Conventions and Musicals, Horror Edition: Midsummer Scream 2026 Recap

We should talk about Midsummer Scream and not to be confused with the screaming in Midsummar.

Yeah, valid point. Those are two different things. Even though there might be some dudes in bear suits walking around, you never know. Hopefully they're not like actually on fire, because that'd be weird. But there definitely could be some Dannies walking around with some floral head pieces.

Yeah, and the whole the whole dress, the May Queen dress and all of that. Anybody who is committing to either one of those costumes in this Southern California heat might might go so much to you. It's too much. It's too much.

The podcast.

I know that is the only downside of having like literally the best horror convention on the planet in the middle of the summer heat, is that you're like, I wanna wear like I did full Annabelle last year, which was amazing, you know, but you've got the tights and the layers and the makeup that you don't want running off your face. So yeah, it was hot, but it was worth it for sure. I think I've seen people like there was one guy who did like the full Five Nights at Freddy's costume, and he had fans installed in this animatronic suit that he built. And I was like, that's the smartest thing I've ever heard of.

He's playing 3D chess, and we're playing checkers. Yeah, that's so smart.

So, spoiler alert, if you haven't heard, the theme is musical, right? Which is so exciting. And my hat is off to David and Claire for executing this and like pulling this off because if you have a horror convention, that's a lot of work and moving pieces and people and shows and panels and scheduling. That's so there's a lot of stuff that they are already doing so fabulously. And then you add a musical theme on top of it. Are you bananas a little bit? But the thing is, we're all like theater kids at heart. We're all like these kind of nerdy performers who just love this shit. So I'm really excited to see all the musical representation that's going to be happening. And I'm really extra excited for uh Jeff Heimbach, who of course is, should we say, uh Barry Under Your Bed's handler or PR person. So Barry Under Your Bed, the musical is happening! And I'm very, very, very excited for that. I don't have any musical character costumes because I'm not that cool, but I do have a BFF who does. So I am going to have a little nod to the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the top of the show. And my good Judy um Jazzy Biner, who I literally met doing the Rocky Horror Picture Show when we were in high school. And we both, you know, yes, we both kind of moved our way up the cast list, and uh, she eventually played Columbia, I eventually played Janet. So I don't have my costume anymore, but she does. So there's gonna be a little something up top.

Please excuse the uh any mistakes. Um thank you for coming. Horror is such a fucking big deal. Yes, yes, it is it is a lifeblood and a lot. And you know, they say Rocky Horror is just the time warp is just a jump to the left. But that not if you have a bad back. That's not because no, thank you. If I would have continued on the song, it would have been like that's alright.

All of the comics that I booked on the show this year, it's like horror nerd the musical version. Basically, I was like, yo, girl, can you sing? Like, can you do cool stuff? So um, we have an incredible lineup. We have Madeline LeMay, who is who was a scare actor at Universal among other places, so creative, so wildly talented. So I think she's gonna do a little bit of it. Well, I don't want to give it all away, but there's gonna be a little bit of a Sweeney Todd thing happening. Anastasia Washington, who is an actor and a horror like fanatic just like us, who's amazing and has been on the show many, many times. I don't want to give anything away too much, but she's gonna do some super cool stuff and she can sing. And then we have James Graves, who it's funny, people are like, James Graves, did he change his name to be on the show? That's his actual name. So perfect, perfectly. Yeah, he's an amazing singer and guitarist, and so he's gonna be doing his jams. And then we have, I'm really excited to have those Klein boys on the show because have you seen them yet, Jeremy and Kyle?

Yeah, I saw them at one of the other live shows. They were terrific.

It's insane with the and they're actual brothers, which is super cool, and they're just the sweetest boys on the planet. What's really cool, so they do improvised rap songs. Oftentimes they'll be like, Okay, give me two villains, and then each of the brothers will choose a villain, and then they battle each other. So it's like Jason versus Freddie, Chucky versus I think we've done Chucky versus Billy the puppet jigsaw. I think we've done, of course, Freddy versus Michael. We've done whatever the audience yells at them, they will masterfully spit out a beautiful beat too. And it's so fun. People love it. People love it.

That's incredible. And I just have to say, as a theater kid with a card-carrying degree, I am so excited for the theme this year, Midsummer Scream. It's amazing. I'm so excited for this version of your show. And I love that you have a different theme every month, and I think this is perfect for that. And also, those Klein boys, what they do is not easy. Improv, if anybody listening has never taken an improv class, is not easy. Acting theater is not easy. Improv is not easy, let alone improv rapping in front of people and doing it and closing the loops on it. I saw them and they blew my mind. I went, holy shit, that was all improvised. So this is it's gonna be so exciting. I'm really excited to see it.

Yeah, me too. I think the crowd's gonna lose their minds. And I think that Jeremy and Kyle are gonna lose their minds. We all can't fuck him on the island.

Oh yeah, taking a job because why would we want to vote for this? No.

Wait a second. Wait a second. I wanna make sure what you gonna eat them. Cause you know I don't touch kids. I eat them! My pronouns are it! You don't want to show me! I picked my chicken up for me!

I don't have children! I like some eggs! Oh yeah, we'll see you soon. We understand that you're gonna get close with that food. Oh yeah, Georgine Oh, we all know the story that they gotta tell. Yo, yeah, yeah, the Supreme Court, like you, that you gotta go away, so oh yeah, 29 years, that's not soon enough. Get away, run in tears.

I'm like, yo, you're gonna be performing, you're gonna look out. There's gonna be a ghost face, a Chucky, a Samara Morgan, uh this, uh, that. There's like the people who love this stuff the most are gonna be there in character, in costume. And sometimes there's like younger, sometimes there's kids, which makes it even more fun. You know, like sometimes when I see kids at one of my shows, I'm like, ah, phew, okay, how's this gonna go? You know, because you don't want to say terrible things in front of a kid. But you also kind of assume, okay, well, if parents are bringing their kids to a comedy show, they're kind of aware that there might be some content or some language. I mean, you don't, you can clean it up as much as you can. But kids who come to Midsummer are the coolest kids on the planet, right? Like they were like us as kids.

It's so funny seeing kids at, you know, Halloween horror nights and at Midsummer Scream and at the horror conventions because they're so chill for the most part, seeing Art the Clown walk by and seeing these super scary characters, and they just go up to them and they're like, Hi, it's the cutest, it's so cute. And they're so I don't want to say desensitized because that makes it sound like it's something negative, but they're just so used to it and so immersed in this, and they're these little weirdos that are like, I like the clown, I like Michael Myers. And it's just how how can you not find that so adorable and so endearing? And I love that you try to go, hey, I see that there are kids here. We also have our show, but at the same time, you know, you you still have to do your show. But yeah, I think and a lot of the times it's like growing up and watching Pee-Wee's Playhouse, we didn't get a lot of the jokes when we were little.

Fair.

And then you go back and you re-watch it as an adult and you're like, oh my god. Flory, you're a pervert. You wanted Miss Yvonne to stand over you in her dress. You don't get that when you're little. Then you, you know, you text your mom and you're like, Why did you let me watch this? And she says, Because you didn't get the jokes. You just liked how colorful it was. And yeah. Right. Yeah.

You're just like it was a cool bicycle. I don't know.

Yeah. There there's so much. God, I love Howie's Playhouse, but we're not talking about that right now. Hey, it's Bonnie here, coming to you from the studio for a quick commercial break. But uh, wait, before you skip, just give me a minute. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you know our sponsor, Alex, at the Magic Oil Box. And if you're new, hello, hi, thank you for listening, and you should get to know Alex. We met through this amazing horror community and our love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Best TV show ever. And that's exactly what his brand is all about. Following your passions, embracing who you are and what you love, and finding your fellow weirdos, misfits, and monsters. Proudly Latino and LGBTQ Plus owned, the handcrafted aromatherapy blends from the Magic Oil Box are inspired by the stories that move us, the characters that inspire us, the horrors that persist, and the chosen ones who slay. You'll be seeing and hearing about new products coming out soon, so come for the pop culture inspiration and stay for the storytelling. Be sure to use code SLAYNERDS15 to save 15% when you shop online at theMagicOilbox.com and keep an eye out for Alex and the Magic Oil Box at a horror con near you to experience these products in person, because they smell just as good as they look. Now, back to the show.

Go to the light, Carolyn!

Actors find your light. Woo! Um got a Phantom of the Opera thing happening right now.

The Phantom of the Opera. That's why I'm not singing in the show. I'm just gonna put that out there. I booked people who can sing so that I don't have to. Um so that is the thing. When I found out it was musical, I was like, oh, you don't understand. My theory is that I was a singer in a past life and I was so bad at it that I was like stoned to death or something. Like I have a fear of singing. I do not sing in front of people. I don't do karaoke. I like no. You I would have to be so insanely hammered, and I don't drink that much. So that would not go well for me.

Button here. Oh my gosh. It is it is definitely I'm having flipping melting. Boobs are out, running boobly just because of that episode of Genesis in video for the first time. That release, yeah.

Pretty exciting. Shout out to witty titties, shout out to witty titties.

We got some witty titties here too, I gotta say. Yeah, we do. Yeah, we do. And we're gonna be schlepping and sweating our witty titties off at midsummer. It's gonna be hot.

Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll cool down for just a weekend, but we'll probably not.

We'll see. It's gonna be the hottest show in town, I gotta say. Literally. Yeah, I gotta figure out, I gotta figure out what I'm wearing. Because there is a Buffy musical episode, so I could just say, I'm Buffy from the season six musical episode once more with feeling. True. True. I could. But that's leather pants.

Yeah, but the Megan requires like tights, doesn't it? And that little I have the Megan dress too. It's hot. It's not breathable.

No, it's it's a little schwitzy. It's a little it's a little warm. But because it's only tights, you're not wearing full pants. There is kind of a you kind of air it out under the That's fair.

That's well, how are you gonna do your cartwheels and murder people?

Uh I can do the murdering, but not the cartwheels. Okay.

Half. Yeah.

Half is half. Yeah. I mean the murdering and the machete, that's still athletic, but because I'm pushing 40, there's less cartwheels in my immediate future. However, I've still got, you know, I can still do the upper body dancing and the murdering. The slashing. Yeah.

As the ghost of your Christmas future, there are less cartwheels in your future. For sure.

Oh boy.

Yeah, I know. It just it happens. Time goes by so fast.

So slowly. And time can do so m.

You might have tried a hundred platforms, each with hidden costs, plugins, multiple logins. But now there's Beamly. Drag and drop website, podcast hosting, online courses, memberships, digital products, and 0% platform fees. All your tools in one crypt. Er please. Head to beamly.com and raise your creator studio from the dead in the best way. I love Midsummer Scream so much because of how people commit to their costumes and to the vibe. And there's always something going on at the show. There's either somebody's dressed up, there's always a Krampus. Have you noticed there's always a Krampus running around? The commitment to that in August, God bless you. I can't. Right. Whoo! Lucifer bless you. I can't. I can't do right.

And sometimes people don't realize that, like, it kind of does take at least two, if not three days, to actually see everything and experience it. There's so much to do. So, you know, go early should be, you know, right on every flyer. Like, no, for real. There's so much to do. It's definitely the biggest one. I mean, I know I'm biased, but it is the most badass. There's so much to see. I mean, that the amount of detail that goes into it between the Hall of Shadows and the vendor floor and the panels. And like it's oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I have so much artwork on my wall that has come from local artists who were hand creating really amazing horror artwork. And that's really fun. It makes it, you know, like special.

Yeah. And it's a whole convention full of weirdos just like us. And you like you said, you have that hall of shadows, which is a preview of so many of the local haunts where you get to go in and do a haunt in the cold air-conditioned room.

Oh, yeah, it's a nice dark room, everybody. It's great. Uh-huh.

It's great. It's so great.

It's like a real dead baby. I love that I was recording right there. David! Oh, I'm like, Yeah, I did. It's David. Three stooges are just have to send him back.

Wait, we put the babies back, and that that was the most important part.

Yeah.

We we had some very interesting children of the night that we were uh cuddling, and it makes no sense out of context, but we're at uh midsummer stream, so things are weird.

And you can tell by our gravelly voices that it's probably the end of the and you can tell by the makeup that used to be on my face that I've been here for a minute. But it's been a magical day! It's been a magical day! I got to open uh Return of the Living Dragon, Peaches Cry. Thank you, Norman. I love you. Um, and then we got to see the Monsterville musical The Bear on Your Bad. And I got to ask a bunch of questions about my horror show tomorrow to make sure the shit works.

And Bonnie's been grappling with the unbearable weight in Massage. My boobs.

Ah. What's that like? My back hurts. Oh. My back hurts. Great. Bye, Sam. Anyways, David, how's it going?

We lost Sam.

Um, she's back! You came back because you didn't say you'd be right back. Oh, that's why I'm still alive. That's why you're still alive. Hey, did you tell Matthew Luther who you just met that you'll be right back? No, there was no time for anything. But he was lovely. Yeah, it's good. Yeah. Yeah, he was lovely. He's very tall. I was the shortest person in our photo lab. Yeah, try standing next to Peach Christ. Oh, okay. I've never felt so fatigued. If you guys don't know who Peach's Christ is, you will drop everything and look her up. She's amazing. Yeah, that was a great show. It was it was very gay, and it was like my theater break. Berkeley, bedazzle. Yeah, and musical show tunes. It was the best time. It was it was Phantom of the Opera mashups with Lady Gaga music. I was like, this is just what my brain sounds like on an average shooter.

Yeah. Okay, we're at the end of the aisle. Let's flip. I'm in, I mean I know, David, we just got here.

Yeah. Stickers. Stickers. Tofu slut sticker. Let's see. Ooh, no, no.

Just a t-shirt that I didn't need that I wasn't gonna get. It was so cool.

Sounds about right. It was so cool. Oh show and tell. There are so many obsession shirts that I really want to wear. It looks like Batman. I love it. Cat Batman. I'm more of a cat woman. Yeah, you are. Thank you. You're welcome. That wasn't a bad thing. That wasn't a bad thing. We're getting ready to do all of this again tomorrow. Tomorrow, we're back for day three. Pretty awesome.

Thank you.

No, no, no. Oh, I thought this is where we were sitting. I was like, everything is gone.

I'm too tired to go.

Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice? I said it's a time. Oh, yeah.

So, what was your favorite out of all things? Which is an impossible thing to determine. What struck you as like one of the coolest foods and good people on the show?

I have actually gotten so much of my hard hurt decor that you see on stage in my weird ass shows. I've gotten a lot of it here. Like our little Michael Myers doll, little Leatherface doll. But I have to say, there's this one boo for me, I don't know what their name is, but they do handmade kind of like cartoon paintings. And oh, the answer is the raccoon, obviously. I was so sorry, it was right in front of me the whole time. I was gonna say an upside down. Well, I'm never gonna get to play a raccoon because David just did it better than I could.

Thanks, thanks.

Yeah, yeah. I don't know about that. Okay. Oh yeah, as one does, yeah. Yeah, she loves her always well. Totally normal. Totally normal. So glad I'm child free. I've never gone on vacation and thought, you know what would make this better? A kid. Yeah. Yeah. But it actually kind of tickles a little vacation. You need a rabies. Oh no, it's part of me now. That's okay. We saved it. Oh my god. Yeah, that was what we needed. That was what we needed. Yep.

I have to say, shout out to Midsummer Scream because that is where you and I first became friends four years ago.

We bonded, I mean, an extra shout out to Rachel True. Because we were already like hitting it off like super amazing. But then, oh, it was Rachel True that you wanted to meet. And I've known Rachel for a while and I love her, and she's amazing. We just got to see her Monster Palooza, and she's like, I just love her. She's yeah, so cool.

She's so great.

She's a she's a delight, really, honestly. So that was exciting. But then like the one person I was really excited to meet, I think we probably told the story was Regna Gataro. But I didn't know because I was newer to the convention world. I didn't know that most like actors or people, it's like cash only. And so I was like, Well, gosh darn, I don't have and you're like, I'll give you 50 bucks. I'm like, wait, the person I just met you were gonna give me money. Okay. So basically, you can buy friendship, is what I'm saying. I'm kidding. Um, but no, I just thought that was so kind of you, and then we have this really cool memory together, and yeah, and you've been stuck with me ever since. Little did Danny and David know that they were putting together the two Titans of Horror Nerd's terror back there.

Yeah, we're putting the tits and the two titans of horror, right? That's I don't know. My brain is still on witty titties, I guess.

You're gonna handle the tits part. I don't have a lot to contribute there. I have the bottom though. I'm good.

Okay. Between the two of us, we're I was gonna say we're Frank and Hooker, but you know.

We're Frank and Hooker. I mean, I was gonna say we could go, our costume could be a horse. I'll be the ass, you be the front part with the chest, but I think Frank and Hooker is better.

Yeah, I think it fits more of the vibe. Our editor Sarah's like, what is wrong with them? Yeah, no, this is this is gonna grow sorry.

Are they like this? What is wrong with those two people? Well, a lot of things.

This is this is why we have each other, because it's that what is wrong with us exactly.

Right? Okay, you guys, so here's the thing. Lore has changed my life. I'm sure it's changed all of our because we're all here, right? And I was eight years old. My dad let me watch a little television show because he thought I might like it. He watched me, I watched eight hours of it, and I told I told Barbie to sit on the chainsaw because I thought more picture atoms, you guys. I love it, don't the people, the pants to me. So the very first fairy movie I ever saw, I was eight years old, my parents had just gotten a divorce, and my dad was like, yeah, now's the time for a child eating cloud. I saw it.

Probably a lot of us did. Well, I am so excited to see you this weekend. And this episode will be out after Midsummer Scream, so we'll put clips and stuff.

I just saw a post that if you do have like a lanyard a ticket uh for Midsummer Scream, that you can go aboard the Mary to have a look, which is really cool. If you do do that, go sit at the bar. It's just cool to sit there. You feel like you're in another decade, you know, and the drinks are great and the appetizers are good. And it's just cool to walk around and make really stupid Titanic jokes. That's what we all do.

Yeah, the ghosts definitely loved that last time.

They've never heard it before either.

Never. Never. Nope, nope, no, no. Cool. Well, I do remember last year on the ship that you made we got that charcuterie board. That was really good. And you made me made sure I ate, and I appreciated that.

I did, yeah, I did. I was like I was like, I know that we're in LA, but you need to eat something. Because midsummer, it is it is a lot of energy. You're doing a lot of walking back and forth. You need to refuel, you know.

And I'm definitely gonna go get, we're not sponsored by them, by the way, but Catfight Coffee was there last year, and they saved my ass that weekend with their giant cold brews in the reusable cups. They are delicious. They have like their line is crazy because they're one of the only coffee vendors at Midsummer Scream. Yeah, but oh man, so good. And they started following me because I tagged them that whole weekend. I was like, You guys are saving my ass this weekend, and they were so good. So shout out to Cat Fight Coffee, and I'm sure I'll put this on social and tag them in.

We love coffee and we love you.

Yeah, and they were so good. And they fight all the time. No, they don't, they play fight, they play fight, they love each other. My cats are angels.

They are, I love them, and they love you. Oh my god.

It's unhealthy. I'm curious how how do I think I feel like we're gonna be like full and empty at the same time. And our post, like we're gonna be full of like inspiration and joy and happiness, and empty physically of energy, because we're gonna give it all to the Midsummer deservedly so. So I'm curious how the before and after, because though we're all like red eyed of pushy too. And the next time we record, we're gonna be like Was it good for you? It was good for me. It was pretty good for me too, Dol.

I haven't had that much fun since 1947. I don't know why 1947, but what are you doing in 1947? I I don't know. I I must have been possessed by the ghost that was haunting our room that night last year.

That makes sense.

Yeah. Yeah, it happens sometimes. You just this is this is part of the the neurodivergence that's really fun. Yeah.

That's great. Okay. Yeah, we're done. I think that was pretty solid. Okay. Thank you so much, you guys, for support. Uh horror-themed comedy. Some people were like, what is that?

This is what it is.

This is horror-themed comedy. Uh, you can stay in touch with us. We are at HornEart Comedy on Instagram. I'm at the Samantha Hale. You can check out HornArt on Amazon and Apple TV and Hollywood if you guys are locals. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of this amazing.

Hello. We are leaving Midsummer Scream 2026. And ooh!

Adam, did you have fun?

I did, yeah.

Adam had a great time. I had a great time. It was so fun seeing the live horror gird show and catching up with so many of our friends in this community, and our friends who are vendors, and meeting new people, and seeing other friends for the first time in person. And this is and continues to be our favorite horror convention in the history of ever. And we just saw, as we were in the car leaving, we just saw the announcement that it is going to be in Anaheim next year. So that's gonna be super exciting at the Anaheim Convention Center, and it's a really big space. Um, we've loved it in Long Beach. It's been so fun the last few times I've been here. It's been in Long Beach, but I think the Anaheim Convention Center is going to be really good for just how big this summer is getting. So thank you so much for people who made it possible for us to be here and to cover the show. Like this is our favorite convention, hands down, bar none, and we feel so very fortunate to be able to cover it and bring the news and bring you what you might have missed if you have not been here, or if maybe you went to one day, because there's so much to see in the matter of three days that it's it's hard to see it all because there's so much going on, and everywhere you go, there's something happening. So this is the Horror Nerds Podcast. I'm Bonnie on behalf of myself and Samantha. Thank you, Midsummer Scream, for having us, and we'll hopefully see you again next year.

This is not a test. This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the conclusion of the Horror Nerds Comedy Podcast, sanctioned by Horror Nerds Productions. All authorized screams, laughter, and unhinged opinions of class 4 have now been safely contained. During this broadcast, all tangents, puns, and unsolicited horror takes were permitted without consequence. Emergency podcast services will resume after this brief transmission. Blessed be our final girls and our horror nerds founders, a podcast reborn. May humor be with you all.

She's uh she's six years old.

Are you good video, Jackie? Yeah.

Okay.

Do you think she wants to become the partner's comedy? I do. Do you think she likes jokes?

Uh maybe. I don't know.

She might be too smart for them.

Wait, let's do it, let's do one for her.

Yeah.

Okay, so we just left the Fangoria booth here at Midsummer Scream and won a lot of really cool prizes, and everybody's super nice. So I won a Ghostface popcorn bucket. And Adam, what did you win?

Scary spooky popcorn bucket.

That's your level of spooky, huh?

Evil.

Yeah. And Fangoria magazine. So Salma Hayek was a lucky term for you. Yeah. Awesome.