Troublemaker at the Comedy Institute

by Kevin on

Recently I was hired as a comedy consultant to help some brand creatives think outside the box.

Normally I despise hearing people talk seriously about comedy.  But the money was good.

Turns out the only thing worse than witnessing a panel on comedy is being part of a panel on comedy. People made sweeping generalizations and self-important observations. It was a difficult 75 minutes.

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The Blog’s the thing: Geoff Geeks out about Hamlet

by Kevin on


Geoff Klock is my kind of nerd: he’s very intelligent and he’s equally obsessive about comics, TeeVee, movies and literature.  Rather, he appreciates comics, movies and TeeVee as literature. 


As a college professor he’s been teaching Hamlet for some time — so he set out to find allusions to the melancholy Dane in popular culture.  (I hepped him to half-a-dozen oddball examples from Bugs Bunny, Head of the Class, Student Bodies, Theater of Blood, Laverne & Shirley and more.) If you have any examples Geoff missed, I encourage you to contact him at his website.


Now watch his video below, it’s a labor of love: 





You can also read this excellent interview, a conversation between Geoff and Jay Stern.  Geoff was inspired by a Christmas Carol mash-up which re-tells the Dickens classic in 8 minutes, using dozens of clips from various productions.  (Jay edited the video with Craig Wichman, they screened it at KEVIN GEEKS OUT: Holiday Grab Bag show.) 


Meanwhile, Geoff is collecting still images that reference Hamlet, like this page from Classics Illustrated:  “This may be denser than anything Alan Moore or Chris Claremeont tried to do.”  — Geoff Klock



To aid Geoff in his quest, I tried to google an image from the novelization of National Lampoon’s Animal House which contained a Hamlet bit that didn’t appear in the film. 


Remarkably the image didn’t turn up on Google. Isn’t it weird that we find it weird when something isn’t on google? So I captured the shot (below) and share it with the internet here and now. 


Early in Act II of the story, we get a glimpse of how each of the Deltas spend their free time. 

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Pop Culture Blogger of the Year (my acceptance speech)

by Kevin on


If I win the “Pop Culture Blogger of the Year” Award (and if such an award exists), I already have my acceptance speech written:

Thank you.  This award isn’t just for me, but for all the dedicated men, women and men-children who keep your pop culture blogs fresh.

I share this award with anyone who’s had to excuse themselves from a dinner-date to step into the bathroom and promote a link that just went live.

To anyone who’s used a celebrity’s death to promote something written 8 months ago. 

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SECRETS OF A POP CULTURE EXPERT

by Kevin on


Dear every teacher I ever had:

Sorry I didn’t do the reading. 

There was a good show on that night.

Oddly my obsessive years of teevee consumption led to many jobs as a “pop culture expert.”

In another civilization that title would be a euphemism for “unemployable” – but we live in a society where I can blog about ninja movie villains from the 1980’s and get paid more than a public school teacher.

Just this week I was given real U.S. currency to watch the movie KRULL and write trivia about it.

I don’t know if I’m a success story, a cautionary tale, or a sad commentary on our nation’s values.

You be the judge. 

The tough part of my work is that I’m 37 and it might be too late to learn a practical skill.

Of course I don’t really believe that. 

But I know myself well enough that if I were to make a radical life change and start at a non-profit, I’d eventually say, “Fuck it, this is hard work compared to ranking TV’s top mustaches.”  

(Seriously, this trope ALWAYS comes up at jobs. Like the way TIME Magazine can always do another cover story on cholesterol, bloggers return to the well of “Pop Culture Mustaches.” No one actually believes they’re the first to do the story. Editors I’ve worked for encourage writers to steal good ideas from other places. Because the bosses know that the mouth-breathers who read their blogs have no long-term memory or sense of history. If you don’t believe me, then how do you explain the countless slideshows of “bad tattoos”?) 

So I’m committed to writing for inevitably short-lived websites and second-rate cable channels owned by corporate entities that hope to gain some street-cred by featuring writings on trashy movies, vintage television and nostalgic trivia.

This field has less of a “corporate ladder” and more of a merry-go-round populated by lonley guys who are one Entertainment Weekly subscription away from Aspergers.

In a way, working a pop culture gig is like a game of chicken. Each writer is waiting for the others to “get a real job” so that more work opens up for the rest of us.

Unless we all get replaced by unpaid interns. 

In my field this inevitability is like global warming melting the ice caps: We know it’s going to happen, but we try not to think about it and hope it occurs after we’re dead.

I resent that my tightwad bosses would replace me with some recent college grad who was born the same year I saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III in the theater.

I came into my nerd-dom before the internet turned history into low-hanging fruit. Today anyone can learn the complete chronology of the Planet of the Apes saga in a few minutes.  But I studied it one Saturday Afternoon at a time.

And I dislike that any nimrod can glean those facts (rarely fact-checked) and become an instant expert. 

It really cheapens the work I do.


Kevin Maher is a writer-producer with impressive resume credits. (But that’s because his resume doesn’t include gigs like The Daily Dirt, Celebraddiction, The Horror Hacker, Hollywood Update, Star Vs Star, and Bravo’s “Great Things About the Holidays.”) 

Visit his website for the good credits, sample writing and videos. 





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Imaginary conversations about DUNE and THE DOORS

by Kevin on

I just learned that in 1983 both Kyle McLachlan and Val Kilmer were up for the lead role of Paul Atredies in David Lynch’s movie of DUNE.

And seven years later both Val Kilmer and Kyle McLachlan were both cast in the movie THE DOORS.

So that means at some point the following conversation took place on set.


OLIVER STONE: Val, this is your co-star Kyle McLachlan, he’s playing Ray Manzerick.


VAL: Hey Kyle, we met a few years ago when we were both up for that David Lynch movie. I never saw it, how was it?


KYLE: It was… okay. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but work’s work. Hey, nice wig! 


*  *  *


And then making The Doors they had to shoot scenes where Jim Morrison takes the band out to the desert, where conversations like this must’ve taken place: 


VAL: Hey Kyle. This is just like in DUNE, right.


The other guys were like “Oh, I forgot you were in DUNE.”  “That’s hilarious.” etc. 


KYLE: It’s no big deal, really. 


FRANK WHALEY: Do the line about how the sleeper must awaken.


KYLE: I’m trying to get in character, guys, Ray Manzerick would never say that, you know?


KEVIN DILLON: (teasing) Don’t be afraid, Kyle.  Fear is the mind-killer.

(high fives Val Kilmer) 

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