Final KGO show at the 92Y Tribeca

The 92Y Tribeca is closing. 

The final show in the screening room will be my show on Friday June 14th. 

(Please note: there will still be a few other shows in the main space, including a chat with Paul Feig, but this is the last event in the screening room.) 

KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT MONKEYS
Friday June 14th @ 8pm
92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street
New York, NY 

Get tickets here.  The show will sell-out. 



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.

This month, Kevin Geeks Out about MONKEYS. Long before cats captivated internet-users, funny primates dazzled audiences. The 2-hour show will feature dozens of clips from classic (and lesser-known) movies and TV shows, spanning 7 decades. Plus Saturday morning cartoons, pop songs and comedy shorts about apes, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, baboons and footage you won’t find on YouTube or Netflix.

Elliott Kalan (writer from "The Daily Show") observes how the “sexually aroused gorilla” has become a horrifying comedy trope.
Professor Geoff Klock examines the Gorilla as Super-Villain.
Writer Meg Sweeney Lawless shares a gallery of the best and worst examples of “Apes on Comic Book Covers”.
Filmmaker Bill Scurry recounts the online adventures of his pet chimpanzee, Chester Balonie.
Host Kevin Maher looks at the legacy of KING KONG.
With trivia from quizmaster Noah Tarnow (from the upcoming "Big Quiz Thing" TV show) 

Monkey-themed cupcakes from Sara Reiss
And a special monkey movie clip from 92Y Tribeca Film Programmer Cristina Cacioppo. 

SECRETS OF A POP CULTURE EXPERT

Dear every teacher I ever had:

Sorry I didn’t do the reading. 

There was a good show on that night.

Oddly my obsessive years of teevee consumption led to many jobs as a “pop culture expert."

In another civilization that title would be a euphemism for “unemployable” – but we live in a society where I can blog about ninja movie villains from the 1980’s and get paid more than a public school teacher.

Just this week I was given real U.S. currency to watch the movie KRULL and write trivia about it.

I don’t know if I’m a success story, a cautionary tale, or a sad commentary on our nation’s values.

You be the judge. 

The tough part of my work is that I’m 37 and it might be too late to learn a practical skill.

Of course I don’t really believe that. 

But I know myself well enough that if I were to make a radical life change and start at a non-profit, I’d eventually say, “Fuck it, this is hard work compared to ranking TV’s top mustaches.”  

(Seriously, this trope ALWAYS comes up at jobs. Like the way TIME Magazine can always do another cover story on cholesterol, bloggers return to the well of “Pop Culture Mustaches." No one actually believes they’re the first to do the story. Editors I’ve worked for encourage writers to steal good ideas from other places. Because the bosses know that the mouth-breathers who read their blogs have no long-term memory or sense of history. If you don't believe me, then how do you explain the countless slideshows of "bad tattoos"?) 

So I’m committed to writing for inevitably short-lived websites and second-rate cable channels owned by corporate entities that hope to gain some street-cred by featuring writings on trashy movies, vintage television and nostalgic trivia.

This field has less of a “corporate ladder” and more of a merry-go-round populated by lonley guys who are one Entertainment Weekly subscription away from Aspergers.

In a way, working a pop culture gig is like a game of chicken. Each writer is waiting for the others to “get a real job” so that more work opens up for the rest of us.

Unless we all get replaced by unpaid interns. 

In my field this inevitability is like global warming melting the ice caps: We know it’s going to happen, but we try not to think about it and hope it occurs after we’re dead.

I resent that my tightwad bosses would replace me with some recent college grad who was born the same year I saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III in the theater.

I came into my nerd-dom before the internet turned history into low-hanging fruit. Today anyone can learn the complete chronology of the Planet of the Apes saga in a few minutes.  But I studied it one Saturday Afternoon at a time.

And I dislike that any nimrod can glean those facts (rarely fact-checked) and become an instant expert. 

It really cheapens the work I do.

Kevin Maher is a writer-producer with impressive resume credits. (But that's because his resume doesn't include gigs like The Daily Dirt, Celebraddiction, The Horror Hacker, Hollywood Update, Star Vs Star, and Bravo's "Great Things About the Holidays.") 

Visit his website for the good credits, sample writing and videos. 

Related posts: Pop Culture Blogger of the Year (my acceptance speech)

Related posts: How to Scientifically Turn Down a Freelance Gig

APES movie during SHARK WEEK

It just occurred to me that the new PLANET OF THE APES movie opens during SHARK WEEK.

Those are two of my favorite sub-genres.  

To honor the occasion, I want to tell you about A*P*E (1976)

This American-Korean co-production was rushed-out to cash-in on KONG FEVER that was brewing around Dino De Laurentiis's big-budget remake of KING KONG.

A*P*E (which isn't an actual acronym, maybe they were additionally trying to capitalize on M*A*S*H*-fever) was produced by Jack H. Harris (whose credits include some cult favorites including The Blob and Dark Star).

Harris managed to con FAMOUS MONSTER OF FILM-LAND into getting his movie on the cover of their magazine**, with this over-the-top illustration of his giant monkey pummeling a JAWS-like shark. (Remember in the mid-70's JAWS was the ultimate blockbuster.)  The film includes a brief sequence in which the APE encounters a great white shark (a one-two punch of ripping of KONG and JAWS, while suggesting that their film is superior to Spielberg's.)

This epic battle between a 36-foot-tall monkey and a really big shark comes off more like a guy in a torn gorilla costume thrashing around an already-dead shark. At the end of the scene he actually splits apart the shark's mouth, ruining it for good and ensuring that there won't be anymore filming of this scene. (There's a reason this film was made outside the U.S.)

Oh, did I mention this all takes places in the first 5 minutes of the movie.

In 3-D.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (at the Bronx Zoo)