Conskipper may be brand new, but our journalists have been covering the world of pop culture conventions for years. The following interview was originally conducted by Nick Banks and John Evans as freelancers on December 13th, 2016.
David Liebe Hart, the unique entertainer who rose to stardom through his appearances on Cartoon Network’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, is a busy man. It’s no wonder that Hart is one of Tim Heidecker’s and Eric Wareheim’s go-to guys: He is known for his quirky and unusual bits on both shows which explore puppets, aliens, ghosts, and positive messages for children… all through song and choreographed skits. Although he is not always a polished performer, fans are attracted to the raw nature of his delivery and his earnestness. On Awesome Show, David sings about anything from “the importance of staying in school and saying focused,” to how to greet an alien. On Check It Out!, David plays a more exaggerated version of himself who often helps Dr. Brule (John C. Reilly) to have a greater understanding of the supernatural and extraterrestrial world through the use of puppets and songs.
We had the distinct honor of interviewing David during one of his busiest seasons. Fresh off of a massive summer and fall tour, David is now working on some projects closer to his home in Los Angeles. We had the chance to ask him to reflect on his recent work and tell us about some of his upcoming projects. Because David is such an expert in the field of extraterrestrials and the supernatural, we sought his knowledge on these topics so we could share it with our readers. Here’s what we learned:
On His Current Work
David doesn’t appear on television as often as he would like to. Tim and Eric have been working on different projects of late, and David has not been featured in all of those projects. In the meantime, David practices his artistry by focusing on live stand up work and visual arts in his local community. In addition, David performs music, both in a local church and with a band of punk rock musicians. He is currently painting massive decorative Christmas murals on the storefronts of Los Angeles.
This labor intensive work has kept him busy, but he’s still seeking more opportunities to showcase his talents. Here’s what he had to say:
“The problem with the entertainment business is a lot of jealousy and competition and everything, which I have to persevere and not give up.”
“I do improvisations. I do stand up comedy. I do a lot of my original music that I’ve written… I like doing television work better, but lately that hasn’t come through for me, so I have to be grateful doing nightclub work.”
“(I am a) Church Organist in Long Beach. (They) won’t let me do any of my original songs.”
“I’m trying to set an example for my band members. I’m the only one that doesn’t smoke or drink or do any naughty stuff.”
On His Plans for the Future
David’s primarily love is film and television work, and he is eager to begin work on some projects which are near and dear to his heart. Puppetry had a major influence on his childhood, and he is now looking to explore puppets in a horror setting. Once he raises the funds for the film, his puppet horror story will continue where his work on Check It Out! left off and will attempt to scare even the folks who aren’t afraid of puppets! In addition, David told us that his family had direct ties to the Underground Railroad; and he would like to tell the story of the people who helped slaves attain their freedom.
“Burt Stillson, who did Kukla (Fran) and Ollie, was my Sunday school teacher in the Christian Science church back in the midwest in Chicago… Jim Henson was my Sunday school teacher in the Christian Science church and he wanted me to do a puppet show teaching kids to say no to drugs with bible stories. And I did the show, a public access show from 1988 to 2008, called the Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Show, but the city of Los Angeles got rid of public access.”
“People are not all afraid of puppets. You saw the episode where John C. Reilly was acting like he was afraid of puppets.”
On Aliens
Aliens are one of the greatest influences on David Liebe Hart’s work. He has written numerous songs about them, and he is a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Having studied aliens for years, David was well prepared to speak with us at length about what he knows:
“If you’ve never gone to a zoo and never seen a zebra, or an elephant, or giraffe doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”
“The UFO phenomenon is real and not fiction. They even took books out of the bible that talked about UFOs and aliens. They don’t want the public, for some strange reason, to be into the UFO phenomenon, and it’s real and this is where all of our back engineering technology comes from, the government working with aliens, and it’s just as real as me talking to you on the phone.”
“Angels…Aliens are angels. All of the churches banned the pseudepigrapha that talked about extraterrestrials because they don’t want the public to believe and accept the aliens. The pseudepigrapha were books taken out of the bible.”
“They’ve got people brainwashed that the UFO phenomenon doesn’t exist and it does. You can see everything about it on the internet. This is what they tell us in the military: it’s a breach of secrecy and it’s classified and we’re not to share it with the public, but it does exist. They have aliens that are called the Pleiadians, the Menusians (sic), The Omegans. They’ve been coming here for years. And we wouldn’t have all this back end technology, the computer, if it wasn’t for the extraterrestrials that work at Area 51 at Wright-Patterson’s (sic) Air Force Base.”
“The Pleiadians left penguins and walruses on our planet and polar bears. The Omegans that are carnivorous left pigs and swine and cows on our planet and they taught us how to eat meat.”
“My Grandmother Schroeder told me that Orville and Wilbur Wright and Tesla got their back engineering technology by working with extraterrestrials.”
“I used to sell my portraits at La Brea tar pits and a woman came up to me and told me that she was an extraterrestrial. And at first I didn’t believe her until she took off her high heeled shoes and her main toe was in the middle instead of on the side like ours and she let me touch it and she had no pupil in her eyes like we have. It was just like a light in her eye and and she told me that if I stayed in La Brea tar pits I would see her go up in a spaceship and I did.”
On Ghosts
We sought more details on this famous haunting, and we asked David for advice on how to deal with ghosts if your house is haunted. Here’s what we learned:
“Ghosts are real too. Ghosts are real too. They’re real. Yes… I studied. The ghost phenomenon is just as real as the UFO phenomenon.”
“The ghosts can move and pick up things like we can. They’re just not in the physical form in a body structure like we are. And they haven’t left this plane of existence, so they’re still in it.”
“What happened is, a lot of people come back and figures come back that don’t seem to want to leave this experience, you know. A policeman that lived in the home told me that these two German Shepherd dogs got shot by a robber, and they’ve been coming back and haunting people that live in that house. And, lo and behold, that’s what these orange ghosts that look like, that were dead German Shepherds came back from the dead and would tickle my sister and I. There were three of them and they looked like, they were the figure of a ghost. They were all orange, and one had the head of a moose. And they would tickle my sister and me. Threw off the covers. They would dump all the fish food in the fish tank and they would do some weird things. My sisters and I were frightened.”
“When I made up my bed and cleaned my room, they pulled everything off my bed… They would tickle me, and since they were dogs, they would lick me like I was a lollipop!”
“The family that lives there now told me that their kids have been harassed by ghosts, by the dead German Shepherds.”
(David told us that Mr. Moose did not stop haunting him after he left Chicago) “One came back in my apartment and tickled me and pulled the covers off of me. It was one of them Mr. Mooses. He’s also gone into (David’s collaborator) Jonah’s computer when we ever play “The Pickelman & Mr. Moose”, it made the computer so it wouldn’t work. They went into the computer and sabotaged the computer so it didn’t work.”
“The best thing is to be kind to the ghosts. Don’t be mean to them, because they can do things to you. There was a ghost in Culver City and a woman was abusive to a ghost and threw hot water in the ghost and the ghost strangled her. There are some violent ghosts, so it’s best to get along with them and not be abusive towards them.”
On Bigfoot and Nessie
(This happened) “Back in the 60’s. I was born in 55, I don’t look my age… I saw Bigfoot when I went fishing with my dad in Michigan… The Douglas River in Michigan. My dad and I were fishing in Michigan and Bigfoot stood up… we thought we had a big fish, my dad thought he had a big fish, and it was Bigfoot that got his foot caught underwater and he pulled the fishing rod from my dad and pulled him in the water. And then my dad swam back and we got in the boat and got out of there. ”
“The Loch Ness monster is real. They’ve not only been seen in England, they’ve been seen all over the world. (Even in the United States?) Yes, they have. But you’ve got to have an open mind. If you have a lock on your mind and you have a closed mind, you won’t experience it.”
On Recent Encounters with Extraterrestrials and the Supernatural
David told us that he has not had many extraterrestrial and supernatural experiences recently. He attributes this to changes in his work environment and his peers:
“The place where I used to meet her (the alien woman), the La Brea Tar Pits, they banned all street musicians at the Tar Pits”.
“I’m around people that are sending out negative vibrations that the UFO phenomenon and alien phenomenon doesn’t exist and that negative energy has chased them away… (They) chased them away with (their) unbelief and (their) doubt.”
“When people are Doubting Thomases and have a lot of fear and don’t believe in aliens, you don’t believe in anything that you don’t understand. And you send out negative energy toward it, it’ll disappear on you.”
On Petkeeping
“I have two fish tanks. I bought some feeder fish for my piranhas and I found out that they were sharks that I was sold. Bullhead sharks. And they sold them to me at the pet store in Hollywood California, on Van Nuys and Santa Monica in the mall. And now I have three bullhead sharks. And they’ve eaten up all of my regular fish. They’re very mean. I took pictures of them and I showed them to another pet store and he said to me, “Oh these are catfish.” I said, “Catfish don’t behave, these are not catfish, they’re sharks!” And the guy that sold them told me said they’re bullhead sharks. They get a lot of their fish from Florida. And they’re bullhead sharks. And I have to feed the bullhead sharks a lot of guppies. They eat guppies. They’re very mean.”
In Conclusion
Despite some of the recent changes to David Liebe Hart’s performance schedule and production opportunities, he has kept a positive attitude. He had these inspiring words to share with his fans:
“The best way to stay in Hollywood is to stay away from drugs, get an acting coach, do standup comedy, and do a lot of studying. Acting’s like driving a car, you gotta know timing, when to come in and go out.”
“I know I’m success in action. Know that I’m a winner and not a loser. And just persevere. And know that better doors are gonna open up for me.”
“Could you put up on the internet that the famous actor and musician, David Liebe Hart, needs a ride around town for doing Christmas decorations? If fans own any businesses (in the Los Angeles area) that would like to have their windows painted for the holidays, they can see my art online on artbyliebehart.com”