October 2024
Our spookiest monthly newsletter ever, featuring all the SCARIEST emerging comedy making us scream/laugh right now...
Woah — it’s October! And according to the porcelain doll whispering to me what to type right now: it’s almost Halloween! So for all the right reasons, we’re mixing a little spooky-scary in with the LOL’s. Please enjoy all the hilarious horror-comedy content in this month’s newsletter!
[Not a fan of horror? Don’t worry (wuss) — all of our highlighted content this month is going to be funnier than it is scary (more like “clown, the art form” and less like “Art the Clown”).]
Los Angeles
As recently featured in Variety, from one of the guys who brought you “Hollywood Hellhouse,” billed as “a parody production of [Disney’s] Alien Encounter,” this live horror experience looks absolutely unhinged — a scarce description of the play ends with “AUDIENCE MEMBERS: BEING DRENCHED IN BLOOD IS UNAVOIDABLE. PLEASE DRESS ACCORDINGLY. We are not responsible for damage to your clothes.” ….Hell yeah. It runs 10/11-10/31 at The Titmouse Warehouse.
After a 4-year hiatus, the beloved comedy show MY DIARY is returning for a one-night only special event. We personally couldn't think of anything scarier than reading our old diaries to an audience full of strangers, yet that is exactly what comics Reggie Watts, Blair Socci, Leslie Liao, EJ Marcus, and host Lindsay Ames will be doing at Dynasty Typewriter on Sunday, October 20th. It will be funny, it will be cringe, it will be trauma-bonding.
New York
Comedian Maggie Olmsted has hosted a scary story show for longer than we can remember (not really that long, but it’s scarier this way!) New Yorkers will enjoy spooky stories told by BK’s rising comedy scene on Halloween.
“What happens when the master builder of New York, Robert Moses, loses his power and attempts to be a stand-up comedian?” With such an undeniable premise, we’re hoping to catch The Power Joker — a comedy variety show hosted by Magnet Theater subtle-goofs, Evan Blarden and Sam Rogal — at Caveat on November 3rd.
In Rat! — a horror-comedy short film written and directed by Neal Suresh Mulani — a gay music critic pays the price for a bad online review of a pop star. Rat! will screen in Los Angeles in the short film competition at AFI Fest (10/25), as well as in New York through the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival (10/19).
Patrick McDonald recently wrote, directed, and starred in a short film perfect for spooky season, entitled I LIVE IN YOUR HOUSE. This unsettling short uses a mix of horror and dark humor to tell the story of a woman who discovers that an eerie stranger has been secretly living in her house.
We were lucky to catch a private screening of the brilliant debut feature Micro Budget from co-writers Patrick Noth and Morgan Evans (who also directs) — and there is NOTHING scarier than the possibility that it was inspired by anyone’s real life experiences making a movie.
Looking for layers of mystery and lore, secret symbols, hidden details, or an ominous score? Check out the Soft Boys! What seems like a simple spoof — a friend group of simple men doing TikTok trends — turns much more sinister the longer you watch. And the Soft Boys mystery has expanded even further: with messages and clues sprinkled throughout their flirtatious lip syncs that point to something deeply sinister afoot.
Comedian Casey Winbush has a way with facial expressions and tone that make even this simple, technically joke-less video memorable and hilarious ("pov: a snake being charmed by a snake charmer"). Other favorites of hers include Raggedy Anne finding out people call her "Raggedy," or her series in which she plays a wide-eyed, somewhat haunting, girlypop "tour guide".
THROWBACK ALERT: a Halloween issue of the newsletter merits sharing one of the best ever in the horror-comedy sketch genre: THE BLACKENING. Enjoy the original 3Peat sketch from 2018, Google where everyone is now, revel in how original ideas with talented creators CAN scale!
Every month (here in our free newsletter) we’ll share a script from a writer that we think you should know. It’s that simple! This month’s script is…. THE HAPPINESS CULT by Sarah H. Cho.
Logline: After a freak accident, Kassie finds herself blessed with the modern Midas touch. She can impart temporary euphoria on anyone she touches. Trouble is...the power works on everyone but herself.
Click here to download the script.
Sarah H. Cho is a Korean-American writer whose feature GOMTANG is set up at Universal. She’s currently adapting the popular web series LOOK SEE as a film for Crypt, as well as adapting the acclaimed graphic novel PEARL for Mandeville. On the TV side, Sarah is developing an original series with Patty Jenkins and developing her series NEON NIGHTMARES with Vertigo producing & Little Marvin showrunning. Sarah just wrapped in Amazon’s THEM S2 room and was in Hulu‘s acclaimed THE GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE writers room prior.
That’s it for this month.
Thanks!
*This newsletter features contributions from a team of comedy tastemakers:
Carly Hoogendyk
Willie Trieger
Cassidy Alla
Natalia Ramirez
Casey Hodgkinson