"Denny's 4 with Jesse Farrar" is Episode 520 of Doughboys, hosted by Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell. "Denny's 4 with Jesse Farrar" was released on November 6, 2025.
"Tomorrow… with Jesse Farrar" - @doughboys.bsky.social
Synopsis[]
Jesse Farrar (YKS, Go Off Kings) joins the 'boys to talk sci-fi franchises, past Tennessee adventures, and Tony Yoman before diving into a review of the Denny's Good Fortune menu. Plus, a new edition of Chips Inhale Reschew Rangers.
Jesse also plays a voice-mail from Stefan Heck to the show. -ed.
Nick's intro[]
In 1940, the McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac, opened their eponymous burger restaurant in the SoCal city of San Bernardino. While these days, they’re best remembered for having their creation Zuckerberg’d away from them by franchising kingpin Ray Kroc, their chain and their name endures.
Burger Chef
But a decade and change later, over in the Hoosier State, a different set of enterprising brothers, Frank and Donald Thomas, along with Robert Wildman, founded their own hamburger joint called Burger Chef. McDonald’s and Burger Chef would spend the '50s through the '70s competing for superiority. In 1971, Burger Chef was amazingly the nation’s second largest chain restaurant overall. And in 1977, Burger Chef and current beef #2 Burger King would co-pioneer a new frontier in the fast-food wars: movie tie-ins. With no one yet willing to pay up for exclusivity, the chains embarked on a duel of the fates with their own Star Wars promotions: Burger Chef offering pretty bad-ass looking illustrated posters and Burger King offering its better remembered commemorative drinking glasses — though as FilmCrush’s Matt Singer pointed out, those did contain lead paint. A vintage Burger Chef commercial from the era even features C-3PO and R2-D2 requesting the posters from a cashier.
However, Burger Chef would be bludgeoned when McDonald’s entered the tie-in world in 1979; Happy Meals with themed toys owning the marketplace from that point onward. In 1996, the year McDonald’s and Burger King offered dueling Toy Story promotions, Burger Chef shuttered permanently. And 29 years later, it’s a mostly forgotten piece of 21st century Americana — briefly revived in the zeitgeist via a season seven Mad Men plotline. Today, vintage Burger Chef Chewbacca posters and packaging like the Land Speeder Fun Box now go for hundreds on eBay. But far more significantly, tie-in meals with films and other narrative art are now ubiquitous and inescapable.
And with a new feature comedy offering themed burgers and nuggets, through its groundbreaking efforts, Burger Chef’s bad fortune has become America’s good fortune.
This week on Doughboys… we return, once again, to Denny’s, for the Good Fortune menu.
Fork rating[]
The first time the Doughboys visited Denny's was way back in 2015, when Nick and Mitch each gave it 3 forks. They then returned to try the movie tie-in menu for the film, Solo, which they enjoyed enough to put in the Golden Plate Club. The third visit was during Rockaroundtheclockdoughberfest when Nick and Mitch each gave Denny's 3.25 forks.
In 2024, Nick also went alone to try the Afterlife menu, yet another movie tie-in, this time with the film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (he called it a Wack, but did enjoy one item quite a bit).
For this episode, they again return for another movie tie-in menu - this time for the film Good Fortune.
| guest / host | ordered | rating |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Wiger |
|
2.5 forks |
| Mike Mitchell |
|
2 forks |
| Jesse Farrar |
|
0.5 forks |
The ratings seem to be for the full Denny's chain and not just the menu, though that seems to be just what Nick and Mitch ate. Jesse did order something from the main menu as well.
Chips Inhale Reschew Rangers 🐿️[]
| “ |
No bag too big, no bag too small |
” |
In this segment, the Doughboys have a bunch of chips and they eat them all.
For this episode, they try the Lay's Back to Football flavors of chips: Cheesy Buffalo Dip, Hot Sauce, and Loaded Nachos.
They don't typically rate in this segment, but I added 'snack' or 'wack' based on their reactions. They didn't like them.
| guest / host | Cheesy Buffalo Dip | Hot Sauce | Loaded Nachos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Wiger | Wack | Wack | Wack |
| Mike Mitchell | Wack | Wack | Wack |
| Jesse Farrar | Wack | Wack | Wack |
Roast Spoonman[]
One Battle After Another
| “ | One Burger After Another | ” |
–Mason in CO | ||
The Feedbag[]
| “ | What is the most useful cooking appliance or tool? What is the most useless? | ” |
–Jennifer (Totoro) | ||
| guest / host | most useful cooking appliance | least useful cooking appliance |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Wiger |
|
|
| Mike Mitchell |
|
|
| Jesse Farrar | oven |
|
#hashtags[]
- #FuckWithFrank
Quotes[]
| “ | I shouldn't make fun of Young Sheldon like that. He seems like a nice little boy. If he was seventy years older, I'd set him up with my widowed mother. | ” |
–Mike Mitchell | ||
| “ | If people got wind of my driveway the way people know about [Mitch's] stairs, I'd never work in this town again. | ” |
–Jesse Farrar | ||
| “ | Nick: No, I would not call a fridge a cooking appliance. Jesse: The way things are going... |
” |
–The Doughboys | ||
| “ | Mitch just texted me, 'What's a carrot?' | ” |
–Jesse Ferrar | ||
Drops and Plugs[]
| reference | notes |
|---|---|
| "It's a Dude Thing" | in Mitch's drop (by Count Dropula) |
|
Jesse's plugs |
Related Episodes[]
| Denny's episodes | Jesse Farrar episodes |
|---|---|
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Photos[]
