Shark Movie Mayhem at the Brooklyn Observatory

Do you like SHARK movies?
Then join Matt Glasson and me (Kevin Maher) as we GEEK OUT about Shark Cinema!  It's Thursday August 9th at the Brooklyn Observatory.

Upcoming shows

I've got some upcoming events that the world needs to know about...

This weekend, I'm heading to Boston for GEEK WEEK! 

On Saturday night, I'm doing crash-course on shark-cinema with KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT SHARKS.  (get tickets here) 

Later that night Mark Douglas appears as ANDREW 12-SIDED DICE CLAY (I wrote his stand-up material, which will include a slide-show of Flat Stan Lee)
Get tickets here.  

On Sunday afternoon I'm leading a workshop titled TRUE TALES FROM THE WRITERS' ROOM: The business and craft of writing, click on the link to sign-up. 

In May, I'll return to NYC's 92Y Tribeca with an all-new comedy variety show called KEVIN GEEKS OUT: THE GREAT GRAB BAG SHOW (click here for details) It'll cover a variety of topics including NYC's secret history of pinball, Turkish Cinema's Greatest Hits and an appreciation of Vanilla Ice.  

SEXY NERDS & DIRTY WORDS - show recap with photos

Thanks to everybody who attended the first ever show of SEXY NERDS &D IRTY WORDS -- we had a killer line-up of guests (pictured below) and a sold-out audience filled with cool people.  (They kept an open mind and stayed "with us" as performers like to say.)

Here are some photos from the event (courtesy of ace photographer Matthew Glasson)

I opened the show with some of my filthiest material: nasty jokes, stuff I refused to tweet, and a collection of my "dirty alliteration" (which was co-written by my wife.)  These jokes were a perfect way to open the show, and the audience dug it, but I really can't share it on the web, as a potential employer might object to jokes like: "I just ate a bowl of diarrhea.  And the worst part is, I wasn't even hungry."

Then Matt Wilson joined me for a staged reading of a classic sex-talk titled "The Roommates Hatch a Plan."

Spoken Nerd poet Jared Singer read his first piece of the night, a very funny and moving autobiographical poem that touched on action figures and Saturday morning cartoons.  I love being at a show where one of the acts makes a passing reference to Yusagi Yojimbo.  Click here to see Jared performing at the Bowery Poetry Poetry Club.

Next, the noted nerd, wit and long-time friend M. Sweeney Lawless revealed the conspiracy theory about putting gorillas on comic book covers.  In the 1950's, DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz observed that the best selling comic books were ones that featured primates on the cover.  Meg examined several examples, many of which you can see here with commentary by Meg and me. 

Then the audience was treated to a video-game inspired routine by burlesque performer Iris Explosion.  You can watch Iris work the room as Ms. Pac-Man.  (note: I first saw this act at Tom Blunt's amazing show MEET THE LADY.  If you like my shows, you should see what Tom does.) 

Come to think of it, Ms. Pac-Man was always pretty racy for a kids' arcade game. 

Next up was a high-concept act: Mark Douglas performed as ANDREW 12-SIDED DICE CLAY.  He's the bad-boy of the comic shop, telling jokes that are obscene, obscure and observational.  

We videotaped his set and a few days later it screened at New York Comic Con during a panel on "Geek Humor."  The live-act was a hit and the video killed at Comic Con.  Watch the video HERE and please donate money to our kickstarter campaign so we can make more videos about the 12-Sided Diceman. 

 Also that night we played GEEK BINGO (photos not available.)

The always-entertaining Mike Edison read from his new book, DIRTY! DIRTY! DIRTY!: Of Playboys, Pigs and Penthouse Paupers - An American Tale of Sex and Wonder.   You may recognize Mike from  Kevin Geeks Out About Genre Busters where he performed with his beatnik band, talking about sex, drugs and professional wrestling. 

Related: here's the 3-D trailer for Mike's new book....

*            *            * 

Then we got a return visit from ANDREW 12-SIDED DICE CLAY, who did some of the same jokes -- but from a different camera angle.  We got great coverage (you can see the 3-minute trailer here), the video was shot by Jeremy Carr and edited by Eric Hendricks, the same team who joined me on most of my videos, from AMC's Sci Fi Department to Comedy Central's Puppet Rodeo.  But unlike those web-series, Dice won't get financed by a corporate entity. The material is too dirty and too nerdy.  So we need the support of people like you (specifically, YOU!)  You can pledge here and learn more about our Kickstarter campaign. 

Also, in the video I play a hack comic who is too cool for school.  Here I am wearing a hoodie, with my hands in my pockets, not trying very hard -- because cool people don't try very hard. 

Lastly, closing out the show, Matt Wilson did some racy balloon art and he closed with a "sword swallowing" routine, set to AC/DC's "Back in Black."   We taped his set, I hope he puts it online.  In the meatime, you can see the photos here.... 

Goodnight everybody.  And again, please donate to our kickstarter page! 

8 Reasons I'm psyched to see ALLIGATOR this Monday

This Monday night, Matthew Glasson and I have the honor of introducing ALLIGATOR (1980) at the 92Y Tribeca.  (Get details and tickets here)

I'm excited for a bunch of reasons:

1. IT'S SHOWING IN 35MM
The way a giant-alligator movie was meant to be seen.

2. I'VE ONLY EVER CAUGHT BITS AND PIECES
When Matthew and I did our 2-hour show devoted to SHARK CINEMA we'd researched dozens of nature-gone-wrong movies from the 1970's and 80's.  But I never got to see ALLIGATOR in its entirety, only the trailer:

Kevin Geeks Out About Rip-Off Cinema

 

Kevin Geeks Out is the comedy-variety show hosted by writer-comedian Kevin Maher – a confabulation of vintage film clips and videos, new finds, guest experts, games and curiosities. To geek out with Kevin you don’t need to be a geek, you just need to love cool stuff. 

Since 2008, Kevin has geeked out with 23 different installments of his video variety night to fill those gaps in your education about Bigfoot! – Robots! – Video Games! – Werewolves! – KISS! – Batman! – and Sharks! His shows have been critics’ picks in the Village Voice, Time Out New York, Gothamist, The New York Times’ “Urban Eye”...and what other comedy show can you name that’s been featured in Scientific American Online?

This month, Kevin Geeks Out about RIP-OFF CINEMA, chronicling the “knockbusters” that attempt to capture the magic of E.T., KING KONG, WAR OF THE WORLDS and other big-budget blockbusters. The two-hour cultural cavalcade includes trivia, snacks, prizes, and guest speakers presenting rare film footage and TV clips you won’t find on YouTube or Netflix.  Kevin is joined by some very special guests:  

·      Emmy Award-winning Daily Show writer Elliott Kalan looks back at his favorite E.T. rip-off.  (It’s not Mac and Me!)

·      Writer M. Sweeney Lawless gives a brief history of films that aped KING KONG.

·      Comic Book Blogger Nick Nadel presents a montage of Super-hero knock-offs from around the world.

·      Professor Geoff Klock illustrates the difference between a rip-off and an homage.

·      Filmmaker Matthew Glasson shares scenes from his favorite JAWS copycat (that was actually banned from the U.S. for copyright infringement!)

·      Horror Blogger Brian Solomon presents a study of HALLOWEEN rip-offs.

·      And Artist-Baker Sara Reiss serves up “knock-off” themed treats.

·      Plus trivia games and prizes that will include knock-off products.


KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT RIP-OFF CINEMA
Thursday September 15th @ 8pm
92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street  NYC


buy tickets HERE

Kevin Geeks Out About Visions of the Future: Show Recap

Each month I host a theme night at the 92Y Tribeca in New York City, the show is called KEVIN GEEKS OUT.  

January's sold-out show celebrated the year 2010 with a collection of speculative visions of tomorrow.  (In honor of this occasion, I dressed as Orson Welles when he hosted the sensationalist Nostradamus documentary: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, more on that later...) We started off with a grab-bag of video footage from a variety of films (and TV shows) that showcased: a police state that enforced mandatory dancing (The Apple), a fully-realized 3-D chess game aboard a spaceship (Futureworld), the most popular cable channel of the 22nd century (Idiocracy), and a time-travelling spaceman who taught the people of the future all about funk (Buck Rogers). 

After that KGO super-producer Jay Stern shared an edited-down video of the 1930 talkie JUST IMAGINE.  This science-fiction musical showed what life would be like 50 years in the future.  (Warning: The film features lots of prohabition jokes.)





Daily Show writer Elliott Kalan shared a photo-essay on the 1939 World's Fair.  Elliott featured surprising details and photos of the world's largest cash register -- but he also got at the heart of the World's Fair's sorrow.  (Elliott's piece will be making its way to the internet soon.)

Continuing with the 1930's promise of tomorrow, KGO Super-producer M. Sweeney Lawless  gave us the ultimate profile of ELEKTRO the Moto-Man.

Elektro was the star-attraction of the '39 Fair, but after the Fair ran out of money and shut down, Elektro became the world's first has-been robot.


READ MEG'S COMPLETE ESSAY HERE.


We moved onto the 1950's with the promise of exciting advances in automobiles, highways, homes and luxury devices.  Special thanks to Matt Novak (editor of the incredible Paleofuture.com) for suggesting some of these clips...





Continuing with the march of progress, we featured a slide-show by Seth Porges (technology editor for Popular Mechanics.)  Seth shared some of the more outrageous predictions made by his employer over the years. (Video of this presentation will be coming soon to an internet near you.)

After that we welcomed a very special guest to the show: Psychic Jane Doherty.

Before the show started, we asked audience members to submit questions about life in the future, and Jane would tell us what we could expect.   The segment revealed that we would see a woman president in the United States, a vegetarian fast-food chain will be established by 2015 (it will start in New York or California), within this decade a lot of questions will be answered about finding a cure for cancer (we will find a cure!)  And finally, Jane answered a question about whether there's any truth to the prophecy that 2012 will bring the end of the world.  Jane has communicated with Mayan Elders and explained that they do not believe 2012 is the end, rather there will be a shift in consciousness. 


We turned our attention to another psychic, the infamous Nostradamus.  Sure there are dozens of Nostradamus shows on the History channel, but none of those specials could be more distrurbing and over-the-top than the documentary The Man Who Saw Tomorrow.  This 1981 movie was hosted by Orson Welles, not only did it include re-enactments of past events, but dramatizations of things that hadn't happened yet.  Needless to say this movie freaked me out as a kid:


After that traumatic bit of video, we needed a snack break!


Each month we provide a thematic treat, and what could be better than a heaping helping of DIPPIN' DOTS -- the ice cream of the future!  The good people of Dippin' Dots donated enough cryogenically frozen ice cream for each and every member of our audience.  Thanks again Dippin' Dots gang!

Moving into more recent visions of the future, I looked at five futures predicted by Saturday Morning Cartoons, including Thundarr the Barbarian, The Partridge Family 2200 A.D. and the worst Bugs Bunny cartoon I've ever seen.

SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF CARTOON VISIONS OF THE FUTURE (with video clips) BY CLICKING HERE.

At this point we delved into the darker possibilities of tomorrow. The amazing Kriota Wilberg (aka The Cinematologist) addressed the topic of Mutants in the future.  Kriota dealt with the overthrow of the human population, viral vampirism, genetic engineering, hypertrichosis (aka Wolfman disease) and more!  I cannot do justice to her dizzying analysis of mutation, so instead here's a photo of a Martian prostitute with multiple breasts: (below)

Note: during the show we re-visited this slide, observing that the image, which had been pulled from the internet, was stamped by a someone calling himself "Sauron_2000"(!)


Now that I have your attention (or did I lose just you?) you can read Kriota's lecture here.


Our penultimate guest was a favorite, Tenebrous Kate, who edited together this very special video about lessons learned from the 1982 Italian post-nuke favorite The New Barbarians (aka Warriors of the Wasteland). Watch and learn:


Our final guest was the first person we thought to book for this event: Scott Christian Carr, a writer/filmmaker/and author of post-apocalyptic fiction.

Scott started his segment by asking the audience a thought-provoking question "If you survive the end of the world, who do you want by your side?"  Scott answered that the one person you'd want more than anyone is your brother -- and then he shared a scene from his original film The Nuke Brothers.  (CLIP COMING SOON.)


Following a brief Q&A about his movie, we watched a montage Scott edited (with his brother Jeremy) looking at the theme of "Loneliness in the Future".  (CLIP COMING SOON)


Oh, it was a splendid evening of oddball entertainment, super-cold ice cream, and fantastical futures.  What's in store for the future of Kevin Geeks Out?  Here's the trailer for February's event, KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT MONKEYS.  (Click here for tickets)




note: all photos (except for the Dippin' Dots) by Matthew Glasson.  
Additional artwork courtesy of Sauron_2000