In 2004, BBC 4 aired Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, a horror parody series satirizing the cheapness of 1980s BBC TV shows, created by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade, all supposedly the work of “Garth Marenghi” (Holness), “the only writer to publish more books than he’d read.” Last year, I showed these as the Halloween offering for our regular Saturday movie group. Dwight took that as a license to buy these two signed “Marenghi” firsts and give them to me as a birthday gift.
Once upon a time, there was a great little web series called Making Fiends that turned into a swell TV series. Both versions told about the dynamic between Vendetta, an evil little girl that makes fiends, and Charlotte, who thinks Vendetta is her best friend despite the latter loathing her.
Here’s a video of the Halloween episode.
Alas, Nickelodeon cancelled the TV show after only one season. I’m glad I bough the DVD when it was available, as its now out of print and people are asking ridiculous amounts for it…
This sketch comedy TV show from 1979 features what is probably the first ever TV appearance of Spinal Tap. I was planning to post this right before Spinal Tap II: The End Continues came out, but I got distracted by shiny objects and the movie came out last week.
Alas, the sequel seems to have done very poorly at the box office, so I might just have to wait for it on DVD…
Not my usual collecting vector, but a signed Milton Berle/Bob Newhart lot came up for auction that I was thinking of putting a lowball bid on. When I did comps on Bookfinder, I found that all the signed Berle firsts comped out at over $100…except this.
Berle, Milton. Milton Berle’s Private Joke File. Crown, 1989. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight age darkening to spine and at top front, 1/4″ closed tear at top rear, slight bend at head and heel, and slight blind-side foxing, otherwise quite nice, inscribed by Berle: “To my friend Jim!!/One of the Really great Story tellers. best wishes/Milt/9/1/89.” Massive 642 page joke book. Bought for $15.87 plus shipping after Biblio discount, which is less than the original cover price of $24.95 (though knowing Crown, this could have been an “instant remainder” sold at a considerable discount).
You may have noticed that Joel Hodgson and MST3K gang are having a new kickstarter for the next season (for values of “kickstarter” that include “not on the Kickstarter platform”). There are five days left and they are only 38% of the way to the first goal of $4.8 million, which will be six features and six shorts.
The last two Kickstarters they had blew past their goals.
This one? Not so much. Despite announcing that Plan 9 from Outer Space will be among the riffed films.
Donor fatigue? The Biden Recession? Not doing enough promotion? Not enough boost from a non-Kickstarter platform? Disgruntlement over how long it took people to get their promised rewards from the last campaign?
I think it may be some combination of all the above.
Maybe the usual Turkey Day festivities will kick it into higher gear. But if they don’t, this may be the first MST3K fundraising effort to fail.
All around the world, people hear strange things from the sky. Here’s a roundup of the various “sky trumpets,” booming noises, hums and other things people have no explanation for.
Not sure if this quite qualifies as a Halloween Horror, but it includes monsters, and it struck my fancy.
Basically, it’s an anime series focused on a guy who’s crappy job is to clean up after kaiju attacks.
It’s basically Damage Inc. meets Godzilla. Plus the teaser trailer is giving off a tiny bit of a FLCL vibe.
I don’t subscribe to Crunchy Roll (or any streaming service), but I’d seriously consider buying the DVD set when it eventually comes out.
I think I posted a live version of this song, but not this album version. And as a bonus, this version features footage from the Domo Kun stop motion animated show, of meme fame.
The great comedian Norm Macdonald has died:
Norm Macdonald, who has died at 61, was a comedic genius whose irreverence and inimitable delivery made millions of people laugh harder than almost anyone else could make them do—whether he was taking shots at mainstream figures (O. J. Simpson, the Clintons), constructing elaborate setups for impossibly simple punchlines (depressed moths, massacres in Vietnam), or saving dull affairs by subverting expectations (celebrity roasts and awards events, big and small). A private man who kept his nine-year battle with cancer out of the public eye, Macdonald occasionally showed flashes of a deep seriousness, expressing frustration with an increasingly intolerant popular culture and offering genuine insights in interviews and in an uproarious pseudo-memoir. But in the final analysis, he was a pure aesthete of jokes and one of the funniest people around.
Born and raised in Canada, Macdonald began his comedy career in the late 1980s. He was a frequent guest of late-night shows throughout the 1990s, with his appearances on Conan O’Brien in particular being the stuff of legend. His apogee of fame probably came between 1994 and 1998, when he hosted Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” segment—typically a stepping stone to a late-night show of one’s own—only to be fired by NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer for joking too much about O. J. Simpson, Ohlmeyer’s personal friend. Immediately afterward, Macdonald went on David Letterman, who asked how he had reacted to getting canned. “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not good,’” said Macdonald. “And I said, ‘Why is that, now? And [Ohlmeyer] goes, ‘Well, you’re not funny.’ And I said, ‘Holy Lord, that’s even worse news!’”
When I go looking for random YouTube comedy videos, Macdonald and Bill Burr are the two comedians watch most often.
There’s no shortage of great Macdonald clips out there:
Here's another clip of how great Norm Macdonald was at taking the most awkward comedy and making it so funny you couldn't help but laugh.
Norm is doing a bit about Steve Irwin (Crocodile Hunter) dying… 10 days after it happened. pic.twitter.com/bSP83bqQrg
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) September 14, 2021
His standup routine on the last episode of Letterman:
The “I’m not sure if you’re a history buff…” intro gets me every time.
His sendoff to Conan O’Brien:
Bob Dole offers a classy tribute:
“Norm @normmacdonald was a great talent, and I loved laughing with him on SNL. *Bob Dole* will miss Norm Macdonald.” pic.twitter.com/gPsdyJ5tS9
— Senator Bob Dole (@SenatorDole) September 14, 2021
And Norm would have loved this tribute:
RIP Norm Macdonald pic.twitter.com/yVunOgXRQU
— Bruce In Key West (@BCinKW) September 14, 2021
When this book originally came out at $600, I went “I want that…but not at that price point.” Now Charnel House has used the last 100 sheet sets of the original printing to come out with this 10th Anniversary Edition at a price I could afford:
Ellison, Harlan. The Glass Teat & The Other Glass Teat. Charnel House, 2011. First hardback edition, #182 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issue, with a CD of Harlan reading “Welcome to the Gulag,” the introduction written for this edition laid in. All Ellison’s TV essays and reviews written for The Los Angeles Free Press. Not having a copy of the original binding, I can’t tell you how this 10th Anniversary edition binding differs from the original. Bought from the publisher at a discount.
I will have a single copy of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog (currently in progress).