The Soft Serve Podcast

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank discusses the current “fate of our nation;” the 30 goldfish that survived the winter living in his swimming pool; historical tragedies that have happened in the last 3 weeks of April; and some recent concerts (Mike Doughty, Puscifer) and movies (The Drama, Sirat, and S4: The Bob Lazar Story). If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank recreates his infamous Easter stand up comedy routine that caused someone to storm out in the middle of the set in disgust and anger. If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank discusses Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary and why you need to see the movie and read the book. If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank takes a sledgehammer to the comforting myths of spring. First, Sawtooth examines how Donald Trump’s favorite new slogan, “peace through strength,” falls apart under scrutiny, revealing how brute military force produces the exact instability it claims to prevent.Then, Sawtooth pivots to the season itself. From St. Patrick's Day to Earth Day, spring holidays sell us a story of rebirth, renewal, and cheerful green optimism. However, nature tells a darker tale. Spring isn’t warm and gentle. It’s cold and chaotic: mating frenzies, territorial battles, mass pollination, and plenty of death along the way. The season of “new life” is really a bloody annual biological free-for-all. If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

War overseas, higher prices at home, protest music in the air, and a gothic movie on the big screen! In this episode, Sawtooth Frank breaks down how Donald Trump’s war with Iran is driving up gas prices and the cost-of-living for everyday Americans. Sawtooth then pumps up the volume on Brass Against, the brass-powered band known for inspiring social and personal change through their original brass-driven compositions and covers of hard rock and heavy metal classics. Finally, Sawtooth gives a spoiler-free review of The Bride!, an American Gothic romance film written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and then wraps things up with a brief discussion of the Bridgeton universe show, Queen Charlotte. If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328 Check out Brass Against on their Web site: https://brassagainst.com/ "The Bride!" on IMBD: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30851137/

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank talks about the illegal and unconstitutional war with Iran, and then jumps into his time machine to go back to 1974 to see what life was like 52 years ago on the day he was born. If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth talks about the Blizzard of 2026 and his new obsession with apples, including a reading of his apple-related poem, “Royalty Runs in the Family.” If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth talks about the snow, the Winter Olympics, and the movies, “Send Help” and “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.” If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth reflects on Stomping Jen’s return to the podcast, talks about HBO’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdom’s” and Apple T.V. 's “Dickinson,” and reads his new essay, “The Dysmorphic Brotherhood of the Stretching Pants.” If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Stomping Jen makes her triumphant return to the Soft Serve Podcast! We talk about what Jen has been up to and if she’s “back” on the podcast, and we discuss the movie “Hamnet” and the television show “Heated Rivalry.” If you like our podcast, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth opens up with some light talk about the Blizzard of January 2026 and watching "The Shawshank Redemption" with his daughter, Space Unicorn. To end the episode, Sawtooth reflects on the horrifying public execution of Department of Veterans Affairs intensive care unit nurse, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by our government’s fascist immigration enforcement thugs. If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://substack.com/@softservepodcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank reflects on the music of Roger Waters and Pink Floyd. Sawtooth also talks about Trump’s crazy letter to the Prime Minister of Norway, and the movies "Avatar 3," "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," and "Train Dreams." If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://softservepodcast.substack.com/p/fba2ddea-ab54-4107-9dcc-df3703fbf808https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

Sawtooth reflects on the horrific killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by our increasingly Orwellian government’s I.C.E. agents. Sawtooth follows this with a reading of “Here But Not Here,” his short story/poem about the hypnotic, isolating, and dark forces of social media. If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth reflects on the two-and-a-half week trip he took with Stomping Jen to Europe and Africa over the 2025-2026 winter holidays. If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank reflects on the music he listened to the most in 2025 and talks about his 2026 New Year’s Resolutions. If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank revisits and reflects on two Soft Serve Podcast Christmas classics: A 2025 remix of his Eminem-inspired hip-hop banger and holiday classic, “What’s So Merry About Christmas?” and the haunting short story fever-dream, “Waiting for Christmas.” If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth Frank reflects on the closing of a Western Massachusetts Jewish delicatessen. If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth reads the title poem from his second collection of poetry, Monolith Vendors. If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328 Monolith Vendors Castro’s beard was captured in Little Havana trying to start a revolution. Manuel, the barber on Calle Roja, who was no friend of Fidel’s, swept up Castro’s beard with his broom. Manuel placed the beard in a dill pickle jar and called the F.B.I. Interrogation proved useless against Castro’s infiltrating beard. Torture, truth serum, and offers of amnesty. None of these tactics worked. The F.B.I. made offers of money, to which Castro’s beard just laughed, and said, “Try again.” Following months of imprisonment and high level risk assessment, the FBI released Castro’s beard. A revolution in the United States was unlikely. Finding work was not difficult. Castro’s beard was offered a job to write for the socialist rag, La Revolucion. The Department of Labor issued a work visa. The beard was determined to make something of itself. Having lived in Cuba on a dictator’s face, Castro’s beard wrote the best articles on socialism anybody had ever read. The disembodied beard worked its way to the top. Staff writer, to lead writer, to Editor in Chief. Life was good for the transplanted ideologue. The beard bought a car and a small bungalow. None of it belonged to Cuba. Castro’s beard was happy for a long time. Many years later, on a cool evening, Castro’s Beard was watching television and eating dinner at home in Little Havana. There was a knock on the door. Not expecting company, the beard said, “Who is it?” There was a very long pause before the reply. “Somos los amigos de Fidel Castro. Señor Castro está muerto.” We are the friends of Fidel. Mr Castro is dead. The day Castro’s beard had been dreading had arrived. The beard opened its front door. Two men, dressed in black suits, with skin the color of gold stood on the porch. The men smelled of cigar smoke, rum, and fresh limes. They were crying. “Stay here,” said Castro’s beard. The beard went to its bedroom, and took a suitcase from the closet, and started packing. The men waited on the porch. Hundreds of thousands—maybe millions— of mourners passed by the glass coffin of Fidel Castro. The line of people waiting to see the dead President’s body at Revolution Square, stretched for miles. From its perch on Fidel’s cold dead chin, Castro’s beard regarded each mourner with gratitude. Most were silent, some said long and whispering prayers, others wailed and screamed with unfathomable grief. An old woman addressed Castro’s beard directly. “I’m so glad you’re home,” she said, wiping away tears, “You belong here, on the face of our leader.” Deep down inside, Castro’s beard was certain The old woman was right. “May I ask you a question?” said the beard to the woman. The old woman blew her nose into a rag and nodded. “Did Fidel forget me—did he hate me for failing?” “Never,” the woman said to the beard, dropping her handkerchief. She smiled. “He loved you for trying.”

Sawtooth is back for his 3rd solo Absolute Zero episode of the podcast to reflect on U2’s “The Joshua Tree” album. If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328

In this episode, Sawtooth is back for his second solo Absolute Zero edition of the podcast to reflect on death, time, and an unexpected gift from a stranger. If you like our show, there’s a few things you can do to help us out: https://www.softservepodcast.com!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soft-serve-podcast/id1428770328