Brian VanHooker
Brian VanHooker is a New York-based writer specializing in comedy, pop culture, food (especially pizza) and long-form oral histories. He is the Senior Staff Writer at CRACKED and was a staff writer at MEL Magazine. He has written for Inside Hook, Inverse, Maxim, Men's Health and more. He's the co-creator of the comic book/cartoon series 'Barnum & Elwood' and 'The Tramp,' an award-winning comedy pilot starring John O'Hurley. He also hosts a TMNT interview podcast called Turtle Tracks and was once called a "Good Guy" by Mr. T.
An Oral History of The Odd Couple’s Classic Scrooge Parody
Veteran TV writer Ron Friedman recalls how he came up with ‘Scrooge Wins an Oscar,’ one of the first ‘A Christmas Carol’ spoofs ever on TV
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- By Brian VanHooker
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Every ‘South Park’ Christmas Character, Ranked
Will a singing piece of poo beat out the son of God? Probably
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- By Brian VanHooker
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The Screenwriter of ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’ Shares the Inside Story of Robin Williams’ First Dramatic Hit
On the film’s 35th anniversary, Mitch Markowitz tells us what it was like to work with the comic legend in a not-so-comic role, how none of it would have happened without Norman Lear and the lasting image from the experience that he’s never been able to shake
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- By Brian VanHooker
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The 10 Best ‘Simpsons’ Episodes Since You Stopped Watching
The law of averages says that at least a few of the seemingly never-ending stream of new installments have to be good
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- By Brian VanHooker
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Farley on Film: The Directors of Chris Farley’s Movies Share Their Favorite Behind-the-Scenes Tales
On the 25th anniversary of the legendary funnyman’s death, those behind the camera on ‘Tommy Boy,’ ‘Black Sheep’ and ‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ — as well as Farley’s brother — recall the scenes they can never stop laughing about
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- By Brian VanHooker
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The 10 Best ‘King of the Hill’ Guest Stars
Brad Pitt? Willie Nelson? Chris Rock? Whose trip to Arlen, Texas was the greatest of them all?
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- By Brian VanHooker
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The 10 Worst ‘Seinfeld’ Episodes That Aren’t ‘The Puerto Rican Day’
Even our panel of ‘Seinfeld’ superfans will tell you that they weren’t all masterpieces
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- By Brian VanHooker
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NARF! An Oral History of ‘A Pinky and the Brain Christmas’
The show’s creator Tom Ruegger, writer Peter Hastings and the voices of Pinky and the Brain themselves reflect on the making of an Emmy-winning Christmas classic
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- By Brian VanHooker
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Is the Actual Santa Clause in ‘The Santa Clause’ Legally Binding?
We asked a legal expert how Tim Allen’s character might get out of his ho-ho-horrible situation
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- By Brian VanHooker
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I Was the Masturbating Bear on ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’
Longtime Coco writer Michael Gordon shares his war stories from behind the diaper
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- By Brian VanHooker
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I’m the Last of the Kenosha Kickers from ‘Home Alone’
Eddie Korosa Jr. tells us about helping John Candy ad-lib Polish phrases and shares what it’s like to be the real Polka King of the Midwest
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- By Brian VanHooker
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‘South Park’: Meet the Teen Who Went Viral for Turning Her Bedroom into a Shrine to Randy Marsh
She’s also declared him her husband. So that’s Mrs. Marsh to you, thank you very much
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- By Brian VanHooker
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I Supplied the Coke, Guns and Cash for ‘Scarface’
Legendary prop master John Zemansky tells us how he secured enough blow for a herd of elephants and enough weaponry for a small army while working on the 1983 classic.
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- By Brian VanHooker
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Is Daniel Craig Just Doing a Foghorn Leghorn Impersonation in the ‘Knives Out’ Movies?: An Investigation
His Benoit Blanc might sound like a giant cartoon rooster — and share the last name of the man who originally voiced that giant cartoon rooster — but does that make that giant cartoon rooster his actual inspiration?
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- By Brian VanHooker
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‘Bob’s Burgers’: An Oral History of How the Annual Tradition of Ruining Bob’s Thanksgiving Began
Bob Belcher’s turkey day first went off the rails in 2012’s ‘An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal,’ a holiday horror that the show’s writers, creator and stars remember here — and have gleefully repeated every year since
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- By Brian VanHooker
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All Eight — Yes, Eight — of the ‘A Christmas Story’ Sequels, Ranked
Unfortunately, HBO Max’s new ‘A Christmas Story Christmas’ is just the tip of the Parker family iceberg
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- By Brian VanHooker
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‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’: A Very Classy Oral History of ‘Who Pooped the Bed?’
In it, Danny DeVito proved that Frank’s debauchery was second-to-none among this incredibly debauched crew — even if it required plenty of number twos in the process
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- By Brian VanHooker
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A Faithful Recounting of the ‘Planes, Trains & Automobiles’ Infidelity Storyline That Was Left on the Cutting Room Floor
Actress Laila Robins, Steven Martin’s wife in the Thanksgiving classic, tells us how her character was originally supposed to be worried that Martin was with another woman, not John Candy
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- By Brian VanHooker
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Unky Herb: An Oral History of Homer Simpson’s Long Lost Brother
The behind-the-scenes story of Herb Powell, Danny DeVito’s classic character from ‘The Simpsons,’ as told by writers Al Jean and Jeff Martin, and director Wes Archer
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- By Brian VanHooker
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I Took a Cardboard Cutout of Danny DeVito to Prom
No date? No worries for 18-year-old Allison Closs, who back in 2018 went viral for bringing a two-dimensional version of the diminutive actor to her high school’s biggest social event of the year
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- By Brian VanHooker
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