
The saying goes, "I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known." But for me, I am the combined effort of every weird TV show I watched when I was a small child. If it weren’t for the impossibly dark Nickelodeon cartoon Invader Zim, or the live-action Lynchian series The Adventures of Pete and Pete, I might’ve grown up to be an accountant, or a data analyst. The one show I credit with my becoming a poet and entertainment writer, however, is Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Courage the Cowardly Dog hit Cartoon Network some 25 years ago, and I had the esteemed honor (they sent me an invite via Instagram DM and I screamed) to attend a special screening dubbed the Courage the Cowardly Dog Scare-a-thon. The sold-out screening, hosted by the NYC Halloween Film Festival, featured an intro and Q&A from none other than creator John R. Dilworth - and a surprise appearance from composer Jody Gray and writer William Hohauser.