The Odd Podcast with Joe Parisi: Recent Episodes
Joe Parisi
Joe Parisi explores the nooks and crannies of pop culture and the entertainment industry. He brings you a mix of odd news, facts and interviews. Join Joe and some truly interesting people from the world of film, music, tv and art. It's an exciting peak behind the curtain into some of the lesser known worlds within our own.
Step beyond the bright lights of classic Hollywood and into the forgotten world of Ed Wood's Fringe Hollywood. Long before Ed Wood became a cult icon and the subject of Tim Burton's acclaimed film, he was hustling to make movies on the margins of the film industry - renting bare-bones soundstages, scraping together casts of unforgettable characters, and creating films that somehow outlived many of the Hollywood classics of their era. In this episode, Joe sits down with Ed Wood historian Bob Blackburn, whose decades of research and personal friendship with Kathy Wood (Ed's widow), offer a rare firsthand glimpse into that world. Together they explore the legendary Quality Studios, the disappearing landscape of Hollywood's Poverty Row, and the eccentric personalities who orbited Wood - including Criswell, Vampira, Conrad Brooks, Tor Johnson, Bunny Breckinridge, and more. Whether you're a lifelong Ed Wood fan or you've only heard him described as "the worst director of all time," this conversation reveals a far richer story: one about dreamers, outsiders, forgotten Hollywood history, and the people who refused to stop creating. Because sometimes the most fascinating stories happen on the fringes. Follow Joe @joeparisivo www.joeparisifilms.com
What if the most memorable graduation speech of all time was never actually a graduation speech?
On this episode of The Odd Podcast with Joe Parisi, we take a deep dive into "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)," the 1999 spoken-word hit that offered life advice to an entire generation. From its origins as a newspaper column falsely attributed to Kurt Vonnegut, to its transformation into an international chart-topping song by filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, this unlikely cultural phenomenon has a fascinating story behind it.
We'll explore how the viral hoax began in the early days of the internet, why the message resonated with millions, the song's surprising chart success around the world, and whether its famous advice still holds up more than 25 years later.
It's a strange, nostalgic, and surprisingly meaningful journey into one of the most unique hits of the late 1990s.
Step into a supersized dose of nostalgia on this episode of The Odd Podcast with Joe Parisi!
Joe dives deep into the wild, colorful world of McDonald's nostalgia, Ronald McDonald history, and some of the most sought-after McDonald's collectibles ever made.
First, Joe talks with Randy Kalin, a performer and magician who spent more than 30 years working as Ronald McDonald, sharing incredible behind-the-scenes stories about what it was like to bring one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture to life. From live appearances to the magic of the Golden Arches, Randy offers a rare inside look at an unforgettable era of McDonald's history.
Then, Joe is joined by Dustin Mayfield (@dustydixie), a prolific pop culture toy and memorabilia collector who has bought, sold, and hunted down some of the coolest and rarest vintage McDonald's collectibles, including retro advertising pieces, restaurant décor, promotional items, and other fast food treasures that collectors dream about.
If you love retro McDonald's, 80s and 90s nostalgia, Happy Meal memories, vintage advertising, restaurant memorabilia, and the strange corners of pop culture history, this episode is for you.
🍟 Topics include:
- What it was really like to be Ronald McDonald
- Rare and valuable McDonald's memorabilia
- Vintage Happy Meal toys and collectibles
- Classic McDonald's restaurant décor and advertising
- Why McDonald's nostalgia still hits so hard
Whether you grew up with the PlayPlace, birthday parties, collectible glasses, menu boards, or the golden age of Ronald McDonald, this episode is a nostalgic trip back to one of America's most iconic brands.
MTV Changed Pop Culture Forever...Let's Rewind đź“ş
This episode of The Odd Podcast dives deep into the wild, colorful, and culture-shifting history of MTV.
From the moment "Video Killed the Radio Star" launched the network in 1981, MTV didn't just play music videos, it reshaped music, fashion, celebrity culture, and an entire generation. In this episode, I take you on a nostalgic journey through the rise, peak, and evolution of MTV.
We talk about:
• The early days and explosive rise of MTV • Iconic music videos that defined the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s • The shows that changed the network forever (and changed TV itself) • How reality TV slowly replaced music videos • The long, strange "end of the music video era"
Plus, a very special guest interview.
I'm joined by FlexasaurusRex, the anonymous creator behind the viral MTV Rewind website - a free streaming experience that brings back the magic of watching music videos all day long. We talk about why he built it, the reaction it's getting online, and why people still miss the MTV era so much.
If you grew up watching MTV, miss music television, or just love pop-culture nostalgia, this episode is for you.
🎧 Listen now and take a trip back to when the TV was always on… and the music never stopped. Follow Joe Parisi @joeparisivo
Follow FlexasaurusRex @rexflexasaurus
wantmymtv.xyz
Heather O'Rourke is forever etched into horror history as Carol Anne Freeling, the wide-eyed little girl who delivered one of the most iconic lines in movie history: "They're here." Cast in Poltergeist (1982) at just five years old, Heather instantly became one of the most recognizable child actors of the 1980s and a defining face of supernatural cinema.
Before and after Poltergeist, Heather appeared in national television commercials and guest-starred on popular shows like Happy Days and Webster. She went on to reprise her role as Carol Anne in Poltergeist II and Poltergeist III, solidifying her place in horror fandom while quickly gaining a reputation as a remarkably gifted young performer.
Tragically, Heather O'Rourke passed away in 1988 at only 12 years old, leaving behind an enduring legacy and decades of unanswered questions, myths, and fascination among fans of the Poltergeist films.
In this episode, I'm joined by friend of the show Brian Pocrass, who has spent years working with his team on an upcoming documentary about Heather's life, career, and lasting impact. The film, She Was Here, is set for release in early 2026. Together, we discuss Heather's rise to fame, her cultural impact, and why her story continues to resonate with Poltergeist fans and horror lovers alike.
This episode was originally released on December 27, 2025, on what would have been Heather's 50th birthday.
Follow Joe Parisi @joeparisivo
In this episode, Joe Parisi explores the #1 songs of the 1990s as ranked by the Billboard Hot 100. From chart‑toppers that shattered records to songs that launched major careers, and even a few that completely disappeared from the cultural conversation. This is a deep dive into what the charts were really telling us.
The Billboard Hot 100 isn't just about hits. It's a snapshot of a moment in time. Each #1 song reflects a week, a season, or even a specific memory for millions of people.
So put on your Starter jacket, pump up your shoes, and join Joe for a fun, nostalgic look back at the music that defined the '90s.
Follow Joe @joeparisivo
Get ready for an irresistibly nostalgic deep dive into one of the most delightfully quirky parts of Pee-wee's Playhouse: the iconic claymation "Penny" segments! In this episode, we explore how these whimsical shorts were created, uncover who "Penny" really was, and connect the dots to a surprising web of pop-culture oddities that all tie back to her.
I'm joined by two incredible guests: Prudence Fenton, the visionary animation director and producer behind Pee-wee's Playhouse, and Timothy Young, the artist and model maker who literally built Penny during Season 1. Together, they share behind-the-scenes stories, creative secrets, and the unexpected legacy of a tiny girl made of clay who left a huge mark on children's television.
Tune in for nostalgia, creativity, and some seriously fun surprises!
Follow Joe @joeparisivo
Check out Joe's other podcast "America's Pop Culture Trivia Show".
Author and Podcaster Mark Malkoff joins Joe for an in-depth discussion about Johnny Carson's fascinating life and career. Mark recently released the book "Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genuis Behind the Legend".
If you love hearing stories from Hollywood's Golden Age, and exclusive stories from behind the curtain of The Tonight Show, this episode is right up your alley.
Enjoy our 135th episode...Here's Johnny!
Follow Joe @joeparisivo
More about Mark - markmalkoff.com
Diving in to the legend of 2Pac with 9x New York Times Best Selling Author Jeff Pearlman. In October 2025, Jeff released his latest book "Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur".
Follow Joe @joeparisivo
Follow Jeff @jeff_pearlman
In this spine-tingling episode, Joe Parisi explores the legacy of Elsa Lanchester, the unforgettable actress who brought The Bride of Frankenstein to life. But the story doesn't end on screen. Recently, true-crime and Hollywood historian Scott Michaels (Dearly Departed Tours/Findadeath) uncovered the mysterious truth about the whereabouts of Lanchester's remains. Hear how decades of rumor, misinformation, and Hollywood lore finally led to a surprising discovery.
Joe also dives into the life and tragic death of Colin Clive, the brilliant but tormented actor who portrayed Dr. Frankenstein himself, revealing the haunting parallels between his real life and the Gothic horror he helped create.
If you love classic monster movies, Hollywood history, and real-life mysteries, this episode is for you.
Follow Joe Parisi @joeparisivo
Follow Scott Michaels @iamscottmichaels
On this episode of The Odd Podcast with Joe Parisi, we explore a lesser-known chapter of Elvis Presley’s life, his deep passion for karate. Joe is joined by special guest Billy Stallings, also known as Spa Guy, who owns and operates the Tiger Man Dojo & Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, the very same dojo where Elvis trained from 1970 to 1974.
Learn how Elvis got into martial arts during his Army days, and how it became a major part of his life during his peak fame and his later years. Discover the history of the dojo just down the street from Graceland, and how Billy lovingly restored it to look just like it did during Elvis’s training days.
Whether you're a lifelong Elvis fan, martial arts enthusiast, or history buff, this episode is packed with rare stories, fascinating history, and insights into a side of The King you've never seen before.
Topics include:
- The true story behind "Karate Elvis"
- Elvis’s personal martial arts journey
- The restoration of the original dojo
- Behind-the-scenes stories from the Tiger Man Dojo & Museum
- How fans can visit this hidden Elvis landmark
Follow Joe @joeparisivo
Visit www.thetigermanmuseum.com
#ElvisPresley #KarateElvis #TigerManDojo #ElvisPodcast #Graceland #MartialArts #SpaGuy #ElvisHistory #MemphisTourism #ElvisPresleyMuseum
Join Joe Parisi and Brian Pocrass for a fun deep dive on Back to the Future Part 2. It's a trip back in time to 1989 when we all saw what things were possibly going to look like in 2015. We discuss everything from the lesser known cast members to filming locations and screen used props.
Joe Parisi exlplores the incredible story behind the 1996 alt rock song "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth with Money In My Hand" by Primitive Radio Gods.
Follow Joe @joeparisivo
Join Joe as he discusses a recent trip to Las Vegas and all of the fun & quirky pop culture-related things he had on the itinerary, including a David Copperfield show at the MGM Grand, Maroon 5 at the Dolby Theatre, a desert road trip to see Area 51, the town of Rachel Nevada, the Little A'le'in, The Clown Motel, The Sphere, filming locations from Swingers and Back to the Future 2, the 2pac Memorial and more!
Follow Joe @joeparisivo
Find Joe's other show - America's Pop Culture Trivia Show
On this episode we take a DEEP DIVE on Steve Urkel Mania, which managed to sweep the nation in the 90s. We discuss Family Matters, TGIF, Urkel Merchandise, Crossover Episodes, Lost Media, and so much more. Hollywood insider Brian Pocrass joins Joe Parisi for a fun discussion that will pull you right back into the glorious 90s!
Joe Parisi and Brian Pocrass take a deep dive on the 1993 cinematic classic Dazed and Confused. They discuss the film in depth, along with many of the other coming-of-age highschool films they enjoy.
Follow Joe on insta @joeparisivo
A recap of Joe's recent trip to Hollywood that was packed full of Hollywood history, filming location visits, iconic LA haunts, and more. PLUS, a full 30+ minutes on the special Odd Podcast field trip to Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary. This is the final resting place of Marilyn Monroe and hundreds of other Hollywood celebrities.
Brian Pocrass joins the show live from LA with a wealth of information about this extremely unique, celebrity-filled cemetery. Brian gave Joe and his family a private tour of the cemetery during their visit and on this episode he shares all sorts of odd and interesting facts with the listeners.
The show open through 49:40 features a recap of everything Joe and his family visited in and around Hollywood. 49:40 on is all about Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary.
Examining the bizarre and fascinating life and career of a fringe Old Hollywood celebrity known as The Amazing Criswell. Joining me is the author of the book " Fact, Fictions, and the Forbidden Predictions of the Amazing Criswell", Edwin Lee Canfield.
Instagram: @joeparisivo
A deep dive into the 1996 film Swingers. Joe Parisi is joined by Deena Martin Delucia, who played Christy (The Vegas Waitress).
Al Leong has probably been in your favorite action movie. In fact, he's probably been in half of the action movies you saw in the 80's and 90's. Join Joe Parisi and Al Leong for a fun discussion about the martial arts film genre and Al's incredible life on screen.
A deep dive on the 1986 pro-wrestling comedy "BodySlam".
Join host Joe Parisi and cast member Michael Moynahan, who played "Pee Wee Hutchens" as we discuss this somewhat obscure 80s cult classic.
If you spent time watching ABC's TGIF lineup in the 90's, this episode is for you! Join Joe Parisi and guest Brian Pocrass as they take a deep dive into one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 90s.
A deep dive into the 2004 classic Napoleon Dynamite. Join Joe Parisi and Trevor Snarr (who played "Don" in the film) for a fun look back at this highly influential movie.
F_ _ _ FACE! In 1989, Fleer released their annual set of baseball cards, having no idea what was about to happen and what had slipped past them. A few weeks after the cards started being sold, word started to spread that the Bill Ripken card in the set featured a very explicit phrase written on the handle of the bat he was holding in the picture. As the company scrambled to halt production, save face, and edit the card, a frenzy among collectors broke out and copies of the card became highly sought after. 30 years later, people still actively search for this card and many questions still remain unanswered. Over the years, many of the stories and explanations have been changed.
Join Joe Parisi for a deep dive on this historic incident that changed the trading card industry forever. We're also visited by Jon Pederson who runs the website dedicated to this card, www.billripken.com
Dissecting the 1985 John Hughes classic "Weird Science".
Joining Joe Parisi is longtime Hollywood character actor Britt Leach who played the father of "Gary" (Anthony Michael Hall) in the film. Also, Rhonda Wong joins the show. Rhonda worked as a background performer in the iconic party scene at the end of the film and was in the blue kitchen!
Joe Parisi is joined by Brian Pocrass for a deep dive on 1991's odd coming of age hit "My Girl".
Join Joe Parisi and Brian Pocrass as they dissect the 1991 cult classic Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead.
Join Joe Parisi, Brian Pocrass and Jen Chaney (author of the book "As If: The Oral History of Clueless as told by Amy Heckerling, the Cast and Crew") as they take a trip back to 1995 and explore this influential teen film.
The unlikely story of an unlikely hit: LFO's Summer Girls. Joining Joe to explore this 1999 hit is LFO member Brad Fischetti.
Exploring the Punky Brewster show which originally ran from 1984-1988. Along for the ride is Hollywood insider and filmmaker Brian Pocrass and Hollywood dog trainer Robert Weatherwax (who worked with "Brandon" on multiple occasions).
DC The Brain Supreme joins me to look back at the party anthem that took over the world in 1993, Tag Team's hit single "Whoomp (There it is). We also discuss the song's resurgence thanks to the Geico ad campaign featuring Tag Team.
A deep dive into The Karate Kid 3. Join Joe Parisi and Brian Pocrass as they examine the strange third installment in this classic film franchise. Cast member William Christopher Ford (who played "Dennis", a sidekick of Mike Barnes) joins the program to share some behind the scenes stories.
Will the Cobra Kai series start bringing in cast members from The Karate Kid 3? Brian and Joe make their predictions.
Ice Ice Baby took the world by storm in the fall of 1990. But it was more than just another hit song. On this episode I'm going to present a theory that this turned out to be one of the most influential songs in pop culture history.
Join Joe Parisi and DJ Earthquake (who produced and appears on the track) as they sort out the fact, the fiction and the incredible legacy of "Ice Ice Baby".
Joe Parisi and Brian Pocrass take a deep dive on a little known Christmas film from 1991 called "All I Want for Christmas". Why is it that so many Christmas movies from this era have become "classics" but this film has been widely forgotten?
A look back at the career of the late-great Jonathan Brandis. He made so many cool contributions to pop culture throughout the 90's. Join Joe Parisi and Brian Pocrass for a trip back to the 90's!
Darryl Vidal has the incredible honor of being one of the people who competed on-screen in the 1984 "All Valley Karate Championship" in the movie The Karate Kid. In fact, he went all the way to the semi-finals in the film where he faced off against Johnny Lawrence. Well, Darryl played a much larger role than anyone really knew as he is also credited as the creator of the Crane Kick as we all now know it.
Join me and Chinese Kenpo Grandmaster Darryl Vidal as we hear his first hand account of working on this classic film.
Exploring the 1985 cult classic "Heaven Help Us" with actor Jay Patterson who played "Brother Constance".
Robert Weatherwax is a 3rd generation Hollywood dog trainer. Between his grandfather, his father and himself, this family has trained some of the most famous and beloved dogs in all of film and television. Lassie is just the tip of the iceberg!
Exploring the history of Our Gang/The Little Rascals and the life of Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer.
Johna Stewart famously had her nail broken in the 1992 movie Ladybugs. Her Hollywood journey as a child actor landed her in Beverly Hills 90210, Boy Meets World, Pacific Blue, The Legend of Galgameth and more!
Our guest is Lori Fetrick who was "Ice" on the 90's television show American Gladiators.
A 2 hour long deep dive into and appreciation of Pee Wee's Playhouse. Guest include George McGrath who was a staff writer and also voiced "Globey", "Cowntess" one of the flowers and one of the fish AND Vic Trevino who played "Ricardo".
Discussing everything from the Penny claymation sequences, the Christmas special, the Del Rubio Triplets and more!
Actor Matt Doherty is here to talk about life as an actor...the Mighty Ducks franchise (where he played Averman), So I Married An Axe Murderer (where he played Heed), Home Alone and more!
Follow Matt on Instagram @archiedohmanÂ
Exploring the 1990 John Hughes Christmas classic...the film that turned Macauley Culkin into an international superstar. Brian Pocrass joins the show to tell some incredible stories about the locations used. I also dive into the Elvis conspiracy theory.
Home Alone Filming Locations Film Crawl Video By Brian Pocrass- https://youtu.be/ALK7pdBaBBY
Exploring the 1984 John Hughes film "Sixteen Candles" with the help of Debbie Pollack who played "Marlene" (the girlfriend of Long Duck Dong)
Exploring the 1978 comedy classic Animal House with the help of Mark Metcalf who played Doug Neidermeyer in the film. We chat with Mark about the making of this iconic film and about his memorable guest role as "The Maestro" on Seinfeld.
Exploring the 1988 cult classic "Hobgoblins" with help from creature creator Kenneth J. Hall. Kenneth made the actual hobgoblin puppets used in this film and he has worked on several of the classic creature films from the past 3 decades.
Join us as we take a deep dive into Rick Sloane's odd little film.
Find Kenneth online at https://www.totalfab.com
Taking a deep dive into the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop. Our guest in Christian Cousins, who as a young child played "Dominic".
This episode looks at everything from Arnold's early 90's string of hit films to the large number of child actors who slip into complete anonymity as adults.
We take another look at 1985's Stand By Me. Our guest is actor Andy Lindberg who played the role of "Lardass Hogan". Andy and I chat all about how he ended up in this film, the ins and outs of filming the pie eating contest scene and a whole lot more!
https://www.andylindberg.com/
Exploring the 1990 action movie LIONHEART. Joining us is Sheldon Lettich (the writer & director) & Jeff Langton (Cynthia's Fighter "Sonny").
We discuss everything from casting choices, the various interesting fight venues, how filmmaking differs today and more!
Exploring the history of the legendary Sunset Strip hotel, Chateau Marmont. Best selling author Shawn Levy has just completed his book "The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont" and he is with us to share some incredible stories from this Hollywood landmark's history.
From Bogart to Belushi to Britney, we cover a lot of ground in this short quick 45 minute episode.
www.shawnlevy.com
Examining the 1990 Tim Burton classic "Edward Scissorhands". Joining me are the film's production designer, Bo Welch (4 x Oscar Nominee) and Michael Burmeister- the film's location manager. They take us back to that crazy-colored neighborhood and teach us all about this one-of-a-kind film, how they pulled this off logistically and much more!
Martial Artist, Fight Choreographer, Kumite Fighter and the man "Bloodsport" was about joins us.
We talk about some of your favorite martial arts movies, Ninjas, conspiracies within the martial arts community, what really happened in that tournament and more!
Diving into the 1988 Cannon Films cult classic "Bloodsport". Joining me are two of the men who fought in "the kumite". Bernard Mariano is with us, he played "Hossein". Also, Mohammed Qissi is with us. Mohammed played "Suan Parades"...the fighter who suffered the nasty leg break at the hands of the evil Chun Li.
Exploring the 1987 classic "Ernest Goes To Camp" with two of the "second chance kids" from the film..."Bobby Wayne" aka Patrick Day and "Chip Osgood" aka Todd Loyd.
We chat about Jim Varney's history working as a commercial actor, Lyle Alzado, Iron Eyes Cody and much much more!
Examining the 1988 classic film "Big" with actor David Moscow who played young Josh Baskin in the film.
Learning about the history of "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Pop", fortune teller machines and more. Plus, David gives us some great stories about what it was like living as a child actor in Hollywood in the 80's.
Scott Michaels (Findadeath.com & Dearly Departed Tours) drops in to talk about his life, his career as the "curator of the macabre" and some of his favorite strange Hollywood stories.
Scott has been the owner/operator of the wildly popular website findadeath.com since the late 90's and also owns and operates Dearly Departed Tours in Los Angeles. You've seen him on "Hollywood Death Trip" on E!, Ghost Adventures, Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover", "The Girls Next Door" and more. He's an authority on all things weird Hollywood.
Take a step back with us to the late 80's as we look at one of the coolest and most successful commercial campaigns of all time...The California Raisins. Joining me is Seth Werner, the advertising executive who came up with the idea and Webster Colcord, a claymation guru who worked on the Raisins tv commercials and tv specials.
Diving into the 1985 classic "The Goonies" and learning a TON of cool info about it. Our guests include cinematographer/cast member Nick McLean (Mouth's Dad), Ted Grossman (Dead FBI man in the freezer/stunts), John Robotham (Jake Fratelli stunts) and Randall Widener (Sloth stunts).
PLUS I dive into a mystery involving the true identity of "Chester Copperpot".
Be Kind...Rewind. Examining the rise, fall, facts and fiction surrounding Blockbuster Video. Best selling author, speaker and business advisor Greg Satell has written about this in Forbes magazine and joins us to discuss.
Visit Greg's online home at www.digitaltonto.com
Discussing Zoolander with the hilarious, scene stealing actor who played "Todd"... Nathan Lee Graham.
We discuss Nathan's life as an actor and grammy winning performer, Zoolander trivia, Webster University, how 9/11 impacted the path of Zoolander more.
Catching up with legendary actor Mark Holton...the man who brought "Francis Buxton" in Pee Wee's Big Adventure and "Chubby" in the Teen Wolf movies to life.
Mark has been in about a million things since the early 80's. He famously yelled "Hey, It's Enrico Palazzo" in Naked Gun, he played Ozzie in Leprechaun and even appeared on an episode of Seinfeld.
Well, in the early 2000's Mark essentially vanished. Luckily I was able to track him down and the conversation we ended up having was so much fun!
Discussing the 80's tv show Small Wonder with two of the show's stars- Martha Pennington and Jerry Supiran. Â This sci-fi sitcom blazed its trail in first-run syndication aired from 1985-1989 and featured a robot in the form of a 10 year old girl. Â
It was weird and fun and everybody remembers this show. Â
This episode explores the 1984 classic "Ghostbusters". We discuss filming locations, original script ideas, how various special effects were pulled off, the soundtrack and more.
Who you gonna call? Well, in this case I called 3 people who worked on the film. You'll hear long form interviews with Jennifer Runyon (the student doing the ESP test), Bill Bryan (creator of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man suits who was also the guy in the suit on screen) and Mark Bryan Wilson (the Slimer puppeteer).
Are you the Keymaster?
Eraserhead was released in 1977 and has gone on to become one of the most highly regarded "midnight movies" of all time. It was David Lynch's first feature film and the movie that made Jack Nance a cult icon.
Our guest on this episode played "Mary X". Charlotte Stewart has appeared in everything from Little House on the Prairie to Tremors and she has some incredible stories to tell about her life and the years she spent working on the set of Eraserhead.
Loners...Rebels...It's time to take a deep dive into the legendary 1985 film "Pee Wee's Big Adventure". We research several of the supporting cast members who have dropped off the radar, learn about filming locations and then do a few interviews. We'll chat with one of the film's writers (Michael Varhol), one of the "Satan's Helpers" (Terri Bolo), "Chuck" (Daryl Roach), Stephen Chiodo (Special FX) and none other than "Francis Buxton" himself, Mark Holton.
If you love this movie, prepare to learn a TON of cool stuff about it!
In June of 1998, the teen movie genre was reborn thanks to a film called "Can't Hardly Wait". It's a film that takes place over 24 hours- and covers high school graduation, the massive blowout party that night and the next morning where they all begin their new post-high school lives.
We have SIX guests on this episode. Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont wrote and directed the film...they join us. Victor Togunde played "Reminiscing Guy"...he joins us. Joel Michaely played "X-File Guy #1"...he joins us. And from the music department, music supervisor Ralph Sall and music clearance executive Suzan Mann join us.
Prepare to learn A TON about this beloved teen classic!
Actor & Voice Actor Charlie Schlatter joins us to talk about life, the Ferris Bueller tv show (where he played Ferris), "18 Again" where he starred alongside George Burns, "Police Academy Mission To Moscow", Kick Buttowski (the famous animated character Charlie voiced), Shameless and much more!
Charlie is currently raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and you can visit his fundraiser page at this link: http://pages.mwoy.org/calso/los18/cschlatter
He has people skills...can't you understand that?!?? Richard Riehle has appeared in over 350 movies and television show episodes. He is without a doubt one of the most successful "character actors" in history. He was the inventor of the "jump to conclusions mat" as "Tom Smykowski" in Office Space. You've seen him in The Fugitive, Casino, Bridesmaids, Ferris Bueller the tv series, Grounded for Life and over 350 other things.
Richard gives us his story and some really fun stories about some of your favorite films.
Thanks for listening!
Dean Cameron has appeared in so many incredible movies. He was "Chainsaw" in Summer School, he was the lead in Ski School, Miracle Beach, Rockula, and countless others that you've probably seen a few hundred times on cable tv.
Dean shares a little bit of his 30+ year Hollywood story with us and gives us some candid behind the scenes stories surrounding some of those films we know and love.
One of the all time great martial arts films was released in 1989. Kickboxer was the second hit film to star Jean Claude Van Damn and to this day it remains a favorite among many action & martial arts movie fans. On this episode we interview three of the film's stars: "Tong Po" who was played by Mohammed Qissi, "Mylee" who was played by Rochelle Ashana and "Winston Taylor" who was played by Haskell Anderson.
Prepare to hear first hand what it was like to make this film and learn all sorts of fun Kickboxer trivia!
Today we dive down the rabbit hole to learn about the bizarre 2003 independent drama/cult classic THE ROOM. Our guest is Rick Harper, a filmmaker who made a documentary all about this movie called Room Full of Spoons.
There are a lot of mysteries surrounding The Room and Rick's documentary answers most of the big questions...but the courts are preventing him for showing the movie anywhere!
Tune in and learn all about this bizarre little indy flick that completely went off the rails and earned it's rightful spot as a cult classic.
Discussing the 1987 smash hit "Dirty Dancing" with one of the actual dirty dancers from the film and a gentleman who wrote a book about it all.
Our guests are Andrew Charles Koch who was a dirty dancer in several of the key scenes (the clubhouse and the finale) and Stephen Naisch who wrote the book "Deconstructing Dirty Dancing".
Look for Andrew on Facebook
Look for "Deconstructing Dirty Dancing" at http://www.zero-books.net/books/deconstructing-dirty-dancing
This episode explores the 1989 comedy thriller The Burbs, one of my all time favorite films. We learn about the iconic cast, the legendary backlot the film was shot on and the quirky things that were going on around the set during production.
Cory Danziger joins us. He played "Dave Peterson", the on-screen son of Tom Hanks and Carrie Fischer. He gives us his first hand account of the summer he spent making this film with this incredible group of actors.
Thanks for listening!
On February 11, 1990, James "Buster" Douglas climbed into a boxing ring in Tokyo, Japan to face Mike Tyson. Buster's mother had suddenly died just days prior. The fight was nearly cancelled. Casino's wouldn't even take bets on the fight because the odds so drastically favored Tyson. Buster showed up, shocked the world and won in what would become one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
The weeks and months that followed were crazy. Buster became a pop culture icon. But then it all stopped. Buster lost quickly in his next fight and immediately announced his retirement from the sport. He dropped off the map, sunk into a deep depression, ended up in a diabetic coma and almost died.
He came back yet again, turning his life around and eventually returning to professional fighting.
We talk with Buster, discuss his rise, fall and rise again along with the video game he was featured in, his appearance on WWF wrestling and more!
Taking a deep dive into the 2002 teen thriller Swimfan! We go over the story, learn a bit about some of the actors in the movie, learn about some rather historic filming locations that were used and then chat with Monroe Mann- the actor who played "Jake Donnely" in the film.
Monroe gives us some great behind the scenes info on Swimfan and we end up having a great discussion about how difficult and tricky the entertainment industry is. It's really a fascinating interview!
(the historic swimming pool location that we learn all about on this episode)
Thanks for listening!
The Monster Squad is a cult classic 1987 horror comedy featuring a group of neighborhood kids who have to do battle against the gang of Universal Horror monsters, let by Count Dracula.
On this episode we talk to Duncan Regehr who played Dracula, a role that is listed as one of the best portrayals of Dracula in film history. We also chat with Special FX genius Alec Gillis who handled several of the FX on this film.
We learn about the history of the filming locations, find out what the experience was like for "Dracula" on set and learn a whole lot about the use of practical FX in movies from one of the industry's best.
Thanks for listening!
This episode examines the highly underrated 1987 "Teen Wolf Too" with actor Stuart Fratkin who played "Stiles" in the film. We'll discuss filming locations, hear some incredible behind the scenes stories and learn more than you ever though possible about this sometimes forgotten classic.
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This episode dives into the bizarre 1984 superhero horror comedy The Toxic Avenger and our guest is "Little Melvin" himself- actor Mark Trogl.
Mark has a great story about how he originally got involved with Troma Entertainment and how he ultimately ended up as the 98 pound weakling who would become a superhero in this cult classic film. We hear first hand what it was like working on these early Troma films.
We also learn about Mark's 2017 film "Toxic Tutu"- the almost true story of what became of The Toxic Avenger's Melvin the Mopboy.
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Eddie Garcia is one of the dancers front and center in Michael Jackson's iconic "Smooth Criminal" video...and that's just the tip of the iceberg. He was one of the stars of the Saturday morning tv show "Guys Next Door", he appeared in several Janet Jackson music videos, he toured as a principal dancer with Michael Jackson and he appeared on a famous episode of Saved by the Bell as "Johnny Dakota". Oh yeah, and he's hung out with "Bubbles"...Michael Jackson's famous pet chimp!
Eddie has some incredible stories from his decades in the entertainment industry that he shares on this super fun episode. Lots of talk about his years with Michael Jackson and dancing in various music videos. This is Eddie's second appearance on the show...he was a guest on our Saved By The Bell episode talking all about being "Johnny Dakota" which you can find in the show archives.
We're diving into the 1987 live action movie "Masters of the Universe" with Gary Goddard, the director of the film.
We also discuss the toy line, the animated tv show, Cannon films and the bumpy road that ultimately lead to the release of this cult classic movie.
Thanks for listening!
(Pictured above: Joe Parisi in the mid 1980's at the Conan live action show at Universal Studios...a show that was created by Gary Goddard)
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Billboards featuring this mysterious blonde woman started popping up all over Los Angeles back in the early 80's. Hundreds of them! Each one simply said "Angelyne" and had a phone number. Buy nobody knew who she was, what the billboards were for or who was funding them.
For decades this mystery has been going on and she has become a bit of a "famous" Hollywood character in the meantime. Shockingly though, she has managed to completely hide her true identity the whole time. Many have tried to figure out who she was but they all failed. That was until August 2017 when an anonymous amateur genealogist approached a writer from the Hollywood Reporter with an envelope full of info that appears to have cracked the case.
We chat with the man who broke the story, Gary Baum from the Hollywood Reporter. We also talk to Ajay Sahgal- a writer who did a story about Angelyne back in the 90's, Hollywood character Dennis Woodruff and Katherine Saltzberg-the daughter of the man we now now was funding these billboards.
It's a fun little investigative episode that examines one of the most interesting Hollywood mysteries of all time!
Some of the background music used in this episode came courtesy of http://www.purple-planet.com
In 1991, Dan Aykroyd treated the world to a truly bizarre movie called Nothing But Trouble. He co-wrote, directed and played 2 roles in this strange road comedy that would also featured Chevy Chase, Demi Moore, John Candy, Bertilla Damas and Taylor Negron. Critics panned it, audiences primarily ignored it and most people just didn't know what to make of it.
Over 25 years has passed. Sometimes movies that didn't "perform" well end up becoming beloved cult classics. That is certainly the case on this movie and our guest, Bertila Damas is here to tell us all about it. Bertila played "Renalda" in this film (below left) and has gone on to do dozens of tv shows and movies since.
Join us as we dive into this odd little movie and take a trip back to the early 90's.
"You remember Ruby Sue". Upon its December 1989 release, "Christmas Vacation", the hilarious third installment in the National Lampoon "Vacation" series, instantly became a holiday classic.
In this episode we dive into the history of this film, uncover some cool trivia and chat with one of the film's youngest stars!
Ellen Latzen played "Ruby Sue" in the film...the daughter of Cousin Eddie. Ellen joins us to talk about what it was like being a child actor in the late 80's and her memories from working on this legendary film.
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Saved by the Bell aired from 1989 to 1992 and remains almost as popular with kids today in syndication as it was back then. On this episode we explore the history of this groundbreaking show, discover a ton of trivia facts about it and speak with a couple of people who actually appeared on screen at Bayside High!
My guests are Troy Fromin and Eddie Garcia. Troy played "Ox", the stereotypical dumb jock friend of A.C. Slater and Eddie played "Johnny Dakota" in the famous "No Hope with Dope" episode.
We hear their first hand memories of being on the set of Bayside High and find out how the roles have affected their live since.
Tell your friend from "Valley" to take a hike and hop on in to this deep dive episode about one of TV's most memorable shows!
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A strange and exciting German-made fantasy film called "The Neverending Story" hit theaters in 1984. Before long it had pulled in $100 million and over the last 33 years it has become known as one of the all-time classic children's movies. People like me grew up on this film and we still can't figure out why in the heck they had to show that horse dying!!!!
My guest on this episode is Tami Storach who played the Childlike Empress in the film. We talk about how this project entered her life, we get some behind the scenes stories, we find out how it was for her to then go back to normal school as a famous actress and more.
We find out what's kept her busy over the last three decades and why she backed away from the Hollywood scene shortly after her iconic role. We get into some movie trivia having to do with this film as well.
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You've seen Larry Hankin in some of your favorite films and and tv shows. In fact, you've probably seen him dozens of your favorite films and tv shows He's been popping up on screen since the mid 1960's and is one of those people you instantly recognize and enjoy. His massive list of credits includes Seinfeld, Friends, Breaking Bad, Home Alone, Billy Madison, Vegas Vacation, Armed and Dangerous, Escape from Alcatraz and about 160 others.
We cover it all and Larry pulls no punches! Plus we cover some odd facts about some of Larry's most popular projects...you know you were in need of some "Armed and Dangerous" trivia!
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-Joe Parisi
Troll 2 is a 1990 B-Horror comedy film that is an all out disaster. From bad acting and dialogue not making sense to cheap monster costumes and hilarious special fx, it's no wonder this film has been named the "Best Worst Movie". The movie was basically ignored upon its original release, but somehow over the years something magical happened. It fell into that weird "Cult Classic" category and people fell in love with it for its flaws. When you dig into it a little bit, you'll find that the behind the scenes stories are even strange that the movie itself.
On this episode we examine this cult phenomena and have a fun chat with one of the stars of the film, George Hardy. Like most of the people with staring roles in this movie, he had no professional acting experience and was only hoping to land a role as an extra. Fate stepped in and George became the unlikely hero in this whole odd situation.
George even treats us and delivers his now famous line from the film, "YOU CAN'T PISS ON HOSPITALITY, I WON'T ALLOW IT!"
Enjoy!
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As a young man, Gary Riley made a huge splash in Hollywood between 1984 and 1990. Besides his famous role as the horror-obsessed high school student "Dave" in Summer School, Gary appeared as Charlie Hogan in Stand By Me. He also popped up in Back to the Future, Ruthless People, The Jerk Too, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Charles in Charge, Silver Spoons, Airwolf and Knots Landing.
Then he just kind of vanished. No acting, no press, nothing. From the late 90's on, nobody really knew what ever happened to Gary. One rumor circulated online for several years that he had died in a car accident in upstate New York while others believed he had been traveling around following the Grateful Dead.
Well, Gary is alive and on this episode we'll hear about some of the films he acted in and get to the bottom of what happened. I also dive into some odd facts about Summer School.
Thanks for listening!
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In September 1991, an album called "Nevermind" hit record stores and the cover featured a picture of a naked baby boy underwater in a swimming pool going after a dollar bill on a fish hook. To the complete shock of everyone including the band's own record label, this album would go on to knock Michael Jackson from the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart and help bring "grunge" music into the mainstream. By fall of 1992 the album was selling 300,000 copies every week. To date, over 30 Million copies of this album have been sold worldwide and it's know as one of the most influential albums of all time. Everybody knows this album cover!
But what about that naked baby? Well, his name is Spencer Eldon and I've tracked him down to hear what his life has been like since....which he obviously has had zero control over. Spencer tells us about life as "the never mind baby", how it's affected him, his relationship with the members of Nirvana, what he's done with his life and his future plans. Quite an interesting situation and quite a unique young man.
Thanks for listening!
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You know actor Keith Coogan as "Kenny" in Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead and as "Brad" in Adventures in Babysitting. From a very young age, Keith has been acting in Hollywood and as we learn, he comes from a very long line of entertainers. We learn a bit about Keith's grandfather, actor Jackie Coogan and hear some fun behind the scenes stories from the sets of some of his biggest films. We also fact-check some trivia about his films that is floating around online.
Catch up with Keith and buy some of his awesome merchandise at www.keithcooganonline.com
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Thanks for listening! Dishes are done, man!
A strange videotape showed up on the shelves of video stores across America back in 1994 called "The Stoned Age". Its stars weren't necessarily known at the time and the film hadn't been promoted at all... but right across the top of the box was the quote "Better Than Dazed and Confused". So you just had to check it out to see for yourself, right? Well, like many other avid video renters in the mid 90's, I took a chance on it and quickly fell in love with this low budget, stoner buddy comedy set in late 1970's Los Angeles.
Over the years, "The Stoned Age" has built up a very devoted cult following and for the last 23 years it's been sporadically appearing on cable tv and video on demand sites like Hulu.
I decided to take a deep dive into this movie and learn everything there was to learn about it. In the process I tracked down Michael Koppolo who played "Joe", Bradford Tatum who played "Hubbs", Renee Allman who played "Lanie" and James Melkonian who wrote and directed the movie. We'll hear in depth interviews with each of them on this unofficial Stoned Age reunion.
Enjoy.
-Joe Parisi
(Just some dude)
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John Massari is a composer who has created hundreds of iconic scores for film and television. I assure you that at some point you have been watching a movie or tv show and the music in the background was made by John. One of my favorite scores that he handled was that of the incredible Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
We learn all kinds of stuff about this part of the industry in this hour-long chat with John. He explains how he got his start, how he gets approached to work on projects, what kind of information he is given to go off of when composing music and much much more. We of course chat about Killer Klowns as well.
If you've ever wondered about this side of the entertainment industry, give this episode a listen! It's very informational and John is a really fun guy to listen to.
Learn more about John on his IMDB page HERE
Thanks for listening!
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Derek Wayne Johnson is the filmmaker behind the 2017 documentary "John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs". We chat about John's film career, documentary filmmaking in today's world, behind the scenes Karate Kid stories and more! If you are interested in John's iconic films or are looking into making your own documentary films, there are some great pieces of info in this chat.
Learn more about Derek on his IMDB page HERE.
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In 1964 a young actor named Butch Patrick landed a role that would change his life forever. He became "Eddie Munster" on the hit new show "The Munsters". The show aired for 2 seasons and 70 episodes and Butch became a legend.
We discuss his career as a child actor, starting out in commercials, up through his young adult years when he walked away from it all to go work in the gaming industry at a casino.
He catches us up on his latest excitement as well, which includes his recovery, beating cancer, getting married for the very first time and moving into a house that appears to be haunted.
Stay tuned, at the end of the episode I snuck in a commercial I found for an old 900 number that Grandpa Al Lewis was pitching for his "Junior Vampires of America" Club.
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The "Veteran Voice of the Octagon" is my guest on this episode. Bruce is the wild announcer you've been seeing in the cage during UFC fights for years. His signature style and "It's Time!" catchphrase have been getting fight fans pumped up for more than 20 years. But what a lot of people don't know is that Bruce was a very successful business man long before he ever grabbed a microphone or stepped into a cage.
We talk about what he was up to before the UFC came into his life, his various memorabilia collections, fight movies, appearing on the TV show "Friends" and what it takes to be a successful ring announcer.
This episode is sponsored by the Iron Fighting Alliance. https://www.facebook.com/ironfightingalliance/
Thanks for listening! -Joe Parisi
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My guest is Curtis Armstrong who famously played "Booger" in Revenge of the Nerds back in 1984. Curtis tells us how he got started acting, we discuss his rather impressive theatrical training, the making of the Nerds movies and much much more. We also talk about his upcoming book "Revenge of the Nerd:... or the singular adventures of the man who would be Booger". Plus, plenty of Nerd film trivia! #mopery
It's a fun chat with a truly iconic actor. Thanks for listening!
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In the early 90's Fred Ottman made waves in the professional wrestling world as "Tugboat" in the WWF and then later "Typhoon". He also appeared in WCW as an infamous character called "The Shockmaster" that has become a bit of a cult classic character.
I catch up with Fred while he's hanging out in Jacksonville, Florida. He tells us how it all started, shares some stories about the WWF in the early 90's and his co-workers in the ring. He tells us what happened with "The Shockmaster" and all about a hilarious run in he and his tag team partner "Earthquake" had with author Stephen King.
Thanks for listening!
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In 1977 a comedy film about a terrible, small town minor league hockey team hit theaters. Over the past 40 years, Slap Shot has gone on to become one of the most beloved sports comedies of all time. The Hanson Brothers are these 3 crazy, childish brothers that play for the fictional team in the film and cause chaos everywhere they play. They join the team mid-season and their insane fighting-style of play changes the entire tone of the team and the town starts to finally start showing up at the games to watch this team of misfits get wild.
Steve Carlson was a minor league hockey player at the time and he was cast to play "Steve Hanson", one of these crazy hockey playing Hanson brothers in the film. In fact, the part was actually written based off of him and his 2 real life brothers, so it was a perfect fit!
The characters in the film were so memorable that Steve will forever be known as a Hanson Brother. We chat about the making of the film, life as a minor league hockey player in the 70's, the impact the role has had on his life and what he's been up to since.
Hockey fan or not, this is a really fun episode about a truly classic film! Thanks for listening!
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Herbert Crowley was a comic strip cartoonist, sculptor and set designer born in 1873 and active in the early 1900's. His work was incredibly beautiful, highly original and usually quite bizarre. During one period of his life he was part of the inner circle of influential psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Somehow, Crowley's work has completely vanished from the history books. Virtually no information on him is available and most of his pieces have been lost or destroyed. Buy why? How? Who was this guy and how does this happen?
Philadelphia artist and investigator Justin Duerr learned of Crowley originally by a short blurb in an obscure art book and has spent years searching for clues and answers. He's taken a seriously deep dive on this topic and the stuff he's uncovering has been quite incredible.
In 2017, along with Beehive Books he is releasing an oversized art book to display his findings and unlock this incredible mystery. "The Temple of Silence: Forgotten Worlds of Herbert Crowley" was funded through a Kickstarter campaign that raised just shy of $100,000 in the fall of 2016. The book is due out sometime around November 2017.
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In 1992 a super violent video game called Mortal Kombat started popping up in arcades. It was a low budget fighting game produced by Midway games and had a look we'd never seen before. Instead of digitally drawn characters, real actors were used in the game. Daniel Pesina was the actor brought in to play the roles of 3 of the playable characters: "Johnny Cage", "Scorpion" and "Sub Zero". The game would go on to generate $750,000,000 in arcades alone. It spawned 13 sequel games, 2 major motion pictures, comic books, tv shows and more!
We chat with Daniel about how this strange opportunity came into his life, how the whole process went down, what went right & wrong and how it's impacted the rest of his life.
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9 men in history have been the "official" Ronald McDonald. Joe Maggard is one of them and was the longest reigning Ronald in history (1995-2007). He is also the subject of a 2015 documentary called "Ronald" which gives a very interesting look at Joe's current life.
Joe is a method actor, former sheriff's deputy, singer, writer and U.S. Military veteran. His story is so unique that as soon as I learned about him I knew we had to get him on the show.
I also talk about some of the McDonald's menu items that have disappeared over the years.
Thanks for listening!
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The Garden of Allah was a famous hotel in Hollywood, California located at 8152 Sunset Boulevard between Crescent Heights and Havenhurst on the east end of the Sunset Strip. Built in 1913, it was owned by a famous silent film era star named Alla Nazimova, the highest paid silent film era actress at the time. This 2.5 acre estate featured a series of private bungalows surrounding a swimming pool and it was home to some of the biggest names in Hollywood at one time or another. Buster Keaton, Groucho Marx, Greta Garbo, Orson Wells, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Vic Damone, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many others called Allah home at some point in their lives.
It became a notorious party spot and everyone in Hollywood had heard plenty of wild stories about the place. Alla Nazimova hit a rough patch financially and professionally and the Garden would change ownership a handful of times before finally being bought and torn down in 1959 after a steady decline in business. Today there is no trace of The Garden remaining on Sunset Blvd and Alla Nazimova has basically been erased from the history books. So what the heck happened??? How does a hot piece of property owned by one of the biggest stars in the world go from being the most notorious spot in Hollywood to completely erased from history?
Martin Turnbull is the leading expert on the topic and an author. He is my guest on this episode and teaches us all about this incredible place and it's infamous Hollywood history.
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Zack Ward had the honor of portraying one of the most terrifying on-screen bullies of all time in 1983 when he was cast as "Scut Farkus" in A Christmas Story. On this episode we talk about this holiday classic and catch up with Zack, who went on to appear in over 100 films and television shows- including Transformers, Almost Famous, The Devil's Tomb, NYPD Blue, Walker Texas Ranger, Jag, Party of Five, Titus, CSI Miami & New York, NCIS and many many more.
We learn about his upbringing in Canada, his success as the kid in the Doritos commercials, the effect A Christmas Story had on his high school years, moving to Hollywood and more.
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Kerry Remsen appeared in some of the most well known horror films from the 80's. She played Maggie in Pumpkinhead (1988) and Nicole in Ghouls II (1988). She also appeared in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985). Her TV credits include Family Ties, Doogie Howser, MD, Beverly Hills 90210, 21 Jump Street and The Facts of Life.
She comes from a Hollywood showbiz family with a very interesting backstory. We learn all about Kerry's father-famous character actor Burt Remsen and her mother, Barbara Joyce Dodd-who you' may remember from her role as Dane Cook's hilarious grandmother in the film "Employee of the Month".
For fans of 80's horror films, this is a super fun episode!
Thanks for listening!
-Joe Parisi
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Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a fantastic cult classic sci-fi horror comedy from 1988 written and directed by the Chiodo Brothers. The Chiodo brothers are these 3 brothers who grew up making films in their basement for fun and now work in the Hollywood special effects industry. They do it all...puppets, creatures, stop motion and more! They created and operated the Critters in the movie Critters (1986) and it's sequels, they did the stop motion in the famous Large Marge scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure and they created all of the mouse dioramas in the 2010 comedy Dinner for Schmucks. That's just the tip of the iceberg with the Chiodos.
Stephen Chiodo is my guest on this episode to talk all about Killer Klowns from Outer Space, his career in the special effects industry and more! A great peek behind the curtain into the film industry.
Thanks for listening!
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Best selling author and pop culture historian Steve Cox is back to talk about the Three Stooges. Â Steve is the author of "One Fine Stooge- Larry Fine's Frizzy Life in Pictures". Â We get into a great discussion about the history and lives of the America's favorite comedy team. Â As usual, plenty of odd trivia and cool behind the scenes stories.
Steve has written over 20 books on various tv, film and pop culture topics. Â He's a wealth of information on this and many other topics that you and I love. Â In fact, he was our guest on episode 34 as well where we discuss the Munchkins from Wizard of Oz...a can't miss discussion for any Oz fan.
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Pop culture historian and author Steve Cox is in to talk about The Wizard of Oz with us. Steve is an authority on the topic. His book "The Munchkins of Oz" takes a fascinating look at the people who played the munchkins and found out how they became involved in the film, what filming was like and what became of them after the film. He's done exhaustive research on Oz and spent time personally with many of the munchkins.
We discuss all sorts of odd topics including The Alton Giant, Mickey Carroll (A munchkin who spent most of his life in St. Louis), Oz-related urban legends, The Doll Family and much much more. The MGM Lion and its odd history is also discussed.
This is part 1 of a 2 part interview with Steve. Episode #35 will again feature Steve and we'll discuss The Three Stooges- a topic he's also written about.
Steve has written over 20 books on various pop culture related topics.
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30 years ago, German born Matthias Hues brought his hulking 6'5" physique to Hollywood with the intention of making a big splash in the entertainment industry. Now with dozens upon dozens of credits to his name, it's safe to say he is one of the go-to guys in the action movie genre.
You've seen Matthias in No Retreat No Surrender 2, Kickboxer 2, Big Top Pee Wee, Blackbelt, Dark Angel, Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country and many many more.
He splits his time between Hollywood where he writes, acts and directs and Bali where he chills with spider monkey's in the jungle.
Thanks for listening!
-Joe Parisi
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Matthew Karedas aka Matt Hannon is the star of the low budget, "so bad it's great" action flick from 1991 called Samurai Cop. The film which was destined for a "straight to video" release was never given a proper release at all, and in fact went completely unseen for decades before eventually finding its way to youtube a few years ago. What's happened since has been nothing short of incredible!
Samurai Cop has developed a crazy cult following of fans who appreciate the campy nature and ever-present production mistakes that this crazy buddy cop movie serves up.
Matthew's personal story is perhaps even crazier! From his time working as a bodyguard for Sylvester Stallone to his supposed death, you have to hear these amazing stories straight from the source!
It's a really fun chat about Matthew's life, the Hollywood B-movie scene in the early 90's, the making of Samurai Cop and what it's like being part of a now cult classic film.
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For over two decades Matthew Thompson has been creating Fluke Fanzine, an independent, small batch magazine that covers a wide range of topics ranging from hobo culture and train graffiti to punk rock music. Zine's are actually everywhere but most people just don't know that. If you happen to come across one, very often you can tell as you flip through it that the creator has poured their heart and soul into this...not for money or fame, but for the love of the topic they are covering and love of the creation process.
They've been around for a long time! Think about a blog or e-newsletter before the internet existed. You'd handing them or mailing them out. People would read them and pass them on to friends. Many bands have developed followings around the country thanks to Zines.
Matthew teaches us all about Zines, covers a lot of cool info on the Arkansas Punk Rock scene, the history of Fluke Fanzine and more.
I also rant about sideshow gaffe's and fiji mermaids for a bit.
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-Joe Parisi
Queenie Booher is known to many as "Glamazon Queen Kong"...the scary lady wrestling villain on the 1980's television show G.L.O.W. She's been in dozens of movies and TV shows including Spacebars, Night Court, Mama's Family and Parker Lewis Can't Lose. She was also in Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" music video.
She's worked as a phone sex operator. She's been on TV doing roller derby professionally, she once tried to start a commune for people interested in "open lifestyles". She's been investigated by the F.B.I. She's an author. More than anything she's a larger than life character with some insane stories to share.
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Today we chat with a Cape Girardeau, MO resident named Timexx Seabaugh, a horror host aficionado who had been on a year-long search for the whereabouts of 1970's horror host "Baron Von Crypt"...a St. Louis based vampire/host.  The search landed in the local media here in St. Louis and completely sucked me in...so I wanted to share this fun journey with the Odd Podcast audience.  We chat about the the history of horror hosts, the horror host hall of fame and what he was able to discover about "Baron Von Crypt" after a year of sleuthing.
Then we talk with a man who works as a real shrunken head dealer!  Glen McGinty owns and operates the website realshrunkenheads.com and he deals with people all over the world who are looking to buy or sell REAL shrunken heads!  He authenticates them as well.  Trust me...it's some truly odd information!
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Richie The Barber lives his life as both a clown and a professional barber-at the same time. His face is covered in clown makeup tattoos, his own hair closely resembles Bozo's famous red locks and he's well versed in a variety of sideshow tricks. People around Hollywood know Richie and now it's our turn to find out about him!
He's been featured on TMZ and America's Got Talent. Join us for a discussion about life in Hollywood, clowns, tattoos, body modification and more!
This episode is sponsored by www.screenused.com
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Desi DosSantos is one of the owners/founders of screenused.com - a company that deals in actual screen used movie and tv memorabilia....props and wardrobe pieces from film and television that they have acquired, authenticated and sell online. He's an expert on the subject and shares some incredible stories about his time in this business.
We chat about this interesting hobby and some of the most well known pieces to ever hit the market that they have handled, i.e. Hoverboards from the Back to the Future Films, Boxing Gloves from Rocky Films, Motorcycles from Terminator Films and more. Desi himself has personally owned more than 1 of the Back to the Future 2 hoverboards! Join us as we learn more about collecting movie props and prepare to be blown away when you hear how much money some of these iconic pieces have brought in at auction over the years.
Visit screenused.com to shop for yourself, where they are adding new items every week! I'm a satisfied customer and a HUGE fan of what these guys are doing. I highly recommend them!
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Pulp Fiction was released in 1994. Â A scene nobody who sees the film will ever forget involves a person covered head to toe in leather bondage gear-complete with a black leather mask who is brought out of a wooden box to participate in a pawn-shop basement sex scene. Â "The Gimp" as he is called was played by a man named Steve Hibbert and he is our guest on this show.
What's it like being "The Gimp"? Â We're going to find out!
We talk all things 1994 and dive into Steve's very interesting career as a Hollywood writer and actor. Â He's been involved with SO MANY projects you've seen! Â You'll really be surprised by The Gimp's story! Â
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Talking about baseball movies today with David Mickey Evans, an accomplished Hollywood writer and director who brought us The Sandlot-which he also narrated!
He also wrote Radio Flyer!
Join us as we discuss all things related to The Sandlot and dig into some trivia from some other classic baseball films like Field of Dreams, The Natural & Major League.
Find out more about David here: http://davidmickeyevansblog.blogspot.com
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The Warlord was a bad guy wrestler in the WWF during the 80's and 90's. Billed at 6'5", 325 lbs, this beast from "Parts Unknown" who would come out with a painted face, double mohawk and a bodybuilder's physique usually crushed whoever was unlucky enough to be facing him on that particular night. He spent years as one-half of the tag team known as "The Powers of Pain" with his partner The Barbarian. As a team they faced off against all the big names of that era...The Rockers, The Bushwackers, Hogan & Savage, Andre the Giant...you get the point. This guy was a major player in the WWF during one of its coolest eras.
After wrestling Terry Szopinski (as he's known outside of the ring) found himself living in Pompano Beach, Florida. He's done tons of stuff since his WWF days...even finding himself working as a bodyguard for celebrities like 50 Cent and MMA Fighter Kimbo Slice!
It was in Florida that I was able to track Terry down in December of 2015. We talk about early life, getting "discovered", life on the road as a wrestler in the 80's and much much more.
Join me on this episode as I talk about my love of professional wrestling, the fiasco that was my first live WWF event as a kid, my brief stint working for some midwestern professional wrestling organizations and then finally my meeting with Terry aka The Warlord.
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Everybody remembers that moment. When the 4 young men in classic 1986 film "Stand By Me" find the body of "Ray Brower" halfway buried in the brush. It's a moment permanently burned into our memories and the movie has been a pop culture phenomenon.
Today we talk all things "Stand By Me" and visit with the actor who was "Ray Brower"...a gentleman named Kent Lutrell...who had not done anything in the entertainment industry prior to Stand By Me! I wondered how this role came about...what it was like being on the set...what kind of impact it's had on his life moving forward and much much more. Kent answers all of these questions and then some on this episode.
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David Grann is a New York Times best selling author and staff writer for the New Yorker. He put out an amazing book in 2009 called "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon". The book covers the amazing life and mysterious disappearance of Colonel Percy H. Fawcett who vanished searching for a lost city in the Amazon he referred to as "Z". He has never been found.
Fawcett was basically a real life Indiana Jones. Since his disappearance, more than 100 people have died or vanished searching for him. David went searching and lived to tell about it in his incredible book.
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Karate Kid was released in 1984 and went on to be an all out cinematic classic. It's a wonderful coming of age martial arts film set in the mid 1980's San Fernando Valley. Ron Thomas was one of the actors who played a member brutal and iconic "Cobra Kai" karate gang. His character "Bobby Brown" was known as the one Cobra Kai who actually showed some remorse for what the way Daniel was being treated. He delivered some of the films most memorable lines in scenes that EVERYBODY forever remembers. There was "leave him alone man he's had enough" as the skeleton-costume clad bad guys were pummeling Daniel. Then there was "But Sensei I can beat this guy" during his semi-final tournament match against Daniel. Ron's character was the one who delivered the cheap-shot that nearly put Daniel out of the competition just before the finals!
Ron not only made a name for himself in the entertainment industry, he's had enormous success in the Martial Art industry (He is actually now Sensei Ron Thomas)...successfully competing on the national level for years. He's a 2-time world champion! He's also a very successful personal development coach who's put out some great books designed to get people performing at their best.
Join me in this Karate film themed episode as we hang with one of the original Cobra Kai! NO MERCY!!!!
Visit Ron online at www.senseironthomas.com
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Schlitzie was a sideshow performer in the early and mid 1900's. Born with a condition called microcephaly, his cranium and brain were unusually small and he only stood about 4 feet tall. He had the mental capacity of about a 3 year old.
Little is known for sure about Schlitzie. His birthplace, real name, and who his parents were really remains a mystery. It's thought that his parents sold him to a traveling sideshow at a very young age. Throughout his entire life he was under the guardianship of people who operated sideshows.
He was featured in the controversial 1932 film "Freaks". Sometime in the 60's he was found to be very depressed and living in some sort of institution. A sword swallower came across him, knew who he was and convinced the staff to release Schlitzie into his care. They did and Schlitzie spent his final years living in Los Angeles, occasionally performing or people on the streets of Santa Monica and Hollywood.
He died in the early 1970's.
Steve Belgard is in the process of making a documentary film about Schlitzie. Due out sometime in 2016, "Schlitzie: One of Us" will take a closer look at the mysterious life of this wonderful person.
We chat with Steve all about Schlitzie and his filmmaking process.
Special thanks to John Kite for allowing us to feature his song "Schlitzie" in this episode.
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Claudia Wells portrayed "Jennifer Parker", the girlfriend of Marty McFly in the 1985 classic Back To The Future. We catch up with Claudia to talk all about that time in her life, what filming was like and how the whole experience has impacted her life.
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Dennis Woodruff went to Hollywood with a dream and a plan to become a famous actor. He's become a bit of a celebrity but not for staring in Hollywood films. Â He's know for his bizarre self promotion tactics, strange self-made films and relentless pursuit of the Hollywood dream.
Dennis drives around Hollywood in "Art Cars" that he builds. Â The purpose of these wildly eye-catching "billboards on wheels" is to get his name and face in front of Hollywood's decision makers. Â Unconventional? Â Yes. Â Memorable? Absolutely! Â He also sells his self-made movies out of the cars and has sold thousands upon thousands! Â
Seeing Dennis on the streets of Hollywood is one of those rights of passage...similar to spotting Angelyne The Billboard Queen cruising by in her famous pink corvette.
His roots in Hollywood run deep! Â We also discuss his grandfather who was one of the men responsible for putting up the original "Hollywoodland" sign!
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In 1985, "Teen Wolf" took the world by storm! It grossed more than $30 million in the US and over $80 million worldwide. To this day it regularly airs on TV. Michael J. Fox played "Scott Howard", a high school basketball player who was very "average"...that was until he transformed into a werewolf! As the wolf, Scott was suddenly cool, confident and amazing at basketball!
Leave it to Hollywood to pull one over on us. As it turns out, Michael J. Fox was a great actor but not a very good basketball player so the producers of the film needed someone who was about the same size as Michael who they could put in the wolf suit to play basketball like a Globetrotter. Jeff Glosser was a college student at the time and due to some truly random events unfolding, he was brought in to play the wolf! Many of the scenes in Teen Wolf where the wolf is playing very well on the court wasn't Michael J. Fox at all...it was Jeff!
So how did it all happen? How does a college kid who has nothing to do with the film industry end up doubling for Michael J Fox in a film that has gone down in history as a true 80's classic?
That's what we're going to find out! Who is Jeff Glosser? How did this happen to him? What has it done to his life? Where is he now? All will be revealed!!!
In this scene https://youtu.be/RMyuv3wkTJs you can really see the "switch" going back and forth between Jeff in the wolf costume and Michael J. Fox. Notice, when the wolf looks like a very competent basketball player, the face is either out of focus or looks a little different than in the close up shots. That's because it's Jeff! Movie magic!
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