Proudly Resents: The cult movie podcast

We’re ripping apart, Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas, Star Wars Holiday Special, Adam Sandler’s 8 Crazy Nights and a blasfominst review of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” plus a new song from the great Rob paravonian. Click here for more Christmas movie reviews! First a word from our sponsor- don’t fast forward! I like these guys. The people behind Busted Tees made a t-shirt site called Tee public. I set up a “Store” of shirts I thought you’d dig. Plus can access all their shirts through my page go to  ProudlyResents.com/shirts. They are funny tee shirts that are actually funny. Right now I put up movie related christmas shirts. The Room, Star Wars, Breaking Bad and other themed shirts. I have the Room one, it’s pretty awesome. They are having sales all  the  time, but shirts normally fun about $20, which is a decent price. Great, product, great price, I feel good about plugging these guys. So go to proudlyresents.com/shirts or or main page and click the banner. As you can tell from my voice, which is more nasal than usual, I’m sick! So I’d listen to the whole show at 1.25 speed. I sound normal that way. For the holidays, I collected different movie reviews for each denomination. As you know there’s a war on christmas! Growing up in public school, we were told that because of “the chanukah people,” and not the separation of Church and State, we couldn’t just sing Christmas carols in class. We had to sing chanukah carols. You know all those famous chanukah carols. Like Dreidel,dreidel… In the spirit of that music teacher who must be dead by now, we have a diverse show. We have my brother Mike  Spiegelman ripping apart 8 crazy nights, Jimmy pardo, todd levin and Sharon houston talking “Kirk cameron’s saving christmas. First, to be politically correct, we celebrate Life day. Here’s a review from a very early episode that’s not on itunes anymore. It’s me, obs, actor Matt Swanson and writer FM Demarco.   FM speaks first – (Clip) — That was the live “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas“ episode i did with jimmy pardo, todd levin and sharon houston. It’s a great movie – well not really a movie. Find links to full episode,   on itunes and where ever else you listen to poscast, or for all the many christmas themed episodes and blogs go to Proudlyresents.com/ch. There’s reviews of Christmas with the kranks, Santa clause the movie and much more. If you want to watch the Star Wars Christmas Special and read an oral history of the special go to  proudly resents .com  Here’s a christmasy song from friend of the show Rob Paravonian’s new CD “A-B “. you can get it on itunes and cd baby or go to Robprocks.com. Also check out “Baby in a bar.” another great tune. Then it’s Sherilyn’s ( ) review of “it’s a wonderful life.” I’ve been doing this podcast for a long time, maybe 6 years. Recently, since having a baby, it’s been tougher to put out episodes. Every time I’m about to quit, I get a little glimmer of hope to keep going. There’s a company that will edit my shows, cutting down on production,

“Uncle Kent 2” — “Adventure Time” writer Kent Osborne moonlights as a mumblecore leading man. With parts in “Hannah Takes the Stairs,” “Uncle Kent” and now it’s unlikely sequel, “Uncle Kent 2.” We talk to the star about making the niche cult classic and his other movie roles. (HEY! BUY THAT “THE ROOM,” “LIFE DAY” OR “BREAKING BAD” UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATERS!) “Hannah,”“Uncle Kent” and 1/8th of “Uncle Kent 2” were directed by Joe Swanberg. The rest of the movie was directed by Todd Rohal. Let’s hope for an Uncle Kent 3. Buy the book and the movie! The opinions expressed by my guests are strictly their opinion. So please don’t punch me in the face. Go see it in the theaters this weekend at the Alamo Draft House in Brooklyn! Here’s me on Kent’s cartoon “Cat Agent.” Press “Uncle Kent 2 is the craziest movie sequel ever. A defiantly unconventional crowdpleaser.” – Eric Kohn, Indiewire “Allow your head to Explode.” – Mike S. Ryan, Hammer To Nail “The most stand-alone sequel ever made.” -Calum Marsh, The Village Voice   “Uncle Kent 2 is Freaking Magic.” -Steve Dollar, The Wall Street Journal  “The fact that making a sequel to one of Joe Swanberg’s more obscure films is one of the least bizarre things about Uncle Kent 2 should tell you something.” -Stephen Saito, The Movable Fest Synopsis In a desperate search to create a follow-up to Joe Swanberg’s 2011 film UNCLE KENT, Kent Osborne travels to a comic book convention in San Diego where he loses his mind and confronts the end of the world.  Reuniting in the GREMLINS 2 of “Indie” sequels, Joe Swanberg, Jennifer Prediger and Tipper Newton return in a surrealist look into Osborne’s madness. Written by Osborne and passing the directors’ torch over to Todd Rohal (THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM) UNCLE KENT 2 plays out like an absurdist successor that bends the rules of sequels and the minds of the audience. “It started as this running joke,” says Osborne, who in addition to his acting career (School Ties, the Swanberg-directed Hannah Takes the Stairs) has also worked as a writer on a slew of animated shows, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Adventure Time. “The idea of putting a ‘2’ after that particular movie was really funny to a lot of people.”  

Eddie Murphy takes the check and phones it in in this unnecessary follow up to an unnecessary follow up of “Beverly Hills Cop”! I chose this movie because my brother Mike Spiegelman is obsessed with it. He talks about it all the time. So he’s here to talk about why he loves it so much. This is the third part of a three part #podcrawl! It started with “Hey, Do You Remember…?” reviewing “Beverly Hills Cop.” Then “Does it Have Legs?” took on “Beverly Hills Cop 2.” Now hear the conclusion – until there’s a BHC 4! Check out other podcrawls with “Read it and Weep,” “The Flop House” and others. Check out more great episodes with my brother Mike! After supporting “Film Threat” – Check out Chris Gore’s appearance on this podcast!   Plot hole – According to IMDB At least twice during the film, characters refer to the counterfeit paper as being “U.S. Mint quality”. However, the U.S. Mint (contrary to common misconception) does not print paper currency. It only mints coins. Paper money is made by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. One of the characters who makes the error is the Secret Service Agent. Since the primary purpose of the Secret Service is to prevent counterfeiting, one would think a Secret Service Agent would be knowledgeable about where paper money is printed.

More like the “Ninja 3: The Dumb-ination,” Am I right? Conan writer Todd Levin joins me to talk about great, great mess of a movie. We were going to watch some other movie, but Todd emails me that this movie is amazing and he was right! We take down this Canon Classic! About the lead actress Lucinda Dickey from IMDB: Lucinda was par t of the troupe when Solid Gold’s third season began and a short biography of her was included in press materials for the show. However, her stint was very brief — so brief that most Solid Gold fans may not realize she actually danced on the show. Born and raised in Hutchinson, Kansas, Lucinda began dancing at the age of four and went on to major in dance at Kansas State University for two years. As a college student, Lucinda competed in the Miss Kansas pageant, where she won the talent division and finished third runner-up. Lucinda then moved to Los Angeles and won a dance scholarship with the Dupree Dance Academy. After 10 months of study at Dupree, she auditioned for the movie Grease 2(1982) and won a role as one of the film’s lead dancers. Lucinda also appeared in the movie ninja III: The Domination (1984), where she played a woman possessed by the evil spirit of a ninja assassin. The movie role she is most famous for, however, is that of Kelly (aka Special K) in the 1984 cult film Breakin’ (1984) which also featured Solid Gold dancers Cooley Jackson and Leslie Cook. Lucinda currently lives in California with her husband, Craig Pilligian (who is co-executive producer of the TV show “Survivor”) and their two children, according to a July 2000 Hutchinson News article. – IMDb Mini Biography By: sgdc@hotmail.com Here are some goofs from the IMDB page: Holes created by the Ninja stabbing through police car roof. In one shot the ninja kicks a police officer off his bike. In the very next shot, the police officer is shown, still on his bike, flying over a hill and into a pond. When Christie throws a ninja star at Officer Case she is on one side of the pool table close to him. When he then throws a pool ball at her, she is suddenly on the other side of the pool table further away. In the helicopter, the Black Ninja kicks the pilot unconscious but leaves him in the helicopter. The cop behind him says, “Hold on, I’ll go and get him.” In the next shot, the pilot has disappeared. When Christie seduces Billy, she takes her towel off and we see a white towel covering her breast. The next shot shows her bare back and no second towel. After the evil ninja comes out of the lake he is soaked from head to toe. In the next shot, he continues to fight police officers and is bone dry. When the evil ninja is killed at the end of the movie, he falls on his back. When the camera goes back to show him dead he is suddenly on his left side. When Billy confronts Christie as she steps out of the shower (after the massacre at the cemetery) she has a huge ugly bruise over her right eye. She attacks Billy and leaves, going to the old temple. She gets there, fights the good ninja and passes out.

Jerry Lewis movie! I did a full edited special “Proudly Resents” version of my guest appearance on Mike Spiegelman’s show. But I posted Mike’s full show. So, for completists, or people with not enough time to listen to the full version or too much time and can listen to both,,, Here’s my edited version. I took the time to edit it, so instead of replacing the one, I’ll post the other. Confused? It’s all perfectly natural. I’m crazy about the blonde. (cue theme) (“Bosom Buddies” reference.)   About the episode! Mike Spiegelman had me on his podcast “Let’s Watch a Full Length Movie On YouTube” so I hi-jacked the audio and put together this episode. I’m sorry about the audio. It’s not great! But the content makes it worth putting up. So go to his show to hear the full show or to watch the movie along with us! Jerry Lewis tried to cash in on the Sci Fi craze with his “comedy” with Madeline Kahn. “Slapstick of Another Kind” is the worst movie we’ve reviewed and we’ve reviewed “Hardly Working.”

Jerry Lewis’ comeback movie is today’s film. Mike Spiegelman had me on his podcast “Let’s Watch a Full Length Movie On YouTube” Here’s a recording or it in full! Enjoy! (Please forgive this week’s poor sound quality!) From Mike’s Website: Another kind of slapstick what? I want to help you sit through Jerry Lewis’ movie Slapstick (of Another Kind) but the title doesn’t help. Proudly Resents podcaster Adam Spiegelman (and my brother) try to help, too, but it sounds like we’re eating hot peppers. The movie’s unwatchable. This cultural collision of Jerry Lewis and the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slapstick has Lewis and Madeline Kahn play the dual roles of parents and their extra-terrestrial twins. Theatrically released in Europe in 1982, it haunted American VHS rental stores a few years later. It comes after Hardly Working (1980) for Jerry (which Adam and I covered on his podcast). Click here to launch podcast in a separate tab. Play the podcast while watching the movie. Show starts five and minutes into recording. Update: From Variety.com: Jerry Lewis, the brash slapstick comic who teamed with Dean Martin in the 1950s and later starred in “The Nutty Professor” and “The Bellboy” before launching the Muscular Dystrophy telethon, has died in Las Vegas. He was 91. The Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John Katsilometes reported that he died at his home at 9:15 a.m. Sunday morning. Lewis’ agent has since confirmed the news to Variety. Over the past ten years of his life, the cranky icon’s reputation soured slightly as he was forced to apologize for making a gay slur on camera during the 2007 telethon, continued to make racist and misogynistic jokes into his ’90s, and didn’t hesitate to share his right-wing political views.   In addition to his most famous films, Lewis also appeared in a number of notable works, such as Martin Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy,” but was largely offscreen from the late ’60s on and was more active with his annual Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethon. Through the charity, he raised more than $2.45 billion before being relieved of his role as leader of the telethon in 2011. As late as 2016, Lewis continued to perform in Las Vegas, where he first debuted his comedy routine back in 1949.

I went to Horrible Movie Night with a couple of microphones to watch “Prison of the Dead” and get some real time reactions. Comedians Dave Stone, Lisa Best and HMN co-producer Aaron Baker weigh in on this junk fest of a film. Listen to a different format for the show. Let me know what you think!   ABout the film from IMDB: Kristof, an eccentric rich kid, tricks his high school friends into getting back together for a reunion of sorts, under the pretense of a funeral. The group of twenty-somethings is forced to spend the night in an old abandoned witches’ prison. During a Ouija Board séance, the schoolmates accidentally unearth three dead executioners from their graves. A little confused, and quite a bit angry, the Crypt Keepers initiate a killing spree that will only end when everyone is dead. Fortunately, the schoolmates all wore black. Too bad it’s for their own funerals… Written by ImortalKandy <imortalkandy@aol.com> Review: Holy sh*t?!?!?!? did I just pay 4 bucks to see this!? Author: death280 from PA 24 July 2001 I will start off by saying this is indeed the worst film ever made.The story if you can call it that,is some guy that looks like he is straight off of beverly hills 90210 pretends he is dead and sets up a fake funeral at a castle.His friends show up and he gets up out of the coffin laughing.they get p***ed,and he tells them they can win a million bucks.All they have to do is find the “talon key”.So they all agree and hold a seance.One girl gets possesed by a cartoon wavy thingy and starts speaking latin.As it turns out the castle was an old witches prison and the cartoon thing was one of there spirits.This somehow wakes up three hunch back/executioners and they rise from there graves.and they repeat the scene of them getting out of the ground about 15 times.From then on everyone wanders around and a cartoon thing goes into their mouth and they just stand still and say “Sutra,Sutra,Sutra” then the 3 hunch backs come and the victim says “ah the executioners” then you see the weapons raise and a squirt of blood goes on the person.Then later when you see the bodies the wounds and blood have magically vanished!It doesnt remotely make sense however it is not as bad as bloodstorm.anywho the people just all get killed without resisting at all.It is the worst movie ever made avoid it at all cost.For anyone who has seen it I recomend flushing your eyes out with acid.And then there is the great quote “I never had sex with a zombie before,is this gonna hurt?”In closing I would like to say if I made this movie I would most likely put a bullet in my head.    

Alan Sacks co-created “Welcome Back, Kotter.” Alan Sacks gave John Travolta his big break. He produced films for the Disney Channel and the Jonas Brother. Most Recently, Alan Sacks managed the kid rock phenom ” .” But for me, he’s best known for the Ray Sharkey LA Punk Rock art house flick, duBeat-e-o. On the podcast, Alan Sacks goes into great detail about his experience in the punk scene and what brought him there. I talked to Alan Sacks and I brought up that I thought he was the manager of the kid heavy metal band, “Unlocking the Truth.” Alan immediately set me straight and let me know that he was let go. Alan’s options are his own. I know nothing of this situation. I invite the parents of the kids or the management to rebut what Alan said. But again, it’s his opinion. Not mine or the show’s. Anyhoo – We started talking about other careers that Alan Sacks launched, like John Travolta. It’s nice to hear that he was superstar from day one. Then I mined him for whatever “Welcome Back, Kotter” stories I could get from him. My big question was – How does a guy go from running the biggest show on TV to hanging out in punk clubs? Alan Sacks had an interesting journey. He’s still on it. Alan Sacks just finished writing his memoirs, which includes things that were so awful he wouldn’t repeat it. duBeat-e-o sounds like a great moment in your life when you get to make what you want and how you want it. I work as a TV talk show producer so I have to follow rules of professionalism and standards and format and all that. It’s hard to break out of that for the podcast. But would this podcast even be listenable if I was all over the place? Or even more than I am now… It’s an interesting situation. How self-indulgent can you be? Very, I guess. But duBeat-e-o would not be worth talking about if Alan Sacks had a full budget and a straight narrative. We would not be searching for copies of it at Vidiots in Santa Monica. What is something that you’ve done that’s just for you? How did it turn out? Share on our FB page or Twitter using #myduBeateo. I’ll share it on an upcoming show. What is it about the film that is so appealing? A programming note – We had to use the phone after Skype decided not to work. So the sound quality is not best on either end. A great interview though. I’m working on it. It’s only be 4 years, I’ll get it. Plus -I removed the clip of the movie. Again, all of Alan Sack’s opinions are Alan Sack’s. Rough transcript of the interview: Welcome to proudly presents I’m obsessed with cold found good bad movies obscure films. It’s just that I just love it. So the movie this week we’re talking about is due Dubeat-e-o. So this movie the Dubeat-e-o would speak to the director of the movie does a great interview with them. You’d be surprised who made it and his journey and who he is and this is a fascinating story. I need you is the first three minutes and I think it gives you an idea of what the film is like at Prather’s and Stockholm’s slash Allen Sachs is my interview with Alan Sachs’s director BDubeat-e-o. How are you. OK how are you doing that. Are you still working on you’re on tour with unlocking truth. No I’m not. Actually there’s a movie that’s playing right now that actually happens to life first at the Lemley in Santa Monica. It’s a movie about the band.And me I’m some featured in the movie. You’re also producing the movie. But as it turned out the band’s parents didn’t think I was doing enough for them.I made them probably a million dollars in the first year. I know the Sony deal is huge right. And so the bands parents thought they could do better without me. So they graciously released me from my contract with nobody even called me. It was really very sad.

Before reality shows, there was something even crazier – Daytime Talk Shows. Burt Dubrow is the man behind some of the craziest moments on TV. Everyone from Cher to “Lesbian Nuns” to  “Feuding Sisters,” appeared on Sally Jessy Raphael. It was Burt Dubrow who brought them all to daytime TV.  He discovered Sally Jessy Raphael and Jerry Springer. Not only did Burt live through the craziest period of TV, he helped create it. Burt Dubrow talked to me from his office at his show, “Dr. Drew.” Burt serves as the EP of the HLN show. After our interview, Burt Dubrow took me on a tour of the set. It was originally just a desk and backdrop. Drew occupied one half of the set, while Piers Morgan had the other. When Peers went away, Burt drew on his old school talk days and added an audience that would join in on the conversation. Related interviews: Madeleine Smithberg  Robert Morton Pt 1    Robert Morton Pt 2   Todd Yasui For even more interviews check out “Proudly Resents: Interviews.” Here’s a classic clip from Sally Jessy Raphael.   Bio from the his website: Dubrow targeted an unknown broadcaster and broke two traditional rules of television: radio personalities don’t translate to television and women can’t host talk shows, focusing on controversial issues – when he launched Sally Jessy Raphael. This successful syndicated series spanned a phenomenal 18 years. Named Senior Vice President of Programming for Multimedia Entertainment, Dubrow also saw potential in another little known local news commentator – Jerry Springer – and developed a talk show around him. Burt served as Executive producer on both series. Some of Dubrow’s other projects include: Executive Producer of Dr. Joy Browne and Executive Producer for the syndicated series, Crook & Chase. Dubrow began his illustrious career as the youngest ever Associate Producer of the local morning series on WLS-TV in Chicago, Kennedy & Company as well as three other shows. From there, he became Associate Producer on The Mike Douglas Show. He then moved on to executive produce all live programming for Warner Communications’ Qube, the first two-way television system. While at Qube, Dubrow designed and implemented a wide variety of game shows that were the foundation of the Qube Network. This led him to create and executive produce the first teenage talk/game show, America Goes Bananas, which won a Cable Ace Award and helped launch the Nickelodeon Network. After leaving Qube, Dubrow spent four years producing ABC-TV’s, the Emmy award winning Kids Are People Too. Dubrow has been fortunate to excel on both management and creative levels, giving him a varied and unique perspective of the broadcasting industry. Burt is a 1950’s television buff and owns an extensive collection of memorabilia, ventriloquist figures, videotapes and kinescopes. Born and raised in Westchester County, New York, he currently resides in Calabasas, California with his wife and two daughters.    

Graham Elwood (“Comedy Film Nerds”) & Susanna Brisk (“MILF Code”) proudly resent the cult classic, “Miami Connection.” They join me at the Hollywood Improv Lab for a live show for a very few (select) people. The great Kathleen Wilhoite covers one of the terrible “songs” from “Miami Connection.” She also sings the song that she did in the movie “RoadHouse.” Yes, that “RoadHouse.” Hear Kathleen spill the beans on the onset drinking and drugging on a previous episode with Joel Stein.  Back to this episode… Here’s a trailer for the film and part of the original song that Kathleen covers.   Listen to past live shows… “A live Tribute to Troma” With Christian Finnegan (Late Late Show) Mike C. Williams (Blair Witch Project) Asta Paredes & Catherine Corcoran (Return to Nuke’Em High) Robert Prichard (Class of Nuke Em High) and music from Ben Lerman.   Birdemic With Eric Schaeffer, Frank Conniff (MST3K), Bryan Tucker (SNL head writer) and music from Rob Paravonian. FROM WIKIPEDIA: Miami Connection is a 1987 independent martial arts film starring Y.K. Kim, who also wrote and produced the feature. Originally, the film was critically maligned and received poor box office return upon release. It remained unseen for decades until Drafthouse Films restored the film for a proper release in 2012. The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, limited-edition VHS, and various digital download options on December 11, 2012. Since then, the film has been better received by audiences and has garnered a cult following. Plot A cocaine deal in Miami is interrupted by a group of motorcycle-riding ninjas led by Yashito, who steal the drugs and rides back to Orlando to party. At a club, the ninjas’ second-in-command, Jeff, sees his sister Jane onstage. She has become romantically involved with John, the bassist of the club’s band, Dragon Sound, which consists of five University of Central Florida students who live together and train Tae Kwon Do. Jeff disapproves of his sister’s relationship with John and confronts him at school, but Mark, the leader of Dragon Sound, stands up to him. Another band confronts the owner of the club over his hiring of Dragon Sound, but gets beaten up. The band leader brings a large group of rowdy guys to Dragon Sound directly and fights them in the street, but Dragon Sound defeats them. Consequently, the rival band enlists the help of Jeff, who summons Dragon Sound to fight at a train depot, but he and his men are badly defeated by Dragon Sound’s superior Tae Kwon Do. Jeff tries again by kidnapping Tom, the lead singer of Dragon Sound. The remaining band members stage a rescue, wherein they free their singer and accidentally kill Jeff. Yashito is angered by Jeff’s death and sets out for revenge. Meanwhile, another member of the band, Jim, has revealed that he is searching for his long-lost father. He finally receives word that his father has been relocated, so the band pools their money to buy him a suit and then head to the airport. Along the way, the ninjas surround Mark, Jim and John and chase them into a park, where they do battle. Jim is critically injured, but John and Mark manage to kill all of the ninjas and Mark kills Yashito in single combat. At the hospital, Jim survives his wounds and reconnects with his repentant father. Cast Y.K. Kim as Mark Vincent Hirsch as John William Ergle as Jeff Siyung Jo as Yashito Kathie Collier as Jane Joseph Diamond as Jack

Tommy Wiseau made a movie so bad, there’s a 2 hour doc about it. And there are two 45 minute podcast about the doc. On a special joint Proudly Resents/Projection Booth crossover, Mike White joins Adam to talk about Room Full of Spoons, a documentary from Rick Harper that chronicles the making and impact of Tommy Wiseau’s magnum opus, The Room. This doc answers all the questions you can ever have about the movie “The Room.” Mike and I talk about the actual movie “The Room,” Tommy Wiseau and the doc itself. Links: Visit the official Room Full of Spoons website Buy The Disaster Artist by Greg Sistero Buy The Room on DVD Buy the Rifftrax version of The Room Visit the official The Room website Play The Room video game     Listen to The Projection Booth’s version of this show, which includes an interview with Rick Harper, the director of “Room Full of Spoons.”  Proudly Resents Room Episodes: Philip Halderman: Tommy Wiseau: Sandy Schklair: The Room: Watch:    About Room Full of Spoons: SYNOPSIS Room Full of Spoons is an in depth documentary about the cult film that is widely accepted as the worst film ever made: The Room, and it’s eccentric creator Tommy Wiseau. Referred to as “The Citizen Kane of bad movies” by Entertainment Weekly, The Room grossed only $1800 during it’s initial box office run. Against all odds, Mr. Wiseau’s disastrous film found a new life on the midnight movie circuit and now plays to audiences around the world making it one of the most adored and important films in popular culture. Follow Rick Harper and his team on their journey across the Globe as they experience this midnight movie phenomenon, meet with the entire cast and crew of the The Room and piece together the story behind the mysterious Tommy Wiseau. // // // //

The man that brought you “Slacker,” “Clerks,” “Thin Blue Line” and “Go Fish” comes on the podcast to talk about the golden age of indie film – the 80’s. John Pierson talks about negotiating, finding new films, dealing with film makers and more. He tells his story of making a place for himself in the indie film scene in his great book, “Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes.” This book is filled with great stories. Instead of having JohnPierson just repeat them, I tried to get him to expand and give a perspective 20 years later. In the interview I might have slammed Michael Moore for making money on his message and I also might have gotten sucked into an internet scheme. You’ll have to listen to find out! John Pierson wasn’t here just to indulge us! He’s got a great film festival to promote. At the Cinefamily Theater on March 4 John Pierson is presenting Spike Lee’s first film “She’ Gotta Have It” and on March 5th he’s presenting “Roger & Me.” On both films Pierson was the “Producer’s Representative.” Find out what that means when you listen to the podcast. The Cinefamily Theater in Los Angeles on Fairfax Ave, up the street from Cantor’s and down the street from Oakie Dog, is in the middle of the “Underground USA Indie Cinema of the 80’s film festival. There are great films like Repo Man, Blood Simple, Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Evil Dead, Desperately Seeking Susan and more. That’s right, MORE! John Pierson was born on April 30, 1954 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He has been married to Janet Pierson since 1983.  

“The Daily Show” co-creator, Madeleine Smithberg talks about her amazing career in TV. From  Late Night With David Letterman to life after co-creating and running “The Daily Show.” Madeleine give a lot of insight to the creative part of TV as well the harsh business practices. Talks about Jon Stewart changing the work atmosphere at “The Daily Show,” how she got David Spade to stop doing fat actress jokes and why Bloomberg TV rejected a very funny Julie Klasner. She tells amazing stories about starting in live Italian TV, her one try at Reality to harsh and ridiculous network notes, to what she thinks of “The Daily Show’s” new host. Plus insights on her latest project “This Week in Black Twitter.” Fans of TV and comedy will love her from a true insider. We talked at her home in Valley with her son in the other room playing video games and her dog protecting us from lawn mowers and people taking out the trash. In Madeleine’s living are her trophies for her years of work. A Peabody, an Emmy and a wax bust of David Letterman. Madeleine Smithberg earned Peabody and Emmy Awards, and two other Emmy nominations, for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which she co-created and ran as executive producer for seven years. During her tenure, she was directly responsible for the hiring/casting of performers such as Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Ed Helms, and Rob Corddry, Mo Rocca, Lewis Black, among others. She served as producer/show-runner for The Daily Show forerunner, The Jon Stewart Show, on MTV and later in syndication. She also brought her skills as executive producer and writer of The WB comedy/variety show Steve Harvey’s Big Time. She spent six years as a talent coordinator, then producer, for NBC’s original ’t Sleep! Hosted by T.J. Holmes.   If you want more, here’s another interview with Madeleine.  Related interviews: Robert Morton Pt 1 Robert Morton Pt 2 Todd Yasui

While some out of work actors spend their days in coffee shops or on Playstation, Feikamoh Massaquoi is literally hitting the streets. I see him in front the entrance of the Warner Brothers Studio lot. Many people pass him everyday. Writers, producers, actors, accountants, set designers and most importantly casting agents. While we’ve never heard of an actor picketing for a role. After looking him up, I decided to say hi and see what his deal was. I didn’t have too much time, I had to punch in at the TV mill. Watch his clips, they are impressive. Which shocks me because he’s standing in front of studios with a sign. Remember Dennis Woodruff? (Look it up. It’s too late at night to be looking him up and linking him. Seriously!) So why is a good actor standing on the street and not working? He has what most people dream of, an agent and manager. He has a good look and a sense of humor. One thing he doesn’t have is a sense a monologue. You got to have one ready. A producer in my office told me he has a Shakespearean and a regular monologue ready at a drop of a hat. I guess in LA it’s like having breath mints or an AAA card – you never know when it will come in handy. If you’re at SONY Studios next week and you see Feikamoh, give him a smile or better yet, a role.

Jimmy Pardo,  Todd Levin  (Conan) and comedian Sharon Houston  (Punk’d) rip apart the worst Christmas movie ever made, “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas.” Listen to more Christmas movie reviews Itunes  or RSS. Recorded live at the Improv Lab in Hollywood, CA.The war on the war on Christmas continues! For Saving Christmas Kirk Cameron grabbed a camcorder and a bunch of college students and did their best to fill 80 minutes. It’s a variety show of sermons, backwards logic, mumbo jumbo and “comedy.” Kirk puts his name upfront on “Saving Christmas” like a Tyler Perry movie, just a lot less plot. Full disclosure, there were three people in the audience and four people on stage. I never planned on selling out the place, in fact, that was three more people than I expected to show up. There was my friend John Santry. He’s game for anything though.   I, Host Adam Spiegelman,  was standing outside the Improv comedy club with Jimmy Pardo waiting for Sharon Houston when two women in their late 20’s got out of an Uber. I thought, “Oh crap. I hope they aren’t coming to my show.” They were. They were day drinking and saw the live “Saving Christmas” online. I just felt pressure all of a sudden to perform for two drunks. But they were very nice and of course, we ended up talking to them. From IMDB.com Kirk is enjoying the annual Christmas party extravaganza thrown by his sister until he realizes he needs to help out Christian, his brother-in-law, who has a bad case of the bah-humbugs. Kirk’s fresh look at Christmas provides Christians the chance to see Christ is where He has always been: at the center of our Christmas celebrations and traditions. User Reviews Kirk Cameron isn’t “saving Christmas” he’s desecrating it 17 November 2014 | by Sunny Shell – See all my reviews What’s wrong with this movie? There’s not enough time or space to cover all of it, so I’ll just share the main reasons why anyone who loves Jesus, His Word and His people should or would never watch this mockery of Christmas. “Saving Christmas” is in direct violation of Romans 14:5-6 and 22-23, twists Scripture, reconstructs history and encourages gluttony. There’s nothing in this film that is “wholesome” and good for anyone, believer or non-believer. Let’s save others from Kirk and crew’s version of Christ’s first coming and celebrate (if your conscience allows) with reverence, awestruck wonder and with the true and great joy that envelopes all who are humbled by and grateful for God’s most amazing Gift–Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God.   Listen to past live shows… “A live Tribute to Troma” With Christian Finnegan (Late Late Show) Mike C. Williams (Blair Witch Project) Asta Paredes & Catherine Corcoran (Return to Nuke’Em High) Robert Prichard (Class of Nuke Em High) and music from Ben Lerman. Birdemic With Eric Schaeffer, Frank Conniff (MST3K), Bryan Tucker (SNL head writer) and music from Rob Paravonian. “Heart Beeps” With Chris Gore, Jenna Busch, Conan/Fallon writer Josh Comers,