Kynan Dias is an actor and award-winning screenwriter, born in Honolulu and raised in Las Vegas. Inspired at an early age by great American playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Edward Albee, Kynan taught himself to write feature-length screenplays as a 14-year-old high school student. He earned a B.A. in film from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he pursued acting, screenwriting, and directing. Later, Kynan earned his MFA in screenwriting from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he developed a love for writing TV sitcoms that were further nurtured during his time studying improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade.
As a writer, Kynan’s films tend to live within the thin space between the humorous and the tragic, in sarcastic dramas and in comedies that hurt. As an actor, he is often hired to cry in comedies. With Lester Ryan Clark, Kynan co-hosts a series of film history podcasts on the TruStory.FM network that are meticulously researched yet lean heavily on improvised comedy.
Teaching at UNLV FILM since 2008, Kynan has developed a wide variety of courses in film production, directing, acting, screenwriting, and film studies, being especially proud of building classes such as Women in Comedy and Queer Cinema. His research interests include animation history, studio system economics, queer coding in classic film, and foregrounding previously unsung collaborators within major film authors’ historiographies.
On this episode: I don’t think we’re in the IRS anymore, Toto. I can feel the tongue at the end of my toes! “She’s heeeeeere….” This Spielberg trap looks really expensive!…and more!
On this episode: Sure glad we kept the sets from part 1! Faust faints. Again. So Helen is the new Gretchen? Who DOESN’T remember Erictho!…and more!
On this episode: “I’m a … p-podcaster…” IRS ASMR. Did you MATERIALLY participate? More than Les Grossman. Turns out WE didn’t know what Watsu was, either!…and more!
On this episode: If Goethe’s Faust Part I was Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, Goethe’s Faust Part II is the Beetlejuice Cartoon. In sleep, no one can hear you dream…and more!
On this episode: JLC in the IRS! What a weird place for an atrium! What’s on the NINETH floor??? Where does the purple brick road go? …and more!
On this bonisorial BONUS episode: She so…morrible! Kynan gets it….I mean, he GETS it. My Gateway Witch. Am *I* the only one who doesn’t forgive Glinda?…and more!
On this episode: Deck the halls with Holly’s Balls. Aren’t ALL demons half goat? “Overwhelmingly White”. “There’s a war on Krampus Nacht!” …and more!
On this episode: Paging Dr. Freud… The elevator doors are a metaphor! A LITERAL bundle of Joy! A little bit of Waymond in my life. Never realized Peter Griffin was a verse-jumper…and more!
On this episode: Hey Herr DJ, turn das Musik up! There were MULTIPLE Mount Olympuses? Olympi? There’s double entendres, and then there’s just straight up entendres!…and more!
On this episode: I’ve been sleeping on bagel and locks! “My life flashed before my eyes! And I wasn’t in it!” A Schrödinger’s Cat joke that is funny and not funny at the same time…and more!