Jon Kinyon (born March 29, 1962) is an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-nominated TV editor,

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

music producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

Hot Rod Condoms

Jon Kinyon is the founder and president of Hot Rod Condoms, a U.S.

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condo ...

brand which he launched in 1994.

God Squad!

In 2002 he wrote, produced and

directed Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), a ...

God Squad!, a

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

which parodied Christian Films and 1970s Buddy Cop Films. It featured

cult film A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated ...

actress and former Penthouse Pet of the Year (1993) Julie Strain as well as actor Al Israel who is famous for his roles in Scarface, Carlito's Way, and

Body Double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

. Composer Bob Crail is credited with writing the film's musical score. After its premiere at the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

accredited Los Angeles International Short Film Festival the film went on to screen at Tromadance 2003, the Backseat Film Festival and several other U.S. film festivals. This film is included in the European version of "The Best of Tromadance" DVD.

The Jimi Homeless Experience

Webcomic

A fictional character named Jimi Homeless first appeared in a series of

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

published Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

as ''The Jimi Homeless Experience'' in 2006. The

webcomics Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

were written by Jon Kinyon and drawn by an underground cartoonist known as Big Tasty. The strip was primarily about a small group of social outcasts and proudly flaunted its

Grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

orientation and

black humor Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

Parody album

August 23, 2007, Jon released a full-length CD of parody songs he had written and produced, all inspired by the aforementioned webcomic. The first CD by The Jimi Homeless Experience was released on the exact day of the 40th anniversary of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

' first album release

Are You Experienced ''Are You Experienced'' is the debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in May 1967. The album was an immediate critical and commercial success, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. It features J ...

, his Are You Homeless? features

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

-styled parodies of some of Hendrix' biggest hits.

Stop motion animation

On March 6, 2008, he became the first "featured animator" on the now defunct MyToons, a YouTube-styled website specifically geared for 2-D and 3-D animation, with a

stop motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

' key performance at the 1967

Monterey Pop Festival The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16-18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix Ex ...

Book of jokes

On July 3, 2023, Jon published Street Smarts, a book containing more than 300 jokes and quotes attributed to the fictional character, Jimi Homeless. Most of the

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

and

jokes are one-liners that lampoon

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

, or offer insight into the plight of the

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

Night of the Loving Dead (2014)

Jon Kinyon wrote and directed a

of the classic horror film

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American Independent film, independent zombie horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, written by Romero and John A. Russo, John Russo, produced by Russell Streiner and Karl Har ...

. The

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

was co-produced with his two brothers C.J. Kinyon and C.C. Kinyon, and was filmed at a long-abandoned cemetery in Half Moon Bay, CA. It premiered as an Official Selection in the web based film festival Once a Week Online Film Festival.

Television editor at Nickelodeon

Jon has worked in the film and television industry since 1988. He has been a film and TV editor in Los Angeles, California, since 1997 and has been employed at

Nickelodeon Animation Studio Nickelodeon Animation Studio Inc. (also known as Nickelodeon Animation Studios or Nick Animation and credited as Nickelodeon Productions on-screen) is an American animation studio owned by Paramount Global through the Nickelodeon Group. It has c ...

since 2005. He served as supervising picture editor for 3 seasons of the animated TV show Pinky Malinky. Season 1 of the show was released by Netflix on January 1, 2019.

Daytime Emmy Award nomination

The 2020 Daytime Emmy nominations were announced on Thursday, May 21, live on CBS’ ''The Talk'' and later on Gold Derby. Nominated for “Outstanding Editing for an Animated Program” was the show Pinky Malinky on which Jon worked as the lead editor.

Short stories published by OZY Magazine

A total of seven stories were published by OZY between August 2017 and August 2020. * "Stepdaddy Dearest: Putting The Crime Into Crime Family" is a story Jon wrote about his criminal stepfather. It was published on August 29, 2017. * "Will The Real Parachuting Hijacker Please Stand Up" is a story about a family friend who spent 30 years as a suspect in the D.B. Cooper hijacking case. It was published on April 19, 2018. * "Who Murdered My Father?" is a story about the murder of Jon's father in 1972, as well as the subsequent lies, obfuscation, and runaround the

San Francisco Police Department The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is the Municipal police, municipal law enforcement agency of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco, as well as San Francisco International Airport in San Mateo County, California, San Ma ...

forced his family to endure. It was published on November 26, 2018. * “Raising Hell, Raised by Hells Angels” was published on September 26, 2019. This story is about a long-time family friend who became President of the Daly City chapter of the

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in California whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells ...

. * “That Time I Was Roofied In Hong Kong” is a story about a dangerous vacation experience in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. It was published on November 12, 2019. * "The Convivial Call of Casual Racism" was published on July 22, 2020, and it details a run-in with a race-baiter at a

Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...

party in the

Hollywood Hills The Hollywood Hills is a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It borders Studio City, Universal City and Burbank on the north, Griffith Park on the north and east, Los Feliz on the southeast, Hollyw ...

. * "When Jesus Freaks Go Bad" was published on August 6, 2020. An accidental death leads to Jon's friend becoming a religious zealot. As time passes, his friend's religious beliefs turn more political and radical.

Private investigation: Andy Kinyon Cold Case

On Sept. 10, 2021, a story about Jon Kinyon's 10+ year-long private investigation into his father's 1972 murder

cold case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

made the front cover of his hometown

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

Palo Alto Weekly The ''Palo Alto Weekly'' is a weekly community newspaper in Palo Alto in the U.S. state of California. Owned by Embarcadero Media Foundation, formerly Embarcadero Media, it serves Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Stanford, E ...

. Suspicions of a 40-year police

cover-up A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or other embarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one's own misdeeds) from relational co ...

and continued

stonewalling Stonewalling is a refusal to communicate or cooperate. Such behaviour occurs in situations such as marriage counselling, diplomatic negotiations, politics and legal cases. Body language may indicate and reinforce this by avoiding contact and e ...

by the

are laid out in the article.

Journalism award

In May 2022, the story, "Searching For Their Father's Killer," won First Place for

Investigative Reporting Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

in the 2021 California Journalism Awards for print weeklies with a circulation of 25,000 and over, presented by the California News Publishers Association.

Published Novels

San Francisco's Hottest Cold Case

Jon Kinyon's first

non-fiction novel The non-fiction novel is a literary genre that, broadly speaking, depicts non-fictional elements, such as real historical figures and actual events, woven together with fictitious conversations and uses the storytelling techniques of fiction. The ...

was published in March 2023. The book details his 12-year private investigation of his father's 1972 murder

and exposes a

by the

. Ultimately, Jon's investigation leads to the case being officially closed and the main suspect being named as "the person responsible" for his father's murder.

Sweet Hitchhiker: The Last Resort

Jon's second

was also published in March 2023. This book is the first in a series about a man known as "Hippy Bob" who spent half of his life living on the road, hitchhiking up and down the west coast of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and lucked into a career as a porn star during the

Golden Age of Porn The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American pornography, in which sexually explicit films experienced positive attention from mainstream cinemas, movie critics, and the genera ...

. This book is about the man's

open relationship An open relationship is an intimate relationship that is sexually or romantically non-monogamous. An open relationship generally indicates a relationship where there is a primary emotional and intimate relationship between partners, who agree to ...

with a young woman named Virginia Voyt and their Swinging lifestyle in the early 1980s.

God Squad! Hollywood & Divine

Jon's first published work of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

is a

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

based on his 2002 short film of the same title. The book version has many additional scenes and dialog, as well as a different ending. The

story, as described by Doug Sakmann of

Troma Entertainment Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production company, production and film distributor, distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz (producer), Michael Herz in 1974. They are the longest running independent film ...

, is "A hilarious and campy send-up of 70's cop shows with a strange, pseudo-reverent twist. Featuring a duo of

born-again To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...

evangelists fighting the forces of

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

and Hollywood." The book was published in September, 2024 by Chapin & Wardwell Book Publishers.

References

External links

Jon Kinyon official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinyon, Jon American male novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers Film directors from California American film editors American television editors American webcomic creators American parodists American short story writers American satirists Living people American male screenwriters The Jimi Homeless Experience members 1962 births