HSHost says "Welcome to the twenty seventh night of our special Thirty-one Days of Terror Series. It's October 27th and you are chatting live (or undead) at Real Horrorwood! My name is April and I'll be your macabre host for the evening. Joining me in the studio tonight are my spooky producers Mike and Peter, and our gothic typist, Michelle. For the entire month of Shocktober, we'll be presenting the strangest, the weirdest, the scariest of guests, leading up to the most sacred of horrordays, HALLOWEEN! Stars of big and small scream, uh, screen, will be joining us as the sun sets and the night holds reign. If you would like to ask our guest a question this evening, it's very simple. Just type in /ask a space and then your question. If you're using "Excite's VP chat" you need only click the "something to say" icon at the bottom right corner of your screen."

HSHost says "We are all very excited about our special guest this evening, The Crypt Keeper from "Tales From the Crypt," actor Jon Kassir. Welcome to Hollywood Spotlight, Jon!"

JohnKassir says "Hello, creeps!"

JohnKassir {action} laughs like the Crypt Keeper!"

JohnKassir says "I toyed with the idea of not letting anyone hear what I actually sound like."

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

HSHost {action} laughs!"

HSHost says "I can hear it in your laugh."

Sid asks "WHat is the Crypt Keeper ?"

JohnKassir says "He's a rotting little illiterate guy. no, just kidding. I've always thought him to be kind of .. one of the Tales from the Crypt episodes created him, he was born from a sideshow freak and a mummy, mummy and daddy."

JohnKassir {action} laughs like the Crypt Keeper."

JohnKassir says "They described how he was created, but early on I'd do these interviews and people would ask the CK about his history. After a while, i started being consistent with some of the answers of what I created for him, that he had been in one of those traveling Shakespearian companies, like in the movie, "The Dresser." Just this ... you know, hence the fun with the illiteration they write for this guy. He comes from Britain you see .. hahahahahahah."

JohnKassir {action} laughs evilly."

JohnKassir says "When I first auditioned, I went to Kevin Yeager's studio where he was making the mock up and they had a whole sound system there. They gave him the job of finding a voice, too. So, I saw this dead guy .. you know, the living dead, with holes in his cheeks, rotting teeth and all this fun illiteration .. be careful what you ask for, you may get it! hahahahahaha"

JohnKassir {action} laughs evilly as the CK"

JohnKassir says "I thought of him as Henny Youngman and Margaret Hamilton from Wiz of Oz and Rod Serling, the host. It's corny if it's not presented right. When they first made the CK they didn't have as big of a budget so the mouth didn't work as swiftly on the puppet. I auditioned with this stand up kind of delivery and they were like oh that's great, you're the guy! But, when I went to record it, I had to slow it down considerably. If you look at the first couple of seasons .. I speak much slower (said as the CK) .. much more ominous! Cause of the limitations of the mouth of the puppet. Once the show was popular and they could pour more money into, it picked up the whole .. bing bang boom! (said as CK)"

mssusy asks "MsSusy ask that you please do the laugh"

JohnKassir says "Miss Suzy .. would you like to try my lady fingers ? They're delicious, although the lady was not so quick to part with them! hahahahahah"

JohnKassir {action} laughs evilly as CK"

HSHost {action} laughs!"

HSHost says "You made her day."

Apollonius asks "Do you think that the Cryptkeeper is an important part of Tales from the Crypt, or do you think the show would survive without his introduction?"

JohnKassir says "Definitely important, the window for bringing you in. He sets the tone of the show.Each week, even in the comic book the CK stood outside the story and had a very tongue in cheek (if I had one hahaha) take on what was going on. They were meant to have a sense of humor. The show itself is a playground for big directors and stars. And, depending on who wrote, directed, and starred in them each had a different tone to it and the CK is the one solid thing that brings you in every week. So, yeah I think he's important to the show. There's a dime a dozen of those shows out there that didn't succeed. I don't think I would have enjoyed the Twilight Zone so much of Rod Serling hadn't presented it to me."

Malcolm asks "are there any movies comming out with the Crypt Keeper in it?"

JohnKassir says "There are. We did "Demon Night," the first one .. an old TFTC done in the 70's where there were three scenarios. Who was that actor? I'm brain dead right now after a long day at work .. that's the first thing to go when I'm tired. Ralph Richardson played the CK and it was much more realistic and it was in the 70's, but completely different producers and since then Joel Silver and Richard Donner and Bob Zemeckis bought the rights and they were owned by DC Comics and they got a hold of those stories. Which I think there were about 500 of them. They came out with Demon Night and Bordello of Blood and there was scheduled to be a third one with Universal but they wound up making a deal to do 2-3 more. The scripts are being prepared as we speak. They don't want to do them unless they have really good scripts, once that's there, they'll schedule production and all that thing."

JohnKassir says "People see movies but don't realize how far in advance they were conceived, written, gone into production .. could have been years. You may see one guy .. breaking onto the scene, all of a sudden they come out in 5 movies, he shot them years ago, but they weren't released. All of a sudden they're a star."

HSHost says "Yeah, happens all the time."

Kittykoot asks "do you have a favorite episode of Tales from the Crypt?"

JohnKassir says "And, I had to fall into the grave onto a mat and into a casket and the casket closes on me and they had to throw dirt on me ... I had to be in a casket with dirt on top of it and let me tell ya, that's not a good feeling! Some people freak out having an MI, but you can hear the dirt being thrown on you! That of course was one of my favs. I also liked "The Executioner" directed by Walter Hill, William Satler plays the lead in it, the music is done by Ry Cooder and William plays an executioner in a prison and he talks into the camera and tells you all about his mindset."

JohnKassir says "He looks in the eyes of the prisoner and it gives him an extra jolt. They abolish the death penalty in his state so he becomes a vigilante and finds the criminals that deserve to die and electrocutes them in different ways. He gets caught and because of his crime they decide to reinstate the death penalty so he gets fried. And, the closing thing is the CK sitting in the electric chair electrocuting himself and enjoying it."

HSHost {action} laughs"

Apollonius asks "Have you seen the Cryptkeeper action figures? What do you think of them?"

JohnKassir says "Yes, I have. They vary from the small moveable finger style toys to ... I have a full size Crypt Keeper in my house, you can get those at Spencer's Gifts, 3 or 4 hundred bucks, but he's cool .. the exact size of the regular CK. He looks really good, good hair and great costume and you plug him in, the head moves back and forth and there's a premade tape I made for it. Of course, I can put my own tapes in there with all the different things I want to say in them. Last Halloween I put him in a chair in the foyer of my house, so when the kids came, we put the candy in the CK's lap and they had to take it from there."

JohnKassir says "You wouldn't believe the look on some of their faces1"

JohnKassir says "The little kids with the mouth agape staring at him .. the mom'd be like c'mon let's go and they'd be looking at him while the mom took their hand and walked away. They had one that was a foot tall or longer in a tuxedo and also in a Hawaiian outfit cause that's how he was dresed in the cartoon. You push on his stomach and he says little things like "fangs, a lot." It's kinda cool to have your own doll."

HSHost {action} laughs"

HSHost says "Yeah, absolutely!"

Sid asks "Is the Cryptkeeper doing anyhting special for Halloween are you making any appearances or doing any special projects?"

JohnKassir says "There's always some that come down, they have my voice at some of the haunted houses and studios. They have a CK in an electric chair .. where you make a loud noise and it goes off and he laughs. I always enjoyed Halloween, I love getting dressed up. I always get called this time of year to do product endorsements."

JohnKassir says "Some years there's more and some there's less. There's an old ad guy named Jack Wall and one of his jobs is to book the CK in different things. And, so he's kind of the CK's agent kind of thing."

HSHost says "He's busy right now I bet!"

JohnKassir says "Yeah! But, I always do some fun stuff. One year my wife and I went to a mansion in SF , an old Victorian that they turned into a hotel and stayed in the Houdini Suite."

HSHost says "Cool. Whaddya gonna be this year?"

JohnKassir says "Actually I had this hacidic suit .. .. in a Christopher Durang one act, I played a Hacidic Priest and I had to change into all these other characters ... We just hooked the curls on the side of the face to the hat .. and the long black coat .. so you put on the hat and you're like InstaJew."

HSHost {action} laughs"

HSHost says "how funny!"

JohnKassir says "And, then once I was a dead bomber pilot .. the jhodpurs and the flight cap .. and a bullet hole in the middle of my forehead. And, one year when I did the skull makeup .. I have horses and love to ride and I have this old western gear, so I made myself into a dead gunslinger and I attached this long wig under the hat, so I was this long dead Clint Eastwood kinda guy."

JohnKassir says "I'll just improvise, I have different props and costumes and we'll see. Last year my wife and I made ourselves into old people with old age makeup .. so we were like this is ourselves when we retire."

JohnKassir says "We went to the house for the party and they thought we came to the wrong house. We have pictures to remind us of what we'll look like in our later years."

HSHost {action} laughs"

HSHost says "that's cool."

Apollonius asks "do you think there are too many puppets in the horror business? Answer carefully, your producer might be watching...:)"

JohnKassir {action} laughs!"

JohnKassir says "Actually Steven Yeager did Chucky. I think puppets are great in horror .. there's something really cool about something inanimate coming to life. I've worked with them for years and have a collection of them. If you tune into HGTV, Home & Garden TV they're doing a thing on my house and you'll see a small part of my collection of ventriloquist dummies. It's called "Halloween Homes," they did Elvira, Wes Craven's, Janet Leigh, and they come in and talk about the .. you know what you did that was cool to your house. So, I think it's on at 6pm and 8pm on Friday. I'm sure they'll play it more, but that's the time I know that it's on. love that they have puppets in horror."

HSHost says "I look at the CK like the original puppet dude."

JohnKassir says "Yeah, look at Magic and all those shows, the old Twilight Zone, those were creepy, too. There was a great Outer Limits episodes, can't remember the actor, but the guy was a ventriloquist with the dummy and the dummy turned out to be a midget and the full grown man was actually the dummy!"

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

JohnKassir says "There was a TFTC episode with Bobcat Goldthwait and .. what's his name? Don Rickles .. I told you the first thing to go is names! I'm showing my age!"

HSHost {action} laughs"

HSHost says "Stop iT1"

JohnKassir says "But, Don was brilliant, he played a ventriloquist with a brother who's a little dwarf on his hand, and he's evil, really the brain and he wants to split up the act."

JohnKassir {action} laughs!"

HSHost {action} laughs!"

HSHost says "Michelle, our typist saw that and said it was great!"

JohnKassir says "Yeah, it was really creepy!"

Kittykoot asks "the Crypt Keeper was hillarious...are you into comedy or the horror that he represents?"

JohnKassir says "Uh .. both really. I think that's the whole idea behind it. "You know the tongue in cheek horror. I've had peopel tell me they can't watch it, but I think it's hysterical. I enjoy the comedy part of it. I do. I think it's great. The whole idea that death can be funny or people getting their "just desserts," there's always someone getting their due. That's a cool thing and conducive to both horror and comedy. I take it from the point of view of comedy in terms of performing it."

Apollonius asks "If you could rearrange the human body how would you like it to be?"

JohnKassir {action} laughs!"

JohnKassir says "Well, it wouldn't be with my foot in my mouth, put it that way ... (said as CK)"

JohnKassir {action} laughs!"

JohnKassir says "That's atough one. I wouldn't want to rearrange my own body. If I was Marilyn Manson, I'd probably wanna be double jointed at the waist."

JohnKassir {action} laughs!"

HSHost {action} laughs!"

JohnKassir says "I'd have all the right female anatomy so I could enjoy myself .. I'd be a man with breasts. No, I'm not a breast man so that won't work. Am I stepping over the line?"

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

HSHost {action} laughs!"

Apollonius asks "Do you like pizza? Try and ad lib something creepy about pizza for us....."

JohnKassir says "Let's see .. pizza, pizza ... My favorite shish ka bob pizza, BOB.""

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

JohnKassir says "An an chovies .. you're always looking for the words that rhyme with something creepy .. pizza pizza ... his face looked like a pizza on a good day .. hahahahahahah ...at least the pepperoni part ..."

JohnKassir {action} speaks as the Crypt Keeper"

guest10708 asks "is it important in voice work to be able to do more than one voice, or does it depend on what you want to do"

JohnKassir says "You know there are some guys that have .. Gary Owens! "Welcome to beautiful downtown Burbank! He's the type of guy that does that voice and he's recognizable and Bill Wendell used to be on David Letterman! Da vvvvviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid Letterman! But, oh gosh .. what's his name? Carlton the doorman."

HSHost says "Oh God! None of us .. we can't remember names day."

JohnKassir says "Yeah, but there's those guys who've made a career and God bless you if you can get a character that stays around so long. But, if they don't .. you can't get so much mileage on it. I play a dozen different characters on a given week. I do a dozen cartoons .. Buster Bunny, Mico The Racoon in Pocahontis and some Llamas for the new Disney movie coming out. I do a lot of characters that eat the cat, and Mervis the world's skinniest pig (does the voice)"

HSHost says "We wanna know what Llama sounds like!"

JohnKassir {action} does his Llama voice."

JohnKassir says "I had to go down to a Llama ranch, and hear all the different Llamas cause each one I did had to have a different personality ... this one's Snowball and she's in love with the herder boy and we want her to have a soft coo .. the whole room was full, of storyboards. So, I did it and we got a lot of variety out of it, everyone was satisfied. But, it was fun to do."

Apollonius asks "Well done John, pizza is a hard one!!! But not as hard as a rusty stake through your heart....hahahhahahah"

JohnKassir {action} laughs!!"

JohnKassir says "hahahahahahahahah (said as the Crypt Keeper) That's a good one, too."

Apollonius asks "What was the last horror film you watched all the way through?"

JohnKassir says "Gosh .. I just rented Mask of the Red Death .... with Vincent Price, takes place during the Spanish INquisition .... great movie, haven't seen it since I was a kid, but it left an impression on me. I saw it in the drive in with myf amily .. we'd have to go in our pajamas and we fell asleep .. we'd all get in the station wagon. But, it was an interesting movie .. Vincent Price was good, but because it had historical fact, authenticity part of it ... I like those kinds of films."

HSHost says "Michelle said it was about the Bubonic Plague."

JohnKassir says "Yeah, exactly .. and I hadn't seen it, but rented it recently and that was cool."

guest10708 asks "is there anything in you that is similar to the cryptkeeper"

JohnKassir {action} laughs!"

JohnKassir says "Besides my laugh."

HSHost {action} laughs!"

HSHost says "Yeah, right."

JohnKassir says "A good sense of humor. A lust for life .. and death .. hahahahahahahah ... That's really where it comes down. Mainly in the joy .. enjoyment of performing really."

HSHost says "Mm hmm."

Apollonius asks "Do you make up the cryptkeeper's awful jokes yourself?"

JohnKassir says "They have writers but they've always let me embellish .. have been generous enough to do so. They'll tell me we're going to do this sort of thing but you can throw in your own stuff. They had good writers, but after a couple of seasons .. they said what else can you do?" And, I'd say let's do the CK as John Wayne or Brando .. so we'd have him in a ripped shirt going "Stellllllaaaaaaaaa!!!" Romeo & Juliet eat your hearts out ... hehehe hahahahaha .. Then they did me once as a stand up comedian .. "Hello. Is this on? I'm dying here." Cause in stand up there's all these references to death .. he bombed, he died .. "I slayed them!" So, he throw s a hand grenade out in the audience and blows them away. I don't take credit for everything he says, but I do for his personality and his quirks here and there."

Apollonius asks "Do you like computers? What do you think of the World Wide Web?"

JohnKassir says "I didn't do very well with what was on paper ... they didn't make it fun, we didn't have Sesame Street. I did well through the rest of school once I got to an age where I knew how to do well orally, but I never did develop those study skills, but that's probably enhanced my performance skills on some level. I needed a better way to communicate. But, I very often have to get my wife to show me how to use the computer .. I wish I had more of a propensity for it. I envy that kids use them now .. and it's like second nature. They make you feel so stupid!"

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

HSHost says "Oh, I know!"

HSHost {action} laughs"

HSHost says "It's good though."

JohnKassir says "Yeah."

TheCryptKeeper asks "You seem to really get into your characters... Do you think you're a little insane?"

JohnKassir says ""I'm normal. Everyone else is insane! hahahaheheheheheh ! Let's just say that I'm a free thinker."

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

HSHost says "Yeah, that's a good one."

HSHost {action} laughs"

Apollonius asks "Have you seen the haunted house webcam sites on the internet.... hours of sitting just watching empty rooms.... What do you think of them?"

JohnKassir says "I haven't seen the haunted ones. I .. you know, if you watch the HGTV, I designed mos tof my house myself, I had an architect who did the drawings, but I did choose the wood materials and design the interior .. I enjoy that kind of thing. I'll get on the web and see things .. it's beautiful, you can do that kind of thing. I had some friends who's company had done virtual Graceland. So, it was kinda fun to travel through Elvis' pad .. "Elvis' Crypt .. hahaheeheheheh .""

Sid asks "Where do you live?"

JohnKassir says "I live in the mountains over the top of Malibu ... that's as much as I'll tell you ... you know, over the top in the Malibu area. It's nice and it's kinda creepy out here, too. But, there was something I thought of along those lines .. but I can't remember. The first thing to go is names, the second thing is where I'm at."

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

JohnKassir says "Where am I?"

HSHost {action} laughs!"

Sid asks "Have you ever worked with Christopher Lee?"

JohnKassir says "Christopher Lee, God he's been around for a long time. Sure, I know who he is. I hosted the HOrror Hall of Fame and got to give Vincent Price his award before he died, God rest his soul. I met .. George Romero .... from Night of the LIving Dead. That was a treat."

HSHost says "That must have been. Pretty large getting to meet all those guys."

JohnKassir says "The guy moving the mouth, he'd have this head gear that when he'd open his mouth it'd open the CK's jaw and these toggles that opened the lips .. and he'd watch me as I'd speak and after a while he'd be able to anticipate what I was going to say ... some of the little illiterations and the CK colloquialisms. He'd pick up on them as I was doing them. But, when you have another actor playing off the CK, they want me their live playing off the camera."

HSHost says "What do you prefer?"

JohnKassir says "Well, working in a studio isn't as much fun as working with other actors. Cartoons, you're in the studio with mics and headphones and these stands holding the scripts .. it's a load of fun. A lot of actors love doing the cartoons now. It's not only fun work but you get a lot of residual checks .. they show them over and over. I've worked with everyone from William Shatner to the Barbie Twins!"

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

JohnKassir says "Mr. T and all that. But the Crypt Keeper is me working through a glass window."

HSHost says "A lot of people don't know that .. you're good."

JohnKassir says "Oh thanks!"

Apollonius asks "Do you like scaring small children? The cartoon series is a bit scary at times?"

JohnKassir says "People used to picket against them, but they kept them on the shelves, hey there's a market, people like them, and get a sense of humor about it! But, when MAD magazine became successful they stopped making them, didn't need the bad press anymore. But, we had these stickers .. oh what's his name .. the guy who used to make all those neat models ? .. Big Daddy Ralph? I think that was his name. We'd have those stuck on our notebooks and stuff. We'd have the 4 o'clock movie, my mom'd be making dinner, and every afternoon we'd watch "Twilight Movie," there were different names for them all over the states. "They'd play all the old Lon Chaney movies, Wolfman, Frankenstein or Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein, or The Creature from the Black Lagoon .. uh what's the one with the big cyclops? I think that was probably called .. gosh .. attack of the 50 ft. woman."

HSHost {action} chuckles"

HSHost says "Right."

mssusy asks "how come the crypt web page does not have any talking ?"

JohnKassir says "I don't know. They probably had someone do it who was like me and didn't know anything about it!"

JohnKassir {action} laughs"

HSHost {action} laughs"

HSHost says "With computers you mean?"

JohnKassir says "Yeah."

Malcolm asks "tell John I said he has the coolest laugh ever! lol -Malcolm"

JohnKassir says "Oh thanks! Thanks a lot! It was kinda like uh .. you know, a rolling laugh. I think the laugh is what has kept me in my job all these years. Normally, when you start in a VO job, it pays the minimum, pretty much scale. You like to think that if you're helping the show, and putting work into it and smashing your vocal chords, you like to get paid a decent salary for it especially if you're doing a lot of work and personal appearances and stuff. They've been very generous with me paying what my time was worth. But, early on just like any other company they were like if we can get someone to do it for scale, why not. But, they realized that it wasn't just the voice I was doing, It was the character I helped create and the personality and the laugh is one of the trademarks of the character. They have a toy and really all it has on it is my laugh."

JohnKassir {action} chuckles"

JohnKassir says "Kinda funny."

HSHost {action} chuckles"

Apollonius asks "If you didn't work for HBO, what would you do?"

JohnKassir says "It doesn't take much time to do episodes of TFTC, so HBO is a small part of my job. I do most of the episodes around Halloween now. I don't know if anyone's bought the "I'll Be Home for Chrismtas" album but .. I enjoyed doing that the most."

HSHost says "You can get that now? It's you?"

JohnKassir says "Yeah. Yeah, I sing all the songs like the Crypt Keeper, they're pretty warped, not religious ones .. "We wish you'd bury the Missus, We wish you'd bury the Missus ..." Like that .. and they're really good, choral work and all that. I just finished a film called "A Glass Jar" and it's already in the Sundance festivals .. we're hoping it'll get a release. And, I've done a number of TV series, you gotta keep working .. as an actor, you never feel like one job is one job. You try to .. it's great when you get a long running sitcom .. my wife's on one right now with John Larroquette called "Payne" based on .. uh .. oh God, what's that ? Cleese series ..."

HSHost says "Faulty Towers?"

JohnKassir says "Yeah, that's it. She played Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, too."

HSHost says "Oh, I know who she is! Awesome! We'll look for her."

JohnKassir says "So, between the two of us we're doing something different all the time. Hopefully one day we'll work together."

Apollonius asks "If you could torture anyone famous, who would it be?"

JohnKassir {action} laughs!"

JohnKassir says "Monica Lewinsky..."Have I got a bone for her ....""

JohnKassir {action} said as The Crypt Keeper"

HSHost {action} laughs hysterically!!!"

HSHost says "That was good Jon! That was good!"

guest10708 asks "what will we see you in next?"

JohnKassir says "You can see me on HGTV. And, I did an episode of Buddy Ferrell, a Eurotrash guy .. and it was fun, came out great. I think they'll show that again soon. I have a lot of projects in the work, but lately I've been doing a ton of cartoons and vo stuff, I did 5 episodes of Rocket Beach for Nickleodeon .. I play the surfer dad to all these kids. My voice is really tired today. That's the working title .. Rocket Beach ... the guy who does Duckman. They're really nice people, very creative."

HSHost says "Yeah, I met them at a restaurant they own. Called Nova."

JohnKassir says "Oh cool! I didn't know that. Thank you everyone! Without you, I'm nobody .. have a very "Happy Halloween .. ahahaahaheheheehehe ...""

HSHost says "And, you do the same, John, thanks! And, thanks to all you viewers out there for chatting with us at REAL HOLLYWOOD.COM. Please join us tomorrow night at 7:00pm PST and 10:00pm EST when our guest will be Pinhead from "Hellraiser," actor Doug Bradley. Good Night, everyone. See you tomorrow! …. Boo!"