Brian VanHooker-Contributor

Brian VanHooker

December, 2025
He was Senior Features Writer at Cracked and a Staff Writer at MEL. He has written for Inverse, Inside Hook, Maxim, Men's Health, Fatherly, SFGate etc
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About Brian VanHooker

Brian VanHooker is a Pop Culture Writer specializing in Celebrity Interviews and In-Depth Oral Histories in the areas of Comedy, TV, Film, Cartoons, Comic Books, 80s/90s Nostalgia, Fatherhood, Retro Games and Food (especially Pizza). He was the Senior Features Writer at Cracked and a Staff Writer at MEL. He has written for Inverse, Inside Hook, Maxim, Men's Health, Fatherly, SFGate and more. He's the co-creator of the comic book/cartoon Barnum & Elwood and The Tramp, an award-winning comedy pilot starring John O’Hurley. He also hosts a TMNT interview podcast called Turtle Tracks and was once called a “Good Guy” by Mr. T.

Latest

Mitchells vs Machines
An oral history of The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Netflix's quirky sci-fi masterpiece

Co-directors/writers Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe look back at one of the only good things to come out of the pandemic

dqredevil born again
Daredevil: Born Again just killed off its best new character

Can the show survive his absence?

3
X-Files
Meet the woman who marathoned X-Files for 9 straight days in a bunker (and has a new Scully theory)

The endurance test is out there

3
Dominc Toretto in a car
Vin Diesel still doesn't understand what makes Fast Five a perfect Fast & Furious movie

Nothing beats that vault heist

4
Michael Jackson and Professor X
7 movie roles Michael Jackson wanted to play (but thankfully didn’t)

You wouldn’t want your kid saved by this Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

4
quentin tarantino
Quentin Tarantino's divisive western is getting a surprising sequel

Django meets Zorro may be riding to a theater near you

2
Stranger Things 2 episode 6
Stranger Things: Tales from '85 fixes the final season's biggest mistake

And it makes for the best episode of the cartoon spinoff

3
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) stand in front of trees in The X-Files episode Dreamland 2
30 years ago, a forgotten X-Files episode changed the course of the show
TV

How Assistant Director Skinner became an integral part of The X-Files

4
Baby and Earl Sinclair
35 years later, the writer behind Jim Henson's weirdest creation looks back: 'Our show was notorious'

Writer/designer Kirk Thatcher on the origins of the prehistoric sitcom and its infamous finale

3
Michael movie still
Give me this banned Simpsons episode over the new Michael Jackson biopic any day

You won't find "Stark Raving Dad" on Disney Plus, and for good reason

8
eleven in a rage on Stranger Things season 4
Stranger Things: Tales from '85 creates a blatant plot hole in the Stranger Things timeline

Who the hell is Nikki?

Stranger_Things_Tales_from_85_RemindTeaserStill_5-1
Stranger Things: Tales from '85 recaptures the original's early season charm

The series is a pleasant surprise for an IP way past its prime

5
Wile E. Coyote hold a sign that reads
The Coyote vs. ACME trailer is full of hilarious digs at WB

Of course you know, this means war

2
Daredevil in his black outfit
Daredevil finally reveals what [SPOILERS] has been up to for the past 7 years

Spoiler alert! Watch the latest episode of Daredevil: Born Again before reading this article

Shredders TMNT Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem sequel director promises Shredder will be a 'spectacle'

Jeff Rowe teases the newest take on TMNT's original villain

4
Max and Lucas, both dressed in winter clothes, bike down the road through a snowy forest in Stranger Things Tales from '85
Why the new animated Stranger Things series could only fit between seasons 2 and 3

The Zoomer is a big part of it

The title card from the Mummies Alive! TV series, featuring a bas-relief pharaoh in a traditional headdress above the series title
If Lee Cronin’s The Mummy looks too gross for you, try this lighter animated Mummy fare from the 1990s

Mummies Alive! was a solid late-1990s cartoon that's mostly been forgotten

1
robocop holding a gun
5 anti-AI movies Tubi’s new chatbot would never recommend you

Et tu, Tubi?

iron man
Former Marvel Studios artists speak out on Disney layoffs and possible AI use

Marvel’s visual development team shaped the MCU, but now many are out of work

Mel Brooks as Master Yogurt
The Spaceballs sequel's new title proves we can't have nice things

It’s not called Spaceballs: The Search for More Money, but it should be

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