Above Image: Jorma Taccone, as the higher primate creature, “Chaka” from the 2009 motion picture, Land of the Lost

Background:

Tonight, we have a special bonus episode for you, a commercial-free interview with a very talented writer, director, and performer who has actually worn a sophisticated ape-like costume for a Hollywood feature film and lived to tell about it. You may know Jorma Taccone from the wildly popular comedy trio, “The Lonely Island.” Along with Andy Samberg and Akiva Shaffer, the three have gone on to produce some of the most memorable and hilarious “Digital Shorts” for Saturday Night Live and their feature films, comedy albums and live performances have garnered them millions of fans. But what you may not know about Jorma is that he portrayed the loveably goofy primate-like character “Chaka” for the 2009 film “Land of the Lost,” inspired by the original 1974 children’s television series. While you might think hopping around in a monkey suit for a movie would be fun (certainly Jorma thought so at first) it turns out the hours-long, daily application of the Special Effects makeup was mind-numbingly tedious, and the performance while wearing it was physically grueling and exhausting. We’ll hear from Jorma about his experience with a professional, expensive, skin-tight costume, some funny anecdotes about shooting the movie, and his thoughts on the appearance of the creature from the Patterson-Gimlin Film. As many experts have stated, if the subject in the PGF was actually just a man in a costume, that costume was one of the best that’s ever been made.

Location:

Researchers have re-located the site where Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin had their encounter with “Patty” the Sasquatch, on the banks of Bluff Creek around 1:30 p.m. on Friday, October 20, 1967. Bluff Creek is a tributary of the Klamath River, about 25 logging-road miles northwest of the town of Orleans, in Del Norte County California. GPS coordinates provided by BIGFOOT’S bLOG website.

Jorma Taccone, as a higher primate creature, “Chaka” from the motion picture, Land of the Lost

Jorma Taccone, on set for the motion picture, Land of the Lost

A production still from Land of the Lost with Jorma Taccone, in full costume as “Chaka”

Phillip Paley as the character Cha-ka from the original 1974 TV series, Land of the Lost

A high definition scan of the iconic “Frame 352” provided by researcher and author Bill Munns. Technically, it’s frame #354 as Munns found two additional frames in the clip during his research.

Roger Patterson shown with two plaster castings he took of “Patty’s” footprints at the Bluff Creek encounter site.

Roger Patterson comparing his foot size with that of the plaster castings he took of Patty.

Bob Gimlin around the time of the encounter.

Scan #0195 by Bill Munns of trackway footage from John Green’s archives. “This was the first time this footprint footage was ever scanned at 4K resolution, every frame known to exist. The four reference images … are among the sharpest frames for each footprint. The footage was scanned end to front, which is why scan numbers are highest first, lowest last.”

Trackway scan #0137 by Bill Munns

Trackway scan #0090 by Bill Munns

Trackway scan #0028 by Bill Munns

Philip Morris at far left holding his Bigfoot costume; Arlee Bird to the right of Morris, from whose blog Tossing It Out this photo was acquired. Photo taken by Los Angeles magician, Whit "Pop" Haydn

LA magician Whit “Pop” Haydn on the left, Philip Morris on the right with a replica of his Bigfoot costume. From Arlee Bird’s blog, Tossing It Out

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CREDITS:

Bonus: Jorma Taccone and Chaka. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel; Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2019 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Ep 141B: Bonus - Jorma Taccone and Chaka