The Cases of: Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
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Award Winning New Radio Plays Brick Mallery Private Investigator If Someone doesn't make this into an Animated Series Soon their is something very wrong with the people in Hollywood! So funny, So witty, the orginal stories, characters, and plot lines make this Noir Pulp Sci-Fi Humor Detective series a 100% Winner! Too bad their are only 3 episodes! - 2009 National Surveillance Magazine |
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| Billboard Magazine, Publishers Weekly, LA Times, New York Post, Booklist, Kliatt, Fright X Magazine, Miningco.com, Library Journal |
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This original, made-for-audio series is a fun spoof of the detective radio shows of the '40s. Warren Coughlin is terrific as the Mickey Spillane-style detective with his sardonic "tough guy" voice. The dialogue perfectly parodies the cliched noir style, taking aim at cliche phrases and slick bad guys. As an example, an exchange between Brick and a mysterious informant goes like this: "I didn't catch your name," "I have no name." "I've heard of you." "Oh, you have, have you? From whom?" "People." "What people?" "People who know what things are going down." The first episode is a fairly standard-issue mystery about Brick's former partner and a person from the past seeking revenge. the second, more colorful story has Brick facing down both a shrewish ex-wife and an army of "cannibal vampire zombies." The jazzy, '40s-style music and the occasional modern-day pop culture references add to the fun... -Trudi Miller Rosenblum Back to top |
Toronto-based independent audio publisher Scenario Productions has scored a coup with Brick Mallery, a series of tongue-in-cheek detective stories written expressly for audio and performed as full-cast dramatizations, with music and sound effects. Ingram Entertainment has combined Scenario's 3 Brick Mallery titles into one package and placed it in Ingram's Automatic Audiobook Program. Ingram sends the stores 18 recommended audiobook titles each month in a rental-ready package. "This was one of our crowning glories," said Scenario President Mark Bornstein. "For someone like us to get into a big program like Ingram is unheard of." William Anderson, Ingram Entertainment audiobook sales manager, said, "When I heard the tape (Brick Mallery, Private Investigator), it reminded me of Firesign Theater, I enjoyed it a lot, and thought we didn't have enough full-cast dramatizations." Scenario Productions is also promoting the series with a spoof publication called National Surveillance Magazine. Back to top |
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Brick Mallery, Private Investigator is a surprisingly successful parody of old-time radio mysteries that proves to be surprisingly humorous. The genre is hard-boiled and the jokes bounce between laugh-out-loud humor and gags that will have you groaning... the actors display interesting accents and engaging performances. The three stories in this satiric series may be wildly over the top but are also fun and breezy. -R. O'Gorman Back to top |
. . . a surprisingly successful parody of old time radio mysteries. . . the protagonist is a smart-mouthed but intelligent private eye with the impossibly macho moniker Brick Mallery. The jokes, meanwhile, bounce between funny and utterly tasteless. With few exceptions, the actors provide convincing accents and engaging portrayals. Back to top |
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Billed as the "twisted lost episodes" these full-cast dramas parody every cliche of the hard boiled detective genera. There's the seedy office, wisecracking secretary, bad coffee, low-life snitches, and the squalid hangout. There are always the endless similes and metaphors. The introduction cautions the listener to get ready for "the more bizarre crimes that involve clones, aliens, mind control, identical half-twin brothers and sisters, and of course murder." The tales are equally off-the-wall with plenty of sound effects and original music to move them along. The cast strikes the right serio-comic tone and supplies plenty of odd-ball characterizations. -Laurie Hartshorn Back to top |
Scenario Productions presents another of the "lost" Brick Mallery stories designed the "entertain your brain." Mallery is your average gumshoe: he'll investigate anything, but he specializes in murder. Here, we think, he is engaged to protect Norman Rains who faces permanent insanity due to a curse put on him by his wife's father, set to occur on their 10th anniversary. The strange goings-on have something to do with Norman's half-twin sister. The story rapidly moves back and forth between Brick's investigation... and his partner Vic's activities as he tries to protect Norman. With a suitably jazzy musical beginning, the full cast production includes puns, and double entendres, lots of music, elaborate sounds effects, and background noise. The language is adult: the humor is plentiful, the plot is inconsequential and outrageous, the actors are polished, and the production qualities are excellent. Funny Stuff. -Bette D Ammon, Director Missoula P.L. Missoula, MT. Back to top |
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Before the mind-numbing entertainment of television, the radio was king. And now it's back! BRICK MALLERY is something you have to experience. It's something completely new and different, yet follows the rich tradition of the radio mystery. Mark Bornstein's scripts are a trip, and the actors are perfect in their roles. And the tapes are perfect for many occasions: driving in the car, cleaning the house, working out, or just sitting around with friends and family. Instead of turning on the tube, pop in BRICK MALLERY and laugh your ass off. FRIGHT X's favorite is EPISODE THREE: DOWN ALIVE. Brick is hired by a mysterious man, Norman Reins, to protect and provide him with an alibi for 24 hours. His father-in-law's death bed promise was to return on Norman's ten year anniversary to drive him insane. Well, as it usually goes, Brick finds himself strapped to a rack and beaten senselessly... facing the possibility of being put "down alive." -Jeremy Slaugenwhite Back to top |
I have come across a new kind of suspense audiobook. Specifically, it's a series tapes produced by Toronto-based Scenario Productions. More than your garden-variety audiobook are full cast audio productions. I listened to the first three episodes of the series and, perhaps for the first time, I actually didn't mind Chicago traffic. Impossible you say? The Brick Mallery episodes are reminiscent of - in fact they spoof - older radio dramas such as The Shadow. the dialogue is fast paced, packed with puns and zingy one-liners and the quality of the tapes - both dialogue and sound effects - is excellent. -Kelly Caldwell Back to top |
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"The Twisted Lost Episodes of Brick Mallery, Private Investigator" The Brick Mallery series belongs to the "theater of the mind" style of recording made popular in the 1970's by Firesign Theater. Brick Mallery parodies the hard-boiled private eye's of the 50's. Everybody talks "tough-guy" lingo and the secretary wears red stiletto heels and smacks chewing gum, when not dodging bullets. Complete with sound effects, music, and plenty of action, these tapes will put you surround-sound stereo system to good use and introduce a new generation of listeners to this theater of the absurd. The fact that Mallery deals with the more bizarre criminals, those involving mind-control, cannibal vampire zombies, shrunken heads takes him as far out of the realm of the common private eye as this audio from the "common" audio book. Guaranteed to attract an "off-the-wall" group of fans. -Theresa Connors Back to top |
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Winner of the Publishers Weekly "Listen Up" Award for Best Audio Mystery series and Best Dramatized Production.
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