Much like his tenure on Star Trek Strange New Worlds, Bruce Horak is BACK! The artist formerly known as Hemmer has returned, maggots and all, to the Open Pike Night Stage to have a chat with John, Cam, and Jesse about Season 2 of SNW, Traveling shows, paintings, dogs, goblins, and why he loves prosthetics so much.
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This is Bruce ORAC and you're listening to open pipe night the podcast that will make your blood scream
John T Bolds:this thing on hello hello welcome to open bike night the strange new worlds podcast where your personal logs are the prime directive. I'm your host John T bolds. here tonight with my co hosts and an amazing guests returning to the open Fight Night stage. But unlike Star Trek, strange new worlds, we don't make him get dressed up as different species each time he reappears. Joining me tonight are my co hosts. First up the man who has the answer but much like a cadet can't always show his work. Jesse Bailey, hey, the results are what matter and I just want to say to every teacher I ever had growing up. I do have a calculator on me at all times. And the man who breaks what is fine fixes what no one asked for. And always blast the Kpop host of green shirt newbies trek for the next generation, Cameron all
Cameron:yeah, I've got three purposes.
John T Bolds:Our guest tonight is an artist and creator of fan favorite is the grumpiest member of Starfleet a guard cog to make our heartthrob a fantastic guy all around. Bruce horror act. Welcome back to open pike night.
Bruce Horak:Hey, nice to be back. Thanks for having me.
John T Bolds:Oh, it's great to have you back. What's been since December of 2022. Since we talked to you last night. I mean, we we saw you in Vegas last year in person. But last time we sat down. And when we did sit down with you, we asked you a little question that you couldn't answer that a time. Let's let's listen to a clip from that previous interview.
Jesse:Going into season one, you know, hammer isn't gonna make it. But it did allow you to cross some things off of your Star Trek bucket list. I believe it was your phrasing. And we now have, as you have said, reason to believe that your time and trek is not over. This will be my last question on the subject. Have you crossed anything else off of your bucket list?
John T Bolds:No hesitation on that.
Cameron:You answered that very quickly. No, none.
Bruce Horak:None.
Cameron:So now that we've seen season two, what were you referring to
Bruce Horak:going on now? Laying on your shelf that is just like that is right up there. And, you know, the makeup the whole experience. And I got I got to sing. I got to sing two versions of the same song. I got to like sit as the captain of a clean on vertebrae. You know, just the armor. The whole thing it was is a dream come true.
Unknown:Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, that
Cameron:leads us right into that. So you you knew last time we talked, you knew that you were going to be in season two, because you'd already filmed season two. But how did that come about? When you wrapped season one? Did they say like, Hey, we've got plans? Or did you get a call later? Did you learn about one and then think you were done and didn't get the call about gar cog? Or how did it go? How did it go down?
Bruce Horak:Oh, gosh, I have to jog my memory. It does feel like a while now. But it was after the wrap of season one. But there was there was some buzz in the makeup trailer. That there might be something coming down the pike. Oops. But does anyone else use that? Oh, yeah. No. And then it was yeah, that that there was going to be a couple of episodes a few days in season two. And what I was doing and kind of the involvement of a trickled out over the over the course of the time before before it led up but yeah, then the musical and then I found out Gosh, it must have been like a month and a half or something before we shot that episode that I would be a singing Klingon. And yeah, I got to go in and do some rehearsals and yeah, the whole experience it was pretty spectacular and also you know getting to come back as a as a zombie. That was pretty great. Did
Cameron:one other writers like learn that you're an Evil Dead The musical when they offered you those two because I mean, Evil Dead The musical set you up perfectly for season two strangely worlds. Yeah,
Bruce Horak:right. It really did. It's it was like it was like It was meant to be, I don't believe so. That wasn't even a conversation that I even considered, I think until I got on the podcast with you all and we got talking about Evil Dead. Which has something in my in my distant history, but it was super sweet to actually get to do zombie and then get to get to kick it up with I don't think they actually captured any of the high kicks that I did, but that was just between the trailer and set.
Cameron:And did they just offer you guard dog? Or did you have to audition?
Bruce Horak:No, that was just a straight up offer. Wow, that's correct. It was it really was and I think there was when I the day that I went in to record the tracks on technology. Yeah, was saying that like they wrote these things and didn't really know like the voices that we're going to be singing them and just felt like with every every performer that came in and sang he's like, Oh my God, what they got so lucky. They got so blessed and and the day that I got to spend in the studio belt and that stuff out it just felt like oh, I yeah, it felt like just totally my comfort zone.
John T Bolds:Did you get to actually meet with him ahead of time or was it was it just the first time you worked with Tom and Kay was that
Bruce Horak:was it that the recording day and I think it was just Tom in the studio Tom and Bill I had one day before that where I ran through the songs with the with the voice coach in a trailer on set, I think I'd had like a little makeup test and then I was like an hour and a half with the voice coach just to run through and I had gotten the the demo tracks before that just to rehearse on my own. I'm like, Well, you know, I can do this. It's top end of my range. And then the click on opera one I'm like, only I can I can definitely kind of land that one in the pocket. And we worked for an hour and a half for two hours in in a trailer and I just felt so good and confident that going into the studio and recording with Tom. It just felt Yeah, it just felt really good. Really right. I was just gonna
Jesse:say that leads perfectly into our caller Melanie's question,
Bruce Horak:Melanie.
Unknown:Hi, I'm Frank Knight. And Hi, Bruce. This is Melanie from Germany, as many fans have already told you, I also love to hammer and was sad to see him go. I also loved us, of course mentor and showing her that she belonged in the end. And I'm for sure I'm not the first one to tell you that as well. But while you achieve being blind and acting a painting, and I don't know what else well, it's just amazing. I'm so glad to saw you're in subspace Rhapsody again, and I hope to see you in more strange new worlds episodes. So my question is about your return in a second season. What was it like to return to the cast? Could you finally hang out more? As far as I know, that wasn't possible during the first season certainly to to come in? And what was it like to be in Star Trek first musical episode and play a singer Klingon? What did you prefer the Kpop or Klingon opera version? I admit, I love the Kpop version a lot. Thanks for everything and live long and prosper.
Bruce Horak:Well, thanks, Melanie. That's very kind words. What was it like to be back? It was so great. It was it was certainly emotional. I really did. I think when that first season wrapped, I felt like I had, you know, left everything on the court and had done what I had been hired to do. And you know, in a lot of ways it was Yeah, scratch stuff off the bucket list, as we said before, and I thought you know, my my adventure in space was going to be done and and felt good about it that I didn't feel like I had left anything unresolved. So getting to come back and do stuff in season two is like icing on the cake. A really, really sweet cake. Yeah, one of my fond fond memories, actually is when I saw the announcement of who was coming in as the replacement engineer. And then it was Carol Kane. Yeah, I just I shed a little tear of joy because she's a freaking rock star. Amazing. And I thought well if you got to go like please but Carol came like that's a bit of all right. And yeah, I got to meet her on set when when I was shooting. This is probably false memory syndrome, but I seem to think I was a zombie hammer sitting beside her off camera. Can't be true. Maybe it will. I don't know. I think we did all that in one day where I was zombie hammer in the lift and then I was regular hammer in the flashback or whatever and Carol was shooting some of her stuff that day as well. So getting to meet you know, I get real Fanny tongue tie I am uncomfortable around around people that I, you know, that I've seen on screen. I am like that I get into that bit of a fan zone where I've watched somebody on screen a million times. So when I sit next to them, it's like, I know you, but I don't really. You're and she's just yeah, she was just so lovely and down to earth. And yeah, just meeting, meeting the season to cast and last couple of days that I was in it just felt. Yeah, it just felt really nice to Nice to reconnect with everyone. And then last last summer in Las Vegas getting to see everyone there again. They say it in the you know, it's probably become a cliche now, but there's a real family vibe to this whole Star Trek thing you may have picked up on that. Just by really is. There really is a family vibe. And I feel Yeah, super honored to be a part of it. Now I'm gonna cry. Thanks. Thanks, Melanie.
John T Bolds:And as far as the Kpop versus the opera, do you have your Sophie's
Cameron:Choice?
Unknown:Oh,
Bruce Horak:hammers choice? Gosh, I don't know. The opera bit sunk in. I think a little deeper thing was the first one I started to learn. Because I honestly thought there's no way that I'm going to be able to hit the notes in that Kpop thing. But then in the studio was like, oh, okay, like, adrenaline rushing on the day. And yeah, I mean, that was just super fun to dance to. Want to hear the whole version of that. Right,
John T Bolds:right. Oh, we
Jesse:all do. Yeah, that was a pretty common requests. After that episode aired. People were like, they'd probably made an opera version, though. Right. And then we found out they did it is the cut of it is on the special features for season two.
Bruce Horak:Are you shooting blu ray?
Cameron:Oh, yeah, we see. Oh, no
Bruce Horak:way.
Jesse:Yeah. It was like the first thing we all loaded up. We're like, Okay, we got to see this. And I love the opera. But like, just for the flow, I think. I think the Kpop totally works.
Bruce Horak:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, immediately like the it's a nice button.
Cameron:I think if you watch just the musical clip, I actually liked the opera better. But the flow from the bridge and their reaction. It's gotten in Kpop.
Bruce Horak:Well, it's funny, like, just the, the awkward pause after the song, and then like, boom, and then the door opens. And we're back into that number like that. I hate to hesitate to call it like a type of joke, but it is like it's a visual joke that we're all very familiar with. And that that style is like just it sits in, in my world. And I know that my brother, Steve, Hey, Steve, my older brother, Steve, who you know, is an engineer. He and my sister in law and their kids watched that episode. And they didn't know it was me. And they watched that scene like two or three times. And Steve said that was the funniest. We had to pause it. We had to go back. Oh my god, singing Klingons and then when they got to the end, they saw Oh, like that was my brother. Okay, first of all, awesome. Second of all, prosthetics crew like thumbs. Because you buried me and that's amazing, man. If I can fool my brother. Yeah,
Jesse:yeah. And talk about like, just a truly unique legacy in the world of Star Trek, Bruce. Like, you got to be the guy that Spock rips off. It had to go all the way to Carol Kane to replace you. And you're seeing clinging on like, Come on, man. Nobody else can claim these things. This is amazing. Absolutely.
Bruce Horak:Right. You're absolutely right. Let's sing in Klingon.
John T Bolds:That's fantastic. We have no call here. Another question about the musical and some other parts of season two here is Newman.
Unknown:Hi, oh
Newman:opened pike nine noon in the space. He'd be here from the movies for days podcast. So excited that I get to send in some love and flowers and a couple of silly questions for the great Bruce Horik, who played one of my absolute favorite characters in the first season in hammer, I'm sure you get this all the time. That fine line of crotchety but with the heart of gold. That's not the easiest line to walk. I think as an actor, and especially with all of the change in development we saw from this character over just 10 episodes, I just want to really commend your work. And just personally where I was in my life and what I was working toward when I saw the episode where Him and who were I got super close. It really got to me in a very deep and meaningful way. When you told her you create bonds, it's a gift. Of course the people you care about are going to cause you pain. It will hurt but the love it yields will far outweigh the sorrow, bro. God damn How dare you Two very quick questions for you if you could have been in the musical episode what kind of a song would you like hammer to sing? So I'm curious what's hammer or hammer in his team in engineering what are they singing? And if you could have appeared at the trial for una Qin Riley what might hemmer have said in her defense. All right. Much love to the whole open pike night crew keep rockin and rollin you beautiful Bruce Newman, the space it'd be out.
Bruce Horak:Oh, wow, Newman, thanks for those. Wow, okay, who if Hammer was actually in the musical episode and what he what are he in the crews sing and it's funny, like, I just I just watched that episode. And it's so good, that there isn't a number that's missing from that show, really. But at least I feel like in in terms of like, okay, here are the musical staples that you need, in the in, you know, a musical episode. And then like the sort of work Work, Work work work song is the only number I'm thinking of like, the pan through every single part of the ship. And then you know, we get go from like, the lower decks to like the guys moving cargo to like, here's the engineering. And that's how the whole ship works. But we kind of have that in, you know in hurrahs, keep us connected. And then that final closing number, which is about how everyone's working together, I just just would have loved at some point to see, you know, who are watching like a little hammer on her pad, and then hammer from the past is done, he just kind of turns in and does like a couple of words or something just in a number. It's like what it messes with the timeline. And it's like, Wait a minute. Now the space, the fold has actually gone back in time to like, anyway, it would really cause more questions than then then is really worth the joke. But yeah, I know, a musical number about red shirts. Yeah, just to go with that fantastic novel. I just finished reading. He goes red and red shirts.
John T Bolds:I need to know.
Bruce Horak:Well, this is a side plug but Edina Manyana got me on to listen to Wil Wheaton reading a book called red shirts. And you know takes place in kind of a fictional sci fi universe and it's all the anyway sidebar. What were we talking about? Oh right. The question that hammer or the piece what would he say it was trial and really I think it's just about you know that differences are what makes us all stronger and hemmer as an alien as an outsider. I think is felt that as experienced that and if you're an augment or whatever you are if you're if you're bringing the your peace of passion to the collective good. Then it's up to Starfleet to accept that.
Unknown:I love that.
Cameron:I would just like to pitch him or singing like a Tom Waits style.
Bruce Horak:Ballo, ya know, it's been drinking.
John T Bolds:Man, it's just only about it's so dang warm on this ship. Can we please turn AC down?
Bruce Horak:He's got a whole number called turn it down.
Jesse:We will happily write that and send it to you.
Bruce Horak:It's a bedtime number with hammer.
Jesse:So you had a little bit of a relationship with Star Trek before you got to strange new worlds. Were there any Klingons that you looked to maybe a favorite cling on in the Star Trek? oeuvre to get some inspiration for gar cog or was he just all
Bruce Horak:you? Oh, well, Christopher Plummer's and he's quoting Shakespeare the whole time and he has an eyepatch as well. Over the other eye. That was certainly part of it. I dug deep into some Michael Dorn a little war faction Oh, which is the one where Kirk and bones are in prison. That's
John T Bolds:that's the same with general Chang with with Christopher Plummer as Star Trek six Yankee.
Bruce Horak:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that that kind of that kind of vibe for guard cog. Although it was pretty, I mean, I don't even know like if if all these stories are covered by my NDA, but
Cameron:that's the best introduction to a story you can give.
Bruce Horak:So I went in to the My, my prosthetic fitting the day before we were to shoot. And so they were gonna put me in the prosthetics and put me in front of the camera and see how it looks and then shoot the scene the next day. And as I'm getting like in the vehicle on the way to set I get a panicked message from one of the prosthetics guys saying just Quick question, which is your artificial eye? And I wrote back and so it was my right one. And then it was like, Okay, great. Thanks. And then I didn't hear anything. And then when I finally showed up at the set, they're like, Okay, so there's been a mistake. And they had put the eyepatch over my, my one good eye. They put it on the wrong side. So they're like, how would you feel about just shooting, shooting that like, shoot, shoot a blind. And you know, there was a little discussion around that as like, as we really wouldn't be fair to just like, take this guy who's got 9% vision, and then just take that all away, if we can possibly manage it. So they cut the eyepatch out of the one side and flip. Basically, he read that Chris bridgers, who's the head prosthetic stayed up all night and basically cut the whole thing apart and re pasted it and rebuilt this cling on face. The day that we had. It's incredible, like, and I look at that, that's kind of why I was again going back just as I'm totally in awe of the prosthetics on this show. Like I don't know if you guys have been seen watching discovery, but the stuff that's shown Yeah. Like, what doesn't lock oh my god, anyway, like all love to the prosthetics guys, but that was, that was a lot of fun. And then so got into the full clicking on makeup on the day and, like went out and you know, wearing the armor and met the dancers and like just having a great time, they put me in the chair and got the camera on me to do my first, you know, this general Garco the Imperial whatever scene and did my first take of it and, like full like went for it like, like Christopher Plummer just like a shoe in the scenery. And Chris Bridgers who was shooting that or was directing it that day? Just one? Yeah, maybe just
Cameron:got to start somewhere. Like
Unknown:that. That's, that's something I could do. It's much harder to turn things up. And it's to turn the bit. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun to get to play honestly, that they're just they're kind of absurd. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know, if you if we can use any of that. It sounds like I'm throwing somebody under? Oh, no,
John T Bolds:I think I think it's a great story. I mean, it's just fun to learn more about it. Well,
Bruce Horak:honestly, they're what those what those I mean, I had such a intimate experience at the prosthetics trailer, because I mean, there was a lot of days when those guys and you know, shooting in the pandemic, and the lock downs and everything. I mean, we're all social creatures. And got that was the time I got to spend kind of out of my house finally, in physical presence with other people. And yeah, it was, it was really, it was a really, really lovely experience. And they're truly gifted artists. Like, I've done a little painting. I've done a little airbrushing. These people are like, absolutely top of their game with the way they built that and the fact that Chris Bridgers was able to go from one day where I've got a photo of myself with the kind of half cut open, cling on dark hog face that we used for the camera test. And what it went from that day to the next day is amazing. And those things are, you know, they're built to, to be very malleable to the face, they don't last forever. So generally, at the end of a shooting day, they end up in the trash, because they're just falling apart. So that he was able to take that and work the wizardry that they just think,
Unknown:gee, there must be some sort of award.
Jesse:I gotta be I have to agree with you personally, that they need to be nominated for and win that award. Because going into season two, there was a bar and an expectation for Klingons. Because, I mean, you may have heard the Klingons in discovery were not initially universally well received. I loved them, right. I'm like, they're aliens get over it. They look like aliens. But yeah, to really nail that look that people just know in their heart what they want to see on screen. I mean, it is it's a kind of magic. And actually one of the people that we met in Star Trek Las Vegas, waiting in line to see you Bruce was our friend Aaron. And he ended up getting click on prosthetics from a vendor there and he wore it like the whole third day of Las Vegas and it was just like, you just walked up today fully cleaned out like oh, hey, yeah, look great. It's like that's the guy from the Bruce lasted
Bruce Horak:Are we? That's so so great. Well, the I was in Vulcan Alberta last year for Vulcan. Yes. And it was the week before Las Vegas. So I don't know if you remember but the the musical episode got released, I think the week never eaten last year. So it hadn't been out yet when we were in Vulcan, and also, the strike was happening. And however, in Vulcan, Alberta, which is like, Canada's home with Star Trek, and there's a museum and the ship and there's a parade and all the streetlights and downtown at our little starship enterprises, and they have this incredible like, Nemo, he's been there. And anyway, it's it's a really incredible Star Trek convention. And the contingent of people who dress up as Klingons there is like 90% There's a whole there's there's a group that comes in from from Edmonton, like three hours away, and they camp around the small town, and got photos taken with the with the clean on prosthetics, and some of them, some of them are amazing. And then some of them are just hilarious. Don't take themselves too seriously at all. And speaking of family vibes, like every one, they I think they sell out at 1200 tickets like that. They don't have enough room for any more than 1200 people. And every hotel in that town in the three towns around it are totally full. And it everyone knows each other. It's like walking into chairs. It's the vibe of that place. I don't know how we got on that. Oh, Klingons. And yeah, being surrounded by things. There was a moment where I wanted so badly to tell this group of planes. I'm one of you. Oh, yeah, I'm one of you now, but but it was too soon. They hadn't by a week. Man. I missed it.
Cameron:Playing on royalty and didn't even know it.
Jesse:That's rough.
Bruce Horak:I want to see general Gurkha spin off bright tech.
John T Bolds:Yes. He went somewhere after that event. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Like if Picard can have one. gartcosh Yeah. Right.
Cameron:So what what makeup takes the longest himer Zombie hammer, or gar cog?
Bruce Horak:Oh, I believe it was regular hammer actually, because the zombie hammer wasn't as many pieces. I think that like the, as I recall was zombie hammer. Yeah, I don't think there was as many pieces although the costume did take a while because they have to keep going it up with all the gore that's flowing out of hammers chest. And Bernadette Croft, who was the wardrobe of the head of wardrobe there and the designer snuck in some maggots into the goo that was coming out of hammer. She based maggots if you
Jesse:mentioned those clothes. Yeah, she was super excited about this. Yeah. Yeah, those were practical. Those were actual maggots.
Bruce Horak:Yeah, there's maggots in there. Oh,
Cameron:they're not living not real. No, but
Bruce Horak:they're not living. Space maggots. Yeah.
Cameron:I think we should just let Jesse believe that.
Bruce Horak:No, yeah.
Cameron:So speaking of zombie hammer, like, Yeah, how did you get into character? Were there conversations about how zombie like what level of zombie you would go or?
Bruce Horak:Oh, yeah. Dan Lew, who's the director and worked on Walking Dead. Had a lot of great insight into being zombies. Less comedy.
Unknown:Yeah,
Bruce Horak:then I was going for. But I had done Evil Dead. So I was ready to like, you know, just this side of thriller it up. But yeah, it was much slower than I think my initial impulse was because it's you know, he's threatening you hoorah. But, but as Dan said, it's like, the slower and more specific you are in your movement, the scarier it is, instead of like, just kind of coming and doing like the 28 days later zombie, although those ones are pretty terrifying to get in their own way. So that was yeah, that was the big lesson is slow and precise.
John T Bolds:Besides the zombie episode, you also worked on some of the very short tracks you worked on holiday party and holograms all the way down. What was the what was the acting experience like for those?
Bruce Horak:No acting required? Wow. Oh, Casper, the writer director is a Casper.
John T Bolds:Yeah, Casper.
Bruce Horak:Oh gosh,
John T Bolds:Casper.
Bruce Horak:Yeah, yeah, I've worked on probably about 10 years ago, there was a YouTube thing going around called too many cooks because remember, that's That's right. Yeah, so and when that came out, I thought that was The funniest thing I've ever seen, and it was an ear worm that stuck with me for like, months. And so on the, you know, they picked me up to go and record these things. And that's when I got the I had a bit of the script beforehand, but I got the information that Casper Kelly was working on. And you know, when he showed up on the big zoom screen again, I'm a fan and immediately got tongue tied, as I do in my my fandom. Yeah, then super playful. I've never really done specifically voiceover animation work before. A big dream of mine. You know, ever since I was in high school, people said, oh, you should do voiceover you got a real face for it. No, stop. But no, it's it is it's a dream of mine to do that. So to get to go in and voice hammer in one of those animated things. And the fact that it's in the style of the old animated series. Yeah. just cracks me up. Because I do remember that show, like Saturday morning cartoons growing up. And that that, and it was always the show that I would turn off and say,
John T Bolds:Oh, no.
Bruce Horak:on Star Trek, The Animated Series was on. It was it was time to turn the TV off and go outside. Geez. So it's very fractured memories of like, Oh, I remember this kind of style of animation. But I'd never watched an episode all the way through. And when they said oh, we're doing it in the in the style of the original series. I went back and started watching them and they're just awesome. They're just so fun. Like in a really kitschy, horrible way. Yeah, I just thought, wow, they they captured.
Unknown:They captured that style.
Bruce Horak:Not necessarily in the humor. I mean, it's more Casper Kelly's humor, but Right. Yeah, yeah. How's that? The
Jesse:Star Trek? The Animated Series definitely uses the word animated pretty liberally in its title. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I mean, same thing, man. I went back and watched all of them. And it's, I mean, it's Star trek all the way through, you know, just kind of like holograms all the way down. Yeah. So you mentioned before we started that you had recorded an audio book is that does that mean that voice acting is something you're going to be looking into doing more of? Definitely,
Bruce Horak:definitely want to be doing more voice stuff? Yes, I just recorded my first full length audio book, Adina Manyana, who reached out to me after truck Long Island last year. She works on the big sci fi podcast and she's an engineer and an author and has written five books for kids now. A robot series called and I read the first one in the Robot series is called crazy foolish robots. And are sorry, I listened to the audiobook of that. And then Adina reached out to me and asked if I would do the audio of her latest book, which is called lunar logic. And it's fantastic. It's it's about a group of robots that live on the moon. And they kind of get into an existential crisis when they try to figure out who created them and what they're doing there. It's really clever, it's, it's got, like, kind of the heart being science, science fiction, but also like this really beautiful story to it. Adina is also like an engineer and put stuff into outer space as her regular job. So the engineering aspect of it in the in the robots and the AI, all that stuff. I mean, she's kind of living and breathing in that environment now, so and I think it really informs the writing of it. I also love that she wrote this thing as part of a nano Remo project. Oh, wow, nano Remo is National Novel Writing Month happens in November. And basically, you have the objective of writing 50,000 words in 30 days, or maybe it's more than 50,000 But anyway, so she took the month of November wrote the first draft of it and what she's gotten now is great, just published it. And yeah, I spent the month of March and part of April recording the audio book set up in my closet as you do, because it's the best sound in the house. And yeah, just sat and read and I love it. i It's reading out loud is one of my favorite things to do. At because I'm visually impaired, I don't drive. And when I go on really long road trips, I will read out loud to the driver a book of their choosing. And I've been doing that for a number of years as I guess my way of saying thanks for driving. And I've read out loud so many wonderful books things that no I might not have picked up of my own volition, but I love it. I love reading out loud and had a good time with it. A really good time.
Jesse:That is excellent to hear. And you know LeVar Burton reads is coming to an end sadly. So I feel like there's an open niche for Star Trek engineer reading books on a podcast just throwing it out there man.
Bruce Horak:Honestly, I'm going to take you up on that, because I've actually thought about that for the last, like thinking about the last month or so is really just I enjoy just picking up a book and reading it out loud. I read her book through twice before I recorded it. But I've often just picked something up and read it out loud and, and kind of go on with it. And I feel like it's a service that a lot of people would really appreciate. Because there is a lot of content out there that listening to an AI voice read to you. It's funny, I don't know if you guys use use that like voiceover stuff and having it read to you. But as an experiment about 10 years ago, I set up voice activation on all of my devices. So I was constantly in conversation with these AI voices. And I found myself out in the world speaking like that. Everything became very monotone. And I found myself speak like, Oh, my God, and I sort of snap out of it. I was living in Vancouver, so there was a lot to snap out of. But hey, now. But yeah, it's one of those things like it really doesn't kind of get under your skin, like who you're listening to. And so just sitting in the morning and reading things out loud for people. I feel like that might be part of my calling. So if levar stepping down, Put me in coach, I'm ready.
Jesse:Oh, yeah, it would be fantastic. You heard it here first folks.
Bruce Horak:That's happening. Send me your stuff to read about that said out
Cameron:loud and open mic night becomes reality to process.
Bruce Horak:Yeah, it's funny like that. That's it. I'll just to your note, like, because of Star Trek. You know, people, people have found me as fans and for someone who spent, you know, 25 years and in virtual obscurity, to have random people from around the world. Like we had what Melanie from Germany, and I don't know where the others are from. But yeah, and there's, there's a real community in the Star Trek thing. And I did get a request a couple of months ago, like, You should do a podcast, you should do a podcast and just have no idea what I would do. But now, you know, if I'm just reading stuff that people send me then I have the beginning, middle and an end. Hey, yeah, yeah, it's all sold.
John T Bolds:Well, we've got a couple a few questions from callers in what we're gonna call I guess the what if section of the podcast and we definitely understand that. There might be some what ifs that aren't unanswerable. We'll start with our friend David Jones wrote in hello to my friends at open pike. And to you, Bruce, Bruce, my question for you. If Star Trek ever did a what if series of episodes what character from any previous show? Would you want to play?
Cameron:What's left on that bucket list?
Bruce Horak:Oh, good question. Yeah. Speaking one of my favorite experiences on season one was, initially they were going to do a scene where hammer falls out the back of the ship and you see him fall. And so they put me into into rigging gear. And they had a couple of days in the stunt room where they flew me like two stories into the air. And that shot never really got used. And I don't think it gets used anywhere that we sort of see him fall, but we don't actually get like the camera shot of him falling away from it. Getting to fly was totally terrifying. And I really want to do it again. So what if it I just I just want to be a character that gets to do some flying? Because that was both terrifying and exhilarating.
Cameron:Spock has rocket boots. Yeah,
Bruce Horak:yeah. Spock is rocket boots. Yeah, the rocket boot episode. Sure. Spock so it's a flashback and hammerin Spock kind of Cadet days up they get into the cling on blood wine and they put on rocket boots and they have they have a race. I'm here for that. Oh man. On the next very short rocket boot race over a shark
Jesse:I understood that reference.
John T Bolds:All right, and we have another caller here. Here is so
Zo from Back Look Cinema:strange new worlds. This is the USS cinema. XO Richardson, Captain commanding. And I'm just cruising out here and Alpha Quadrant on my experimental warp drive. And I hear tell that you've been able to bring back Bruce hora. Bruce, dude, how you doing? I'm so excited to be able to get to talk to you. And I sincerely hope that I get to see you on the third season of strange new worlds. And I am of the idea that you should just come back as a human. And I know that there have been people who have made this exclamation before but I sincerely think that is the right move. What do you think about that? And how do you think that you would come back as a human? And would you be like a human and Starfleet? Like an another officer? Or would you be like a traitor? Or would you be a pirate? Do you see yourself as an antagonist or protagonists? What are we working with over here? Do you think you were like a visor like Geordi? That's probably too much visors? Probably too much. But I'm workshopping over here. I'm just, I'm just spitballing. But anyway, it's great to get to talk to you, Richardson.
Bruce Horak:Wow, those sound is so trippy in headphones. Yes.
Jesse:He's got high production value.
Bruce Horak:No kidding. Wow. That's, that's fantastic. Yeah, coming back as a human would be really great. It terrifies me. Mostly because my eyes on my eyes on camera are they're a bit wacky. And so, you know, going back to to theater, school and early days where I did some film and TV classes, and we looked, but we looked at it and the honest reaction, honest bit of advice from my, my teacher was like you, you're gonna have to address this because it is an abnormality. And you'll have to explain it by you know, the characters blind or visually impaired or whatever in hammers case, like he's under prosthetics. And in the clinic on case there's an eyepatch, and also some prosthetics there. The other role I've played on television, as a human as a blind doctor on a show called transplant, had one day on a show called in the dark, where I played the blind librarian. And again, that's answering for the eyes. In Star Trek, though, to have me on there. It's like the explanations could be vast, and that's exciting, the sidebar, but when I was getting fitted for contact lenses initially to play hammer, there was discussion at that time that they were going to make me in an artificial eye because I were an artificial eye, and they're like, oh, we'll just get you a new one. And we'll paint it the color that we need it to be. So you only work on one contact lens and your art and you'll have this artificial lie, which made me immediately go cool. And keeping that
John T Bolds:what are they gonna do with it in my head? Like yeah,
Bruce Horak:my Yeah, exactly. Oh, we'll give it to the next guy. No, they're like actually fitted for my socket. But they could build anything. Like they could build an artificial eye that that has an actual like, light in it. Or I've seen actually there's, there's a guy in the states who makes artificial eyes that you kind of wave at they've got a Bluetooth thing and then they can project like little images and things out of them. Oh, wow. We could do anything with that. It'd be super cool. Yeah, and then in terms of the character type, I mean, I like I really like playing villains. I spent the last year playing a lot of villains I played Macbeth, I played Oedipus Richard the third and the last year, so I seem to have a bit of a typecasting. So I've gone from horrible evil cling on to, you know, some of the worst murderers in history. You know what I want to play a love interest. And even Hey, there we go. Yeah.
Cameron:I've had a couple of romantic villains. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Bruce Horak:There it is.
Cameron:There's still music cast sidewalk, right.
Unknown:Oh,
Bruce Horak:they're bringing them to God who, right. They gotta.
Jesse:I mean, if they don't, I would almost, like just respect the level of trolling. Yeah. I feel like they gotta
John T Bolds:just never again one little hit. Yeah. Well, just
Bruce Horak:the back of them. That's it.
John T Bolds:On the heels of that, we have a similar question from our friend, Mark. Hi,
Engineer Mark:everyone, its engineer mark here. And welcome back to the show. Bruce Horak, happy to not only be a supporter of this show, but also a buddy of your adventures. And it's been fun with hemmer and then surprise goes Tamar, then the extra fun surprise of Kpop cling on dark hog core cog. You've talked of getting back on the show. Something I'd very much like to see. For my question, is there something you'd like to bring in a return to the Trek Universe one of the other myriad races something unique? I'd like to hear Thanks and we'll live long and prosper.
John T Bolds:So with you know, you playing different roles like you know, Jeffrey Combs has played how many different species he's played and Dorian human for ranky like all over the place, I think, trying to remember if he's played any other but Yeah, is there if you if you had a chance to just become in that same in that same small club with Vaughn Armstrong and Jeffrey Combs like, what
Bruce Horak:do you choose to illusion?
John T Bolds:Oh, yeah, that's a good show.
Bruce Horak:Like a renegade to illusion. The big green head space and I'll follow
Unknown:the whale probe.
Bruce Horak:I want to play the whale probe. Voyager but like a young feature
Jesse:starting there
John T Bolds:playing its records too loud. Yeah, no.
Bruce Horak:Just all the weird like, make some bad choices. Yeah, you know what I do love. I love the prosthetics and it's funny like thinking of playing that the human on Star Trek that I really do. I love prosthetics. I love the the mask work. I love the magic of seeing those things come to life. I think there's some some real artistry to that. And yeah, and also I did think in my, my youth think about getting into acting because I wanted to disappear into characters. And I think that's that still holds true. I really love. I love that my brother didn't know it was me. Like that. To me. That's that's such a talk about a bucket list thing. Yeah. And to transform in that way. And I think the prosthetic work is just, it's magic for that. More more awesome aliens. There's been such good ones.
John T Bolds:Bad you are nailing our questions. Our callers questions here. You sort of pre answered this one from our good friend Abby. But I think you're going to enjoy Oh,
Abby from First Flight:great. Hey, open pike. And Bruce, this is Abby, summer from the first flight podcast. So glad to have you back on again, Bruce. And I have to tell you that I have two young daughters and both of them. Anytime that you're clinging on part of subspace Rhapsody comes on, they stopped, they sing, they dance, they love it. I had to explain to one of my daughter's teachers while she was talking about making your blood scream on the playground, which just gives me a chuckle. And we were all good with it when it was done. But my question is, you've played a lot of characters with a lot of makeup and prosthetics and all that. Can you talk a little bit about how that both helps and hinders the process. And if you have any wishes, or hopes have a different type of alien species to play at some point, either on track or in the rest of the world. So thank you all for all that you do. hope this finds you. Well, and we'll talk soon.
Bruce Horak:Thank you. Thank you b for that. Yeah, I just I really do love the prosthetics. I'm
Cameron:curious that outside of Star Trek, what other space franchises would you like to embody?
Bruce Horak:Oh, yeah, yeah, space space franchises or fantasy room? I'm a huge fan of, of Terry Pratchett. Wow, who wrote the Discworld novels. And I know that there's been various attempts to, to film them. But I just think there's, there's such a breadth of material there. And I would love to get involved in, in performing the some of those amazing characters. You know, the trolls and the dwarves and whatnot. That will be awesome. He also wrote some, you know, outside of the Discworld stuff, he wrote a few kids books that I thought would be, there's one called the carpet people. I think about little people living in the carpet, which is got that Terry Pratchett polarity to it, but also a bit of like, oh, this is a metaphor for life. As you do Yeah. With the with the writing. I was also raised on the Oz books, l frame bombs, original books. And I'm just rereading. Now I read like three pages of a L Frank Baum book and it puts me to sleep like that. And I'm rereading Dorothy and the wizard in Oz, which brings them back to Oz. That they're not there yet. But there's a big basically California as a huge earthquake and the wizard and Dorothy in a what and the talking horse fallen into the underworld and had on their way to Oz and beat all sorts of really bizarre creatures. That would be fun. To play the wizard. I
Cameron:mean, if you were in a production wizard of oz recently, weren't you? Who did you play?
Bruce Horak:I did. Yeah, I was. I was I played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz for Alberta theater projects. And then, as I was saying, like, I just recorded my first full length audio book, but a year and a half ago, maybe recorded. There's an accessible version of The Wizard of Oz that's coming out. And I'll send you links and information on it. But for that, I think there were eight or 10 artists that got together all with varying levels of visual impairment and voiced for the novel so there's a narrator and then the characters come in and I voiced the Scarecrow for that audiobook which hopefully will see the later date so that's cool. I made a made a think an odd choice, in that I basically did him as Sam Elliott.
John T Bolds:No choice came for a good choice. Yeah.
Bruce Horak:Yeah. Uh, did you stay outdoors? Wait,
Cameron:I also played the Scarecrow, but I was like 11 So I didn't make any choices.
Unknown:I was just floppy. Yeah.
John T Bolds:That's what I'm getting from. This is Dorothy Gale is a natural disaster magnet tornadoes or earthquakes? Yeah,
Cameron:pretty. Some people got all the luck. So you say you love the prosthetics? What is it, you do love about the prosthetics. Its
Bruce Horak:foundation of a lot of my work as a performer is mask work. It's the thing that really clicked for me was started out with a thing called neutral mask in theater school. And it's a physical embodiment. That, yeah, it I find it transformative. When I look at my, the mask in the mirror, like, my body takes on a different shape. And because the shape of the body has changed, the voice is affected by that. And the movement all comes from that. And it's a really, I find it a very visceral and really connected way to work in character. It's very much an outside in approach. And I yeah, that just really, it appeals to me. So getting into those prosthetics, it's, I find it just completely transformative. And as soon as I put hammer on, and, and the wardrobe and moved around in that and I was able to take some film of myself and zoom in so I could really see how was the head moving? Like do the antenna shake when he walks? Or what's the best way to hold this face? And you know, what, where do the Where do the eyes sit and all that and it changed my posture and just took on this physical being that a I could get in and out of very, very fluidly. But at the end of the day, like literally pull it off, washed off my face, and I was out of character and going home and, and having a good night's sleep. It's um, yeah, it's a really. I feel like it's probably the healthiest process. For me as a performer who has a tendency to bring my work home with me.
Cameron:I can see that. Oh, well. Speaking of taking your work home, it just proved that Abby was not making up stories about her children singing general Garco dog. We do have this clip she had sent a clip of her daughter singing to us to play for Tom and Kay when they were on. But this little piece I had been cut out because a lot of is unintelligible around it. But there's one part you can definitely hear that is of note to this conversation this is and that was her just stumbling across her in recording or in secret that was not performed. A product
Bruce Horak:that's that is so great. Oh my god.
Jesse:And by the way, Abby, I could not get out of this interview. Without letting you specifically know that Bruce, just in case you weren't aware did have a role in the third episode of season two of a little show called warehouse 13 all the way back in 2010 as Philo Farnsworth and I know you're a big warehouse 13 fan so we got to ask Bruce can you remember that far back? What was warehouse 13 Lake?
Bruce Horak:Yeah, that was like one of my very first experiences on a on a big set. It was it was electric. I felt bad at the end of that day. Like I was completely worn out. It was so much fun. Very Fast Schedule. And we had pop it into that series. I really liked warehouse 13 Like it just has a flavor of like fun and funny X Files meets like yeah, Indiana Jones like anyway, it's it. I really enjoyed the show. And yeah, kind of getting to drop in as the Easter egg of Philo Farnsworth who's like, yeah, man. He was. He's awesome. He invented that thing. Yeah, yeah, it's cool. It's it's, it's it's nice to kind of look at the series and feel like I had, you know some contribution at least to the canon.
John T Bolds:Philo Farnsworth, great YUTAN I'll just say that. We briefly touched on conventions in our first chat with you but you've done more of them since obviously, we met up with you in Las Vegas last year. How do you like the convention circuit?
Bruce Horak:I really have been enjoying myself on that. Yeah, I did trek Long Island and voltcom and, and Vegas last year and I really really enjoyed it. Meaning the fans is is the best I mean, this you know what Jonathan Frakes said at my first convention is like it's all love who doesn't love love? Um, To Yeah, I really, really enjoy it.
Unknown:I want to do more.
Jesse:For those of you listening, make sure you get your tickets for trek Long Island, because open bike night will be there this year. Absolutely. And we have one more caller here, our friend Jen.
Jenn:Hi, open pike. This is Jim. So glad you guys got to come back on the show. I'm one of his patrons. So I get lots of information all the time. So I did want to say thank you, Bruce, for the painting you didn't my mother, it was awesome. I guess the only question I really have, it's not really related to Star Trek or anything. As someone who's recently lost pretty much all of my most of my peripheral vision. I was wondering, in your struggles, and in your vision issues, if you have any advice on adapting, I mean, I think I'm adapted. And then, you know, I go into a new location. And I'm like, all over the place bumping into stuff. So do you have any tips for people who've recently had vision issues? If that makes sense?
Bruce Horak:Definitely, definitely makes sense. Hey, Jen, thank you for the question. And thanks for your support on Patreon. I really appreciate that. And Mark from earlier as another patron huge thanks for that. And the I feel you're on the vision issues, my my vision continues to deteriorate. And I wouldn't say like drastic ways, but certainly noticeable like my night vision is almost nil. And when I sigh especially notice that when I go from one lighting environment to another, and like, it's just takes me a lot longer to adjust to that. And over the course of my life, I think the the big big lesson, and I hear this from a lot of my visually impaired friends is as hard as it is
Unknown:slow down. So slow down, don't need like, if you can help it, because obviously, there's some situations where you know, you got to rush, but if you can help it slow down. Because you'll hear things you'll feel things in taking your time that your brain will just not have time to compute. And before you know what you've smacked your head on a counter or you've missed a curb, or, you know, a car has almost I mean, bikes whizzing by and all of that if you're if you're a little bit slower and and it also affords your your ears to open up a bit to the, to the dark spots that your vision isn't seeing. I rely a lot more on my, because I'm completely blind on my right side. So my right ear is like cranked right up. And, you know, it's through practice of kind of being a little bit slower. That that helps in that regard. I hope that's helpful. And as always, incident forgiveness. You bump into some says you say sorry, and or you know, or some if you bump into someone say you're sorry, if you're bumping into something and you say you're sorry, that's how you know you're visually impaired.
Jesse:I'm gonna just go out on a limb here and say, Jen, offer the people in your life, you know, a book reading so that they'll drive you around. I mean, that sounds like a wonderful gift that Bruce has been giving for years. So like, clearly has merit, right?
Cameron:So is there anything you learned from your time on strange new worlds that you've applied to your work in the years since?
Unknown:Wow,
Bruce Horak:that's a big assumption that I learned anything. Oh my goodness. Well, I'll tell you the experience of so much interaction with the fans over it has really, it's given me a great deal of reverence for the series. And I look back on the episodes as I'm watching them now. Like you know, having to go back and watching like even the animated series. Like there's there's a nugget of the really wonderful wisdom in those shows. And I think the the episodes that really stick out for me and not I hope I'm not giving any spoilers away for this season of discovery. But now the talking about connection, and community and the power of community and the power of being together. And what strange new worlds did in that first season, through the adversity of basically you can't sit in the same room as each other, you know, or having the masks and the and all the mandates in place what they were able to accomplish. through that adversity and the message of it is so so strong and it is it's like we're so much better together. And we go we go further together Yeah, it's given me a real appreciation for the people in my life that that have been with me for for so long and are willing to put up with my, my insanity or my what's the word? artistic bent Yeah, and just finding like finding similar weirdos who are into my weird and, and I see that in like, you know, like I'm not there's, you know Starfleet existed today I would not be a member of it. I have none of the skills required to be a member of the Federation starship. But the lesson of it is so appreciated. Like, yeah, find your people. And this is what we get with a horror and season one. It's like you found your people put your roots down and get comfortable and it's going to be an amazing ride. I find that that lesson strikes with me every day as as, you know, gather those people with me and go on this incredible adventure.
Unknown:Well said that, do
Jesse:you feel that your time as hammer? And you know, spouting all this? technobabble? And and these made up words, did that in any way help you? When you were told, okay, now you got to spout medical jargon, as Adam vary on transplant? Or is it all just you know,
Unknown:the scripts are all are unique? Oh, yeah, they're they're all very unique, but that it's funny like I breaking down medical jargon and breaking down space jargon. And breaking down Shakespeare are all very similar. And it's, it's an approach that, you know, kind of kind of picked up in college as we, under the incredible direction of and Scripture and Tom Bessie, who were my my theater instructors at Mount Royal, and did voice and Tom to text. Really like the guidance of that, basically sit down with a dictionary next year lines and break these words down because they there is a meaning in them, you know, and it may not be like immediately obvious on the first read or the second or the third read. But as you sit down and actually break the words down, then the the meaning comes in once you know what you're saying that there isn't, there isn't another word for that. That's the word that that is the word to describe that thing. Or that emotion or that action or whatever. So it just starts to click, but it takes a little bit of shifting with the brain because yeah, it's not like, you know, regular parlance. Not that I speak regular parlance because I use words like parlane parlance.
John T Bolds:Sam Elliot coming back out. Yeah. Got it.
Jesse:Yeah, everybody's been wondering about a role for Bruce in the future of Star Trek. I'm thinking robot cowboy, who is also an antagonist. Oh, man.
Bruce Horak:They're evil robot cowboy.
John T Bolds:High Noon. Like I mean, come on. Yeah.
Bruce Horak:They've been looking. Let's turn right. So
Cameron:we do have to ask out right, at some point, like, are you coming back? Are their words is presort coming back to start checking anyway?
Unknown:Well, if I say no, will that stop people from reading or from watching season three? Probably not. Yet? Yeah. There's nothing on the horizon for me. Which, you know, breaks my heart. But, you know, Season Four is still to be written.
Jesse:I don't know. But it has been great. Send some angry emails. Yeah.
Bruce Horak:Send it send lots of emails. You know, the fans brought the series back, they can bring back a horror. Exactly,
Cameron:exactly. Well, we've given them lots of good ideas today for sure. Send
John T Bolds:emails, click on the links in Bruce's newsletters. Come on
Bruce Horak:people just just a big moustache.
John T Bolds:So what if anything, can you tell us about blind man's bluff? Oh,
Unknown:well, blind man's bluff is an adaptation of a show that I've been doing called assassinating Thompson where I I paint a portrait of the entire audience in blind man's bluff. I do that that similar trick where I paint a portrait of the entire audience and I get to talk about it's basically a one person show so I paint the whole audience portrait, turn it around and auction it off to the highest bidder and give the proceeds to a local charity. But the con And to the show is is me telling my story of how I become a visually impaired artist and wind up on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise? Oh, that's great. And yeah, the dream is, here's my dream, which I'm putting on to open pipeline, which is, I would like to be named as a cultural ambassador for Canada. And I would like to tour that show to embassies around the world promoting Canadian art, and being an advocate for disability awareness. Nice to know are there.
Jesse:Are there any specific steps that fans and listeners can take to help that become a reality for you?
Bruce Horak:Well, right, your Richard congressman. I really don't know how to make this a reality.
Unknown:Other than to basically keep putting it out there, I'm sure there is someone who's got a connection somewhere. Yeah, it's getting to paint and getting to tell that story. And you know, using that using those gifts for, for good, is, is pretty thrilling. Last year, I did a tour of assassinating Thompson in Manitoba. And after each show, I auctioned the portrait off and donated the proceeds to Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. And last year, over the course of one month, we raised $10,000. Wow, Guide Dogs for the Blind is a charity that's really near and dear to my heart. Someday I would love to get a service animal. It's a long process here in Canada. And as you're probably aware of it, they're really quite remarkable creatures. You know, they can only work for five years, and then they have to be retired. So you know, once you once you kind of get into service animal territory, that they're really rare. So it's my, it's my great honor to be able to support that. Because I know what it does for people who are losing their eyesight, like their worlds literally get smaller, oftentimes from the periphery in and having the service animal I mean, it's just basically opens the world for you again, not only in companionship, but accessibility to the world.
Jesse:You heard him here, folks. start manifesting, put the vibes out. Add the energy. Let's do it.
Cameron:We'll get you out there. We'll get Melissa to space. Yep,
Bruce Horak:we got system Yeah. magic happens. Magic happens when we work together.
Unknown:Community.
John T Bolds:How many paintings into your project? Are you now? Oh,
Unknown:I am at portrait number 706 In my the way I see it portrait series. Yeah. So the big news is that there's a production company here in Stratford, Ontario called Balan ran entertainment. And they do a lot of documentary they were responsible for producing and developing and creating a show or documentary with William Shatner called captain's where William Shatner goes and interviews. Five captains I think Craig Thompson, the ballon ran entertainment reached out to me about my art practice, particularly. And so we're in development of a series right now called boldly going where I it's going to be a half hour series, and I will sit and paint a person's portrait and interview them and get their life story. And basically, it's a combination of kind of the blind man travels show, and, you know, a gentle Bob Ross experience where I paint the portrait and chat with someone and we're looking for people who are artists in their own way and have overcome adversity in some form or another which leaves it open, I think to some pretty cool adventures. So we're moving the ball down the field as they say,
John T Bolds:that's cool. And I can personally attest that yeah, sitting with Bruce is a super fun.
Unknown:Oh, yeah,
Bruce Horak:John. Yes, he's sad. I'm sad. Yeah.
Cameron:Well, I've got to know about goblin Macbeth because it sounds okay. And give us the pitch.
Unknown:Goblin Macbeth. So three goblins uncovered the works of William Shakespeare. It takeover theater. And they attempt to do the bloodiest and shortest of Shakespeare's works. It is an absolute riot. We are goblin Macbeth is is kind of the brainchild of Rebecca Northen, who, and myself as a co conspirator, and our musician Ellis Leblond. And we've got these Hollywood grade goblin masks. They're from a company called composite effects in the states that build stuff for like Game of Thrones style. So we've got these three goblin masks, and these three characters basically show up at the theater we break in. We forced the stage manager to run lights for us and do a three person version of the Scottish play. At first what is kind of unusual about is that the goblins are really good Shakespeare and then they kind of step out every now and again and comment on it and they're there. They find humans very confused. thing in Goblin culture, they're like you don't pretend. Pretending doesn't make any sense. And standing up in front of a group of, of your peers and pretending to be someone else is really weird, like, and in fact, if the other goblins found out that we were doing this, they would probably kill us. So there's a there's a heightened sense of that. Anyway, GABA Macbeth has been touring. And it's a riot. It's a lot of fun. sounds delightful. So Ellis lon plays Moog and he does all the music and the Rebecca and I play crag, WVA and Waag and crigler And what do all the characters so we switch off sometimes halfway through a scene will switch off and oddly are I'll you know, I'll start playing macros and then bank will will walk in so I'll play banquet too. And then I gotta move over here. So then Rebecca takes over as Banquo for half of that line. And, and or sorry, I should say Krakow mixing up my goblins. Yeah, it's, it's kind of absurd. It's really fun. It's actually quite bloody. And audiences have just been been eating it up. The best audiences have actually been the high school matinees. There's a blend of like, a reverence for Shakespeare, but also kind of the fantastical realm and it's, it's got a bit of a goth vibe. And it's really, really doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a lot of fun. And then from that we've Rebecca and I just an LS performed by goblin Oedipus at the High Performance rodeo in Calgary in January. We did a week long run of that kind of bit of a workshop production. We brought the we thought the goblins kind of figured out Shakespeare and figured they got that one. So they're gonna go back to the classics and they rip apart. Oedipus Sophocles, go back to the Greeks. And that one got really weird, and super fun. Oh my god. Ellis built a four and a half foot tall. Paper mash a phallus. And his goblin at the beginning brought in this giant phallus and we sort of surfed it through the audience who were lined up outside the theater and then we use it bang on the front door of the theater to get let in to begin the festival of Dionysus. Dionysus, of course, was the god of theater and, and giant Wang's Goblin
Cameron:and Lysistrata.
John T Bolds:Well, there's an episode titled right they're
Bruce Horak:like we got into we got into mythology again. Yes, you definitely knew this last time.
Jesse:Yeah, you mentioned earlier tonight, you know, finding your your kind of people that are into you're kind of weird. And I gotta say, I feel like you've done this. It seems like you have six Yeah.
Unknown:Oh, yeah. No, it's it. I don't remember when we my my my cohort and I started saying this but yeah, it's like find your find your weird I think was something discovered in your 20s is like, yeah, get the get the people in your life who are who dig, you're weird. And you can't really go wrong. Because it'd be it'd be there with people who support your ideas and are willing to try this stuff. And I've been very fortunate in my life to have quite an adventurous cohort. I blame it all on loose moose Theatre in Calgary and Keith Johnstone, who was an improv teacher out there and taught us all to say yes, is that people who say no are going to be rewarded with very safe lives, but people who say yes will be rewarded with the adventures they have. And I take that with me in my heart, I don't always practice it. You know, because running into traffic is not always the best idea. You got to say no, sometimes, but But uh, yeah, it's I've been very, very blessed to to meet a fantastic group of weirdos and they seem to be all over the all over the globe. No Caray?
John T Bolds:That's great. Well, in the spirit of saying, Yes. Bruce Horak open mic night is an open mic night theme podcast. Do you have a joke to tell us this evening?
Unknown:All right. What do an elephant and a grape have in common? Hmm, they're both verbal.
Bruce Horak:Except for the elephant
Cameron:this is true. Accurate.
Unknown:Oh, and then the other one was in this goes back to my Catholic roots. But Moses comes down from the mountains he's got two tablets. He says alright everybody I got good news. I got bad news. The good news is I got him down to 10 Bad news is adultery still on the list? Sorry It seems I don't know relevant given her current state anyway. Hey,
Cameron:goblins in combat commandments. I'll be waiting for that one.
Bruce Horak:Yeah, more we're we're definitely going to be developing more goblin material. The dream is to have a full goblin Empire by the time we're ready to retire and love it.
Cameron:Can't wait till they discover Star Trek. Be sure
Jesse:to check out Bruce's website Bruce rock.com these sound like shows that you want to go to knowing some of our listeners and honestly, I want to go so like let's let's make this happen you guys,
Bruce Horak:when the goblins be great at a track and then job man
John T Bolds:doing Shakespeare, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Right. Being, you know, looked up and down by Frankie and Klingons the whole time like this. We need to get goblins in Star Trek. You're right. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. This has been great to see ya. Great to see you again. Great to spend more time. And yeah, we can't wait to see what's coming next.
Bruce Horak:Have a great time in New York. I was around Long Island. It was there last year. It was a lot of fun. Thank you,
Cameron:Lord God. Yeah, we've gotten so excited for do it.
John T Bolds:Well, like Bruce mentioned, we are going to be at trek Long Island this year. Isn't that right cam? That's
Cameron:right. Very excited for both open pragma and green shirt to have a presence at trek Long Island.
Jesse:And we can finally announce that Kim and John will be hosting a Star Trek Discovery panel called Let's fly which is a spotlight on all of Star Trek Discovery. And there gonna be some serious names on stage with them alias to fix us who plays lock Janet Kidder who plays those Saira. Tara Rosling who plays to Rena our favorite Vulcan and Orville Cummings, who plays Lieutenant Christopher. They're going to look back at the whole season talk about memories answer fan questions, and that's going to be Saturday at 4pm on the main stage. Yeah, no big deal. Yeah. Wait, cannot wait. But since we do have to wait, Cameron, when you're not on the bike night stage, where can folks find you? vacuuming
Cameron:up the last season of Star Trek The Next Generation over on green shirts. We're we're finishing up that series as well as tackling Deep Space Nine.
Jesse:Jesse. We heard some great callers tonight. How can folks get their voices on the open fire guide stage, the easiest way to become part of the open pipe night family is to just go to open pipe.com There's a little tab right there that will say record your message. You can sign up for our free newsletter that will come directly to your inbox to let you know who is coming up next on open pipe night and give you a heads up so that you can get your questions sorted and recorded by going to open pipe.substack.com You can support us on Patreon you can buy our merch, the links for everything are right there at open pipe.com. And if you don't already follow us on social media, what are you doing? We're giving away two passes to trek Long Island on social media. So go follow us on Twitter at open pike. Or if you want and you're listening to this right now you can send us an email at open pike@gmail.com Here is your task. You have been convicted of a Star Trek crime. We've got near Cthulhu lined up to defend you but we need to know what you did. Our favorite answer to this question will receive two free passes to Star Trek Long Island. All right, well, it's been a long night and we have to go clean out all these elephants and grapes. Bruce brought lots of visual aids for his joke. It's gonna take us a while so be sure to clean up after yourselves. Be sure to tip your servers. You can go anywhere you want, but you can stay here