


It was about a guy in a big, red monster suit named Jerkbeast sitting in a cable access studio with two dirtbags named Marty and Sweet Benny. People would call into the show and hurl insults at them and they’d insult the callers back. It was fucking hilarious. I was instantly hooked and I made sure to watch it every week. Then a few weeks later I was in a local Safeway and who walks in but fucking Sweet Benny in person! I was starstruck. I think I managed to get out “You’re Sweet Benny!” before nervously running out of the store. After that I mailed them some of my comics, and then one thing lead to another, and the next thing you know I’m playing a Klansman character in the “Jerkbeast” movie. It was a dream come true.
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Now you’re saying “Why am I reading all this? I don’t give a fuck about this guy’s dreams.” Well, this article isn’t about me. It’s about Calvin Lee Reeder. He’s the dirtbag who played Sweet Benny all those years ago. Now he’s a movie-making machine with a brand new film out calledThe Oregonian, one of the weirdest and most original horror movies to come out in the last 10 years. I recently got a chance to catch up with Calvin and ask him some shit about the movie making biz.
Vice: I met you in a supermarket in Seattle like 10 years ago. How did that event change your life drastically? Calvin:I decided to start reading.Back in the early 2000s you were on a hilarious cable access show called Jerkbeast. Whenever I try to describe that show to people they look at me like I just pissed in a champagne glass and drank it. How would you describe the show to some ignorant dope that’s never seen it?I'd say we dressed my friend Brady up in a paper maché monster suit and had a real bad time.Did working on the Jerkbeast TV show inspire you to go further and start making movies? Or was that the plan all along?Sort of the plan all along. We turned the public access show into a movie because we thought it should live forever. I don't really think that anymore.Your first few films you co-directed with your Jerkbeast co-star Brady Hall. Did you like sharing the director’s spot with someone else or was it drag?
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