Were I to have a Patreon feed, this is where I would put that. But I don't. So fuck it. McDonaldLand. Come check out this hallucinatory marketing franchise with its own fan wiki, and its copyright infringing origins! W

Check out Cherry Wood in her ongoing competition BFF at Splash Chicago on Wednesdays at 9pm throughout July and August of 2026!

SOURCES:

I made it up

1. Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions Inc. v. McDonald's Corp. c. 1977: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/562/1157/293262/

2. Sid and Marty telling the Liberace story and their Dean Martin TV origins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLrEXvLV3_Y

3. "My brother is like Walt Disney without the budget" - Valerie Kuklenski's article in the New York Times from March 23rd, 2003 titled "Marty Krofft: Hollywood supports 'PufNStuf' comeback"

4. Literally every fucking episode of HR PufNStuf: https://youtu.be/m3WldNegaZY?si=TiGKM5i6qCskQ6TZ

5. The 2007 edition of “Litigation Services Handbook: The Role of the Financial Expert” which I absolutely did pirate because my library did not offer any ebook copies

6. Compare the 1970s McDonaldLand commercial to the 2025 one and see if you can track how much advertisers hack into our dopamine systems lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a3NNaauNgw | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZfybUBRa0E

7. The McDonaldLand fan wiki that'll fry any computer that opens it: https://mcdonalds.fandom.com/wiki/McDonaldland

I sing on this podcast about 3 times and you all have to be nice about it.

Ariana Miles and Christian McCann - two of Chicago's best and brightest pianos players - join me to discuss the hilarious world of trying to copyright a vibe. Why do we have to pay exorbitant fees for samples? Can you own a chord progression? Will Christian or Ariana play a piano riff accurately enough to get this episode taken down for copyright issues? If you're listening to this episode, they lost...

The central focus of this episode is the lawsuit between Gilbert O'Sullivan and Biz Markie. Something I regret not saying in the episode because I forgot is: Biz Markie died in 2021 of Type 2 Diabetes (or possibly complications with COVID based on when he fell ill). Born 18 years after Gilbert O'Sullivan and died of a treatable disease - yet another layer of inequality that we discuss in the episode that I thought should have been mentioned!

There are two pianos in front of Christian and Ariana. I'm at the sound booth saddle with a paper script, an espresso martini, a diet coke and a dream. I am not a journalist or a comedian, I am just some chick.

TICKETS TO ARIANA MILES AND AMY DO'S LIVE ALBUM CONCERT JULY 19th 2026: https://www.hideoutchicago.com/shows/amy-ariana-charity-show-early-19-jul

All proceeds from the What She Wants show are going to The Night Ministry, a Chicago-based organization whose mission is to provide human connection, housing support, and health care to members of our community who are unhoused or experiencing poverty. https://thenightministry.org/give/

Christian is playing in the band, and he and I are opening the show with dueling pianos. Yay.

SOURCES:

For Gilbert O'Sullivan's general background, I used his Wikipedia page. Interestingly enough, Biz Markie's doesn't cover a lot of his early life, so I used this website: https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/biz-markie-1964-2021/

1. The Guiness Book of 500 Number One Hits (with that goddamn misattributed quote), 1992, Enfield, Middlesex : Guinness Superlatives, archive.org link here: https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookof500000unse/page/262/mode/1up?q=MAM
2. "With friends like Kevin Duffy, you don't need many friends" quote from KEVIN THOMAS DUFFY: A MASTERFUL TRIAL JUDGE by The Honorable P. Kevin Castel, 2022, link here: https://fordhamlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Castel_Duffy.pdf
3. Judge Kevin Duffy's fuckass opinion from Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc c. 1991 found here: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/780/182/1445286/
4. Sorry that I only just realized I got this from ICE's website, but this is the story of the Maralynd guy who burnt too many copies of Kung Fu Panda 2 too close to the sun circa 2012: https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/maryland-man-sentenced-criminal-copyright-infringement
5. You can find the Johnny Cash story in many a listicle, here's one I used: https://americansongwriter.com/on-this-day-in-1955-johnny-cash-recorded-a-song-that-would-bring-him-chart-success-and-legal-issues-decades-later/
6. Fogerty v. Fantasy Inc SUPREME COURT opinion, penned by Willia...

Terrible Portraits artist and longtime cherished friend Jacob Ryan Reno comes to make Hedge Fund Management ENTERTAINING AS ALL HELL! If you don't know this story, I highly encourage you to go in blind like Jacob did, because I fear I totally gagged him at the main climax of the story.

We dive into the ultimate "not like other girls" disgraced Wall Street trader Sam Israel III. Third time's a charm for the Israel family no doubt as we really dig into the story of a guy with a tattoo of a little cherub on his hip desperate to beat the nepo baby allegations.

Honestly the main source I used was Guy Lawson's book "Octopus: Sam Israel, the Shadow Market, and Wall Street's Wildest Con" from 2012. It is a very detailed book that, as discussed on pod, lowkey gets conspiracy-brain-pilled in the middle and it is not particularly entertaining or great. I checked with other news sources to verify some of the key information, but I'd be lying to say I used those news sources as much as I just simply used the book to get this story across, since it is absolutely fucking nuts. But the book isn't great, so I can't recommend it the way I recommend other books.

Support Jacob's work @terrible.portraits which you may have no doubt seen on the news or Instagram recently! Hire him for your funeral on a day he's not meant to be a the clubbbbb!

I meant to post this yesterday and just literally forgot? Sorry everybody LOL.