Sunday, January 30, 2011

Armando Creeper, film legend

Brett with Brother Andy (who played Southern California-area horror host Armando Creeper in the 1980s and '90s) at The River in Rancho Mirage, CA.

I first became aware of Armando Creeper in March 1996. I attended a small-scale monster film festival in the San Diego area, which turned out to be hosted by the aforementioned Creeper. Although I knew nothing about him at the time, he had me in stitches with his off-color jokes and his self-deprecating sense of humor. He certainly left an impression on me, and as luck would have it, I would get to spend a great deal of time in Armando's presence in the years to come.

However, circa 1998, we lost contact, and for a long time I figured I had seen the last of Armando Creeper.

That is, until last Friday.

I came to find that Armando (now known as Brother Andy) and I are Coachella Valley residents. I reached out to him a short while ago, and we agreed to meet at the nearby River in Rancho Mirage. Brother Andy and I spent hours reminiscing, and he shared many hilarious stories about what it was like to try to break into Hollywood 20 years ago. It was a great time, and we're likely to meet again in the coming weeks.

For those of you unfortunate souls unfamiliar with Armando Creeper, here is an article from 1991 that will give you some background. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, moving pictures must be worth a million, so below are a couple of videos of Armando's showing off his comedic prowess. Enjoy!