The Dana Gould Hour

This episode took a while. See, here's what happened. I started this episode in late July and the plan was to have it out in early August just before Bobcat Goldthwait and I went back on the road to film our special The Show With Two Heads in Atlanta, Athens and Asheville. But then, I terribly sick, which I NEVER do, and had to deal with that. I was still recovering when it was time to get back ion the road so I figured I'd just pick it up in a week when Bob and I got back. But then, as we were quite literally pulling into the venue of our first show, we got into a shitty car accident. It was certainly my first time in the back of an ambulance. So there went that. We're both alive, everyone involved is alive and recovering. I got a broken rib and pulmonary contusion whioch a fancy way of saying I bruised my lung. Any, it sucks, but I'm on the mend will be my old self in a couple more weeks, Bob and I will get back on the road and get that special in the can life will return to normal.

I'll have Bob on soon and we'll go through this whole mess here on the show. In all honestly, it was a completely random, last minute circumstance that resulted in me not being in the passenger seat of that car and if I had, I am not 100% sure if I'd have strolled away. Best case scenario is I would have been profoundly fucked up for a long, long, time, so I'm, yeah. It was life-changing. I'm a lot more aware and grateful of stuff. Don't take shit so seriously. I'm a much safer driver. Yeah. Lots of stuff.

For the record, it was a small dog that ended up sitting in the passenger seat and it survived fine. It got dumped in the floor by the impact and is a-okay.

Today we have one of my favorite guests, he of the podcast Advice From A Dipshit, Mr. Matt Braunger is here. Matt had a new special out on Amazon prime called Finally Live In Portland. Also, if you heard the last podcast, Music For Weirdos, Christ, that seems a lifetime ago, you heard the hilarious Pleasant Gehman. Pleasant is more a force of nature than she is a human being so we brought her back for a full interview.

https://DanaGould.com

It's summertime and that means relaxing with the things you love and for that means music. Loud angry punk music to be specific. What can I tell you, I am who I am.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of west coast punk, specifically the bands of the late 70's early 80's west coast punk scene. And a year ago found this amazing book by John Doe, of X, one of my favorite bands, and Tom DeSavia, a music A&R exec. The book was called Under The Big Black Sun and it was an oral history of the first three or four years of the West Coast punk scene. I tore that book, them bought and listened to the audio version, just loved it. Lo and behold, John and Tom have continued the story with Under The Big Black Sun, taking us through the 80's heyday of the scene. The book is fascinating and full of stuff that I did not know. Did you know that the Go-Go's started out as a punk band, and that they were, in fact, notoriously some of the hardest partiers in the scene? It's true.

Anyway, I was performing at a club here in LA that I love called Largo and saw that John and Tom were going to be having a book event with some of the other authors from the book. Skateboard pro Tony Hawk, Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go's, Pleasant Gehman from the Screaming Sirens, and I asked Flanagan, who runs Largo, if the event was sold out. He asked me if I'd like to moderate it. I tried my best to act cool, and I did and we recorded it and here it's here.

Now, one of the kids who grew up in the San Fernando valley in the early 80's who listened to that music and went onto form his own band was Rob Zabrecky. Rob became the front man of Possum Dixon in the mid '90s and, well, to know about his life, by all forms of rationale and logic, eh should be dead. But he ain't! And to see where he has ended up in life… He's here as well today to talk about his new book, Strange Cures.

Anyway, this is a very special episode because all of these people are talented creative people who I look up to an admire and through this podcast have become friends and that's really the best thing there is. https://DanaGould.com

Our show this month has two in-depth interviews, one about a book, and one about a documentary, about two classic summer movies, specific to the world of special effects makeup.

The book is entitled The Lady From The Black Lagoon and was written by Mallory O'Meara. It tells the story of Millicent Patrick. Millicent worked in the Universal Studios makeup department in the early 1950s. One of the things that Millicent was responsible for was the design of none other than the Creature From The Black Lagoon.

We also have Hollywood makeup legend Thom Burman and William Conlin who are here to talk about their new documentary Making Apes. The movie tells the story of how makeup artist John Chambers, and his apprentice (Thom Burman) revolutionized special effects makeup, and did it in only a couple of months. It's also the story of John Chambers, who, if you saw the film Argo, was the man played by John Goodman. Oh yeah, I forgot, the whole time he did this, he was also secretly working for the CIA.

https://DanaGould.com

A rare, live show from Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles, with Eddie Pepitone, Blaine Capatch, Eliza Skinner, Tom Kenny and the High Seas. Also John Ennis, Two Guys From Boston, the ghost of Johnny Carson & more!

DanaGould.com

We did it! The March episode is here! Just in time for April! There's so much going on. We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it. In any event, we here, it is now and that's all that matters. Our theme today is fandom. Having your thing and loving it. And we have some amazing guests who talk that talk and walk that walk.

John and Bjo Trimble. For those of you who don't know John & Bjo, I'm very excited you get to hear their story for the first time. In the late 1960s, they were fans of a little TV show called Star Trek, and when it was announced, during Star Trek's second season, that the show would not be returning for a third, they sprang into action. John and Bjo knew that TV shows don't go into syndication unless they have three seasons - that gives you enough episodes strip the show. In other words, you need enough episodes to run five nights a without repeating episodes too quickly. You needed volume. And two seasons was not enough.

In those pre-internet days, John and Bjo started the letter writing campaign that saved Star Trek. Thanks to John and Bjo Trimble, Star Trek had three seasons, which allowed it to be syndicated, which allowed it to catch on, find its audience and become the juggernaut that it is today.

We also have Paul Myers. Paul Myers is a smart funny, exuberant writer, and good friend of mine. His new book is called The Kids In The Hall: One Dumb Guy, and tells the story of his discovery of The Kids In The Hall, how they rose to fame in Canada, made the move to the United States and became, quite literally, the comedic voice of their generation. I strongly believe that. Paul also wrote an amazing book about Todd Rundgren called A Wizard A True Star, Todd Rungren In The Studio. Paul, John and B Joe, if I may paraphrase the Isley brothers, has his thing and he does what he wants to do.

https://DanaGould.com

Oh, it's a deep, dark, long, cold winter but fear not, we are here to help. We have an astounding episode for your listening pleasure. But let me warn you, it has some potty mouthery in it. To begin with From Kids In The Hall and Newsradio, Dave Foley is here, joined by his wife, Crissy Guerrero, as well as Vacant Lot's Paul Greenberg and his wife Jackie Harris Greenberg. They have a new podcast called Don't Say Cunt. Yep.

So that word gets bandied about a couple times, so enjoy! But all these guys are hilarious, their segments here are hilarious and their podcast is certainly hilarious. Also, comedian, writer and host of the podcast Cool Playlist Eliza Skinner is here.

Me? I'm around. And I'm fine. A lot of people reached out after the last episode pursuant to my conversation with Mike Carano with a "Hey, you okay?" and the answer is, "Yes. I am. Very, in fact." But thanks so much for your concern. I'm great, as I've said, having one of these brains is a double edged sword because they same brain that makes the good stuff makes the bad so you have to be careful, but it IS the price of admission. https://DanaGould.com

Welcome to season 8 of the Dana Gould Hour podcast. We have two amazing guests to kick off the new year. Author of the book The Comedians, a walking, talking, show business encyclopedia, Kliph Nesteroff is here. As well as a man who truly belies description. Raconteur? Gadfly? Human Special Effect? You decide. The great Mike Carano is here, as well as a new Political Talk With Two Guys From Boston, a deep dive into the story of the late, great Brother Theodore and so much more. It's over three hours of predominantly nudity-free entertainment, so settle back, jam your buds in deep, and let's all get in with our filthy business. Yeah?

http://DanaGould.com

Thanksgiving is over and it's time for holiday panic. If you are like me, it's time for planning trips, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, wondering how you're going to pay for it all, realizing you can't, and finally throwing up your hands and deciding to get the crew back together for one last heist!

We have two awesome interviews this month. One of them, I'm not going to lie, is a holdover from last month. I recorded it for Halloween, but realized that, even for this podcast, a nearly four hour episode was probably pushing it. So, we have, for your post-Halloween, post Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas holiday enjoyment -- Mike Mendez! The director of Big Ass Spider, The Convent and Don't Kill It, as well as being a writer on Season three of Stan Against Evil. And with Mike we have Axelle Carolyn, a film director, a writer on Sabrina and author of the new book, The Girls' Guide To Ghost Movies.

We also have a very special guest. Tom Wright, who not only is a legendary TV director having shot episodes of the X-Files and Supernatural, he got into directing through story board and graphic design, having worked for Alfred Hitchcock among others, and is the man, the one man, who painted all those paintings that you see on The Night Gallery. And he is here today.

http://DanaGould.com

Yes, it's that time of year, October. The fall! Halloween. And to kick off my favorite holiday and my favorite episode of show we've got two amazing guests. A man who needs no introduction, Mr. Patton Oswalt is here. You can follow his many adventures on twitter and try to catch him live as he is doing dates all across he country as well as appearing on NBC's AP-Bio. Additionally, Ken Reid is with us. He is the host of the excellent podcast TV Guidance Counsellor, hails from my home state of Massachusetts and is a hilarious comedian in his own right, as well as having a depth of nerd knowledge that goes as deep as anyone's.

http://DanaGould.com

September. It is officially pre-halloween season and we have a great pre-halloween episode. Wayne Kramer, the legendary lead guitarist for the MC5 and Père Ubu is here. He's written a new book entitled "The Hard Stuff." As well, we have comedian Matt Braunger. He's here to talk about his new podcast "Advice From a Dipshit."

Watch your many social media platforms for specifics of live my live performances. On October 5th, I will be in Massachusetts performing at the Norwood Theater in Norwood. One night only. Tickets available on the performing live page of DanaGould.com. And then (drumroll) October 11th, only in Los Angeles and only at Largo, a live stage reading of Plan 9 From Outer Space!

It's now a tradition with myself, Bobcat Goldthwait, David Koechner, Janet Varney, Laraine Newman, Kevin MacDonald, Matt Braunger Rob Zabrecky, Ron Lynch, Nate Mooney, Debra Baker Junior, Ken. Daly, G Charles Wright, The Poubelle Twins and live music by Eban Schletter. I really hope you can come down and be a part of the show. It's one of my favorite things I do all year.

Starting in November, I will be embarking on the Beautiful Showbiz tour. I will be in Atlanta Minneapolis, Philadelphia Madison, Wisconsin. I'll be winding up on December 13th and 14th at the punchline in San Francisco as always details and ticket links for these shows can be found on the performing live page at DanaGould.com.

There's more to talk about -- my book Planet of the Apes Visionaries as out and our little podcast now has a delightful Patreon feature. Why not join? Become an official Dana Gould Hour Sky Cadet!