The Dana Gould Hour

Jonah Ray, the host of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is with us today. He's here to discuss the new season of MST3K and so much more. And Valeri Tosi is here to discuss, among other things, Valeri has a new comedy CD out called Beach Trash. Both old friends, both good peeps both with us today.

True Tales from Weirdsville has a deep dive into the career of director William Castle, who gave us movies with built-in gimmicks like Emergo! and Percepto! as well as Rosemary's Baby among other things.

This is the first episode of the 11th season of the Dana Gould Hour podcast and I want to thank you all for continuing to listen and sticking with us.

Hello, Ho, Ho, Ho, and Happy Holidays!

The air is brisk the trees are up and Covid's back! It must be Christmas! But here's hoping that your safe and cozy for the holidays, and we've put together a little something here to listen while you wrap the presents. It's another old school two hander episode to send you off into 2022.

Katharine Coldiron is here. Katharine is an author and a film critic who has written a book about Plan 9 from Outer Space. It's a part of a series of monographs about cult films. You'll get all the details on the interview, and I highly recommend them. The Plan 9 book is great, very illuminating, and I know a lot about Plan 9, but Katharine's book really managed to articulate stuff about the film that I had always felt but couldn't quite put into words, if that makes any sense. Katharine Coldiron talking about Plan 9 and other films that are so bad they're great.

Also, Martin Olson is here. Marty is a writer, an author and a musician. I have known him since I started in stand up way back in the day in Boston Massachusetts. Marty is here to talk about his new book, The Encyclopaedia of Hell, Vol. 2, the Conquest Of Heaven, which basically reads like the novelization of a terry Gilliam film he hasn't gotten around to making yet. Or if JRR Tolkein was a comedy writer. Or.. well,. Listen to the interview and judge for yourself.

And of course, True Tales From Weirdsville takes a deep dive into my favorite Christmas movie, John Carpenter's The Thing!

We have an excellent show for you. Rob Cohen is with us. Rob has been a creative partner of mine since way, way, way, back in the Ben Stiller Show days. In addition to being in incredibly talented writer and director in his own right, Rob and I collaborated on the late lamented Super Adventure Team way back in the dark ages, Rob directed Stan Against Evil and is currently the director of YouTube's hairy sensation, Hanging With Dr. Z. He also has a new podcast out that is incredibly funny called The Bad Dates Show, which is just people recounting their worst dating experience. But, as you will hear in the interview, these stories aren't just, "We didn't click." Some of this stuff is INSANE.

Additionally, Adam Carsten is here. Adam has a documentary out that you have to see called Live At Mr. Kelly's. If you are in any way interested in stand up comedy, or jazz, or the nightclub culture of midcentury America, this doc is a must see, covering the stories of Mr. Kelly's, the London House and all the legendary nightclubs that made Chicago the cultural nexus it was in the 50' and 60's. Stand up comedy, jazz, Playboy magazine, all that stuff flourished in that era and Live At Mr. Kelly's tells the story in a way that is a an incredible and entertaining education, but that also leaves you wanting to learn more.

Trick or treat indeed! It's that tiiiiiiime! And unlike last year, I think we're actually going to do it. Carefully indeed, but fingers crossed the kids can get out there and do some trick or treating. Every child has the right to an excellent Halloween, that's my motto. And so do you. And with that in mind, we've got a big ol Halloween Spooktacular, (yeah, I said it) for your listening enjoyment. We have two big interviews, like the olden times.

First up, Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns are here to discuss their book The Show Won't Go On, which is an excellent reference, it's an exhaustively researched reporting of the most shocking and bizarre deaths on stage by performers. Think there are one or two? There are over a hundred in here. Stuff I knew, stuff I didn't know, and stuff I didn't know about people I knew. The Show Won't Go On! An excellent show biz reference that no collection should be without and we're going to discuss it right here.

Also, Ken Daly, longtime friend of this podcast and Matt Weinhold, the host of the great Monster Party podcast, are here with their 2021 horror movie recommendations and also, just to shoot the baloney and crack each other up because they are also two of my closest friends, so enjoy that, it's a great conversation. Lots of laughs. Oh, I love humor! https://DanaGould.com

We have two guests today. John Ross Bowie, who is an very talented actor and writer, you probably know him best from the Big Bang Theory and Speechless, he has an new podcast out called Household Faces, which focuses on working actors, not necessarily stars but every one of them is one of those people that you see and think, "Oh yeah! I've seen them!" John also wrote an excellent play about when the Ramones worked with Phil Spector called Four Chords and A Gun that is really spectacular.

We also have Melanie Chartoff with us today. Melanie first became famous on the show Fridays, which was ABC's answer to Saturday Night Live. In addition to Melanie, Fridays gave us Larry David and Michael Richards among others. Melanie was in the famous Andy Kaufman sketch where he purposefully tanked it on live TV and got into a fight with the show's producer Jack Burns. She has had a long and storied career after that of course on Newhart and many other shows but she's here to talk about her new book, Odd Woman Out: Exposure in Essays and Stories.

Cult movie director Jeff Lieberman is here. Jeff has done such classics as Squirm, Blue Sunshine, Just before Dawn, Remote Control. He's worked with Rod Serling, almost did a Broadway show with John Lennon. He's got stories for days and they are all in his new book, Day Of The Living Me, that he is here to talk about.

Well, we're out here having fun, in the warm California sun. Although, yeah, "warm." Sure. Let's go with warm for now.

We've got a hot show for you though. See how I did that? Bobcat Goldthwait is with us. Bob is one of my best friends, and we've got a movie coming out together in the fall that we made called Joy Ride that we're going to tell you a little about, as well as some other interesting stories from our past, and our present. Some stuff about Bob's friendship with Robin Williams, and his return to stand up.

We've got a lot going on right here in LA. And this is a very L.A.-centric episode of the show. The City Of Angels has undergone a lot of turmoil in the past two years. Like many cities in America, it has a houselessness problem that is beyond pale. Construction is running wild but it doesn't seem to be for anything that anyone wants or particularly needs, and yet, it is still L.A., and even the most dour predictions for the future are leavened by a glimmer of hope that some how, some way, something decent will prevail.

We have two fantastic guests. Karie Bible came to Los Angeles by way of Texas, fell in love with LA and its history, and submerged herself in that history by way of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where she has been giving tours for lo about 20 years now. She has amazing stories of both the living and the dead, and we are super happy to have her today.

And also, our old pal Alison Martino, a famed Los Angeles historian, she of the the L.A. Conservancy, the Vintage LA Facebook group and Vintage LA on Insta.

This episode's guest is Wayne Federman, a very funny comedian and actor and now author. He has written a book called The History Of Stand Up: From Mark Twain To Dave Chapelle. It is a terrific read. Last year we had Kliph Nesteroph on to talk about his book The Comedians. This functions as a beautiful companion piece, for where Kliph's book dwells into the lives of the comedians he discusses in the book, Wayne gives you history of the evolution of stand up as an art form -- the different ways it grew, changed, developed and evolved.

https://DanaGould.com

We have two guests, sort of an old school double shot, our old buddy Kliph Nesteroff is here to talk about his new book, We had A Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story Of Native Americans & Comedy. It's an incredible true story and must read for comedy fans. We also have one of the people Kliph writes about in the book, Bobby Wilson, who is a comedian and writer and performer in the group The 1491s.

We also have True Tales From Weirdsville and all sorts of delights and surprises. https://DanaGould.com