also look back at our favourite moments from this season in our first ever obligatory clip show. A sincere thank you to all of our listeners at home and abroad for joining us on this wild ride of a first season. We'll be back in 2022 for Season Two babbyy!
In our penultimate episode of Season 1, Sonny and Rory pontificate about some philosophical mumbly-jumbly as they attempt to recreate the events of 'Heat' but with firefighters instead. Featuring a very special guest: comedian Gerard Maroney!
In our special Halloween 2021 Spook-tacular finale, Sonny and Rory turn the lens from fiction over to the horrors of real life as they binge watch a true crime documentary serial about the rise and fall of Ape Capone: the infamous hyper-intelligent gorilla who ruled the criminal underworld with an iron poo-covered fist. Expect a roller-coaster ride of much rising and falling.
In our fourth Halloween 2021 Spook-tacular special episode, Sonny and Rory view the fungal apocalypse through the eyes of a precocious fungus-zombie child who wants to attain a basic kindergarten-level education, despite her fungus-zombie mother's wishes. #NoFungusChildLeftBehind
In our third Halloween 2021 Spook-tacular episode, Sonny and Rory subscribe to a disgruntled Norwegian shipping yard worker who spends every waking second of his miserable life obsessing over antagonistic comments online until he reaches his breaking point and snaps like pretty much every sad nerd on the Internet. Featuring multiple shocking twist endings, each one more shocking than the last. M. Night Shyamalan eat your ass out.
In our second Halloween 2021 Spook-tacular Season Special, Sonny and Rory point their large cartoonish magnifying glasses towards a colony of maggots as they examine how (*Attenborough voice*) these unsung heroes of the undergrowth wriggled their way into becoming the most useless species on the planet.
In the first of five Halloween 2021 Spook-tacular edition episodes, Sonny and Rory delve into the depraved mind of New York's biggest prostitute fan as he pursues the one hooker who got away... (suggested by our friends at One of Us is Board)
In our very eighteenth episode, Sonny and Rory gather around by the fireplace and recite the Aesopian fable of two rats who find themselves biting off a little more than they can chew...
In our first ever 'Edward Snowed-In' Holiday special, Sonny and Rory do away with the jokes as they tackle the serious issue of racial discrimination in the corporate world. No funny business here. Content warnings abound.
In our sweet sixteenth episode, Sonny and Rory stumble upon a creepy backwater village in medieval Mongolia that appears to be harbouring some kind of dark, twisted secret (probably to do with murders, etc).
In our special fourteenth Rory's Big Boy 28th Birthday Bonanza episode, Sonny and Big Birthday Boy Rory become entangled in a deadly yakuza conspiracy involving a custodial worker with the voice of an angel, a traditional dancer with no discernible talent and a fish metaphor that will become clear by the end of the story.
In our very thirteenth episode, Sonny and Rory get drafted into a ragtag group of jungle animals led by an obnoxious tapir as they undertake a dangerous rescue mission in a French penal colony.
In our very twelfth episode, Sonny and Rory huddle around a campfire as they spin an old Western yarn about a man who lived by the gun, rode like the wind and coasted through on sheer gumption. Yee-haw.
In our very eleventh episode, Sonny and Rory tell the tale of an aspiring generic bald muscle-bound henchman type who, with a little heart and a lot of self-belief, might just find his dream job in the cruel, competitive world of organised crime.
In our special tenth episode spectacular, Sonny and Rory delve into the cooked brain of Ray Liotta's character from Hannibal as it's unwittingly eaten and digested by several hungry economy class passengers.
In our very ninth episode, Sonny and Rory enrol in French medical school as they trade notes with an underachieving college dropout who's been forced into the humiliating role of campus beer bottle mascot (Part II of our Mediocre Men in Mascot Costumes Duology). Bon appetit!
In our very eighth episode, Sonny and Rory learn about the dark side of the costumed mascot business as they examine the tale of a down-on-his-luck professional whale impersonator. Inspired by true events.
In our very seventh episode, Sonny and Rory boldly go where no improvised film podcast has gone before as they experience the living nightmare that is being a holographic simulation aboard the Starship Enterprise (the Patrick Stewart version).
As requested by Nick and Erin of G(art)bage Film, this week Sonny and Rory delve into the traumatic life of the sole-surviving clown shoe from Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the aftermath of its twins demise at the hands of Judge Doom. Real sad stuff.
In our very fifth episode, Sonny and Rory pick up from where the original Sunshine left off as we find out how the last remnants of humanity rise up to the challenge of rebuilding civilisation after the Icarus II's fateful mission to revive the Sun - featuring the worst Hugh Jackman impression you've ever heard!
As requested by Sam & Calum from One of Us is Board podcast, this week Sonny and Rory take us back to the year 2015 as they examine the sad life of Elijah Woods' character from Back to the Future Part II, a retro video game enthusiast who struggles to find his place in a world that doesn't understand or even like him.
In our very third episode, Sonny and Rory find out how the other half lives as they tell the tale of an upper-middle class stork family harbouring a dark secret. Featuring badly improvised songs and even worse British accents!
In our very second episode, the Fellowship of Sonny and Rory venture into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's HobbitLand as they recall the tale of an unhinged elf and his trusty horse.