Joel Potrykus is a lot of things: Father, professor, sometimes actor, and longtime fan of Malcolm McDowell. But he’s also a filmmaker. Potrykus has four features under his belt as both writer and director. His features are Ape (2012), Buzzard (2014, The Alchemist Cookbook (2016), and Relaxer (2018). Jim and Teal first noticed Potrykus’ work a year ago when they both caught Buzzard on Amazon Prime.
What struck J&T about Potrykus is his ability to craft exciting and unusual stories under a micro-budget. They spoke about Buzzard on a past episode, and in that episode, Teal mentioned Joel Potrykus should come on the show. Joel reached out, and Jim isn’t going to say Teal dropped the ball, but yes, Teal dropped the ball and didn’t set up an interview. And Jim continually shamed him for it for many episodes.
After a while, it seemed silly and too embarrassing to reach out to Joel and see if he’d still be interested. Then the pandemic hit, and a lot of things changed. But in that time, Jim and Teal saw both The Alchemist Cookbook and Relaxer and the interest in having Joel come on the show was back in full force. That’s where Jim stepped in. He reached back out to Joel, and one year later, Joel Potrykus is the latest guest on Stuff We’ve Seen.
Strap on those headphones, or get your Bluetooth car radio synched up for an hour plus of awesome, as Jim and Teal learn Joel’s story. Potrykus shares his journey, working partnership with actor Joshua Burge, what it’s like to teach college during a pandemic, and what he’s got on tap for the future.
If you haven’t seen any of Joel’s films, you can find Buzzard, Alchemist Cookbook, and Relaxer through various streaming services (Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Kanopy.) This episode is a long time coming, and one that both Jim and Teal won’t soon forget. They are in Joel’s debt for taking the time to come on the show. Enjoy this one, listener!
