Brushee Sunshine is the host of the children’s’ tooth cleanliness show – The Sunshine Smile Hour. But suddenly he’s murdered via bullets fired through a rip in space time. Detective Dankent is called in to help solve the mystery. The suspects: Flosso, Brushee’s older brother who was relegated to second banana; Braceletta, the buxom beauty with the braces on her legs and her teeth and also fiance to Brushee; Elsa, Bracletta’s assistant who acts like a loyal dog. And that’s only the beginning. Join us as we take an audio adventure of musical proportions.
If you’re not familiar with Fall of the House of Sunshine, let’s get one thing clear: You have never heard anything like this before, and you probably won’t ever again.
In the show’s alternate reality, people worship teeth and fear the rise of the evil puppets. There’s also a villainous (or maybe antihero?) talking boob.
There are three or four fantastic songs in each episode. For a sample, I recommend listening to Everybody Gets Fuzz’d Tonight. It’s under 2 minutes long and gives you a feel for the show (with light spoilers, but the plot is too insane for any one thing to truly spoil you). Plus it’s just plain fun.
If any of the above sounds too weird to you, turn back now. Things get far more interesting as the show progresses. That said, the weirdness is more of a flavor that complements the show’s other strengths.
Fall of the House of Sunshine deals primarily in absurdist comedy, but there is some surprisingly sharp satire sprinkled throughout. Concepts like the corruption of power, the rise of fascism, police brutality, gender fluidity, and learning to accept oneself are handled deftly and with a humorous flair.
There are also a large number of nods to well-known stories and films. Dr. Strangelove, Voltron, Coraline, and X-men are all parodied to some extent. In some cases the references are subtle, and in others…not so much. (I’m looking at you, Professor Y of the Y-team).
I do want to mention that a certain “buxom beauty with the braces on her legs and her teeth” might seem at first like a cheap joke made at the expense of disabled people. However, she gets significant character development and has a large amount of agency in the story.
For a show that includes a little bit of everything, no matter how weird, it’s internally consistent to a degree that’s nothing short of impressive. Things that initially appear to be a one-off joke get developed throughout the course of two seasons and tricky concepts like time travel are handled remarkably well.
This was one of the weirdest, most delightful audio dramas I’ve ever listened to, and it quickly became one of my favorites. It holds a special place in my heart right next to similar musicals like The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
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Fall of the House of Sunshine is a free comedic musical available through iTunes or wherever you find podcasts. Find out more on its website, www.podmusical.com, or check out the full-length soundtrack albums here. Or try the trailer:
