"Willie tries to teach Brian nonviolence in dealing with a school bully, but changes his ways when the bully's lowlife father comes to the Tanner residence and insults the entire family."

An episode about Brian being repeatedly punched in the face? Erm..., we didnt kill him. That is to say, your hosts Ben Baker and John Matthews didnt, as they're still rubbing liniment into their unmentionables after this heavyweight Melmacian Mauler smackdown.

If you want to help us buy more delicious stinking liniment, perhaps consider joining the Orbit Guard. You'll get a tons of bonus stuff and keep our self-produced show on the air. Visit⁠⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/ALFsplainingExtra⁠⁠⁠ for more.

Here on ALFsplaining, we are big fans of balance - be it following every Howard Jones track with one by Nik Kershaw or one of them seals with a beachball you used to see at the zoo in old cartoons. And so after speaking to the lovely Mike Reiss, Ben and John thought it only right and proper to talk to his former long-term writing partner Al Jean.

Like Reiss, he also worked on Sledge Hammer, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, The Critic, Its Garry Shandling's Show and, of course, The Simpsons. In fact Al would be credited as showrunner for over 450 episodes of that last one which is surely the biggest TV programme of us and most people's lifetimes.

And yet we're going to talk to him about "ALF".

Those other shows come up as do, inevitably, ALF pogs but Al talks us through what they learned from their year on the show, the cast's terror on set, how basketball solved an office dilemma, which comedy superstar walked in at random and asked to be on "The Simpsons", why him and Mike stopped writing together and, of course, what he thinks ALF smells like.

This is another wonderful chat with a genuine icon who has worked on the best US comedy programmes for four decades and it was a genuine honour that he agreed to be a guest.

And if you want to support our future shenanigans, please consider joining The Orbit Guard for lots of ace video and audio extras about our Melmacian mate: ⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/ALFsplainingExtra⁠

In today's very special episode of "ALFsplaining", Ben and John speak to the writer Mike Reiss.

If you aren't familiar with the name - firstly, C'MON - but you'll know the shows he's worked on, including "Sledge Hammer!", "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson", "It's Garry Shandling's Show" and "The Simpsons" where he has worked for over three decades.

He also co-created "The Critic", has written gags for tons of animated movies and now is turning his experiences travelling the world into a new Substack newslatter titled "Now I've Seen Everything!"

Oh, and he worked on some show called "ALF".

Joining us live from New York, Mike tells us about how he got involved with the second season despite never seeing a second of it prior, how he used what he learned on "ALF" in his future work on "The Simpsons", what the writers room was like and how Jerry Stahl is probably the last person to ask about that, which now very well-known actor nearly played teenage tearaway Jake Ochmanek, how some of the writers wanted to reboot our boy Shumway in modern society, why the puppet could never get wet and, most importantly, answers the one billion Wernick question - what did ALF smell like?

This is a great chat full of insider knowledge with a really friendly guy which we really hope you enjoy. Find Mike's new Substack here: https://reissm.substack.com/

And if you want to support our future shenanigans, please consider joining The Orbit Guard for lots of ace video and audio extras about our Melmacian chum: ⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/ALFsplainingExtra⁠