{"id":653,"date":"2009-07-01T16:24:24","date_gmt":"2009-07-01T22:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=653"},"modified":"2009-07-01T16:29:19","modified_gmt":"2009-07-01T22:29:19","slug":"five-easy-questions-cinema-insomnia-legend-mr-lobo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=653","title":{"rendered":"Five Easy Questions: “CINEMA INSOMNIA” LEGEND MR. LOBO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lobo_mr\"MR. LOBO <\/a>is the world’s leading TV horror host, at least of the New Generation. His nationally syndicated TV show Cinema Insomnia <\/em><\/a>has a rabid fan base and has been seen by dozens of people coast to coast. Just kidding. Mr. Lobo is a humble icon. His fame and following are both well-deserved and well-earned. He is multi-talented – not only does he write, produce and direct his own shows, but he contributes articles to many blogs and publications, appears in B movies, and is an aspiring filmmaker himself. He is above all a good guy and a great friend, both to me personally and the B Movie Nation in general. Here is the amusing and amazing Mr. Lobo in his own words…<\/p>\n

Will the Thrill<\/a>:<\/em> Tell us how Cinema Insomnia <\/em>came to be.
\nLobo: <\/em>Well, Will, the steps of my career have been so gradual and in so many varied parallel fields that it is difficult to define a starting point of what has become more than just a TV show that presents \u201cMisunderstood Movies\u201d. It\u2019s a lifestyle. I was born a film and pop culture fanatic, a shy indoor kid and who\u2019s put thousands of hours into Movie and TV watching. We went to the Drive-in once a week and my first job was an usher in a gorgeous rival theater in Sacramento called The Crest<\/a>.<\/em> They showed serials, cartoons, newsreels, trailers and then manager Matius Bombal would come out and present the feature in a tux! I showed creative talent at an early age and was always doing projects, comic books, trading cards, radio plays, live comedy shows, short comedic films and videos\u2014mostly parodies, and other cries for help. My friends and I experimented on weekends and tried to develop some kind of show or vehicle for comedic bits\u2026we meandered for years\u2014nothing ever really stuck. In the 90\u2019s I was head writer for a local comedy stage show called The Moe Betterman Show at a local <\/em>night club called Old Ironsides. One of the comics from the show was supposed to host a bunch of kitchy retro films in that same nightclub on an off night. He got sick and I stepped in and hosted it as \u201cCommander X\u201d. The projectionist and collector of the films was Scott Moon<\/a>–a person whom I wanted to meet since we both were publishers of magazines.<\/p>\n

\"planetx\"Scott published a pop culture magazine called Planet X.<\/a> They had interviewed my favorite TV horror movie host form my childhood Bob Wilkins<\/a>! I began writing and doing art design for the mag. Planet-X held a Live Creature Features<\/a><\/em> revival film show at Harlow\u2019s<\/a>, a posh, retro, dinner theater, in 1998 as a launch for the new issue of the magazine and Bob hosted it. The publisher asked me to write some material with Bob and help direct the show. I was terrified. I learned Bob was much more motivated by presenting the films and doing material than the films themselves. Bob loved my material and encouraged me to be a movie host. I first was flabbergasted and overwhelmed. But I never forgot Bob\u2019s confidence in me\u2014Bob wouldn\u2019t let me forget, either. He mailed postcards and audio tapes telling me to keep going and gave me advice. The real opportunity to do a show didn\u2019t come until 2001, when I was working at KXTV NEWS 10 in TV production they had a 3AM movie that ran 20 minutes short every week. My friend Mike Strange, who also worked at the TV station, and I, walked into the General Managers office and asked if we could fill that 15 minutes. I had done some amateur video tests for something called Insomniac Theater<\/em> as early as 1995 and we thought it might be time to flesh that hosted show project out. \"fan_club_ad2\"
\nThe show Insomniac with Dave Atell <\/em>was premiering on Comedy Central and we had heard rumblings that some overnight stations in other markets called their un-hosted late movie Insomniac Theater<\/em>\u2026a name change seemed prudent. On a piece of binder paper I wrote every alternate title I could think of. Both Mike and I liked \u201cCinema Insomnia\u201d because it had a rhyming quality like Creature Features<\/em>. I was too nervous and self conscious to just be a regular guy like Bob did\u2014not that I knew what normal was anyway. By creating an amplified version of myself, \u201cMr. Lobo\u201d, it allowed me to be free and actually be more honest\u2026I didn\u2019t care if I looked stupid and I felt I could say things as \u201cMr. Lobo\u201d that \u201cErik\u201d never could. We did 22 shows for them and the management never \u201cgot it\u201d and it was eventually put on permanent hiatus while the \u201cdecided\u201d what they wanted to do with this show that was now bringing ratings, letters and phone calls\u2014but not from the demographic they\u2019re after. Bob even wrote the station and told them to keep me on the air.\u00a0 After a few months while the show was in limbo, Mike had left the station for a better job. I asked the station if I could keep producing new shows on my own and distributing them to other stations. They were allowed me to branch out as long as I didn\u2019t us News 10 films or resources. We had no contract. Scott Moon who was an avid 16mm film collector had an awesome archive and awesome friends (like Bob Ekman <\/a>and Paul Etcheverry<\/a>) with awesome archives and I began to build shows around this material and creating the current format of the show with lots of random film clips. I started doing more conventions and live revivals and got to talk with fans who helped me fine tune the show. Bob offered much guidance until he was too ill to do so.<\/p>\n

The show was picked up on more and more stations coast to coast including KTEH in the SF Bay Area for 3 years\u2026Creature Features’<\/em> old market!<\/p>\n

Every director and collaborator (Ken Waller, Todd Thomas, Scott Waters, Aaron Kinney, Robert Neep, Chris Grill, Stan Fong, Larry Scholl, Jay Patrick, Jonathan Morken, Ernie Fosselius<\/a>, John Stanley<\/a>, Sara Dunn<\/a>, Mike Nieder and so many more) we had over the past 9 years left and impression on the show shaped it into what it is today\u2026and it\u2019s still evolving. What was the question again?<\/p>\n

\"robolobo\"Lobo giving the “Cinema Insomnia” oath live on stage<\/em> in Thrillville<\/a><\/em>
\n\"lobothrillbob\"Lobo (who needs to take his own “stay awake” oath), Thrill, Bob Wilkins, Parkway Theater, Oakland<\/em> CA<\/em><\/p>\n

Thrill:<\/em> Your main influence is the late Bob Wilkins<\/a>. Why did Bob have such an impact on you?
\nLobo:<\/em> Rod Serling<\/a>, William Castle<\/a>, Alfred Hitchcock<\/a>, The Phantom Stranger<\/a>, Orson Welles<\/a>,\u00a0 were all influences\u2014but Bob is my main influence because I had a deeper connection with him.<\/p>\n

Some of my earliest memories were of me watching Bob on TV. I was so terrified by those movies! I was the kind of kid who ran in the other room when The Skipper would yell at Gilligan\u2014so Hammer Horror was pure torture! I wanted to be close to my dad who was asleep in the recliner. But it was Bob who was calming me down and talking to me between fits of fright-Not Dad. He was a calming presence and as an emerging odd-ball who didn\u2019t fit in–he was a person who seemed very comfortable being square. He didn’t care how he came off, so he came off as cool. He was the geek he wanted to be.
\nAs a fan I know the kind of impact a host can have\u2026and it\u2019s an impact I strive for.<\/p>\n

Meeting him as an adult changed my life. He was so unassuming and enormously supportive of everyone he came in contact with. He would encourage you to pursue your dreams and if he thought you were particularly gifted\u2014he\u2019d open a door and kick you in the pants.\u00a0 When he was on my October 2002 Halloween special and we improvised the whole episode together. Ernie Fosselius had a similar experience-we got a lesson from the master. I learned that your connection to your audience is the most important part of the show\u2014even more important than the cleverness your material. As I said before, he actively advised me until he was to ill to do so\u2026I continue to take inspiration from Bob\u2019s life–he helped people. He made the world a better place not because he showed \u201ccheesy\u201d movies but because he was a funny caring and brilliant that man you wanted to hang out with on a Saturday night. I said this at his memorial but I will say it here\u2026I used to think Bob Wilkins was the kind of Horror Host I wanted to be. I\u2019ve since learned that Bob Wilkins is the kind of Man I want to be\u2026<\/p>\n

\"bobhopeweb\"Illustration by Mr. Lobo in honor of his idol, Bob Wilkins