check displeased podcast

baking pies and an angsty French-Canadian bottom separatist falling in love when they play on the same NCAA D-I hockey team. It ran from 2013 to 2020 and spawned four Kickstarter campaigns (and counting), two commercially published reprints, and much acclaim.

is a podcast where OMGCP fans

reread the comic to revisit what they loved about it, reflect on its flaws, and put the story into context via theory, critique, personal experience, hockey history, and literary and visual analysis. Come for the NHL explainers and baking hot takes; stay for the fandom gossip and conspiracy theories.

ep. 1 | 1.1 eric bittle

On the first episode of Check Displeased, Tomato and Sekrit give background on the webcomic that's been haunting them for four to seven years, meet the story's protagonist, and start figuring out how to make a podcast.

ep. 2 | 1.2 the boys

On the second installment of Check Displeased, Tomato and Sekrit chat a little more about 1.1 in light of recent comic updates, speculate on how many eggs a person should eat, try to figure out who or what is Jonathan Toews, and get super psyched to meet The Boys. Would you Get Married For The Boys? You wouldn't know it from this strip, but, the protagonist of this comic would! To the Most Important Character, no less, who we meet in this very episode!

After following the main plot for two entire strips, it's time to take a detour into side material that isn't part of the actual comic, or is it? This episode has it all: talk of paratexts, a definition of gesamtkunstwerk, and personal anecdotes from the lives of your podcasters. Neither the protagonist nor the most important character is in this strip, but we find a way to make it worthwhile, maybe. Put on your best worst French-Canadian accent, do or don't wash your hair, and prepare to immerse yourself in the arcane world of hockey culture.

Ep. 4 | 1.3 The Coaches

The coaches! Boy, did they impact the plot of Check, Please! Technically we meet them in the strip named after them, but as Sekrit and Tomato discuss, it depends on how you define the confusing concepts of “meet” and “them.” Also: Is this where the plot begins? What’s the difference between meanness and criticism in fandom? Plus we talk about Doonesbury, which is basically the same thing as Check Please, if you think about it. Except, you know, it’s not. But we definitely get into it, don’t worry, along with the terms “soft hands” and “spinorama.”

As Bitty goes to the Haus for the first time, we get into the place of magic realism in the comic, what is or isn't funny about sriracha (opinions are split), and compare way too many things to South Park. What kind of pot do you think Bitty would smoke? Isn't pie actually kind of overrated? But forget about that, because this is the strip where we meet iconic Check, Please! heroes Ollie and Wicky, future husbands, home-improvement buffs, and white collar job-havers. We also cover the symbolism of Bitty's wardrobe and the darkness in Shitty's grandiosity. Get psyched.

This episode really tries our patience because it's standing between the beginning of the podcast and the first great OMGCP strip. After another two installments of what maybe you could call plot, the comic goes back to Ransom and Holster to teach us the meaning of the word “chirp.” Are chirping and flirting variations on the same theme, Bitty? Is Check Please a romcom? Is it a sports narrative? Why is the fat character in this strip the only fat character drawn in the entire comic? Also we talk about Tyler Seguin for some reason.

ep. 7 | 1.5 Bad Bob Zimmermann

On this episode we find out that Bitty stans a legend: RKO Pictures chorus girl turned comedienne turned TV mogul Lucille Ball, whose influence penetrates the rest of Check, Please! to a near-inescapable degree. And also we meet the love interest’s dad or something, kind of. Plus we get into some vagaries of money in the US higher education system and do some Beyonce lyrics close reads. This episode is best enjoyed with some weight-loss gum!

ep. 8 | 1.6 The Hockey Prince (1/2)

Welcome to the multipart Hockey Prince bonanza. In this installment we learn -- and maybe our hero the Little Shit also learns? -- that Jack is such a bitch because he was a mentally ill teenage drug addict who thought his daddy didn't love him. This hard truth stands in contrast to a beautifully illustrated storybook presentation that draws on genre expectations to do its heavy lifting, and we are so impressed (and maybe still a little excited, you know, sexually?) that we gush about it for hours.

ep. 9 | 1.6 The Hockey Prince (2/2)

Sekrit and Tomato continue their look at Jack's backstory, going panel by panel through the strip with a particular eye to how the story's being told. Is there any logic in Jack's circuitous path to the NHL, or is he just a just a bad planner? Was he actually an addict? Really trying to kill himself? How disappointed is his dad, actually? The comic never answers any of those questions, but this strip very much raises them -- and gave OMGCP fandom a ton to chew on in the process. Also, click for some hot content about early-2000s webcomic sensation Boy Meets Boy, arguably Check Please before Check Please was Check Please.