It’s our annual TMAYF Academy Awards special, in which we examine the ten Best Picture nominees through the lens of literal and symbolic fatherhood. Joining us, as always, is the founding cousin of the TV recap, Vanity Fair’s chief critic, and co-host of the Little Gold Men podcast, Richard Lawson. Together, Matt, Erin, Elizabeth, and Richard chat about dadly silver screen topics, including tyrannical father figures who loom large even in their absence, the seemingly shifting depiction of male mentorship, and, of course, the enduring influence of totalitarian dads, be they popes, oligarchs, or wizards. We also get into the Anora of it all, whether it's time for Timothee to put away childish things, and hear Richard's winner predictions. Hit play!

On this episode, Erin & Elizabeth talk to animal intuitive Phoebe Hoffman, one of the stars of the new documentary about NYC psychics, Look Into My Eyes (currently on Max). The film hints at Phoebe's colorful life growing up with her divorced father Stanley, who Phoebe lived with in a studio apartment in Manhattan throughout her teenage years, when she dropped out of LaGuardia High School of Music and Art in 9th grade. Stanley, an English teacher who nonetheless played fast and loose with the concept of mentoring, was compared to Philip Roth in 1974 when his debut novel was published, but his literary dreams ended with a gig writing forScrew magazine. As Phoebe chain-smoked the Marlboros her dad procured for her, she skipped school to watch John Waters movies on repeat, all while longing for boundaries, apologies, and parenting. A botched stint in therapy with Stanley led to Phoebe finding a way to lovingly detach from her dad, and led to an unlikely new purpose in life: pet psychic. Phoebe tells us about an otherworldly experience with a horse changed everything, what's up with animals as the conduits of our dead loved ones, and whether our pets love us as much as we love them.

It's the end of 2024 and the time has come for TMAYF's 788th Daddy Awards, which recap the year in masculinity and spotlight the actions of notable fathers and daddies who made our listeners ask themselves, how did we get here, and when will it end. Our shortest ep of the year features all new categories like the Holding Space Award, that recognizes people who have inspired us to wait longingly, sometimes desperately for them, not unlike a father who works late because he hates coming home. And who will win Most Divorced Dad of 2024? (Hint: it's Ben Affleck), which follows the I Can Fix Him award that honors a hot man under 40 right on the cusp of potential and disaster. There's also gongs for the most Dylan-y of Bob Dylan's tweets, Canadian animals dads, and RFK Jr.'s brain worm. See you next year, next month, promise (unless we die)!