S3E23: The REAL Crypt Keeper

The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast

The CRYPT KEEPER – the iconic host of HBO’S iconic TALES FROM THE CRYPT TV series – was just an animatronic puppet of course. But he completely represented everything about the show. He was and is the show’s “franchise”. But, if there was a “real” Crypt Keeper – a kind of Ground Zero for everything Tales From The Crypt – it was EC COMICS publisher WILLIAM M. GAINES (Bill Gaines – who also created MAD MAGAZINE).

In creating the Crypt Keeper (he only exists in the show; he appears nowhere in the EC comic books), what we were really trying to capture was the very essence of Bill Gaines himself.

MAD & EC COMICS

I grew up a huge fan of Mad and the EC Comics that preceded it – like Tales From The Crypt.

Just reading Mad was like getting a Masters Class in comedy. At Mad, they celebrated Bill Gaines – the man they worked for – even as they made fun of him.

Now, while Bill Gaines didn’t write or draw anything himself, he was the writing and the artwork’s organizing principle.

It may not have flowed from him literally, but it flowed from him nonetheless.

EC and Mad both represented the world as Bill Gaines saw it.

Working For THAT Man

Back when I was huddled under the blankets with a stack of Tales From The Crypt comic books? It would have seemed a total impossibility that one day, I would write and produce the TV version of one of Bill Gaines’ creations.

It would have seemed an even bigger impossibility that I would get to meet him – and get his blessing for my TV version – as part of the bargain.

And yet, that happened.

With one or two exceptions, I have never been a starfucker. God, I don’t care about stars. But Bill Gaines was one of those exceptions.

Meeting him – and I say this as a devout atheist – was like meeting God. And it definitely lived up to the moment.

Yeah – Bill Gaines inspired me.

Wanna color outside the lines? Go ahead!

Wanna point at the emperor and the fact that he’s not wearing any clothes? Point away – and make sure to laugh extra loud at the emperor’s microscopic schween.

What, me worry?

No, Alfred E – I ain’t worrying. Cos you ain’t worrying.