The Thrilling Adventure Hour: One Of Los Angeles' Finest Hours of Entertainment [Event]

I had the great pleasure this past weekend of seeing The Thrilling Adventure Hour at Largo on La Cienega, a show that's been running in Los Angeles for five years, but has only recently begun getting the amount of attention it deserves. Created in 2005 by Ben Acker & Ben Blacker, The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a throwback to radio plays of the 30s and 40s. Each month features an installment of three of Acker & Blacker's ongoing serials, told in an old fashioned style, but with modern sensibility.

This month, we saw:

Sparks Nevada: Marshall of Mars,
Marc Evan Jackson as the melty voice Marshall (his voice. was so melty.)
Mark Gagliardi as his Martian sidekick
Busy Phillips as the woman stuck between them
Guest Star Yvette Nicole Brown as the Trouble Shooter
(Theme song sung by Sean & Sara Watkins!)

Captain Laserbeam!
John DiMaggio as the title hero
Hal Lubin & Guest Star Matt Braunger as his prepubescent sidekicks
Guest Star Nick Kroll (whose vocal choice was indescribably hilarious) as King Mammal
John Ennis as his number one henchmen
(Theme song sung by Yvette Nicole Brown & The Workjuice Players)

Jefferson Reed, Ace American
guest star Nathan Fillion (having the time of his life) as Mr. Reed
Annie Savage as his best gal
Samm Levine as a fellow soldier
John DiMaggio as the general
Craig Cackowski as a nasty Kraut Nazi

In between each episode, and during the opening of the show, we got spot on satirical recreations of old radio ads for cigarettes and coffee, starring the rest of the Workjuice Players, mostly featuring the hilarious James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture himself!) & Mark Gagliardi as New York cops (and sometimes perps) who really love their Workjuice Coffee & Patriot Cigarettes.

On paper, this idea sounded amazing and I was THRILLED to discover that it actually is as wonderful as I had hoped. An hour of pure joy. Not only is this kind of humor right up my alley (I'm looking at you, Marc Evan Jackson in particular, and honoring you with the "Greatest line readings ever" award for the evening) but it's nothing short of exhilarating to see actors I enjoy having a great time on stage, totally committing, giving it their all, and delivering fantastic results.

There's a fine mix of players too - comedians, voiceover actors, Freaks & Geeks alum, and high profile guest stars like this week's Nathan Fillion, Community's Yvette Nicole Brown, The League's Nick Kroll & Nickel Creek's Sean & Sara Watkins. Every person brings something unique to the table. A lot of the players who we would recognize from the small screen like Nathan Fillion & Samm Levine would give a few winks & nods (literally) to the live audience - if you listen to the podcast and hear uproarious laughter in places that make no sense, it's most likely because of some perfectly timed mugging, courtesy of Fillion or Levine.

A highlight of the live experience was when  Samm Levine raised an eyebrow to the audience when another character described his character as having "arayan good looks", which appropriately brought the house down. One of Fillion's best "unheard" moments was when Craig Cackowski's nazi told him in Germany they just called German Shephards, Shephards. Fillion didn't react for a long while until finally his Jefferson Reed "got" what the nazi was saying & nodded - a brilliant move, but one only witnessable by those in the audience - a case for heading down to Largo in person instead of waiting for the podcast to be released.

Then you have the voiceover gods like James Urbaniak & John DiMaggio, who use their voices in such varied, exciting ways (particularly DiMaggio in this edition, who got to play a few different characters) that you as an audience member feel like you're witnessing something truly special. And finally, the comedians like Paul F. Tompkins, would crack us up with their particular takes on the material. Tompkins took on a drunk Errol Flynn during the commercial breaks in this installment that had Workjuice Players themselves losing it in the background.

Having dabbled in recording original noir radio plays in my time, it was nice to see that kind of recording done on a large scale - a MUCH larger scale. There's clearly a lot of passion here. There's a full band, 3 mics, plus a special area for the announcer (Hal Lubin) and someone, somewhere is doing sound effects, which I'm fairly certain were recordings this time, but my understanding is they are sometimes done live. And the actors don't just dress nicely - they dress period. Busy Philips & Annie Savage even had costume changes. Yvette Nicole Brown rocked a tight black sheath and had her hair styled straight of the late 30s. The men all wore suits and looked mighty dapper. The Workjuice Players don't fuck around - everyone does what they can to make the audience really feel like they've been transported back in time & are a part of this experience. I'm even considering dressing up for next month's show. No joke.

An added bonus! Get to the show early enough to have a drink at the bar, and you may catch actors from the show, or in our case, the Watkins Siblings, sitting beside you. You can also buy posters, hot cider & cookies that I heard were amazing, and afterwards, chat it up in the courtyard with your favorite Workjuice Players.

I truly can't recommend this experience enough. As soon as it ended, I, along with some of the people who came with me, immediately bought tickets for next month. Buy yours here - both February and March are on sale now! And for the first time ever, these shows are being recorded for podcast! The August 7th show is online now. You can subscribe by clicking here.

If you're based in the San Francisco area or are looking for an excuse to take a trip there, the San Francisco Sketchfest next weekend will feature two Thrilling Adventure Hours and the cast list is unbelievable. Aside from the usual suspects, the shows will feature Neil Patrick Harris, Alison Brie, Colin Hanks, Danny Pudi, Donal Logue and more. To quote Workjuice Player & sweetheart Samm Levine "I don't know if it is sold out, but if not, buy a ticket, you won't be wrong...?"Click here to take Levine's advice.

For more info on the Thrilling Adventure Hour, head to the website here.
For more photos from the evening by Jonathan Reilly, including behind the scenes shots, click here.
Follow The Thrilling Adventure Hour on Twitter - @ThrillingAdv

And stay tuned here for interviews with some of the cast members, as well as a peak at the movie a bunch of the Workjuice Players made together, Drones. See full post

Friday Wrap Up [Comic-Con 2010]

Didn't have time to actually write anything up Friday night, so I am now attempting to remember anything that happened that day. I can't even remember how Scott Pilgrim ended, so, good luck self.

- Walking Dead Panel. Got into the room just in time to see them reveal the first footage from the pilot. It was PACKED. And there we so many people outside who didn't make it in, it was astounding. Check out our write ups here and here.

- Barenaked Ladies perform the Big Bang Theory theme song. In passing from the 6quad room w/ Walking Dead, over to Hall H to catch what I could of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, I passed through Ballroom 20 just in time to catch the Barenaked Ladies come on stage and lead the audience in a theme song singalong. The cheering was so loud, it instantly gave me a headache. Impressive, BBT fans. Impressive. Wish I could have stayed for the entire panel!

- Joss' Ballroom 20 Talk. He only got 45 minutes, which broke everyone's hearts, but the 20 minutes I got to catch of it were fantastic, as always. Featured a surprise appearance by Nathan Fillion, who asked a question in disguise, then revealed himself, set to thousands of fan squees. I started the camera rolling right after that happened and caught this nice moment:

- Passed through the B20 greenroom just in time to see Anna Torv again, who I kept seeing over and over everywhere I turned at the convention, each time in a different, gorgeous outfit. I sense a girl-crush forming.

- Ran back and forth between the Falling Skies panel & the Girls Gone Genre panel. FYI - Noah Wyle is really hot. Like. Hot. He's aged well. He looked good. He looked real good. And the GGG panel turned away what looked like hundreds of fans - fingers crossed there is a second installment next year in an even bigger room.

- WBTV Party. Walked away with a belly full of chicken skewers & specialty cocktails, a badass gift bag, a photo of @eruditechick and Mischa Collins and the sneaking suspicion that the guy who introduced us to Collins was not in fact a "business man" as he stated. It wasn't until the next night at the EW Party that I realized who our new friends really was. ... I'll let that stay mysterious with only this clue: I did end up giving him an Inception top and he did end up tweeting about it. :)

-From Dusk Til Con. Friday night won the weekend of parties (though Thursday's Lucasfilm bash came close), rivaling last year's wonderful EW party experience. We started a dance party with Joss Whedon & co and really, what more do you need than that? We were having such a good time over in Whedonopolis, we neglected to even say hello to the Chuck cast. Oops. Of course, we all forgot to take a gift bag when we left, but we heard they were awesome. We also had the pleasure of finally meeting some of our favorite twitter friends. The evening ended at Syfy's Cafe Diem with the director of Shoot Em Up. Though last year's Don Glover versus John DiMaggio Tracy Morgan impression-off still remains the greatest Comic-Con late night dining experience of all time. See full post

Nathan Fillion Is One Of My Husbands

Hopefully you all got to catch Nathan Fillion on Jimmy Kimmel last week, but in case you missed it and his thoughts on Comic Con, Halo 3 and more, I've posted his appearance below. I take pleasure in being one of those people who went up to him at Comic Con (more specifically the EW party) and was like I LOVE YOU. But I was drunk. And hopefully he was too so he never ever remembers. Cause wow that was embarrassing for me. WOOT.



HEART. See full post

Io9 Talks Geeky Actors

Io9 just wrote a terrific piece profiling actors who get Fandom, because they're geeks themselves or because without being a geek, they are still awesome and non-judgmental. I was thrilled to see this list because I've witnessed actors being in convention environments for my entire life. Literally. And can confirm first hand that Io9 is on the money here. All the actors they named absolutely love coming to Comic Con and know how to bring the house down on a panel, especially Nathan Fillion, who I had the pleasure of drunkenly professing this truth to at last years EW party. I believe the conversation went something like this:

LQM: Omg I'm so drunk and you are the best on panels ever and I've seen a lot of panels. I'm really drunk. You are even better than Hugh Jackman! DRRUUNKKK

NF: Thank you and here is a lovely story about Hugh Jackman! I met his brother once, and he told his son to "give him a kiss" him meaning me and it was weird and hilarious and they are Australian, but my Australian accent sounds French because I know that will make you laugh and I'm an entertainer and also the coolest person ever

NF's Friend: Nathan, someone needs you

NF: Must go, nice to meet you!

LQM: I'M SO DRUNK I LOVE YOU...(exclaimed in my thoughts)

I forget the point of this post

Ah yes, Io9 is magical and got it right. There are a few, however, that I'd like to add to the list - find out who they are after the jump!



Zachary Levi & Joshua Gomez

These guys from Chuck are 100% self-professed geeks. Levi has readily admitted to Wii injuries aplenty and at July's TCAs, he was showing off his iPhone lightsaber like it was his job and he just got a promotion with three times the bonuses and a corner office facing the empire state building. (What...?) The above clip features Gomez & Levi arguing over who would win in a fight, Godzilla or Voltron. They're fantastic on panels and in Q&As and took a walk around Comic Con's dealer's room when no one was looking. I'm hoping at this year's SDCC, someone asks these two what their favorite comic books are so we can see how truly deep the geekdom goes.

Seth Green

The original, the classic, the master of cool geeks - Seth Green. I remember first encountering Seth at Comic Con when I was 12 or 13. He was there ostensibly for the Buffy Season 3 panel, but he didn't simply come and go for it like most of the other actors did. He stuck around for the whole event and has continued to grace San Diego with his presence ever since. I seem to remember finding out at some point that he had been attending Comic Con well before he was a well known face, but the internets isn't helping me find anything to back that up. Also helping Seth's geek cred - he has made his mark in many different fannish fields, as actor, creator & talking head. He's always hilarious and always knows what he's talking about. The best part of Seth Green? As a fan, he knows what it's like for fans to meet the people they admire, so don't be afraid to go up and chat with him. He's extremely humble and knows that really, he's one of us.

Hugh Jackman

While not a big geek himself, Jackman couldn't judge a person if he tried. Eternally sweet and eager to please, Jackman's become a Comic Con staple, attending whenever he can. This year he surprised the fans with some Wolverine footage and took the time to acknowledge & shake the hand of Wolverine creator, Len Wein. He owns the stage and enjoys every second he's on it. He loves interacting with the fans and absolutely gets it. While many actors wouldn't see the importance of flying across the country to promote their film at a comic book convention, Jackman gets it - and when an actor gets it, fans take notice. Unfortunately if Fox keeps up this Watchmen nonsence, who knows how Wolverine will fare opening weekend.

Eva Mendes

I can hear you asking "hrmm?" and I understand. But while I am by no means an Eva Mendes fan and I haven't even seen most of the movies she's come to Comic Con for (Ghost Rider, The Spirit, among others), that girl LOVES her some geeks. Any excuse she can find to be on a panel, she'll be there. Maybe she just likes the unbridled attention, but we can't judge her for that. So many actresses have come to Comic Con and been wholly unimpressive due to the terror they feel at the thought of encountering fanboys - See Halle Berry, Jessica Alba, Kristin Stewart, almost every actor of the female persuasion. But Eva Mendes eats it up and the crowd loves her for it.

Rosario Dawson

The female counterpart to Seth Green in terms of cool geeks. She too attends Comic Con pretty much every year and dabbles in various geek facets, some of the most recent being creating her comic book, the Occult Crimes Taskforce and lending her voice to the new Wonder Woman cartoon. She is always eager to talk about her geekdom and has rightly earned her place in the geek chic pantheon. Though take note, I'm not a huge fan of hers, by any means, but I gotta respect the fellow fangirl.

Honorable Mentions: The casts of Firefly (all of em), Battlestar Galactica & Heroes (minus the girls, but especially Adrian Pasdar & Greg Grunberg)
See full post

Dr. Horrible Sing Along Event in NYC [Mark Your Calenders]

On December 12th tickets go on sale for the Paley Center's Dr. Horrible Sing Along Event. If you've ever been to the wonderful Buffy Musical Events in NYC, it'll be like that. But with Dr. Horrible.

The event takes place Friday, December 19th at 7:30pm and cost $10 for non-members. The event will be held at the Paley Center for Media at 25 W. 52nd St.

The event is part of the Paley Center's celebration of Joss Whedons musical web epic. Arthur Smith has written an article about the precedents set in telvision and cinematic history that inspired various aspects of Dr. Horrible. The article can be found on the Paley Center website or by clicking here. The precedents discussed include mad scientists (including Dr. Sinister, Dr. Yes, Professer Frink), teams comprised of villains (Legion of Doom) & video diaries (Albert Brooks on SNL, Blair Witch), all of which led to the eventual creation of Dr. Horrible.

Also coming our way December 19th is the release of the Dr. Horrible DVD featuring Commentary! The Musical, which, by the way, most definitely falls into the category of WANT.

And now, just for fun, my favorite song from Dr. Horrible, On The Rise

See full post