We had the good fortune of connecting with The Mocky Horror Picture Show With Liz Barksdale, Danny Gallagher and Albie Robles and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi The Mocky Horror Picture Show, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Danny – Liz and I are big Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans and we met while doing comedy. We always wanted to do a movie riffing show but no one really seemed interested in even exploring the idea or even doing the writing, which is the most fun part. So one day, we just decided if we wanted to do a movie riffing show, we’d have to make it happen. So we starting riffing on random movies together and developed a rhythm. Then I had this idea in my back pocket about applying the “Rocky Horror” experience to other movies in a theater called “Mocky Horror.” Movie riffing fit perfectly with a “Rocky Horror” style show and thus became “The Mocky Horror Picture Show.”

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The Mocky Horror Picture Show is Dallas’ only live, interactive, movie mocking comedy show. We (Liz Barksdale, Danny Gallagher and Albie Robles) write jokes and screen movies on a real movie theater screen with a live audience. We crack jokes during the movie on microphones and we write jokes for the audience as well. Prompts appear on the screen telling them to say or do something with a prop. Then we time it down to the precise moment where the joke works for maximum comedic effect. So it’s a cross between “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and a live “Rocky Horror Picture Show” screening (hence our name). We’ve done “public mockeries” for movies like Reefer Madness, Mac & Me, a really bad 1990 version of Captain America and the first Super Mario Bros. movie that opened with a special cameo greeting from the great Mojo Nixon and even had a collector who owns props used in the film.

We’ve also been invited to perform a really cool concept film festival on Oct. 29th at The Plaza theater in Garland called the It Came From Texas Film Fest featuring cheesy and classic horror movies made in Texas. We’re closing the festival with a riff of The Giant Gila Monster. Tickets are available at https://www.prekindle.com/calendar/itcamefromtexasfilmfest.

Liz and I (Danny) met doing improv comedy at the Dallas Comedy House and The Comedy Arena. We both love Mystery Science Theater 3000 and both went to UT-Austin when the Mister Sinus Theater 3000 show (now known as Master Pancake Theater) ran at the first Alamo Drafthouse. We’re also huge movie buffs so naturally we wanted to do a movie riffing show more than anyone we knew. So one day, we just decided let’s do one. It took a whole year to learn how to write up a script for a movie and we could only use public domain films because copyright and screening rights are a minefield to navigate.

It was decidedly NOT easy. Heh. The first test show went wrong in so many ways that it would take too long to list but we pressed on because we genuinely loved working together and writing jokes and sketches for these shows. As long as we could still make each other laugh, we kept working at it and got better and better with each new show. We discovered Albie after our first show at the Texas Theatre just over a year ago and he’s been with us ever since and we’re so lucky that we get to be friends and work together on something as fun and freeing as this. It’s taken us to places we never thought we’d go. We’ve performed for huge audiences and discovered fans of movies we never thought would have any and met some amazing people who actually make some of these crazy films. I actually got to help write an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 during its 13th season!

We just want everyone to know how fun these shows are to do even when things get frustrating and that feeling bleeds into our shows, which we believe is what makes it work. We also live and work in an amazing, active and talented arts community filled with some of the most creative people on the planet. We want Mocky Horror to be a thing not just for ourselves but for Dallas.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The Texas Theatre, of course, is a gem and we’re not just saying that because that’s where we perform. They know how to get amazing stuff and it’s a historic place. It’s rare to have a movie theater of this caliber in any city of any size.

The Dallas comedy community is also massive and filled with talented, funny and genuinely nice people. It rivals New York and Los Angeles and the people performing on stages aren’t just touring comics. Places like the Dallas Comedy Club, Stomping Ground, both Improvs and Hyena’s clubs, Four Day Weekend and Back Door Comedy Club have people from Dallas who have built a comedy community because they are so dedicated and live to perform for an audience. We’re already seeing some comics who are moving into mainstream channels and it’s only going to get better. We’re extremely lucky to be in Dallas right now.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We definitely would not be where we are without the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff. Barak Epstein has been extremely generous and trusting us by getting us the movies we riff on and letting us play around in his theater. It’s an amazing place to do these shows and we wouldn’t be where we are without him. Chad Pierce runs the projection for our films but that’s just the tip of the iceberg for what he does for us and the theater. He helps us set up, puts out our posters in the lobby and the letterboxes and probably a million other things that we don’t see him do just on our show dates. Everyone at the Texas Theatre is very dedicated to keeping the place running and filled with great movies and make it look so easy. There aren’t enough drinks in the world to buy them rounds to pay them back for the stuff they do for us but we’re gonna try.

We also wouldn’t be where we are without the help of other venues that gave us a shot and let us do our shows in their space. We started at Pocket Sandwich Theatre five years ago and they always helped us bring in a good crowd. Then we went to Stomping Ground Comedy Theatre who let us do what we wanted to do and never once questioned our vision. We and Dallas are so lucky to have them in our collective backyard.

Website: www.mockyhorror.com

Instagram: instagram.com/themockyhorrorpictureshow

Twitter: @mockyshow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMockyHorrorPictureShow/

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@mockyhorrorpictureshow?lang=en

Image Credits
Halo Parr (for the very last one)

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