The Dana Gould Hour

Hello! And welcome to September 2026 edition of the Dana Gould Hour Podcast. Fasten your funny belt, we are blasting off, yet again. Filmmaker Mike Mendez is here. Mike is a good friend of the show, and he has a new film out called Dernsie which is a documentary of the inimitable actor Bruce Dern that, get this, just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. And Mark Evanier is with us. Mark is a legendary comic book and television writer, with stories of being in the tranches from everyone from Jack Kirby to Sid & Marty Krofft, from Stan Lee to Pink Lady and Jeff. And he has deigned to share his stories with us. Mark is the author of Jack Kirby, King Of Comics, which is mandatory reading if you are in anyway interested in that world. And if you're listening to this podcast my guess is you are, and talk about his book. There are some great live performances coming up, so check out the events page at www.danagould.com/events/!

Aaaaaaand we're back. Episode 1 of season 14 of the Dana Gould Hour Podcast. Has anything of interest happened since the last episode? Don't think so. Certainly not here in Los Angeles, or America. Okay. Great. Let's get at it! Drew Friedman is here. Drew Friedman is one of the premiere illustrators and cartoonists in America. You know his work from The New York Observer, the New Yorker, his books, Warts And All, Old Jewish Comedians, More Old Jewish Comedians, Still More Old Jewish Comedians, Too Soon, Drew Friedman's Sideshow Freaks, Heroes Of The Comics, More Heroes Of The Comics, the list goes on and on. In 1987 I discovered his book Any Similarity to Persons Living Or Dead is Purely Coincidental and it quite literally redefined my sense of humor. It is hard to articulate the impact the book had on me. No kidding. Drew has a new book out called Schtick Figures, portraits of people important to Drew. And me. People he refers to as The Cool, The Comical and The Crazy. Portraits of people like Gilbert Gottfried, #2 and #3 as only Drew can draw them. Drew is also the subject of a new documentary that's about to be released entitled The Vermeer Of The Borscht Belt, Drew Friedman is here. Kurt Sayenga is a writer, director and producer. We first met when Kurt ran the series Eli Roth's History Of Horror. Kurt now has a series on Shudder called Horror's Greatest. Season #2 just dropped, with guests like Davi Dastmalchian, Joe Hill, Jonah Ray, Alex Winter, Mick Garris, yours truly and many, many more. Kurt's here to talk about the show and the topics covered this season as it continues to explore our fascination with all things cinematically horrific. Cinematically horrific. If you want to examine the realistically horrific, True Tales From Weirdsville takes a deep dive into the 1957 classic A Face In Crowd, starring Andy Griffith, written by Budd Schulberg and directed by Elia Kazan. It tells the cautionary tale of what happens when a corrupt, amoral grifter gains a position of power and influence in America. It was made in 1957 and it was a FREAKISHLY predictive film. https://www.DanaGould.com

Hello! And welcome to the Dana Gould Hour Podcast's annual Halloween spectacular. Or spooktacular! Ha ha! Get it? Not spectacular but – okay, you get it. What a show we have for you today. Mike McCarty and James Knight are brothers, even if they don't have the same last name. And they are the hosts of a new horror podcast called The Head, the Tail and the Whole Damn Thing. It's not your ordinary horror podcast as you will soon learn. I have known Mike forever. He is a special effects make-up artist who has worked on Blade Runner 2049, Mind Hunter, The Exorcist, The Orville, Stan Against Evil, if anyone remembers that show. James is an actor and educator but together, they share a love of all things creepy, and, most importantly, they are great guys and they're super funny. Mike McCarty and James Knight. Also, Rob Zabrecky, or just Zabrecky, if you are a fan of magic, is here. Rob is an actor, and an author and a musician, a Valley kid, who has since gone on to become a professional illusionist and a walking encyclopedia if all things magic. Rob runs the Houdini seance at The Magic Castle and is here today to talk about the history of Midnight Spook Shows! He's also performing one at the Mayan Theater this month here in Los Angeles, but we have him right here, right now, Rob Zabrecky. True Tales From Weirdsville takes us on a deep dive on Dracula, from Bram Stoker's book to Hamilton Dean's west end production in the 1920's all the way up to Gary Oldman's fright wig. We'll discuss which film version is closest to the book, and why, but also ask, how much does that actually matter?

Summer is in high dudgeon. The news is a rollercoaster the asphalt is too hot for the dog to walk on and all the good drive-ins are two hours away. That's the reality I'm struggling with. I'm trying to adapt and assume you are too. So I offer this, this high summer audio oasis. Drew Landry is here. Drew is one of my favorite comedians here in Los Angeles. He's a buddy, he's super funny, and he has a new special out called All My Friends Are Dead. Drew started doing stand-up at 13, which means that, even though he's only 30 years old, he's already a worn out tired has been. NO! That's me. Comedian Drew Landry. Comin' at ya. Additionally, you've all heard of The Criterion Collection, But have you heard of Vinegar Syndrome? Vinegar Syndrome is basically The Criterion Collection for exploitation films and drive-in movie fair. They are archivists, film restoration experts and curators of our rich exploitation cinema heritage. They have a new box set out called The Lost Picture Show, which features titles like The Las Vegas Stranger, Violated! and The Sex Serum Of Dr. Blake (also known as Voodoo Heartbeat). From Vinegar Syndrome, Dino Proserpio and Oscar Becher are here. True Tales From Weirdsville takes an unflinching look at a movie you may not have seen but you have definitely heard of. Caligula! Starring Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud. What's the one thing that all these actors have in common? They all wish they weren't in Caligula! Find out why! As we always say, this show is brought to you by you. If you enjoy it, please consider being a Dana Gould Hour Sky Cadet. Go to DanaGould.com, and sign up for our Patreon. Five bucks a month gets you extra audio content video content and some other junk. And now… it's on… to our filthy business.

Phil Hendrie is here. Phil Hendrie is a genius, and if you are unfamiliar with his work I am so happy that you get to learn about him through me. Starting out as a rock DJ he moved into talk radio and then perfected his very unique, very specific, very, very hilarious The Phil Hendrie Show, and now has his podcast, The World Of Phil Hendrie. There is a new documentary out about him called, quite simply, Hendrie, that will either introduce you to his incredible talent or will reinforce your appreciation of it. Phil Hendrie, so happy to have him on. Additionally, we have nothing short of a broadcasting legend, George Schlatter, who re-invented how sketch comedy is presented on television, with the legendary Laugh-In, he produced series and specials for Cher, Mohammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, he is 93 and still going strong and he has a new book out entitled Still Laughing: A Life In Comedy and he is here to talk about it. George Schlatter. True Tales From Weirdsville takes you into the world of cinematic legend Roger Corman, from the Creature From The Haunted Sea up through his two late 60's counter-cultural epics The Wild Angels and The Trip.

We have our usual stellar line up to get the season off to, in this case, a rockin' good start. Our old friend Greg Proops is back! Greg has a new album out called French Drug Deal. He is also in a new film called First Time Caller. He's out on the road with Who's Line Is It Anyway and is getting ready to record the follow up to French drug Deal AND, greg is going to tell us all about what it is like to perform the Nightmare Before Christmas LIVE concerts, which he does, and about which I am so jealous. Also, Leland Sklar is with us. If you own a radio, you have heard Leland's work. Leland is one of the preeminent session musicians on Los Angeles a bass player of world renown. To let you know how long Leland has been making music, he tells a story in the interview where he was doing a session with another guitarist, and that guitarist was just forming a new band, but was unsure what to call it so he asked Leland, "I don't know, do you think The Eagles is a good name?" Leland can be seen in a new documentary by Denny Tedesco, who made the documentary The Wrecking Crew. This new film is called The Immediate Family and it is available now to stream, and I can't recommend it strongly enough. And we will be hearing all about it, in today's episode. True Tales From Weirdsville goes deep on of my favorite musicians who is also tangentially featured in Immediate family, Warren Zevon. That story is stranger than fiction.

It's that time of year again! It's mid October. The leaves are turning, there's a chill in the air and the whole world smells pumpkin spice, which, oddly, smells neither like pumpkin or spice, but what can you do? Regardless, all that stuff adds up to two very important things! It's time for our annual Halloween spectacular, and Target has already put up its Christmas shit. Well, tough toenails Target! We're sticking with Halloween up to, well, Halloween, which is really just the night before the countdown to next Halloween, so there! Aaron Lee is with us today. He is what you'd call a fellow traveler. A horror movie nerd, comic book fan and The Cramps devotee who has come to unburden his sympatico soul with us. Aaron is a hilarious writer who's been an essential writer on, among others, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, the upcoming TED TV and so many more. But it's Halloween, so we're talking monsters, with Aaron Lee. Also, my very dear friend Bill Corso is here. Bill is one of the most famous and successful make-up men in Hollywood today. In addition to being the governor of the make-up branch of the Motion Picture Academy, he is also the personal make-up artist of Jim Carrey, Harrison Ford and so many others. Here to talk latex, glue and other fun things to sniff, it's Bill Corso! True Tales From Weirdsville is going to take you down to the basement and unearth the down and the dirty in the world of James Warren Publications, which gave the world Creepy Magazine, Eerie, Magazine, Vampirella Magazine and, of course, Famous Monsters Of Filmland Magazine. It's the weird and wonderful world of James Warren and Forrest Ackerman, two dudes who could not be more different if they tried to be.