By Michele Karlsberg–
In the great tradition of Vampira and Zacherley, Stan the Mechanic is the new TV horror host who has hit the airwaves. Stan, as the one and only Satanic Mechanic, has been chosen by the Devil to perpetuate all sorts of mischief and mayhem against humankind by using automobiles. During his downtime he likes to relax and crack jokes with his friends while watching horror movies.
Stan the Mechanic was created by actor, writer, and comedian John A. Hernandez. A proud New Yorker of Puerto Rican/Italian heritage, Hernandez is an out-and-proud gay man who identifies as a member of the bear community. (As he says on his website: “Hairy. Homosexual. Horror Host.”) With Stan the Mechanic, he hopes to give visibility to the LGBTQ community and people of size in the horror genre. A longtime horror fan, Hernandez is thrilled to bring Stan the Mechanic to a global audience. This month I met with John at Stan’s shop to check in on his TV series.
Michele Karlsberg: When did you first come up with the concept of Stan?
John Hernandez: I’ve always wanted to bring a new horror host character to life, and I knew I wanted him to be a mechanic as a wink to Michael Myers, my favorite horror character (who famously wears coveralls). It all crystallized in June of 2019. My husband and I were attending a horror convention and having a couple of drinks when we got to brainstorming about my character. We were trying to figure out what would make a mechanic spooky. As any good gays would, we turned to a musical for inspiration and remembered the “satanic mechanic” mentioned in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Stan is a derivative of that. So essentially, he is Stan, the Satanic Mechanic. But he’s a good demon! You know, like naughty and mischievous, not feasting on the souls of the innocent and stuff like that. The rest of the character flowed naturally from there.
Michele Karlsberg: Are there any challenges creating the script and being the lead actor? Writer’s block? What is your writing process?
John Hernandez: I look at it as an advantage to both write and perform the material. As I am writing it, I am picturing the delivery, hand gestures, and “shtick” that will go along with each line. The pressure typically comes from me worrying if people will find it funny, but mostly it is lots of fun to do. When I am script writing, I will watch lots of movies until one inspires a storyline for Stan in my head. I would say, for every script written, I’ve experimented with three to four films. Once the story becomes clear and I think it’s funny, I proceed into research on the filmmaking process. After that, I lock myself in a room and write until the episode is complete. It’s a definite rush. I am looking forward to writing more episodes soon.
Michele Karlsberg: Do you think there has always been an interest in horror hosts, or is that interest a more recent occurrence?
John Hernandez: Oh, for sure! Once the world met Vampira in 1954, the interest in horror hosts boomed, and by 1957 they were a necessity when the Shock Theater collection of films were released. These were a set of classic Universal (Studios) monster movies packaged with lower profile mysteries and spy movies. Horror hosts like Zacherley would host the films to both standardize the runtime of the movies (since they were anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes) and to give the audience a reason to tune into the “less desirable” titles. The tradition continues through to today.
John A. Hernandez is the creator and star of the new horror host show “Stan the Mechanic.” He resides in New York City. https://www.stanthemechanic.com/about
Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management specializes in publicity for the LGBTQ+ community. This year, Karlsberg celebrates 32 years of successful marketing campaigns. For more information: https://www.michelekarlsberg.com
Published on March 25, 2021
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