Did you know the swimmer from JAWS had dandruff?
They found her Head & Shoulders on the beach.
ThisKevin
the adventures of Kevin Maher, writer-comedian
I’m counting the days until JAWSfest in Martha’s Vineyard. (I’ll be there to co-host a Shark Movie Geek Out at Flatbread Pizza on Friday Night’s Shark After Dark.)
To get ready I’ve been re-watching the JAWS movies and reading Patrick Jankiewicz’s excellent book JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE: A JAWS COMPANION.
Here are some “fun facts” that demand to be shared:
Do you like SHARK movies?
Then join Matt Glasson and me (Kevin Maher) as we GEEK OUT about Shark Cinema! It’s Thursday August 9th at the Brooklyn Observatory.
Kevin & Matt Geek Out About Shark Movies
at the Brooklyn Observatory
543 Union Street
Brooklyn, NY (F/G-train to Carroll Street, N-train to Union Street)
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9th @ 8PM
just $10
click here for the Facebook invite
About the show:
Long story short: I’ve worked for basic cable clip shows and pop culture websites. (I’ve written about it here.) These low-paying institutions rely on the internet for examples of pop culture’s greatest moments. But the sad thing is, if a moment in TV history isn’t on youtube, it’s as if it never happened.
Case in point: I was working on a CNN show that looked back on “Interviews Gone Wrong” — and my research turned up plenty of familiar moments (I’m sure you can predict the classics):
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Crispin Glover kicking David Letterman
Robert Blake being freaky with Larry King
Quentin Tarantino vs. Jan Wahl
Fist-fights on the Morton Downey Jr show
Marlon Brandon acting weird with Larry King
Bobcat Goldthwait setting fire to a chair on The Tonight Show
Now the thing is, I wanted to use another great moment with Bobcat, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.
HERE’S A DESCRIPTION OF THE CLIP — if you have it, please post this “lost” video to youtube:
After Bob Goldthwait was banned from the Leno Show, he became a frequent guest on The Arsenio Hall Show. This was towards the end of Arsenio’s run, so Bobcat wasn’t promoting stuff he’d just come out to liven things up a little.
One time Bobcat made a joke that he wanted to do something crazy — he said he’d considered coming out and removing a live snake from his pants, joking that it would guarantee he’d appear in any “Best of” episodes.
Ha ha, pretty funny joke, right?
Then they did a 5-6 minute interview.
And at the very end of the segment, Bob stood up and removed a live snake from his pants.
It was an amazing little moment of TV, but as far as I can tell, no record of it exists online. (That’s why I’m posting this here.)
Now whenever there’s a bizarre interview moment (like Joaquin Phoenix being weird on Letterman)
pop-culture bloggers do a retrospective of the weirdest interview moments, but remarkably Bobcat’s pants-snake never makes the list. It’s as if it never happened. (By the way, this would be an appropriate use of the term Orwellian, because it has to do with popular memory being shaped by mass media. People normally say a surveillance camera is Orwellian, but I think this would be a more appropriate use of the phrase.)
The is because the collective memory doesn’t remember it. But it happened. And it was great.
I hope other people will keep the oral history of Bobcat’s Trouser-Snake alive.
Or better still, I hope someone posts the video online. I’d love to see it again.
I’ve got some upcoming events that the world needs to know about…
This weekend, I’m heading to Boston for GEEK WEEK!
On Saturday night, I’m doing crash-course on shark-cinema with KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT SHARKS. (get tickets here)
Later that night Mark Douglas appears as ANDREW 12-SIDED DICE CLAY (I wrote his stand-up material, which will include a slide-show of Flat Stan Lee)
Get tickets here.
On Sunday afternoon I’m leading a workshop titled TRUE TALES FROM THE WRITERS’ ROOM: The business and craft of writing, click on the link to sign-up.
In May, I’ll return to NYC’s 92Y Tribeca with an all-new comedy variety show called KEVIN GEEKS OUT: THE GREAT GRAB BAG SHOW (click here for details) It’ll cover a variety of topics including NYC’s secret history of pinball, Turkish Cinema’s Greatest Hits and an appreciation of Vanilla Ice.
For a long time I’d wanted to compile a list of movies that promised a sequel (usually in the closing credits) but the sequel never got made.
Ironically my list was like one of those un-produced sequels — it never happened… until my friend Nick Nadel asked me to contribute to a website he’s editing.
So here is a run-down of 10 movies that promised sequels — including video clips like Skeletor speaking German and the opening titles of REMO WILLIAMS, the TV series.
note: this poem was first shared at KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT WRASSLIN’
Be sure to check out the other pop culture primers (see below)
Admit it, all these people could work in professional wrestling. They each have that special something.
A is for AEON, I’d tap that cartoon
Previous pop culture primers:
Here’s the third (and possibly final) entry in my series about being a POP CULTURE EXPERT.
I went all “meta” and compiled a list-piece about pop culture experts in popular culture. Ha ha.
Who did I leave out? (Besides “Chainsaw” from SUMMER SCHOOL?)
(note the article’s title was changed to “the geekiest pop culture expert in pop culture”, but to me that’s a different list entirely which suggests it’s based on how geeky someone is. That’s not the list I wrote. Oh you editors….)
Read the list HERE.
Thanks to Nick Nadel for bringing the list to a “legit” media outlet.
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