Mason Kelso is Full of Sass and Sex in ‘Stan the Mechanic’

Are you ready to join Stan and his naughty helpers for a hellishly good time in his workshop of terror?

The world was first introduced to Stan the Mechanic, TV’s newest horror host, this past Halloween. Played by John A. Hernandez and chosen by Satan himself, Stan perpetuates all sorts of mischief and mayhem against humankind by using automobiles. In his downtime, he likes to relax and crack jokes with his friends while watching horror movies.

Stan the Mechanic, which can be viewed on Here TV, showcases and celebrate the genre of queer horror. In episode two, the antics and shenanigans got crazier after audiences met Brad and Janet, Stan’s demonic sidekicks. Portrayed by Mason Kelso and Summer Moran, the three of them create an unconventional family worth watching.

OFM had the opportunity to chat with Kelso about playing Brad, the boy-crazy, youthful, and sassy demon who helps keep Stan on his toes and in his place. Originating from a cattle farm in rural Kansas, he is now a New York City-based actor, dancer, and musician who has always loved performing. Some of his credits include Prentiss in Peter and the Starcatcher, the Cowardly Lion in Dorothy’s Adventures in Oz, and Tarrow in Acirema.

In addition to Brad, Kelso also talks about new appreciation for horror films and surviving these days of COVID.  Hi, Mason! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me about Stan the Mechanic. Can you begin by telling us more about your character, Brad?
Brad is a demon from Hell, and he is a bit of a sex maniac, if you will. He is very driven by his business downstairs and what he is attracted to, and that often gets him into trouble. That is kind of the main reason why he is in Stan the Mechanic’s workshop. He is constantly getting into trouble, sleeping with the wrong people, and pissing off the wrong people. He is a firecracker.

How did you get involved with Stan the Mechanic?
I found the notice, I cannot remember if it was on Casting Networks or Backstage, but I found it online and decided to go to the audition just to see what would happen. The audition process was so much fun. It was a different experience from what I have had with most auditions. You usually either have to prepare a side or monologue, but for this audition, we had to prepare our own written story for what we thought a demon would be in a mechanic shop.

I really liked that because it gave me so much more freedom in the audition room. So, I did the audition; everything went great, and thankfully, I was cast as Brad. We were supposed to film pre-pandemic, but I am happy we were able to pick things back up in the fall here in New York.

What have you enjoyed the most about working with John and Summer?
They are an absolute dream to work with. When I work with somebody as an actor, I really look for somebody who I can just bounce things off of and play with. Not necessarily be so rigid and locked into a box. They are both so great at doing that. We volley back and forth with each other, both in rehearsals and on set. We would change things slightly and they would adapt, and when they changed things, I would adapt. It was this great back and forth. Also, they are two of the nicest people ever. Sweet, amazing, and incredible people to work with.

Related Story: Summer Moran Brings the Drama to ‘Stan the Mechanic’

I love the 80s crop top and short shorts look for Brad. What was the decision behind that?
That is definitely a reference to Johnny Depp’s look in A Nightmare on Elm Street. There is this scene where he is in his bedroom, and he ends up getting sucked into the bed by Freddy. It is a homage to that look, and also to kind of highlight the fact that sex is one of Brad’s number-one, driving forces, using his sexual means to exploit and get what he wants out of life, or the afterlife.

What do you hope audiences take away from Stan the Mechanic?
I definitely hope that people take an understanding of what the depth of horror movies are. Personally, before working on this project, I did enjoy watching horror movies, but I did not understand the depth of what went into them in terms of the storytelling. A lot of horror movies have the final girl, the person who gets killed first, the idiot who walks into the room when you are screaming at the television, ‘Don’t go into the room! You’re going to die!’

Because the show analyzes horror shorts and movies as a storytelling method, it forced me to kind of look at horror movies in a different way. Therefore, subsequently, the whole process of making horror movies from the writing, acting, everything. I really hope that people, for art in general, look at how much work and how much thought goes into every single decision for artistic things. Also, that people can be gay, fabulous, and look good in anything that they want to wear. If anybody says you should not wear something, tell them, thank you for your opinion, but I don’t need it. Go away.

Stan the Mechanic helped you discover a new love and appreciation for horror movies?
It has! Before working on Stan the Mechanic, I did have kind of an affection for the horror movie genre, particularly The Conjuring universe. It is one of my favorite horror universes. Stan the Mechanic gave me a different lens to look at the movies, and definitely a great appreciation for them. Now, rather than just watching them just to be terrified, I am like, oh, what was the decision that made them go into that? What story devices are they using to maybe tell a different story in another film that is different? What are the Easter eggs? The Conjuring universe has so many Easter eggs from all the different films within that series.

Do you prefer paranormal horror over slasher films?
Definitely. I love a good demonic or cult story. For me, slasher films, in terms of horror movies, just are not my favorite brand.

Why do you think the horror genre resonates so well with the LGBTQ community?
I think it is because of the reality that we all kind of go through. I was born in the mid-90s, so I know with the generation before mine, in the 80s and early 90s, they were dealing with the AIDS crisis when it was at its worst. Not only the AIDS epidemic, that is just one layer of the queer struggle, but also people thinking that we should not exist or deserve rights because of who we are. Unfortunately, that is still happening today.

I think the reason that queer people in general can turn to horror stories is, even though the storyline may not be directly about a queer person struggling through a queer experience, but there are parallels of what a queer person may be going through. I don’t know why my brain just thought of this, but the Final Destination movies. The premise is, they all cheated death, and now they are all going to die because Death wants what’s coming to them. In the movie, they are trying to avoid death the entire time, and for a lot of gay people, that is kind of what the AIDS crisis has been. It has been this constant struggle of, ‘Am I going to catch this disease and die?’ Dancing around that whole issue while still trying to be proud and open of who you are.

How did your passion for acting begin?
So, it is actually a very gay story [laughs]. I started off life as a classically trained pianist. Through a series of very long events, I got the opportunity to sing in a choir at Carnegie Hall when I was 16 years old. On that trip to New York, we got the opportunity to see a Broadway musical. If you are going to sing in a choir at Carnegie Hall, why would you not see a Broadway show in New York?

Of course, I chose to go see Wicked, and I remember I was sitting in the sixth row of the orchestra, section house right. Jackie Burns was playing Elphaba, and the moment she started singing “Defying Gravity” and went up in that cherry picker, I turned to my mom and said, ‘Well, that’s what I am going to do with my life.’ At 16, I had this huge shift of being a classically trained pianist, that is what I was going to do, to doing a BFA in musical theatre then moving to New York and trying to make life work as an actor. So far, it has turned out OK! Still very much a work in progress.

TV’s Newest Horror Host Stan the Mechanic

A lot of your previous work has been with theatre. Would you like to branch out and do more TV and film, or would you like to stick with stage work?
I definitely want to branch out into film and TV. One of the unfortunate realities, with particularly what I do in theater and what I am cast as, there is a bit of a shelf life for it. There are so many great roles that people in their middle and later age can do, but what I particularly enjoy doing onstage is dancing and playing the off the wall crazy characters. The reality is, there is a shelf life to it.

I feel like there is a little bit more opportunity and flexibility with age, and just the physical requirements for acting in television. I will always do theatre; it will always be my first love, but the film and TV bug is definitely growing more inside of me. Every time I am on a film set, I am like, I really like this. It is weird because when I first started doing theatre, I was very much one of those, I am never going to do film and television. I am only going to do serious work on stage. Reality then sets in and it’s like, oh yeah, you can’t just do theatre [laughs].

Unfortunately, the pandemic has halted the New York theatre scene. How have you been managing these days of COVID?
In the early months of 2020, I was very fortunate. I was making most of my income doing background work for various network shows. When the big shutdown happened in March, I was lucky enough to get unemployment and that was able to tide me over. I did leave the city for a portion of the summer just because of a series of events, and it made more sense for me to go back home to my parents’ farm in Kansas for a few months.

When I got back to the city in September, I had to make a decision if I wanted to try to do background work for smaller things in the world of COVID with all the restrictions. I did a few jobs, and obviously, we filmed Stan the Mechanic, which was very COVID compliant and safe, but I made the decision to get a survival job until the pandemic is over. Just for practical reasons, I have to pay my bills, and unfortunately, the world of film and TV is not the most reliable in terms of steady employment right now. So, I made the conscious decision, I am going to work in an office job in a veterinary hospital, which has turned out to be a good job.

I am going to stay with that job until things with COVID settle down and I can be vaccinated. It was honestly a very hard decision for me to make because I love acting, and that is really the only thing I want to do in life, but I had to weigh it against being practical. I had to sit down and be like, you have this dream, the dream is on pause right now, and that is OK. It is definitely something I struggle with every day. I don’t want to be in a survival job; I want to make money doing acting, but things are out of my personal control and not allowing me to do that right now. That is something I have to accept for the time being.What would you like to accomplish with your platform?
I would like to spread tolerance, love, and acceptance for people of all walks of life. If the world has shown us anything, particularly after COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, it’s that people are more divided on certain issues. If we can, we need to bring people together and be able to try and come to some sort of peace. Now, I am saying this as a cis, white man. Obviously, my situation is very different than people of color, trans people, people who come from very different walks of life, but I try and always do my best to educate myself on issues that people are struggling through. I will never fully understand the experience that people have who are different from me, but I will do my best to be empathetic, listen, and do my best to do what is right. Trying to spread that message is the most important thing we can do.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention our plug?
I do not have any upcoming projects, but I want everybody to stay safe and wear a mask. COVID is real. Black lives matter. Trans lives matter. Wear a mask.

To stay up-to-date with Kelso, follow him on Instagram, or visit his official website. Click here for more information on Stan the Mechanic.

Photos Courtesy of Catalin Stelian