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.

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Hello! And welcome back to The Dana Gould Hour Podcast. It’s the holidays! The election is over and, although I haven’t been paying much attention to politics, I’m sure everything turned out grea... WHHHHHAAAAAA?!?!?!?!?!

But I’m still me and you’re still you, so let’s be who we are and do what we do.

Bob Fingerman is here. Bob is an old pal, and one of the finest comic artists in the biz, Bob gained fame in the 90’s with his comic Minimum Wage which was one of my favorites of the era, along with Dan Clowes' Eightball and Peter Bagge’s Hate. Bob has a new graphic novel out called Printopia and a new book that’s sort of a career retrospective to date (anyway, he’s still a young man) called That’s Some Business You’re In. We’ll be talking about that, his days writing for Cracked and then later MAD working with Harvey Kurtzman, all that and more, Bob Fingerman.

Burt Kearns is here. Burt had visited us before discussing his books The Show Won’t Go On as well as his biography of the great and fascinating Lawrence Tierney. But his new book holds a special fascination for me, and probably you if you’re listen to this podcast with any regularity. It’s called SHEMP! And it’s about Shemp Howard, The great Stooge. People think Shemp replaced Curly. He did not! Curly replaced Shemp, and then Shemp re-replaced Curly after that. But it’s not just Stooge lore, although there’s a lot. It’s also about showbiz in the 1930’s and 1940’s, the experience of American immigrants and how they helped define our culture and so much more. It’s a great read. It has a forward by your friend and mine, Drew Freidman. SHEMP! With an exclamation point.

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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?