Pop My Culture

August9th

21 Comments

Jess Harnell

Jess Harnell (“Animaniacs,” “Doc McStuffins”) chats with Cole and Vanessa about the sad demise of Hitchbot, Mick Fanning’s shark encounter, Andrea Romano, meeting Steven Spielberg, Rock Sugar, Paul Stanley, Grim Gloom, finding the Sewer Urchin’s voice, Oasis, “throat rippers,” Kramer, Splash Mountain and Jess trying to convince a skeptical 11 year-old that he’s the voice of Wakko.

Leave your answer to the firsts question (the first computer game you were into) on our website for a chance to win an “Animaniacs” box set autographed by both Jess and past guest Rob Paulsen (that’s Wakko and Yakko, folks!)

Jess Harnell with hosts Cole Stratton and Vanessa Ragland

Jess Harnell and Rob Paulson signed Animaniacs DVD set

21 Comments

  • Comment by Matt — August 10, 2015 @ 8:53 am

    Oh man. SO GOOD! Thank you as always for an amazing podcast.

    My first computer game was the Bugs Bunny’s Hare Brained Adventure. I played it so much that I mapped out the entire game on a sheet of paper so no matter how the rooms were “randomly” generated, I always knew exactly where all the keys and items in the castle were.

    Yeah… I didn’t have a lot of friends. Except my good friends Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.

  • Comment by Dave — August 10, 2015 @ 10:30 am

    I always love when voice-over actors are on the show!
    My first computer dame was Kings Quest VI. It was one of the first games that fought piracy. It did it in a very low-tech way by making it so you needed the manual to solve some of the puzzles. I played through this game so many times that I actually remember the random glyphs without the book. Great voice acting and fun, cartoony, graphics.

  • Comment by Kourtney — August 10, 2015 @ 10:39 am

    Oregon Trail for sure! Who doesn’t like fictionally dying of Dysentery?!?

    Love the show!

  • Comment by Chris — August 10, 2015 @ 10:50 am

    Neat! My first one would have to be the Commodore 64 port of Zaxxon. I was never very good at it (mainly had trouble gauging depth), but I still managed to have fun anyway.

  • Comment by Jason zeimet — August 10, 2015 @ 1:33 pm

    I loved Commander Keen!

  • Comment by BeatyBe — August 10, 2015 @ 1:55 pm

    This episode was AWESOME, always love when voice actors ale an appearance.

    My first computer game was “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” on the Apple II. Tracking down villains with geography trivia was great, but my sister and I didn’t know anything about flags and countries, and without the internet we resorted to flipping through dad’s encyclopedias for answers.

  • Comment by Aurora W. — August 10, 2015 @ 6:10 pm

    The first computer game I remember being exposed to was ” The Oregon Trail” and I remember it being on floppy disk for IBM computer. So no color in the game and my people always died of dysentery. I really wasn’t good at the game.

  • Comment by Myles Gordon — August 10, 2015 @ 7:25 pm

    The game I played a lot as a kid was Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon. That probably tells you a lot about me.

  • Comment by Bryan — August 10, 2015 @ 7:33 pm

    The first computer game I remember playing was Roller Coaster Tycoon. I think I would still get a kick out of sending a train full of people off the track to a fiery death and watching everyone else stream out of the park.

    And not a computer game but I only had two games for my original Gameboy and one was the Animaniacs game, of course!

  • Comment by John — August 11, 2015 @ 7:57 am

    The first ones I remember playing were Oregon Trail & Carmen San Diego in elementary school computer lab, but the first one I got hooked on on my own a few years later was the first person shooter/flight simulator Star Wars: TIE Fighter. GREAT game and I think it was the first one where you could play loyal to the Empire.

  • Comment by Ryan — August 11, 2015 @ 1:54 pm

    The first game I was really into was Oregon Trail, both in school and at my sister’s friends house, where I would beg my sister to take me when she was babysitting me so that I could play Oregon Trail. I was a totally weird kid, though, so I would always name my family after characters from various shows/books/movies that I enjoyed and would pretend that they had just time traveled. Spock died from dysentery so many times.

  • Comment by john — August 11, 2015 @ 3:28 pm

    My first PC game was Eye of the beholder and it blew my mind.

  • Comment by Marlaina — August 11, 2015 @ 5:50 pm

    The first game I remember being addicted to was Bubble Bobble. Our whole family would take turns to see who could survive the longest.

  • Comment by Shannon Owens — August 12, 2015 @ 5:01 am

    Great show! The first video game I was ever into was Q*Bert.

  • Comment by Alexander — August 12, 2015 @ 11:30 pm

    The first game I ever loved was Crash Bandicoot.

  • Comment by Bobby — August 13, 2015 @ 11:32 am

    Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego, 1985 version on a 5 inch floppy. Catholic school basement computer room. Old School.

  • Comment by Sarah — August 14, 2015 @ 9:05 am

    The first game that popped into my head as something I was super obsessed with was Commander Keen, but I played a TON of computer games as a kid. Honorable mentions for Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego, and the Dr. Brain games.

  • Comment by Andrw — August 14, 2015 @ 10:14 pm

    Always happy to hear voice actors on the show, they’re among the most fun guests.
    The first computer game I was really into, not counting things like Adventure and Combat on the Atari 2600, was the Infocom Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game. The fact that I was introduced to that game and that kind of humor so early has influenced the kind of media I like so greatly, the impact cannot be overstated. I remember most strongly being stuck several times, and having to get the hint guide, where you had to use a highlighter to expose the clues. So many things about that game stand out–making sure you pick up everything, be certain to order that cheese sandwich, and type something completely pointless at least once or you can’t win. And always know where your towel is.

  • Comment by Santiago Gonzales — August 15, 2015 @ 12:50 pm

    My first video game was super Mario 2. I was with my mom at one of her friends homes and her friends son was playing it. My mom forced me to play even though I told her I was fine just sitting and watching it being played. I think I was like 6 or 7.

  • Comment by Todd — August 17, 2015 @ 10:31 am

    It wasn’t my first game but it was definitely Diablo II for days!! Seasons would change while I played that game. Still love it.

  • Comment by FellHarbor — July 7, 2016 @ 12:26 pm

    I was introduced to computers at school, so the first ones I played were likely Number Munchers and Oregon Trail. But the first computer game that I was really into was Leisure Suit Larry. Started playing that at the ripe old age of like 8. My parents would help me answer the proof-of-age questions at the start of the game since Google wasn’t an option in c.1988. lol I didn’t understand 90% of what was going on, but I liked the puzzle-solving aspect of it.

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