Entertainment Diet: ’50 Shades! The Parody’s’ Paul Mattingly

We call this weekly feature "Entertainment Diet," and Paul Mattingly is on a steady one.

He has to consume a lot of pop culture to know what he's talking about on three podcasts: "Matt and Mattingly's Ice Cream Social" on heyscoops.com, the audio/video "Ugly Couch Show" and companion audio "Geek Shock," which recently celebrated 80,000 downloads in its eight-year existence.

But those are just his side projects. As an actor, Mattingly is currently revealing more of himself than some may want to see as Christian Grey in "50 Shades! The Parody," a musical spoof taking down the noxious best-seller, recently relaunched in the Windows Showroom at Bally's.

Like the spoof's creators, Mattingly comes to the project from an improv background; years ago he shuffled between The Second City at the Flamingo and the Las Vegas Hilton's "Star Trek" attraction, where he spoke fluent Klingon.

"The Bucket Show," his two-man improv project with Matt Donnelly, still runs every Wednesday at 10 p.m. in the Art Square Theatre, 1025 S. First St.

But why create entertainment when you can talk about it? Here's Mattingly's take on ...

Movies: Mattingly thought "The End of the Tour" did justice to his favorite author, the late David Foster Wallace. "Everybody is very respectful of his legacy, without being too kid glove or namby-pamby about the life he led," he says of Jason Segel's turn as the troubled cult author. "I think it's great to get more knowledge of him out there."

But a true geek prefers less talk about movies that are out and more speculation on those yet to open. So,"Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" due March 25? Or "Captain America: Civil War" May 6?

Based on their respective posters, the one with Captain America and Iron Man locked in a stare-down gets his thumbs-up. "Upset with each other as they may be, you still see that character connection going on. It's the heart of these characters, the intricacy between what makes them work together or against each other, not, 'Do they look cool?' I think Marvel's got more heart right now."

Music: Mattlingly tunes in First Aid Kit, "a Swedish take on Americana folk. Sweet harmonies and very simple little riffs" from the sibling duo of Klara and Johanna Soderberg. "Their latest album, 'Stay Gold,' is "not necessarily their strongest, but 'Master Pretender' is my favorite track."

TV: "It's all 'Rick and Morty' all the time," he says of the Adult Swim animation from "Community" creator Dan Harmon. "One of the smartest things on TV right now. Really challenging, really funny. Not only is it the crazy sci-fi stuff, but really it puts the family on the ear. It's about that dynamic," he says of the space-and-time travels of a boozy scientist and his grandson.

"Dan Harmon is also an obsessive David Foster Wallace fanatic," he adds.

Books: Reading can mean a lot of comic books collected in trade paperbacks for Mattingly. He's fond of Scott Snyder's smart new take on "Batman" with artist Greg Capullo. "I'm a Capullo guy from the 'Spawn' days. I'm a sucker for good art. I like a good story, but it's gotta look good."

He's also reading "Sex Criminals," by writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky. "The (collected) first volume was my Christmas gift last year," he says of the tale of people who discover sex gives them the ability to "slow down time and move through time with everyone frozen ... . Of course, what do you do when you realize you can slow down time? You start robbing banks and things."

Hangouts: "I go to Frankie's (Tiki Room) every once in a while, for the atmosphere more than anything," he says of downtown's karaoke institution. "And I'm spending a lot of time at the Artifice, because we go there after every show," he says of the lounge in the same Art Square complex where he and Donnelly do their Wednesday improv.

"We get a lot of (podcast) listeners, which is great. People come from as far as Australia and Canada to see our show and then drink with us. It's pretty great."

— Mike Weatherford