B-Movie Icons: Joe Bob Briggs

While I was trudging my way through high school, I was primarily an art student. Back then, I did my homework and got decent grades, but didn’t take school all that seriously. Not yet the movie geek I am today, I did thoroughly enjoy watching movies … especially horror and science-fiction movies, and if they had really cool monsters … even better. Not being a beer-drinking party drone, I spent many Saturday night’s during the school year staying up late watching TNT’s Monstervision, hosted by Joe Bob Briggs.

You may be thinking, “What a nerd.” No, I was a geek … get it right! Truth is, Joe Bob had a fairly big influence on me. It wasn’t until I had developed a habit of watching his sarcastic commentary on the movies, that I began reading other film critics and writers. Joe Bob, whose real name is John Irving Bloom, would host Monstervision in his Joe Bob Briggs persona … a redneck living out of a trailer, usually with beer in hand. His approach to the featured movies was typically a balanced combination of appreciation and mockery. Perfect, considering the movies were mostly B-movie horror and/or sci-fi genre flicks. Before the movie started, Joe Bob would briefly explain what the movie was about, then he would give us his Drive-In totals … things such as how many severed heads/limbs, how many explosions, etc. He also had his sidekick Rusty the mail girl, who would bring him the fan mail. During each commercial break, Joe Bob would return to give us some more trademark banter and to update us on where we were in the movie.

Alas, Monstervision is gone, but Joe Bob Briggs survives. He has written two books … Profoundly Disturbing: The Shocking Movies that Changed History and Profoundly Erotic: Sexy Movies that Changed History. You can also still get your regular dose of Joe Bob’s prose at his website The Joe Bob Report.