What’s a better career move for a film critic than people being able to see you on television?
Peoplenotbeing able to see you on television.
That, at least, is the conclusion drawn by exploitation movie expert Joe Bob Briggs.
Shudder
Last July, Briggs' debut movie marathon for thegenre-focused streaming service Shudderproved so popular that the servers crashed.
I paid for this!
You aholes!'"
Shudder
Briggs recalls to EW.
“People were just furious.
Do you know that you just broke Shudder?
This is amazing!'
It became this celebration of the pent-up demand for the show that crashed everybody’s servers.”
I think that is why Joe Bob is so special."
The marathons also proved to be communal experiences for horror fans who weren’t physically watching the movies together.
It’s just so much fun."
And it’s triply noteworthy for someone who doesn’t actually exist.
He had all these really refined theories about how to make an exploitation film.
I became fascinated with the science of making exploitation films.
Among the first films placed under the critical microscope by “Joe Bob Briggs” a.k.a.
“No kung fu.
Approximately two bare tops.
Joe Bob says check it out.”
Bloom’s columns also found Briggs discussing his private life, and his often decidedly un-PC personal philosophies.
They should be judged by the size of their hooters."
The columns lovingly satirized both genre films and blue-collar Texas culture while being, Briggs admits, deliberately provocative.
The ensuing uproar caused theDallas Times Heraldto cancel the column.
However, the column was rapidly picked up by Universal Press Syndicate.
That’s how you identify the sacred cow, and that’s how you destroy the sacred cow."
“It was basically a comedy show with music,” Bloom says.
“I would sing these parody country & western songs.
I had a backup band.
Sometimes I had dancers called the Dancing Behemoth Sisters.
They were a chorus line of extremely large women who could dance really well.
I still like to perform on stage.
I do a show calledHow Rednecks Saved Hollywood.
It’s about 200 clips and stills with comedy.
It’s the history of the redneck as told in film.”
So, they brought me in to be a guest host.
And then they said, ‘Well, why don’t you come back next month?’
I just kept coming back for 11 years!"
During his spell at TMC, Bloom published a string of books.
“I said, ‘Is that a John Bloom article or a Joe Bob Briggs article?’
And they said, ‘Who’s John Bloom?'”
In the latter, he played a casino employee who is harshly berated by Robert De Niro’s character.
“I was very intimidated to be doing scenes withRobert De Niro,” Bloom says.
So that that registers on my face?’
And I would say, ‘Yes, I absolutely agree, Mr. [Laughs] It’s like, boy, he really has thought about this."
“I would always say yes.
And then I would never hear from them again.
“They came and they said, ‘Do you want to do another show?'”
“And I said sure.
We had lunch, and I thought that would be the end of it.
I never expected to see these guys again.”
Shiflett suggested Bloom-as-Briggs host a movie marathon.
“I said, ‘you’re able to’t do that.
TV ideas, they they date, you know.’
We’ve done a couple of marathons, and now we’re going to do a double-feature series.
So I’m just rolling with it!”
“Joe Bob swooped in and added context and perspective on these otherwise unknown films.
He was always honest and always himself, which is always a special thing in entertainment.
“It’s sort of one big smorgasbord,” he says.
“I personally think that’s the best way to watch Joe Bob.”
“When I started writing about exploitation movies, nobody cared about them, really.
The world has changed in terms of pop culture becoming mainstream culture.
So, how long can Bloom imagine donning Briggs’ cowboy duds to ruminate and pontificate?
“I hope so!
I hope so!”
“I’ll totally be up for it if they want to do that.”
“I’ve essentially done the same show three times,” Bloom says with a laugh.
“It never changes!
The director of the new show is one of those rabid fans.
He’s always saying things to me like, ‘Remember that thing that you did in 1997?’
I’m like, ‘No, I don’t.’
And he says, ‘Well, we’re going to do that again!'”
