312: Comedy Horror, with Evan Dorkin

We’re back and we’re and we’re putting on our ponchos. They look a bit silly, but that works for us here. The important thing is that they’ll keep some of the gore off our clothes. Comedy horror can be a messy business, especially once you bring gardening equipment into play. We’re not sure whether to laugh or cry, so we’ll probably just scream.

Main Topic: Comedy Horror

This episode sees us delve into the bloody world of comedy horror, trying to pin down what makes the two genres work so well together, looking at some examples from media, and trying to work out how to perform such alchemy ourselves. We take some serious digressions into why so many comedians turn to horror, what fun can be found in terrible films, and whether horror parodies are a form of comedy horror. As you might imagine from such a wide-ranging discussion, our chat went long. Patreon backers listening to the uncut version will find over an hour of extra material there.

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Evan Dorkin back to the Good Friends of Jackson Elias! Evan is a multi-award-winning comics writer and artist, known for creations like Beasts of Burden, Blackwood, Milk and Cheese, Dork, Calla Cthulhu, and The Eltingville Club. With his wife, Sarah Dyer, Evan has also worked on TV programmes such as Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and Yo Gabba Gabba!

Along with Paul Yellovich, Evan is co-host of the excellent horror movie podcast, Tear Them Apart. And if you have any interest in the history of comics or learning how they are made, you should definitely check out Evan’s Patreon, where he posts regular tales from the industry alongside all manner of cool pieces of work.

You can also hear Evan in our earlier discussion about the relationship between RPGs and fiction.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• Comedy in RPGs
• The Ghost Breakers (1940)
• Mystery Science Theater 3000
• Thomas Nast
• Herblock
• Black Christmas (1974)
• Bob Clark
• Troma
• Seinfeld
• Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010)
• Stuart Gordon
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
• Jam
• Tod Slaughter
• Sweeney Todd
• The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936)
• Dead of Night (1945)
• Tales From the Crypt (1972)
• Torture Garden (1967)
• Dr Terror’s House of Horror (1965)
• The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
• Man Bites Dog (1992)
• Trollhunter (2010)

• Eraserhead (1977)
• Blue Velvet (1986)
• Wild At Heart (1990)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• Return of the Living Dead (1985)
• Braindead/Dead Alive (1992)
• Bad Taste (1987)
• Shaun of the Dead (2004)
• Juan of the Dead (2010)
• One Cut of the Dead (2017)
• Natural Born Killers (1994)
• What a Dummy
• Body horror
• A Serbian Film (2010)
• The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
• The People Under the Stairs (1991)
• The Evil Dead (1981)
• Evil Dead II (1987)
• Army of Darkness (1992)
• Re-Animator (1985)
• Hell of the Living Dead (1980)
• Dr Butcher MD/Zombie Holocaust (1980)
• Pieces (1982)

• Robot Monster
• The Creeping Terror (1964)
• Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)
• The Killer Shrews (1959)
• Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (2009)
• Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010)
• The Room (2003)
• The Asylum
• Hatchet (2006)
• Grindhouse
• John Sayles
• Alligator (1980)
• Piranha (1978)
• The Howling (1981)
• Piranha 3D (2010)
• Mars Attacks trading cards
• Piranha 3DD (2012)
• Drag Me to Hell (2009)
• Winterbeast (1992)
• Nightbeast (1982)
• The Alien Factor (1978)
• Equinox (1970)
• The Invisible Man (1933)
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• The Old Dark House (1932)
• The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
• The Invisible Woman (1940)

• High Spirits (1988)
• Dawn of the Dead (1978)
• Lifeforce (1985)
• The Blob (1988)
• Psycho (1960)
• EC Comics
• Tales From the Crypt
• Inner Sanctum Mystery
• Creepshow (1982)
• Creepshow
• “Told After Supper” by Jerome K Jerome
• AM Burrage
• “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” by MR James
• Robert Bloch
• The Monster Club (1981)
• The Monster Club by R Chetwynd-Hayes
• Valancourt Books
• Looking For Something to Suck by R Chetwynd-Hayes
• Renfield (2023)
• Cocaine Bear (2023)
• Ghost Shark (2013)
• “Cocaine Owlbear”
• Savage Worlds

• Lair of the White Worm (1988)
• The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)
• The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker
• Inside No. 9
• Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
• What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
• What We Do in the Shadows
• The League of Gentlemen
• “The Devil of Christmas” from Inside No. 9
• Love at First Bite (1979)
• Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
• Key & Peele
• Get Out (2017)
• Universal monsters
• Dark Universe
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
• Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1953)
• Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)

• An American Werewolf in London (1981)
• The Blues Brothers (1980)
• The Lost Boys (1987)
• The Unnamable (1988)
• The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1992)
• The Boneyard (1991)
• Jaws (1975)
• A Scottish Podcast
• House (1977)
• Blood Diner (1987)
• Blood Feast (1963)
• Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)
• Fangoria
• Famous Monsters of Filmland
• The Being (1983)
• Jack Be Nimble (1993)
• World’s Funnest
• Welcome to Eltingville

News

A Weekend With Good Friends

GM signups for A Weekend With Good Friends will close very soon! This, of course, is the online convention organised by our lovely listeners, taking place on the Good Friends Discord server.

Key dates are:

• GM signups: 23rd of April – 7th of May
• Player signups: 22nd of May – 5th of June
• A Weekend With Good Friends: 13th – 15th of June

Games and panels will run throughout the weekend.

We shall share more details are they become available.