The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs started as a one-off special. A one-night only event. Horror streamer Shudder partnered with Drive-In host Joe Bob Briggs to bring a 24-hour live stream to Shudder TV in July 2018. The marathon was so successful that Shudder greenlit two more The Last Drive-In specials for the year and a full-blown weekly TV series to debut in 2019.
And now here we are, five seasons in, with a sixth having just premiered. The drive-in will never die!The Last Drive-In host extraordinaire Joe Bob Briggs comes into our living room on Friday nights with co-host Darcy the Mail Girl to bring us a double-feature of drive-in goodness, accompanied by special guests. Each episode is filled with a hefty amount of puns and dad jokes, along with a hell of a lot of movie history and behind-the-scenes insight.
History of The Last Drive-In
When The Last Drive-In first hit the Shudder airwaves, the format was a single massive 24-hour horror movie marathon. Between the movies, Joe Bob Briggs and co-host Darcy the Mail Girl (Diana Prince) would interject tidbits related to the movie currently screening for at-home drive-in aficionados. The show’s first season gave audiences a double-feature in each episode, along with Joe Bob and Darcy popping in during breaks in familiar horror host fashion, accompanied by guests.
We are now up to five full seasons of The Last Drive-In. As Joe Bob put it in a recent FANGORIA interview, “I’ve done the same show three times now. This is the same show I did on the movie channel and on TNT. I don’t know any other show like this where you just add things to it, and it just grows organically over the years.”
This sixth season, however, shakes things up a bit. For this new season of The Last Drive-In, Joe Bob and Darcy will present a single movie instead of the double feature we’ve become accustomed to. One more big change for the new season: instead of every Friday night, new episodes will air on Shudder biweekly. “We listened to the fans about what they wanted, and what they wanted was more shows. So we’re doing single movies every other week, but we actually end up having more movies because we have such a long season. It’s more movies than those compact 10-week double-feature seasons that we were doing. And I think this is going to work out well.”
It’s true! Thanks to the new format, this season will give us six additional movies. More Joe Bob Briggs and “Darcy” Diana Prince throughout the year is a good thing! We typically have a long hiatus between seasons, but this new format stretches out in a way that means more Friday nights spent watching along. And the single movie format is good news for our East Coast friends who have to stay up pretty late to last for the entire double feature episodes.
Joe Bob Briggs: A Cultural Icon
John Bloom AKA Joe Bob Briggs began his career as a writer and film critic before turning beloved host. Bloom created the Joe Bob persona and started reviewing the sort of drive-in fare we celebrate today. His hosting career, as we know it today, kicked off with Joe Bob’s Drive-in Theater on The Movie Channel from 1986 to 1996, followed by the TNT television series MonsterVision from 1996 to 2000.
After an eighteen-year hiatus from hosting drive-in movies for our weekly pleasure, Joe Bob returned for one night with The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs streaming on Shudder. Many horror fans grew up on MonsterVision, so Joe Bob’s return was a massive jolt of nostalgia.
It’s safe to say that the whole existence of Joe Bob Briggs essentially embodies the old adage, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Or, I suppose, one cinephile’s trash is another’s treasure. Joe Bob dives into the pile often discarded by the mainstream and emerges with some real gems. Hell, even the “stinkers” of the bunch tend to have a hell of a lot of entertainment value. Joe Bob’s impact within the horror genre resonates. We say it all the time: get noisy about the stuff you like. And Joe Bob Briggs gets noisy championing these drive-in movies.
Fan Community and Engagement
Joe Bob fans are a devoted bunch. Take a peek at Twitter on any Drive-In Friday to see “The Last Drive-In” trending like clockwork. A special thing about The Last Drive-In, especially in this on-demand age of streaming that we live in, is the live watch element.
We don’t have many opportunities to watch something simultaneously with thousands of other people while sharing reactions in real-time on social media. Reality and Awards shows spawn a bit of that, but it’s different. The Last Drive-In caters to a very niche audience, so every episode feels like a massive watch party, akin to attending a repertoire screening at your favorite local arthouse theater. Add to that the fact that Joe Bob and Darcy are also participating and interacting with fans in real-time, and you’ve got a pretty unique recipe for something special.
“That’s the main thing that I love about it. We created appointment TV on streaming and got the best of both worlds. We have the big event time when we’re all together and communicating online, but then we’re also available two days later. You can watch the show on your phone by yourself if you want to.
That’s not the way I recommend celebrating these movies. Let’s face it: a lot of times, you could watch whatever movie we’re showing somewhere else. There are many places you could find it, but it’s not so much the movie as the celebration of the movie, the way we talk about it, and the way we either honor it or sometimes deconstruct it.”
Perhaps the most prevalent example of this devoted “Mutant” fanbase is during the annual The Last Drive-In Christmas specials, where Joe Bob and Darcy use the episode to raise money for various charities. They typically auction off an array of screen-used props, personal collectible memorabilia, specialized merch, and unique experiences.
One year, they auctioned off a chance to “get married by Joe Bob Briggs,” and the winning couple tied the knot on air the following year in The Last Drive-In Valentine’s Day special, Joe Bob’s Vicious Vegas Valentine, at a Vegas chapel. Another auction included a chance to sit down with Joe Bob and Darcy for an all-expense paid meal at one of Joe Bob’s favorite establishments — Cracker Barrel.
The Joe Bob Ruins Christmas special raised over $150,000 for charities, and in 2023 the official auction page for Joe Bob’s Creepy Christmas reported viewers of The Last Drive-In raised $200,000 dollars for four charitable causes. Now that’s putting the platform to good use.
Unique Features of the Show
The whole purpose of creating the Joe Bob persona was to celebrate the “low-brow.” The Last Drive-In movies range from popular cult classics such as Day of the Dead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Sleepaway Camp to lesser-seen or more independent endeavors like Babadook, Fried Barry, and Scare Package. Without fail, fans take to social media each episode to share these titles are often a first-time watch.
“When we show a movie like Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker or The Baby, movies that have been forgotten over the years, we can recreate that time when you could make anything. We’re not in that time anymore. There are too many gatekeepers controlling what we can watch. It’s great when somebody says, ‘This is my first time watching.’ It’s even greater when they say, ‘This is my first horror film,’ or ‘This is my first time really enjoying this type of film.’ There’s converting people to the movie, then there’s converting people to the genre, and that’s great.”
Being a movie fan has a certain amount of evangelism to it. If you love movies, there is something that burns deep within you, calling you to spread the word whenever you see something enjoyable. The best way to get some love for underseen or underappreciated movies is to share them and get other folks excited about them. Joe Bob is something akin to a head cheerleader in this regard. Championing movies that may otherwise get left behind.
He also routinely takes audiences out of their comfort zone, occasionally showcasing something a bit out of the box, like anime or silent films. Perfect Blue and Nosferatu have both been featured on past episodes of The Last Drive-In. Often, he goes for something wonderful but criminally underseen outside of our little bubble, like Tetsuo and other foreign gems. Even a notoriously “bad” movie like Things is celebrated at the Drive-In.
As horror movie lovers, it’s all part of our history. Whether or not it happens to be our particular thing, these movies are still worth watching and discussing. At least once in a lifetime. And more often than not, folks come away from an episode with a new favorite.
The Last Drive-In was essentially made for the folks who salivate over the extra features on DVDs and Blu-ray releases. During each movie, there are intermittent breaks for Joe Bob and Darcy to offer up some good-natured banter, along with a heaping helping of behind-the-scenes insight from the production, along with Joe Bob’s famous monologues and in-depth commentary. Joe Bob is the guy you want on your team for horror trivia night. In addition to Joe Bob spitting some serious knowledge on his Drive-In audience, he often invites guests from the featured movies to join him and share some first-hand tales from their experiences during production.
Memorable Episodes
One major benefit of a legacy career is inviting your friends to swing by for a visit. Joe Bob Briggs has rustled up quite the roster of notable guest appearances over five seasons and a bevy of specials, from Queen Barbara Crampton to David Dastmalchian, recurring guest Felissa Rose, Doug Bradley, Bruce Campbell, The Boulet Brothers, and Svengoolie. The sixth season of The Last Drive-In kicked off with a special Roger Corman tribute featuring guests of honor Roger and Julie Corman – and a surprise visit from one of Roger’s oldest friends and collaborators, Bruce Dern.
Of the hundreds of interviews he’s done, Joe Bob ranks Corman’s season 6 appearance at the top of his list. “It was magic. I will never forget it, and I was trying to get Roger off of his game. He’s got standard responses for a lot of questions that people ask him over and over again, and I think I was partially successful at getting him to talk about things that I haven’t heard him talk about before. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done.”
The guest list across five seasons is essentially a rundown of horror legends, and we’re curious to see who else joins the party for the sixth season of The Last Drive-In.
Behind the Scenes
The Last Drive-In team itself has become a bit of an ensemble, with Joe Bob and Darcy at the helm. John Brennan is the composer of The Last Drive-In theme song turned anthem “The Drive-In Oath.” Brennan is also the production manager and music supervisor for the show and has gone on to appear as an actor in the series during various skits and music videos. Yuki Nakamura is the show’s production designer and has appeared in several episodes, much like Brennan. The Last Drive-In is a family affair, involving the behind-the-scenes team in the action.
When The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs premiered as a 24-hour marathon back in 2018, the response was so massive that it crashed the damn servers. True story. I was one of the Drive-In audience members frantically attempting to tune in and stay up all night with Joe Bob, but due to some technical difficulties, many of us only caught a portion of the marathon. Crashing the servers proved to be a very good problem to have, as the massive response to Joe Bob’s return prompted a continuous supply of The Last Drive-In for us all to enjoy on a regular basis.
Influence on Horror Culture
You know we will always champion true blue human curation. It’s part of the reason we love Shudder in general. Putting movies in front of eyeballs keeps movies in the conversation. In a time where we have instant access to streaming titles at our fingertips while simultaneously living in danger of certain titles getting left behind, deemed as “not worth” the effort of making the jump to a new medium, there is something about having a custom curated double-feature to look forward to. Especially given the fact that Joe Bob tends to champion “Drive-In movies” that is, films mainstream critics might dub “B-movies” or not worth paying much attention to.
Some of the films The Last Drive-In gets trending on Twitter on any given Friday night, surely cause those not in the know to scratch their heads on more than one occasion, but it has fans of The Last Drive-In hooting and hollering at full volume. Film preservation is important, and that doesn’t just apply because the Academy says so. In a sea of endless choices, The Last Drive-In often turns our attention to some underseen gems, giving them something of a second life.
Awards And Joe Bob’s Legacy
In 2019, Joe Bob was named the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards’ Monster Kid of the Year. The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs has won multiple FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards and pretty much all manner of accolades offered by contemporary horror awards. And for good reason. Joe Bob Briggs is the defender of the drive-in, a celluloid shepherd, and a paladin of pictures.
Conclusion
The Last Drive-In is a place to celebrate the under-celebrated with like-minded folks who appreciate the popcorn-fueled fare that, more often than not, tends to be shunned by the mainstream. But that’s just the way we like it. Because when you’re in the company of misfits, it’s a guaranteed good time.
Whether you’re a devoted Last Drive-In die-hard Mutant or new to the party, there’s never a bad point to jump in. You can start with the first episode of season 6, then go back and dive into older episodes if you’re so inclined. Find more on Joe Bob’s official site.
The Last Drive-In returned for season 6 with a special Roger Corman episode on March 15. Brand new episodes are streaming every other Friday, which means you can watch the first episode of the new format on March 29. HorrorGirl says: Check it out.
For more Joe Bob, check out our interview with Joe Bob Briggs chatting about The Last Drive-In season 6, the greatness of Roger Corman, and Joe Bob’s ultimate mission to bring Walpurgisnacht to the masses.
