The Dana Gould Hour

John Ross Bowie is with us today. John is what we here in the business call an improv bastard. John is best known for playing Barry Kripke on The Big Bang Theory. He also played Jimmy DiMeo on Speechless. John wrote the play Four Chords And A Gun about the Ramones recording of End Of The Century with Phil Spector. And he has a brand new book out entitled No Job For A Man that chronicles his coming of age in New York City, his own career in punk rock, his relationship with his father and his entrance into the highest calling known to man, show business.

Also, Devo founding member Jerry Casale is with us to talk about not only the early days and development of his legendary band Devo, the fact that Devo's main theory, de-evolution, might be coming true his new EP The Invisible Man, his entrance into the world of being a wine maker and also (drum roll) fatherhood.

True Tales From Weirdsville takes a deep dive into the mind and tumultuous life of Charles Addams and how he turned a couple silly one panel cartoons into a an American comedy franchise that is still going strong today, some eighty years after its inception.

Hello! And welcome to the Dana Gould Hour Podcast. We are in high dudgeon of the holiday season and we have an episode that, we hope, will stuff your stocking with candy coated oral enticements. We have two great guests joining us. From the Ologies podcast, as well as CBS' Henry Ford's Innovation Nation with Mo Rocca, Alie Ward is here to discuss all things ologistic, and we have a year-end recap with our film critic in residence Katharine Coldiron. We'll be discussing the year in film, the year in streaming, and the year in streaming film.

True Tales From Weirdsville takes a deep dive into the world of the late great, brilliant but haunted Peter Sellers, specifically his barely released 1973 film Ghost In The Noonday Sun, which is the subject of the compelling making-of documentary The Ghost Of Peter Sellers.

It's that time of year again! Houses are adorned with skeletons and ghosts, abandoned malls are full of haunted houses are open and everywhere you look people are drinking pumpkin spice lattes and quietly wondering what it is they actually taste like because they don't taste like pumpkins, they're not spicy and they don't taste like lattes, so you tell me.

It's Halloween and we have another king size episode (sorry Joe and Jillinda). We have three, count 'em, three big interviews. Mick is a horror film legend. He is the writer of, among many many others, Hocus Pocus, The Fly 2, he wrote and Stephen King's Riding The Bullet, directed Stephen King's Bag Of Bones, directed films in the Psycho franchise, created the Masters Of Horror TV show on and on and on. he is now the host of his own excellent podcast called Post Mortem, but he was gracious enough to appear on this, our annual Halloween Pageant, Mick Garris is here.

Additionally, in addition to being a bona fide rock star, with his band Possum Dixon, he has since become a magician and has won six, count 'em, six awards from the Academy Of Magic Arts. He runs the séance in the prestigious Houdini room at Los Angeles estimable Magic Castle, he is the author of the book Strange Cures and he has a new album that he is here to talk a out called Séance where YOU, the listener, get to participate with Rob in a genuine séance at your own home in beautiful high fidelity sound, Rob Zabrecky is here.

And THIRDLY, I daren't say lastly, LA punk rock legend and genuine witch, Pleasant Gehman is back with us to talk about her new book, Rock n Roll Witch.

True Tales From Weirdsville tells the tale of Harry Houdini, not only was he a skilled magician and clearly he world's most accomplished escape artist, he was also a famous spiritualist debunker. Not because he didn't believe, but because he wanted to believe so badly. Harry Houdini, the guy you only think you knew, only not really, kinda.

Hello and welcome to the This Is Not The Halloween Episode But It's Well Into Production And Is Coming Soon. My apologies for the later delivery. Last month I got married and then on our honeymoon we both – finally – caught Covid, so, again, we're all getting back on our feet, so that's that. We have a fantastic episode for you. Comedian Matt Braunger, one of our faves, is here to talk about, among many things, his new special, Doug, available now. We also visit with the great Frank Santopadre. A good friend, a fellow geek and the longtime co-host of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. It's a wide-ranging interview. Very funny and also very touching and I'm very grateful to Frank for sitting down with us.

True Tales From Weirdsville has the story of MKUltra, the CIA's experiments with LSD in the 1950's. It could also be known as Operation: What Could Go Wrong?

Hello! It's hot, hot, hot. It's the dog days of August, which means that here in Southern California there's only three months left of summer. But we have a great show today. Now, I have spoken frequently of my affection for ME-TV. For me, it's television comfort food. Star Trek, Voyage To the Bottom Of the Sea. Perry Mason. Now, these were not the shows on in prime time when I was a kid. But they were the re-runs that were on when I was a kid. They were the shows on in syndication, five days a week, in Boston on good ol' Channel 56 or Channel 38. So these were the shows that I grew up watching every day after school. I'm sure that's true for many of you as well.

Well, as it turns out, most, not all, but most of these shows all came from the same TV season. Star Trek, Batman, The Monkees, Lost In Space… The network television season that began in the fall of 1966 was the first all-color television season in American. It was really the dawn of modern television and, of course, all the stuff we see today was already going on back then. And there's a new book about it called PrimeTime '66 – 67 by Tom Shubilla and here's here. And THEN, one of the giants of that era of television was Irwin Allen. Allen gave us Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Lost In Space, Land Of The Giants, The Time Tunnel and then turned around gave us The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. A true giant of 60's TV and 70's film, and my good friend Bond, Jeff Bond has a new, massive book, It's not even a book, it's a tome, called The Fantasy Worlds Of Irwin Allen and he's here to talk about THAT.

True Tales From Weirdsville is taking a deep dive into the mind of Bob Rafelson who not only created that gem of the 1966 TV season The Monkees, but also made the Monkees movie, HEAD, which is really about what a jerk you were if you liked the Monkees. Starring The Monkees. And then he made Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces. You know, just 'cause. And episode image by the great Drew Friedman, by the way!

Well, things are great here, at The Dana Gould Hour podcast. We have two terroifoic guests today. Paul Myers, the author of among many books, A Wizard, A True Star Tod Rungren In The Studio, And The Kids In The Hall: One Dumb Guy is here to talk about the documentary he produced Kids In The Hall Comedy Punks as well as his podcast Record Store Day. Speaking of Kids In The Hall, if you haven't seen the new season on Amazon Prime you are missing out my friend.

We also have the lovely and talented Greg Proops who is here to discuss not only his new album In The City, also available on Amazon Prime, but also his tour with Whose Line Is It Anyway and a little discussion of the state of the state of comedy which is, you know, great!

We have Two True Tales From Weirdsvilles this month. The first is a look at one of my favorite things, The Law Of Unintended Consequences. You know, let's say you pass a big law, or, say overturn a right people have had for fifty years… You think you know how it's going to pan out. All neat and tidy. But you know what? Even under the best of circumstances, there's the law of unintended consequences. Things are not going to turn out exactly the way you want. As the old saying goes, all the best laid plans of mice and men. Will take a look at classic example of The Law Of Unintended Consequences, one that I have some personal knowledge of.

And a bonus True Tales, more in keeping with the tone of the show, about the Kung Fu craze of the mid 70's. Bruce Lee, Kung Fu, Billy Jack, the whole shebang.

Hello! And welcome to the end of spring start of summer edition of the Dana Gould Hour Podcast. Two very dear pals are joining me today, Alison Rosen, of the podcast Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend is here to talk about her new venture Upworthy Weekly, her podcast Childish with Greg Fitzsimmons and so much more.

And TV's Frank himself, from Mystery Science Theater and The Mads, Frank Conniff is here to talk about lockdown in New York, having a Goddamn quadruple bypass and his new book, Billy Gillis, Seven Year-Old Screenwriter and our hundred year friendship.

True Tales From Weirdsville takes a deep dive into the world of Mickey Cohen. In his day, Mickey was one of the most fanous people in LA but he wasn't a movie star. He was gangster. A gangster who, at one point, as you will hear, in a court of law, mind you, brought the LAPD to its knees.

Greetings and welcome! Spring has sprung and the sun shines bright high atop the Mulholland Drive view shelf where at the birds sing, the squirrels scampers and every day that one crow just glares at me. We have a terrific show for you, Scott McGee is here to talk about his new book, Danger On The Big Screen, which is a history of stunt work. A lot of people think it's a dangerous job where, in the old days, people were frequently killed. They're right! And then we talk to… a stunt man! Bob Fisher, a professional stunt man who worked on The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries, Stan Against Evil and a host of other shows is here to talk about flipping cars, getting thrown 20 feet in the air, etc etc.

True Tales From Weirdsville does a deep dive into the time Monty Python's Terry Gilliam got into a fight with Universal Studios over his film Brazil. It got very personal and very public very quickly. And how it all got resolved… well. It oughta be a movie!

We have a wonderful show in store for ya. My very good friend Susan Arosteguy is here. Susan is one of the producers of the Criterion Collection and she is here to take us behind the scenes a bit at the Criterion Collection as well as talk about some of the special editions she is working on.

I don't know if you are a collector of Blu Rays; or subscribe to The Criterion Channel (which I highly recommend) but Criterion continues to curate an amazing library of rare and also classic films. And a movie doesn't have to be 100 years old to be a classic, as evidenced by Susan's filmography there. Criterion has also saved a lot of movies from oblivion and helped get them in fornt of new audiences. Truly the Lord's work, assuming the Lord is a movie nerd.

If you're a fan of Hanging with Dr. Z, Rusty Steel and Claudine are here! Or as they are known in real life, Paul Greenberg and his beautiful wife Jackie Harris Greenberg. They are here to talk about not only Hanging With Dr. Z but their wide-ranging careers and brushes with show biz greatness, I kid you not.

Lastly, True Tales From Weirdsville takes a deep dive into the little movie that could, but then, really, kinda didn't -- Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

We have a wonderful show today with comedian Matt Braunger, one of the funniest people I know. Goddamn, Matt makes me laugh. Solid citizen, monster nerd, husband, father, professional comedian, actor. Good Lord, he does it all. Then why isn't he happy?? We'll find out.

No, I'm kidding. He's very happy. in fact he has a podcast that can help you if you have a problem, called This Might Help, and you'll heart all about that shortly.

Also, Katharine Coldiron is with us again. Katharine is a film critic and cinema scholar who wrote the monograph about plan 9 From Outer Space that we discussed in the Halloween episode. Today we talk about Nightmare Alley, Freaks, Vampire Circus, and all kinds of films set in creepy carnivals and the like.

I discovered an amazing new podcast recently by Adam Roche called the Secret History Of Hollywood, this has joined Karina Longworth's You Must Remember This podcast in my automobile listening. Through these two podcasts, my weird show biz knowledge has increased tenfold, and today, based on stuff I heard there and some research I did with my own self, True Tales From Weirdsville is going to discuss one of the sickest galdanged romantic triangles in history. The story of David O. Selznick, Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker. It is.. trust me. This story is nuts.