Hello! And welcome to our September episode! Hopefully it’s still September by the time you hear it, but not to worry! The Halloween episode will be out long before Halloween. The reason this was so late is I basically did both episodes at once, in addition to getting three kids back in high school, college and grad school, so, ya know. It’s all here and / or on its way.

Matt Braunger is here! Matt is a hilarious comedian and a good buddy of mine. A friend of the show, as they say. Matt has a brand new podcast out called Tank Top Talks and it’s exactly what it sounds like. People in tank tops, talking about tank tops and people. You can listen to it, watch it on YouTube. You get it. Tank Top Talks.

And Paul Myers is here. What I said about Matt, same goes for Paul. Paul’s not a stand up, but he’s a brilliant journalist and writer. He’s written, among other books, The Kids In The Hall, One Dumb Guy, A Wizard A True Star: Todd Rundgren In The Studio, and Barenaked Ladies: Public Stunts and Private Stories. His new book is required reading for any comedy fan - John Candy: A Life In Comedy. Paul’s here to discuss the book and the amazing life and career of the great John Candy.

True Tales From Weirdsville takes a look at something we all do, sleep, and asks the question, what could go wrong? Actually a lot. There are some dudes in prison right now for things they claim happened while they were asleep. And we’re going to investigate.

And now, it’s on, to our filthy business.

Welcome to the dog days of summer. We’ve got an action-packed episode to get you to through August, so fasten your enthusiasm harness, and get ready to listen, and enjoy.

Eddie Muller is an expert in film noir. If you like movies with private eyes, tough guys and saucy dames who kiss and lie, Eddie is your dude. Eddie is the host of TCM’s Noir Alley, which is forever and always a celebration of all things noir. He has a new book out called Dark City Dames, which examines the lives and careers of a group of actresses from the heyday of film noir. As you may suspect, their true life stories are often more intense than the movies they made. Eddie is also the author of Dark City, San Francisco Noir, The Art Of Noir, the novels The Distance and Shadow Boxer. He is a fascinating guy. It was a great interview. I could have talked to him all day to be honest.

Also, one of my favorite people, Katharine Coldiron, is back. Katharine also has a new book entitled Out There In The Dark. It’s part memoir, part film criticism. Maybe one could say it is memoir AS film criticism. Or film criticism as memoir? You decide. But I read it in one sitting. It’s a great. Informative, honest, brave, it’s a terrific piece of work.

True Tales From Weirdsville takes a deep dive into the cult classic Gun Crazy. Informed in large part by the book Gun Crazy And The Origin Of American Outlaw Cinema by, you guessed it, Eddie Muller, Gun Crazy is not only a terrific cult film, but it’s also an incredibly important one, kicking off as it did, an entire subgenre in American film, one that still thrives today. That is, the stories of sociopaths in love. Gun Crazy. If you can find two words that better describe this country, you let me know.

Like a lot of you, I was moved by the passing of film director David Lynch this past January. Much more than I thought I would be, to be honest. A lot of it had to do with the timing. He was such a part of Los Angeles. He made movies set here. He did a daily weather report. He talked at length about how much he loved the light, the feeling of Old Hollywood, the smell of night-blooming jasmine, and he left as the city was on literally burning down around us. On top of that, we were four days away from a new president who is the embodiment of everything Lynch is not. It was like Dale Cooper died four days before Bob become President. Everywhere you turned on the news there was another scumbag asshole winning the lottery, and just when things could not get worse, reality said, “Wait! I got one more!”

While struggling to fight the fires, with thousands of people in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena losing everything the city was now mourning its coolest resident. And if you don’t live here I really cannot understate what a presence he is. There is a rotating sculpture of his head in head in Santa Monica. People gathered at the Bob’s Big Boy in Toluca Lake where he used to go for coffee and a chocolate shake every day at 2:00 PM. The gathered at Jumbo’s Clown Room, the Hollywood Boulevard strip club where he, as legend has it, he wrote Blue Velvet. Every sidewalk sandwich board in town bore a chalk drawing of his iconic quiff.

So, as I began the next podcast, I figured I would dedicate the True Tales From Weirdsville segment to Mr. Lynch. But it quickly became apparent that it was way too much story for just one segment and it eventually stretched over three episodes. And so, for your listening pleasure, we stitched ‘em together, and here they are. Enjoy.

https://www.DanaGould.com