John Irving Bloom (born January 27, 1953), known by the stage name Joe Bob Briggs, is an American syndicated film critic, writer, actor, comic performer, and horror host.

He specializes in humorous but appreciative reviews of B-movies and cult films, which he calls "drive-in movies" (as distinguished from "indoor bullstuff").

Later, after a tongue-in-cheek "battle" with his own convictions in Joe Bob Goes Back to the Drive In, he also began reviewing films released on VHS and DVD.

[12] In the late 1990s, "Briggs" spent two seasons as a commentator on Comedy Central's The Daily Show (under his given name, John Bloom), with a recurring segment called God Stuff.

[16] Shudder streamed two shorter marathons on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day 2018[17] Beginning in March 2020, the show returned to Briggs' old double-feature format.

[19][20] He also wrote and performed in specials for Fox and Showtime,[citation needed] and collaborated with comedy writer Norman Steinberg on an unproduced NBC sitcom.

[citation needed] "Briggs" has written for Newsweek,[21] National Lampoon,[21] Rolling Stone,[22] Playboy,[22] The Village Voice,[22] and National Review,[23] Bloom's two syndicated newspaper columns as "Briggs", "Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-in" and "Joe Bob's America", were picked up by The New York Times Syndicate in the 1990s.

[26][27] Under his given name, John Bloom, he co-wrote (with Jim Atkinson) the nonfiction book Evidence of Love: The Candy Montgomery Story (1984).

The book recounts the 1980 Wylie, Texas murder case in which Montgomery killed her ex-lover's wife, Betty Gore, by striking her 41 times with an axe and whose highly publicized trial ended in an unexpected acquittal.

Later re-titled Joe Bob Dead in Concert for home release, the show evolved into a theatrical piece involving storytelling, comedy and music.

In 2019, Briggs began performing a new one-man show, How Rednecks Saved Hollywood, at genre film festivals and revival movie houses.

[34][35] "Briggs" has contributed audio commentaries to DVDs released by Media Blasters and Elite Entertainment including Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, The Double-D Avenger, Michael Findlay's Blood Sisters, Warlock Moon, Samurai Cop, I Spit on Your Grave, and several Ray Dennis Steckler films including The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies and Blood Shack.

[39][40][41] In May 2020, Briggs received backlash for writing articles published on the right-wing website Taki's Magazine in which he criticized the LGBTQ initialism "and argued for the 'need' to listen to white supremacist speakers.