In this episode of Weekend Scholar, host Matt Welch heads back to one very weird Saturday in 1985—inside a fake library built in a sweaty high-school gym—to uncover the strange, funny, and surprisingly human truths behind The Breakfast Club.

You know the movie as the teen classic of the 80s: a brain, an athlete, a princess, a criminal, and a basket case stuck in detention, crying, dancing, and eating Pixy Stix sandwiches like that’s a recognized form of therapy. But the version you’ve memorized could easily have been something very different. Matt breaks down how the film narrowly escaped being called The Lunch Bunch, how a scrapped subplot about Principal Vernon being a full-on creep would’ve sunk the whole movie, and how the women on the cast helped steer the story away from disaster before cameras ever rolled.

From there, he digs into the wonderfully chaotic casting process: John Cusack almost playing Bender, Nicolas Cage being too expensive to brood in a trench coat, Rick Moranis briefly showing up as an over-the-top Russian janitor, and Emilio Estevez getting bumped from bad boy to sensitive jock. You’ll hear how Molly Ringwald fought to be the outsider instead of the princess, why Ally Sheedy quietly steals half the film, and how Anthony Michael Hall literally grows during the shoot—turning an awkward continuity problem into a perfect metaphor for mid-teen identity crisis.

Matt also zooms in on the background details that change how you see Shermer High. You’ll learn why Carl the janitor might secretly be the most important character in the movie, how Brian’s parents are played by Anthony Michael Hall’s real family (with John Hughes himself driving the dad car), and what that “Man of the Year, 1969” plaque in the opening shot really says about adult regret after teen glory fades.

Then there’s the set itself: the iconic library that… wasn’t a library at all. Discover how the crew built it in an old gym, stuffed it with thousands of real books, and then roasted the cast under blistering lights until the room hit sauna levels. That bleary, restless, “get me out of here” energy? A lot of it wasn’t acting. It was heat exhaustion.

And of course, Weekend Scholar gets into the movie magic fakery: Allison’s “dandruff snow” actually being Parmesan cheese, the infamous weed scene rolling with oregano, and how some of the most emotional moments were improvised by the actors rather than carefully scripted. The episode breaks down the confession circle, the improvised final fist pump from Judd Nelson that accidentally became an immortal freeze-frame, and the reluctant origin story of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”—a song the band almost didn’t record that ended up welded to one of the most famous endings in movie history.

By the end, this episode argues that The Breakfast Club isn’t just a perfectly polished time capsule. It’s a messy, sweaty, patched-together piece of filmmaking that somehow captured something real about being a teenager: that the labels we wear—brain, athlete, princess, criminal, basket case—are costumes, not destinies; that adults are often just as lost; and that the most iconic moments sometimes come from accidents, last-minute rewrites, and actors doing something honest while everyone else is melting in a fake library.

If you’ve ever quoted the movie, seen yourself in one of those five kids, or wondered why this little detention film still matters nearly forty years later, this deep dive into the facts behind The Breakfast Club is your hall pass back to Shermer High.

In this holiday episode of Weekend Scholar we dive into three strange and wonderful corners of Christmas culture: chaotic gift exchanges, the over-the-top finale of Home Alone, and the secret backstory of an iconic Christmas pop song.

First, we unwrap the wild world of the holiday gift exchange. What’s the difference between a White Elephant gift exchange, a Yankee Swap, Dirty Santa, Secret Santa, Pollyanna, and even the wonderfully weird Cobweb Party? We walk through how each game works, where the traditions came from, and why every office thinks their rules are the official ones. If you’ve ever squinted at a “we’re doing a White Elephant” email and wondered if you’re supposed to bring a gag gift, a candle, or your soul, this segment breaks down the gift-swap chaos—White Elephants, Yankee Swaps, party-game stealing, and all.

Next, we head into movie territory and zoom in on the legendary booby-trap sequence from the iconic movie Home Alone. We look at how director Chris Columbus, writer John Hughes, cinematographer Julio Macat, and production designer John Muto turned the McCallister house into a slapstick war zone. We talk about Kevin McCallister’s battle plan, the Wet Bandits, stunt doubles taking massive falls, and old-school effects tricks used for things like the blowtorch to the head and the red-hot doorknob.

Finally, we switch on the radio and dig into the origin of one of the most played-to-death Christmas songs of all time—a holiday anthem with sleigh bells, synths, and a chorus you can’t escape. We trace how this “not-really-about-Christmas” track was written, how quickly the songwriter put it together, why it didn’t hit number one at first, how it kept climbing back onto the charts year after year, and how it eventually turned into a global Christmas music staple with countless covers and massive streaming numbers.

If you’re into holiday trivia, Christmas movie lore, and the secret stories behind the songs and traditions we take for granted, this episode of Weekend Scholar is your cozy, nerdy December companion.

Hit play on “Gift Wraps, Booby Traps, Christmas Toe Taps” to prep for your next gift exchange, rewatch Home Alone with fresh eyes, and try to guess the mystery ’80s Christmas hit before we say the name out loud.

What is this show about?