rocko’s modern life | House of SpeakEasy NYC

Posts From Author: rocko’s modern life

No Satisfaction

No Satisfaction was a Seriously Entertaining presentation by the House of SpeakEasy at City Winery NYC on Monday, November 17, 2014. It featured the writing and speaking talents of Ruby Wax, Philip Gourevitch, Hooman Majd, Hari Dhillon (who posed this month’s “Tip of My Tongue” quizzers), Christopher Mason, Graham Moore, and Dan Povenmire. “About seven years ago, they asked me if I’d be the poster girl for mental illness,” said Ruby Wax in the opening minutes of the final House of SpeakEasy show of 2014. “I thought it would be a tiny picture… but a month later, there were huge pictures of me all over London.” Ruby, an American comedian who has achieved great success as a comedian in the UK, was in the US for the publication of her latest book, Sane New World: A User’s Guide to the Normal-Crazy Mind. “So I wrote a show,” she continued, “and toured it in mental institutions for two years. I think they liked it. The bipolars used to say, ‘I laughed, I cried…’ These people are my tribe. Because I have serious depression.” Ruby shared a series of revelations with an enthusiastic SpeakEasy crowd. People are out of control, she said, […]

Curtain Call: No Satisfaction

The lanterns have been trimmed, our log pile has been replenished, and there’s a splendid bottle of red glinting in the firelight. Yep, it’s time for another Seriously Entertaining foray into the best of contemporary writing. The House of SpeakEasy’s next show, No Satisfaction, which hits the City Winery stage on Monday, November 17, aims to provide the exact opposite of what it says on the tin. And we couldn’t be more delighted to welcome Philip Gourevitch, Hooman Majd, Graham Moore, Dan Povenmire and Ruby Wax to help us do so. Join us for more laughs, drama, and intellectual stimulation than you might think possible for a Monday. Tickets here. Philip Gourevitch‘s first book, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families (1998), which tells the story of the Rwandan genocide, is a masterpiece of reportage (we reviewed it here). His later books A Cold Case (2001) and The Ballad of Abu Ghraib (2008) were published to similar acclaim. In this marvellous interview with Paul Holdengräber, he talks about James Brown, Jonah and the Whale, and the ethics of photography. “We often use these words unthinkable, unspeakable, unimaginable,” he says. “They’re supposed to tell us, these are huge subjects… It’s supposed to make them sound […]

Life in 2D: Dan Povenmire on the Greatest Cartoons Ever, Salsa Music, and Not Being A Jerk

Dan Povenmire is perhaps best known as the co-creator of the Disney Channel smash hit Phineas and Ferb. Though born in California, he was raised in Mobile, Alabama, where he discovered the joys of drawing and movie-making. He went to the University of South Alabama and USC School of Cinematic Art before embarking on a busy career as a writer, television director, producer, storyboard artist and actor. He’s worked on some of the biggest animated series of our time, including The Simpsons, Rocko’s Modern Life, SpongeBob SquarePants, Hey Arnold, and Family Guy, for which he was nominated for an Annie in 2005. He’s been nominated for ten Emmys in four different categories, including songwriting and voiceover performance, and won one for his writing. (We profiled Dan at greater length here.) I spoke to Dan this week about Phineas and Ferb‘s genesis and why Bullwinkle Moose would be the ultimate weapon in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Charles Arrowsmith: You and Jeff (“Swampy”) Marsh were pitching Phineas and Ferb on and off from the early 90s until Disney picked it up in 2007. What would a mid-90s Phineas and Ferb have looked like? Has its evolution been affected by the projects you’ve worked on, from The Simpsons onwards? Dan Povenmire: I think Phineas would […]

Phineas and Ferb… and Dan Povenmire

http://youtu.be/w2nVcuwF_0A There’s a hundred and four days of summer vacation And school comes along just to end it So the annual problem for our generation Is finding a good way to spend it… So begins every episode of the Disney Channel’s smash hit Phineas and Ferb, which since 2007 has entertained millions of children worldwide. Four seasons, a TV movie, and crossover specials featuring characters from Marvel Comics and Star Wars later, it’s the channel’s longest-running original series. It has a large and devoted following among adults as well as kids — its guest stars over the years have included Malcolm McDowell, Damian Lewis, Sandra Oh, Allison Janney, Ben Stiller, and, surreally, most of the principal cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Jake Gyllenhaal and Chaka Khan are fans. Its creators, Jeff “Swampy” Marsh and Dan Povenmire, pitched and re-pitched the show for sixteen years before it was finally picked up; their confidence was evidently well placed. So who are Phineas and Ferb? Phineas Flynn is a tenacious, loquacious, enterprising, triangle-headed little American boy whose mission in life is to ensure that things are never dull. Ferb Fletcher is his rectangle-headed British half-brother (voiced by Thomas Sangster, whom you may remember […]