Holy 1960s Batman, Batman! is The Hideout’s most recent mainstage show. Every show features a guest villain, and the final new guest villain for the show (this Friday) is Jason Vines. Let’s talk to Jason!
Roy: If you don’t mind me saying so, you’re a man with a colorful past, or at least it’s always seemed that way to me. What’s the most villainous thing you’ve done that you’re willing to talk about?
Vines: When I was a kid, I once stole a bunch of money on a camping trip from several other campers. All of their wallets were just kind of piled up in the same place so I took 5 to 20 dollars from each of them. Then I went across the street to the bathroom where I hid the money inside of a toilet paper roll. “The perfect crime!” I thought. Well, the next morning, my fellow campers were not too happy to find that their wallets were much lighter than before. I played dumb and even acted as if money had been stolen from me too. In a panic, I went across the street to retrieve my stash of cash but someone had beaten me to it. All of the money was gone. I denied any responsibility but I’m sure everyone there suspected me heavily. After all, I was the one sleeping next to the wallets. Luckily, my thieving days are behind me. It’s too much stress and guilt!
Roy: How old were you? And what the hell would you have bought with the money?
Jason: I think I was about 10 years old. I was really into candy, fireworks and pocket knives at that time. I’m sure I would have bought plenty of each if I’d had my way.
Roy: Sounds like you were well on your way to becoming a Batman Villain, though actually owning a pocket knife may be too extreme for your average villain. Did you watch much of Batman as a kid?
Jason: Yes, I used to watch it all the time at my grandmother’s house. She used to run a daycare and I was there every day while my parents were at work. The kids would all gather around the tiny color TV she had in the “play room” after nap time and watch things like “Electric Company”, “Sesame Street”, “3-2-1 Contact” and, of course, “Batman”. I loved all of the fight scenes with the “BOOM”, “POW”, “SPLORCH” and such. I loved the villains the most. The Joker was my favorite. I’ve always wanted a purple suit.
Roy: What was it about the Joker that made him your favorite?
Jason: I’ve been the class clown for as long as I can remember. I loved the Joker’s little gags and jokes that he would pull. He seemed to delight in making the city of Gotham slightly inconvenienced purely for his own pleasure. The Joker in that show was a prankster. It wasn’t until many years later that his true psychotic nature would be revealed in the movies. The most ridiculous of his crimes that I remember was to kidnap the world’s greatest surfer and transfer his surfing knowledge to his own brain via a couple of colanders and some tubing. All of this was so that he, The Joker, would be the world’s greatest surfer. Once he had finally achieved the title, all of the country’s youth would follow him blindly into a life of crime. I still believe the only reason that episode existed was so that everyone could see the “Bat trunks” when Batman decided to hang ten against the Joker.
Also, the laugh. That evil, maniacal laugh is classic.
Roy: As you’ve demonstrated beautifully here, Batman is RIDICULOUS. How does doing something like Holy 1960s Batman, Batman! compare process-wise to doing more dramatic improv, like Showdown (an improvised, gritty, dramatic serial Western)? Is it two sides of the same coin, or do you find the way you approach the improv to be completely different?
Jason: The approach to these two shows couldn’t be more different. In “Showdown” we focused on “personas” that might exist in that world. Things like “The Tyrant”, “The Spoiled Child” or “The Do-Gooder” to name but a few. Then we would take these personas and put them in different occupations and situations and see how they would interact with the world. We did a lot of “table work” where we would write down things like “How does everyone see this person” or, “How does this person see themselves”. I felt like we really delved into character work. It makes sense since we were doing a serialized show we had to know a lot about the character type we were playing. We also practiced being very mean to each other quite a bit. Surprisingly, this was very difficult and it helped build the ensemble tremendously. You try telling Shana Merlin that she’s a goat-fucking, puss-filled, cock-sucking snatch-thrasher to her face and not feel bad about it. I dare you!
As an ensemble member of Batman, you have to learn the “rules” of the world. Nobody can die…Nobody can curse…Batman can fix everything…stuff like that. We spent a lot of time practicing different scenarios and getting the beats of the opening of the show down pat. We also practiced being everyday, average Gothamites. Those people are very well meaning, good spirited idiots that are lucky none of the villains in town ever wanted to cause them actual harm. I think they’ve all been spoiled by Batman. They don’t have to have common sense anymore.
The major difference between these two shows is realism. In Showdown, we tried to be as realistic as we could. We tried to show bad people making good decisions and good people making bad decisions. Life was hard, mean and short in Showdown. In Batman, the heroes have been baked into a pie, attacked by autonomous badminton rackets, and foiled by bees making honey in the engine of the Batmobile. Both are very fun to play in but you have to come at them from very different angles.
Roy: I think “Foiled by Bees” might be the best band name ever. So say you are a villain with unlimited resources. Give us YOUR plan for foiling Batman and Robin once and for all. If pies, badminton rackets and bees don’t work, what will?
Jason: The key to bringing Batman and Robin down is to break them apart. Batman loves women. Robin loves Batman. I would spend billions of dollars creating a fully functional, robotic “Vixen Suit” that I would wear to seduce Batman. A healthy dose of “love gas” couldn’t hurt either. Once Batman was enamored with me, I would convince him to leave Robin and join with me to “fight crime”. “It’s for his own good” I would say. “You wouldn’t want him to get hurt. That would forever be on your conscience”. Batman would send Robin packing with all of the grace of a young boy shouting at a stray dog to stop following him. Robin would leave in tears and I would keep Batman nice and drugged up while I sent my henchmen out to do my bidding. If Robin tried to get in the way, he would easily be captured without having his big bat-shaped protector there to bail him out. Once I captured him, I would coat him in bronze and display him in the foyer of the Batcave as a tribute to all of the great things he did for my dear Batman. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Roy: Unlimited resources, and you opt for the Bugs Bunny gambit. NICE.
Thanks, Jason!
This weekend is your final chance to catch Batman, but you’ve got TWO chances: Friday at 8PM (with Jason) and Saturday at 6pm (with Kareem). Get your tickets here, or you’re out of luck.