Holy 1960s Batman, Batman!, is The Hideout’s most recent mainstage show. Every show features a guest villain, and the guest villain for this Saturday’s show (part of the Improvised Play Festival) is Kareem Badr. Kareem is one of the owners of the Hideout, and member of the improvised theatre company Parallelogramophonograph. Let’s talk to Kareem!
Roy: Having known you for a good number of years, I know that you love a good villain. What makes a good villain for you? Who are some of your favorites?
Kareem: I think for me, a villain’s got to be sexy. Not necessarily sexual or attractive, but they need to have that totally magnetic charisma that makes you unable to look away. And then you feel guilty for taking such pleasure in watching the villain do their thing. A good villain needs to have some mystery to them, too. It makes them dangerous and unpredictable. You’ll never quite know quite what they’re going to do next.
Favorite villains. I’ll just name a few that come to mind, though I guess some of these are anti-heroes: Gary Oldman’s character in Leon, The Joker in The Dark Knight (he was just the embodiment of sexy chaos), Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men, Jack Torence in The Shining, The Operative in Serenity (he was so cold, calculating and damn good at his job.) I guess maybe I’m drawn to the sort of eccentric crazy villains for some reason. I don’t know what that says about me.
I could keep listing villains all day. They’re just so watchable. Without a good villain, the hero doesn’t really shine. The audience doesn’t really care.
Oh, and Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York!
Roy: So do any of the villains in the 1960s Batman show meet your criteria? I’m guessing probably not. Did you watch much of the show as kid, and if so, what sticks out in your memory?
Kareem: Ha. No, not in the least. That whole show is a live action cartoon, but it was completely intentional. The villains are all really fun, though. I mean, come on, Cesar Romero with his mustache painted white? It doesn’t get campier than that. I remember liking The Riddler a lot. I actually got to meet Frank Gorshin 6 or 7 years ago at a dinky comic convention in Austin.
I think I probably watched the entire series one summer when I was really young. I have a distinct memory of coming home from swim lessons in the morning and immediately watching Batman…followed by The Monkees. The funny thing about that is that it never occurred to me that the style of the show was campy or comical. It was just…Batman to me. I actually want to go back and watch more of the show, since I remember all of the people popping out of the windows, for example, but I had absolutely no idea that they were celebrity cameos. I was a kid in the 80s, watching a show from the 60s, seeing cameos from celebrities who were probably famous in an even earlier decade…that’s just too many cultural time-jumps.
On a slightly related note, I have a vague memory of seeing a touring Batman stage show when I was really young. I am pretty sure it was pre-Tim Burton Batman, and it was basically the old show played out on stage. I haven’t been able to find any reference to it on the all-powerful internet, though…
Roy: What was Frank Gorshin like when you met him? Was he happy to be there?
Kareem: Oh, it was pretty uneventful. He was just a nice old man, waiting in line to sign autographs that people paid for. I think I was mainly surprised to see that he was still alive.
Roy: Still, it’s pretty fascinating that after all this time people still care about the show and the people that were in it. It only ran for 3 seasons. Why do you think people still love the 1960s Batman show?
Kareem: It was so over the top and had such a distinct style. I don’t think there’s a kid or young adult alive between the late 60s and late 80s that can’t see those BIFF! BAM! BOP! onomatopoeia fighting words in their heads. Or hear the ridiculous horn section cacophony that played when the words flew onto the screen. I don’t even know what the original target audience was when it first aired, but I think it became a staple of syndicated kids TV for 20 years. At least it was for me. Maybe the bright colors and costumes make a lasting impression on children?
And, as cheesy as the show was, it actually had some pretty great acting. Or distinct, anyway. Adam West is just ridiculous. And the the show featured a lot of great actors as villains–Burgess Meredith and Vincent Price come to mind. I think everyone involved in the show must have been having a really fun time, which is pretty obvious to the audience….well, everyone except for poor Burt Ward who apparently had a never-ending battle with bricks, explosives, and uncomfortably-binding gaff tape…
Roy: Final, traditional question: If you could rig the hat and pick your own villain name for your show, what would it be?
Kareem: I can’t really think of what an ideal villain name would be. I just want one that will let me play crazy and over-the-top and, possible, cackle maniacally.
Roy: Thanks, Kareem.
As of writing this, there are still a *few* tickets left to the show. Wanna see Kareem in action? Buy them online here.