The It's Alive Show is a television program produced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 by Clownhouse Productions. The show is aired Saturday nights at 10:00 PM on WBGN

WBGN-LP

WBGN-CD is a Class A television station located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station is owned and operated by Bruno-Goodworth Network, Inc. WBGN-CD began broadcasting in 1995 on channel 59 with the call sign W59BT. WBGN simulcasts on nine Class A television stations that are strategically...

, a local station and streamed online. Each show includes a horror or science fiction B movie

B movie

A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 with trivia, sketch comedy and live music in the breaks. The It's Alive Show premiered on WBGN on July 30, 2005.

Creator/producer Mark Menold plays horror host Professor Emcee Square, a dapper zombie

Zombie

Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...

 in a tuxedo who revels in hitting his sidekick, Stiffy the Dead Clown (played by Susan Norman) with a rubber chicken

Rubber chicken

A rubber chicken is a prop used in comedy. The phrase is also used as a description for food served at speeches, conventions, and other large meetings, and as a metaphor for speechmaking.-Comedy:...

. The cast also includes a mutant hunchback, an opinionated demon, a diminutive (and mute) nosferatu, and a busty female mummy.

The It's Alive Show also organizes Zombie Fest, an annual horror convention and zombie walk

Zombie Walk

A zombie walk is an organized public gathering of people who dress up in zombie costumes...

 in Monroeville, Pennsylvania

Monroeville, Pennsylvania

Monroeville is a home rule municipality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located about east of the city of Pittsburgh, Monroeville is a bustling suburb with mixed residential and commercial developments...

. The Monroeville Mall

Monroeville Mall

Monroeville Mall is a two-level, enclosed shopping mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, eastof Pittsburgh. It is located near the junction of Interstate 376 and I-76...

 Zombie Walk set a Guinness world record on October 29, 2006, for the "Largest Gathering of Zombies" with a total of 894 zombies and again October 28, 2007, with a total number of 1028 zombies and over 1,200 pounds of food collected for local food bank

Food bank

A food bank or foodbank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes mostly donated food to a wide variety of agencies that in turn feed the hungry. The largest sources of food are for-profit growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers who in the normal course of business have...

s. The event has spawned World Zombie Day, taking the charity zombie walk world wide by encouraging other cities to hold their walks on the same day and collect items for local food banks. The Monroeville Mall Zombie Walk also won the 2007 Rondo Hatton Award

Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards

The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award is an award presented annually by the Classic Horror Film Board to honor the top works in horror in film, television, home video, and publishing.-The award:...

 for "Best Fan Event."

History

Originally, the program was to be a cooking show, proposed by Mark Menold to Adelphia Studios. After being informed that there could be no cooking with an open flame or otherwise in their studios, Menold came up with the idea of a hosted horror program on the spot. Taking his cues from other horror hosts such as Pittsburgh's Chilly Billy (Bill Cardille

Bill Cardille

William Robert "Bill" Cardille , is a broadcast personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Early career:...

) and Philadelphia's Doctor Shock, Menold assembled a cast and began taping and broadcasting his program.

Despite a passionate fanbase and tremendous local visibility and good will, the show faced an untimely demise when Comcast

Comcast

Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

 announced that it would no longer carry WBGN due to a contract dispute. On January 31, 2009, The It's Alive Show aired a live program from WBGN studios, ostensibly the show's final episode. Fittingly, that night's broadcast hosted the legendary Plan 9 From Outer Space

Plan 9 from Outer Space

Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...

. Menold ended the program with a note of optimism, however, vowing that the show would continue in some format.

The show has continued on WBGN in reruns since the station was removed from the Comcast lineup. WBGN is still available in digital over the air format and was added to FIOS systems in the Pittsburgh area as of March 2009.

True to his word, Menold announced on May 13, 2009 that The It's Alive Show would return to the airwaves on WPMY

WPMY

WPMY is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 from a transmitter located in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, WPMY is the sister station of...

, another Pittsburgh-based channel, on June 13, 2009 in the midnight to 2:00 a.m. slot. Repeat shows will continue to air on WBGN at 10 PM on Saturdays. This happy news followed a massive campaign of emails and telephone calls to Comcast, as well as an online petition signed by over 2,000 people and a protest staged at Comcast's headquarters in Robinson Township.

Awards and notoriety

• October 10, 2010 - World Record pending - Largest Gathering of Zombies, 4700+, Market Square, Pittsburgh PA, Guinness Book of World Records
• March 21, 2009 - Rondo Hatton Award, "Best Fan Event", World Zombie Day
• October 26, 2008 - World Record - Largest Gathering of Zombies, 1344 Zombies, Monroeville Mall, Monroeville PA, Guinness Book of World Records
• March 18, 2008 - Rondo Hatton Award, "Best Fan Event", The It's Alive Show's Monroeville Mall Zombie Walk
• October 28, 2007 - World Record - Largest Gathering of Zombies, 1028 Zombies, Monroeville Mall, Monroeville PA, Guinness Book of World Records
• October 29, 2006 - World Record - Largest Gathering Of Zombies, 894 Zombies, Monroeville Mall, Monroeville PA, Guinness Book of World Records
• Sponsor/Promoter - Zombie Fest and World Zombie Day

Fan base

The show has a rabid fan base called "The Lifeless," who not only frequent their website and message board, but also help in promoting Zombie Fest, organizing get-togethers, and recruiting merchants, advertisers, and other fans.

Regular cast

• Professor Emcee Square - Mark Menold
• Pointy - Doug Appel
• Stiffy the Dead Clown - Shannon Norman
• Fritz III - Eric Forster
• Leah The Mummy Girl - Bethany Tryc

Puppets

• Mother - Mark Menold (Credited as Grandma Tippy Toe)
• Urnie - Doug Appel, Susan Norman, Joel Pavuk (Credited as Harry Menold)
• Cyst with Teeth and Hair

Recurring characters

• Hellga Scheidenentzündung, Granny Square, Mini FZ - Angela Rocco
• Mr. Neighbor - Eric Forster
• Cal-Tiki, Porno Batman - Joel Pavuk
• Super Chicken - Eve Heidekat
• The Whispering Nantucket - Steve Elkin
• Prof 5000 - Jim Balog

Guest appearances

• Scott A. Johnson
  Scott A. Johnson
  Scott A. Johnson is an American author in the genre of horror.His first novel, An American Haunting, was released in 2004 by Harbor House Books. He currently serves as the Literary and Paranormal Studies Editor for Dread Central, where he pens "Cold Spots", an article series about real haunted...
  
  
• Mel Practice
• Kyra Schon
  Kyra Schon
  Kyra Schon is an American actress known for her role in the George A. Romero film Night of the Living Dead as Karen Cooper, the trowel-wielding zombie girl. She is a regular contributor to Dread Central, an online magazine dedicated to horror entertainment...
  
  
• Phat ManDee
• Tommy Amoeba
• The Forbidden 5
• The Peekaboo Review
• Triangle and Rhino
• Norman Nardini
• Caustic Christ
• Steelman
• Kabuki Thunder
• Triangle and Rhino
• Billy Pilgrim
• House of Assassins

Crew

• Mark Menold - Producer/Writer/Director/Editor
• Doug Appel - Musical and Technical Director
• Eric Forster - Make Up & Special Effects
• Susan Norman - Writer
• Bruce Lentz - Film Archivist; Horror Historian
• Bumble Bee Slim - Horror Historian
• Joel Pavuk - Art Director

House band

The show's house band

House band

For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...

 is DEATHMOBILE, first referred to as "The Singularities," then "The Banana Peel Coffin Jockeys."

• Professor Emcee Square - Vocals, Guitar
• Pointy - Guitar, lead and backing vocals, producer
• Austin Bowen - Drums
• Rick Link - Bass
• Malley Branchetti - keys and backing vocals