Hard Out RETURNS, with more sacred cow barbecuing than ever! Join R. Michael Gull and Jay Thornton as they napalm any and everyone (and probably their careers in the process).

Host Jay Thornton—himself a survivor of Stage 3 colon cancer—and multi-hyphenate artist Joe Wilson (who has been battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer for well over a year, and has valiantly outlived his docs' estimates) chop it up over their experiences fighting the good fight both artistically and in the cancer ward, and how vital humor is to both.

Horror film aficionado Al Lucard is a friend of the show, an a fan of our sicko mockumentary CACTUS JACK (can find it on Vudu and Amazon)—he stopped by back in June (I know, I know, been busy as hell lately) to talk horror films, filmmaking, movie nostalgia, the tragic and touching story of why he started his youtube movie review channel, and his all-time favorite flick, the original 1990 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.

Check it out!

Title of this one kinda says it all. Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton (no relation—unfortunately, given the power of nepotism in Hollywood)!) broke in with a million dollar spec sale of their epic Santa origin story Winter's Knight to Sony and have since written such high profile projects as TV adapts of Old Man's War and Final Fantasy, but their first produced feature—Hulu/Disney+'s THE PRINCESS—was tragically part of the Mouse House' recent avaricious and unceremonious 50+ project dump to catch a tax break. PS - Going audio-only for the foreseeable future and most of our previous viewership was on youtube, so do us a solid and like/follow/review on your favorite podcast apps (and please share), if you appreciate the conversation, helps tremendously!

We're baaaaa-aaaack. Well, Jay is (though Chris or even R. Michael Gull may pop in from time to time to co-host), after a six-month hiatus. The title of this one says it all. For hellcat Larissa's previous appearance, check out the animated discussion Jay & Chris had with her and The Mutual Aberration Society's Ryan Jackson on Sam Levinson's MALCOLM & MARIE. Meant to discuss the film more, to include the amazing story of director Stacy Title's interactions with Bob Weinstein and her tragic battle with ALS and attempts to make one final film while enduring the fatal disease before it took her life, but as Larissa and Jay are prone to do this one pretty much went off the rails and the film was hardly discussed! Enjoy! 🤣

Screenwriter and filmmaker Rob Hagans, aka "The Bespectacled Mofo," drops by to talk making movies on a true nano (or even "pico") budget. We're talkin' $1k films, people!! Give a listen and hell—grab your smartphones and join the movement! Gull and Jay are already noodling ideas in the $1k space. To hear our swapcast where we were guests on his show to discuss making CACTUS JACK go to Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-microbudget-series-episode-three/id1588864867?i=1000580779853 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Wj7IhI60S4hVYwoaGLYF2?si=4BAulfQEQmiVy0x4KbA9Pg Or find it on any platform you use to get podcasts. Follow Rob on Twitter: @BspectacledMofo IG: @bspectacledmofo YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT_RHkfWrgQ63R_-HiXG_dg You can even watch his $1k feature films BARBARA and AROUND THE WORLD (over 1.4 million views) we discuss in this episode on his channel: BARBARA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uXG9sczPPg AROUND THE WORLD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2oSMwrCZv0 Speaking of films, go to www.cactusjackfilm.com to rent or purchase our own CACTUS JACK on Prime Video or Hulu, or to buy it on Blu Ray through Amazon and other vendors.

This week Jay and R. Michael Gull sit down to chop it up with writer-director Chris Rucinski and actor Jesse Gavin, the star of Chris' super solid, character-driven directorial debut indie thriller NORTHERN SHADE.

Whew! This one is *WILD*, folks! Full disclosure: we were trying to use R. Michael Gull's relationship with friend Jeanne Marie Spicuzza (writer, star, and co-director of The Scarapist) to help book Tommy Wiseau on the show. That was a no-go, as Tommy understandably doesn't like doing podcasts. So it was then supposed to be his partner-in-crime and co-author of The Disaster Artist Greg Sestero and Jeanne Marie. What it ended up being was just multi-hyphenate Jeanne Marie... which was more than enough! What ensued was a whirlwind of chanting with monks, nonchalant accusations of creative theft by Hollywood hotshots, anecdotes of Harvey Weinstein fuckery, the abject surreality of finding herself a part of Tommy Wiseau's inner circle, and more! This one is truly a fantastic voyage, so to quote the recently and dearly departed Coolio: "Come on y'all let's take a ride, don't say shit just get inside."