- It's time to travel back in time, Denny's style.
- Let's talk about that.
(cheerful music)
Good Mythical Morning.
- Denny's is known for its 24/7 open doors,
senior citizen discounts,
and banging breakfast options.
And though Denny's lost by one point to IHOP
for the Food Feuds title of the Absolute Uncontested
Best Breakfast Skewing Diner
and OG Pancake House of All Time...
- That's right.
- They still hold a very special place in our hearts.
- And you know what?
Maybe they didn't get a fair shake.
Maybe we should travel back in time
to taste all Denny's has and has had to offer.
- I'll grab the time machine,
you bring the shuffle stick.
- It's time for
The Shuffleboard Game, Denny's Edition.
- Welcome to the Shuffleboard Game Zone.
- In each round,
we're gonna sample a classic Denny's menu item
and then we're gonna shuffle our egg pucks
down to the decade we believe it was first introduced.
Whoever's closest to the right answer wins the round.
And, since Rhett has defeated me and my dignity
four times in a row...
- Hey man, I'm sorry.
- We have updated my Double Pucking Trouble Puck.
This is an entirely new prototype.
- Wow, pretty cool.
- Still two pucks, but even more technology,
to try to help me get a win today.
- I'm excited to see that.
Also, whoever wins will be crowned senior citizen for a day,
and get a taste of that sweet, sweet retirement life
in Good Mythical More.
- All right, let's do it.
(chill music)
(indistinct), oh!
- I was gonna...
- I was gonna let it get height.
We should've communicated.
Original Grand Slam.
Ooh, and look, this is like legitimate...
Did we steal this from their menu?
- We got Denny's font?
- I mean...
- You didn't have to do that!
- They have really outdone themselves.
It's very grand.
- It's good, too, I mean,
not just because we made an awesome commercial for Denny's
back in the day, remember that?
- Hm.
♪ Bacon makes it better ♪
I forgot about that.
- But Denny's is pretty good.
- All right, so you're gonna shuffle first.
Original Glam Slam, Graham Slam, I can't even say it.
- Original Grand Slam.
- Baseball terminology.
- Man, when it comes to the history of Denny's,
I just feel, I just look at it in my mind,
and it's just blank.
I mean, I...
There's a Denny's darkness that I can't penetrate.
You gotta think this is pretty early on.
But not just when they decided to serve these items,
but when they decided to serve these items together
and call them a Grand Slam.
"Grand slam" isn't necessarily a new term.
I don't know.
I'm gonna lodge myself in the back. 1950.
- 1950, back there in the left corner,
and he has, what's the baseball term
for when you like land on something?
- He has landed on the base.
- He's safe!
- Safe.
- I think it's safe, on 1950.
I mean, the word "original" is in this.
Oh, man, 40s is too early.
It could be 60s, that's at the front.
- [Rhett] But you're feeling good about my guess.
- [Link] I kinda am, yeah, so. - Feeling good
about that guess.
- So I'm gonna go...
- You're gonna try to be in 50 as well?
Now hold on, I'm completely in 50.
- [Link] I could be even more completely, by being...
- So you're saying if you're more in 50,
and more in the center, that you win?
- [Link] I think so.
- Okay, if you can do that, sure, you get the point.
- 'Cause otherwise, what are we gonna do with the tie?
- [Rhett] Yeah, if you're more in the center, you win.
- I think if it's a complete tie,
then the points carry over to the next round.
- This is getting very,
let's just see what you do, and then we'll make the rule,
'cause this is all assuming you're gonna land in 50.
- The funnest part of this game
is how we keep changing the rules.
- Right.
(Stevie laughs)
It's a living document.
- [Link] Come on!
- [Rhett] Well, you made me more into 50.
- [Link] Aw, crap.
- [Stevie] Arguably the most iconic Denny's dish,
the Original Grand Slam first appeared on menus in Atlanta,
to honor legendary baseball player and local hero,
Hank Aaron,
three years after he broke Babe Ruth's home run record.
That year was
1977.
- 77, woo, I got lucky.
Ooh, I'm feeling good today.
- [Stevie] Check out this commercial from that time period.
- Oh yeah, does it have Hank in it?
♪ For dinner, lunch, or Sunday brunch ♪
Yeah.
♪ Welcome to Denny's ♪
I like that.
- Just come from England,
and Denny's was the first place we ate.
- The service was really beautiful.
- [Link] Well cheer up. - I said
"There's the Denny's."
So we decided that we'll stop off and have a cup of coffee
and piece of pie.
- [Link] Oh, with cheese on the pie.
- [Woman] And I love their salads.
- When we're traveling and we're hungry,
we always can find a Denny's on the road.
♪ Welcome to Denny's ♪ - [Rhett] wow.
- Very nice indeed.
♪ We're looking good ♪
- Oh, make the Brit smile.
- "We just came from England
and the first place we decided to go was Denny's.
We're not disappointed at all."
(crew chuckles) (Rhett laughs)
(chill music)
Let's communicate.
This time, I'm gonna catch the nipple in my hand.
- All right.
Gonna nipple it.
Higher.
Higher. - We've never
successfully done this. - Lower.
One more time.
Oh, gosh.
Moons Over My Hammy.
- This is just a ham and cheese
and egg sandwich.
- This is nice-looking.
Mm.
We still got the hash browns over here.
Yeah, our fingers are getting greasy, man.
- All right, Link.
You took the early lead, you go first.
- Hm.
I like that name. Moons Over My Hammy.
'Course it's a reference to...
The popular saying "Moon over Miami"?
- Yeah.
- It's like, "Well, I'll believe that
when there's a moon over Miami."
It's like something that never happens.
- 'Cause the moon never shows up in Miami,
'cause something about the way the Earth is shaped.
- Right, the equator, and how far south it is.
- And because it's a peninsula.
- Right.
I mean, if the classic from the last round was 1970,
this can't be pre-1970.
1980? - [Rhett] Do you know that?
- I mean, I'm gonna go for 1980.
- 'Kay.
- [Link] You know,
I'm one to stop short on this game, occasionally.
- Wow, okay. - Which is frustrating.
- Well, I actually think 60s is not a bad guess,
which you're pretty close to.
But basically what I need to do is just to get past you.
- Can't say enough about how frustrating it is
to see myself do that.
- You know what? No, no, no.
How much can you say about it right now?
Let's see if you can say enough.
- I can't, now I can't watch this episode back.
- [Rhett] Oh.
You've been watching episodes back?
- You're watching this, but now I can't watch it,
because I know that I just can't bear to see that again.
And I'm sorry you had to see that.
I'm embarrassed. - You might get the point.
I'm just gonna try to go right past you.
- You know what I'm gonna vow?
I'm gonna vow to never, ever do that again
on a shuffleboard.
- Never go short again.
- I'm never gonna go short again.
It's just like...
I'm angry at myself.
- Yeah.
- You know, I'm beating myself up right now,
and I just need to let it go.
- You know what, Link?
- And say, in the future it'll never happen.
- Hey, I think it's official. You've said enough.
Just past you.
Okay.
- And as if I couldn't get even more angry,
now I'm more frustrated.
- Think I can't lose, Link.
- 'Cause you can't lose.
- [Stevie] Named with a punny twist
after the 1935 song "Moon Over Miami"-
- 1932, huh?
- [Stevie] 35. Yeah. - 35?
(Rhett laughs)
(crew chuckles)
"32, huh?"
(crew chuckles)
Two's a five backwards.
- Hey, I overshot it, though. See?
- You did, he's not going short again.
- I'm not going short again.
- [Stevie] Moons Over My Hammy
originally featured two sunny side up eggs,
AKA the moons, over ham, my hammy,
and debuted in the early
1990s.
- [Rhett] 90s! - [Link] Wow. Hm.
- [Rhett] 90s, really?
- And it was a song, huh?
- There was a song, 1935.
- All right, let's get this round, let's end it.
(crew and Rhett laugh)
(chill music)
Lemme nipple it. Come on.
- I was gonna say we should just give up on this, but okay.
There you go, I'm trying to keep it flat for ya.
- Huh, see? Thank you.
- Yeah.
- Teamwork.
- Yep. Yep.
- All righty, Rhett,
we have a shrimp and steak dinner combo.
Look at these shrimp, boy, that really look tasty.
I guarantee.
Look at that steak, boy.
That really look tasty.
- Not seeing you taking a bite of it.
- I'll take a bite of it.
- [Rhett] "I'll take a bite of it." Mm-hm.
- Well, the part that I bit
seemed to be inedible.
(crew laughs)
- Is that a prop steak?
Link, not to revisit a point
that doesn't need to be revisited, but...
- That doesn't taste bad at all.
- I do wanna say that,
you said you were never going to go short again,
but 1932 is less years than 1935,
so I think you still did go short.
Unless you were saying that you overshot it
from going from the future to the past-
- All that's in the past, Rhett.
You know?
It's anybody's game, I'm in a positive headspace.
- [Stevie] Speaking of things that were in the past,
I do wanna let you know,
this is a Mythical Crew Recreation Special,
this dish is no longer on the menu.
But it was-
- So me ridiculing the taste of all this
is just ridiculing us recreating it.
- [Rhett] Yes.
- [Stevie] Yeah, fair.
- Obviously, shrimp have existed for quite some time.
Gotta start somewhere.
And people have been eating them for many years.
But when did they decide to put them with steak?
That feels like a...
- Surf and turf, baby.
- That feels like a trickle down economics situation,
1980s.
- [Link] Really?
- Yep.
In the 80s, the rich started getting richer,
and started putting "Hey, surf and turf time, Barb."
- [Link] Hm. - 80s.
- [Link] Oh, you've just kissed the 80s.
- [Rhett] Yes. - Now,
I could see the 80s, 'cause, you know,
a time of decadence.
You know, everyone's getting the surf and turf,
it's like "Let's bring that to Denny's
for the senior citizens and the visiting Brits."
- Yes.
And all the retirees in Florida who never see the moon.
- But, if you go back earlier,
I think Denny's was more of a destination restaurant.
- For people from England, yeah.
- For all types of people.
It was seen as more of a fine dining establishment.
So maybe it's not the 80s.
70s is taken.
Then that would take me to the 60s, which you're also on.
I mean, I'd love to bump you back to 2010.
I could also try to reverse bump you outta here entirely.
But you know how I feel about that?
- Well last time, I did two reverse bumps,
and I offered you, I said "Listen,
I'm willing to limit it to one reverse bump per game,"
and you said no.
To your detriment, by the way.
- Yeah.
I'd like to say, I think we should outlaw reverse bumps.
I just don't think they're fun.
I don't think it makes anybody happy.
- No reverse bumps at all?
- [Link] No reverse bumps at all.
- But a reverse bump right here
could secure a point for you.
- But I'm not, that's not the type of person I wanna be.
- Okay.
- And I tried to see if you didn't wanna be
that type of person,
and you didn't take the bait.
- I'm the one who proposed the rule!
And you said no!
- It just seems a little unsportsmanlike,
it seems manipulative, you know?
It is hard to do, but you did do it twice, to your credit,
but now that you've done it twice in one game,
it didn't feel good.
- Are you saying that you're proposing
outlawing reverse bumps
because typically when you do them,
you miss the puck entirely,
and when I do them, I do them successfully?
- That's probably part of it.
- Okay.
You can't go back on this.
No backsies on this.
Never will a reverse bump ever happen again in this game
if we go forward with this.
The scroll, once you write something on the scroll,
you can't take it off.
- Yeah, we can.
All right.
I'm gonna bump you to 2010,
and I'm gonna take 1980,
which I do believe is the correct answer.
Son of a!
You're closer.
- I'm closer to all the answers that might be it.
Unless it's 2000.
- That was a strange bump, the way that worked,
it's like, you know?
I'm gonna keep it positive.
(Rhett guffaws)
- Keep the blood flowing.
Keeping it positive. - Keeping it positive, though.
- [Stevie] Debuting at the same time
as five other shrimp-centric dinner combos,
we recreated the shrimp and steak dinner combo
that originally sold for just 4.99,
back in 1986.
- [Rhett] Yep.
- [Link] All right, so...
Do we need to measure?
- I mean, we can, but I'm gonna be closer.
- [Link] You're... you've got it.
(chill music)
- Ho!
Heh, faked you out.
(Link chuckles)
The team over at Sporked.com,
you know what they've been doing?
They've been tasting through everything,
from vegan hot dogs to frozen egg rolls.
They have some very strong opinions
on the best Doritos flavors, too.
So head over to Sporked.com to find those rankings
and many, many more,
plus check 'em out on TikTok and Instagram
if you'd like to watch these tastings in action.
- Nipple it.
Oh, that's heavy.
It's heavy now. - Okay, it's heavy.
- Ah!
I was ready to catch it, but you got it.
Jello and whipped cream. - [Rhett] Oh, I like jello.
- [Stevie] This is another recreation round,
because, believe it or not,
jello is no longer on the US menu at Denny's.
- Are you joking?
- [Stevie] I know, it's a hard truth.
- [Rhett] Some people are scared of jello.
Did you know that?
- What's the score, two to one?
- [Rhett] Two to one.
- You're gonna go.
- Now, jello, like that,
especially the green kind.
Boy, you really associate that with old-school diners.
I'm just thinking this is old-school,
I'm not even gonna think about it much.
50s.
Don't overthink it, Rhett.
- [Link] Okay.
That's a nice shot,
that's exactly where you put it last time.
See...
- I've got the touch today.
You know what I'm saying?
I feel like I got a connection to the board.
- I wonder, should I use my advantage?
I'm thinking this is 1940.
If there's a way to get you out of 1950...
- [Rhett] Oh, I'm lodged pretty hard there.
- [Link] See, but I could push you further into the corner,
and then any other answer is me.
- Is that lime? Is that what green is?
- I've gotta try to do that,
and I wanna save my advantage, 'cause...
Shoot.
- I'm looking forward to the jello years.
- If you're right about 50,
I don't know how to bounce you out,
and for me to be closer to 50 and 40.
- Well, a reverse bump would come in handy,
but you outlawed those last round.
- No, I outlawed a reverse bump clear-out.
- So you're saying you've outlawed successful reverse bumps.
Because by your rule, if you were to miss, you'd be like
"Well, that's not outlawed."
- The extreme reverse bump clear-out
is the thing I was saying should be outlawed.
- So what, you mean past this line right here?
- No.
- Past the top of the pyramid?
- Past the top of the pyramid.
Think about it. Think about it.
- Whatever.
I'm looking out for your reputation here.
Just a second ago, you outlawed reverse bumps,
and now you're about to do one,
according to a definition that was only in your head.
But it's cool, go for it.
- Thank you.
- I'll just be over here enjoying the jello.
- You know what?
I'm gonna go with my gut, 1940.
No reverse bump, even though I could do that,
because it's still legal.
- It is still legal, yeah, yeah.
Nice!
- [Link] Sticking to my guns.
- [Stevie] Though no longer served,
our recreation of a glass of jello with whipped cream
was on the original, first ever Denny's dessert menu
in the restaurant's first decade of existence,
which was
the 1960s.
- Oh, no!
- You're still closer, though.
- [Link] Oh, good.
- [Stevie] And here is the cover
of one of the first Denny's menus,
and you can see the jello and the whipped cream.
- [Rhett] You guys nailed it!
- That's beautiful.
So are you saying that Denny's started in the 60s, or...?
- [Stevie] Yep.
(chill music)
- Don't worry, Rhett, you're still in this.
Grand Slamwich.
What is in this?
- [Rhett] Oh, that's big.
- I bet it's everything that a Grand Slam has in it,
so you've got bacon,
but you've got sausage inside of the egg,
it's like a sausage and bacon omelet,
with cheese and ham. - And then there's ham
on the bottom.
Okay.
- I like a Grand, woop!
Grand Slamwich.
- So, we're tied,
but because bumps are illegal in the final round,
that gives the person who lost last time the advantage,
which means you get to go first,
and interestingly, you haven't used your golden puck yet.
- Yep.
- So you can put two pucks out there,
and I can't hit either one of 'em.
I mean, really, this is yours to lose at this point, Link.
- [Link] That's right.
- [Rhett] Not to put any pressure on you, but...
- And with this new configuration,
instead of side by side, it's front and behind,
I'm able to distribute my pucks in a linear fashion,
which I like.
So it's either 2020 or 2010.
All right, so I'ma try to come across here, this way.
Get this outta here.
(crew chuckles)
- I just wanna know what you're intending to do.
- I am intending to
basically be in 1970.
'Cause if I go to 2020, you can get around me to 2000.
I wanna be in 2000 and 2010.
But 1970 would be acceptable.
But with this puck, it's actually,
this puck scooter...
It's actually kinda difficult.
- [Rhett] It is, huh?
- Figure out how to do this...
Oh!
Well, looks like I doubled down on 2010.
- [Rhett] So...
- It really didn't distribute how I was hoping.
- The only thing that I can do,
and I mean this is definitely doable,
is land squarely in 2000 without hitting your puck,
'cause if I hit your puck,
you can put my puck wherever you want
and move your puck back to where it is.
2010 is a great answer,
but you've literally got two pucks in it,
so I can't beat you there.
- It could definitely be 2000,
which I've left gaping open for you.
- And it might be 2020, if it's super recent,
so I'm just gonna,
even though I think 2010 is the best guess,
I can't do anything with that.
I'm gonna try to land on this side of 2000,
just to be in a little bit more 2000 than you,
and then I'll have 2020 covered, as well.
Well, or not.
- [Link] It's gonna stop short!
- [Rhett] So it's gotta be 2020.
- [Link] It can't be 2020.
- Well I mean,
it needs to be in order for me to win, though.
- [Stevie] After a successful marketing campaign
months earlier
where they gave away two million free Grand Slams,
Denny's did it again,
this time offering their brand new Grand Slamwich for free
to anyone who bought a Grand Slam.
- Wow.
- That offer only lasted one day,
April eighth, 2009.
- [Rhett] Ah! Dang it!
So if I had done it, I coulda won!
- You coulda won, man.
- [Stevie] The sandwich still exists,
but that offer only existed then.
Here is a commercial for that day.
- There's meat substitute, and there's cheese substitute.
Ever think there might one day be a human substitute?
Just making conversation.
- [Narrator] Fight the machines
with the new handmade Grand Slamwich from Denny's.
Just 4.99.
- I like that ad.
- A pretty effective advertisement.
Okay, Link. - Everything's better
when you've won.
- You've broken the streak,
and you get to be a senior citizen for a day
in Good Mythical More.
- Yes!
Thanks for subscribing and clicking that bell,
I've broken the losing streak!
- You know what time it is.
- Hi, I'm Emily.
- I'm Xander.
- And we're about to play shuffleboard
in Inverness, Florida.
- And it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality.
- [Emily] Oh.
- Wow. That's what a real shuffleboard looks like?
- Yeah, it's so popular these days.
- Yeah, everybody's out there.
Click the top link to watch us rank weird food hot takes
in Good Mythical More.
- And to find out
where the Wheel of Mythicality's gonna land.
- [Rhett] Check out Sporked
for a ranking of the only worthwhile Doritos flavors,
a ranking of the best frozen egg rolls,
and find out if the Cheetos Mac 'n Cheese
lives up to the crunchy snack.