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Joe Bob Briggs, an accomplished film critic, writer, and actor, is celebrated for his unique persona as a 'drive-in movie critic' and his dedication to exploitation and genre films, making him a household name for those who grew up in the 80s and 90s.
Jacquie Allen talks to Joe Bob Briggs about his love of movies, The Last Drive-In and MonsterVision which returns this Summer!
Briggs will host a weekly double feature of movies for Shudder on Friday nights, for which he will both introduce and interrupt films.
John Irving Bloom, known by his stage name Joe Bob Briggs, was born on January 27, 1953, in Dallas, Texas. He spent his early years in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he began his career as a sportswriter for the Arkansas Democrat by the age of 13. He later attended Vanderbilt University on a Fred Russell-Grantland Rice Sportswriting Scholarship, majoring in English and writing for the student newspaper. After graduating in 1975, Bloom worked as a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald and wrote for Texas Monthly magazine. During a leave of absence to co-write the true crime book ‘Evidence of Love,’ he created the persona of Joe Bob Briggs while writing movie reviews for the newspaper, focusing on exploitation and genre films. This character, an unapologetic redneck Texan with a fondness for drive-in theaters, quickly gained popularity.
Briggs transitioned this persona to television, hosting ‘Joe Bob’s Drive-in Theater’ on The Movie Channel (TMC) from 1986 to 1996, earning two CableACE Award nominations. Following this, he hosted TNT’s ‘MonsterVision’ from 1996 to 2000. In the late 1990s, he also appeared on Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ as a commentator under his given name, John Bloom, with a recurring segment called “God Stuff.” His career saw further growth with syndicated newspaper columns like “Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-in” and “Joe Bob’s America,” distributed by The New York Times Syndicate in the 1990s. In 2000, he continued his “Drive-in” column for United Press International, along with a new column, “The Vegas Guy.”
In 2018, Briggs experienced a resurgence with ‘The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs’ on Shudder, a horror-themed streaming service. The show’s premiere, a 13-film marathon on July 13, 2018, caused Shudder’s servers to crash due to high demand. The series continued with Thanksgiving and Christmas Day marathons in 2018, and by March 2020, it returned to a regular double-feature format, extending into its third season by April 2021. His contributions to the horror genre were recognized with the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards’ Monster Kid of the Year in 2019 and an induction into the Monster Kid Hall of Fame in 2023.
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