Joel Hodgson (2014)

You're really gonna make me do this? Okay... repeat to yourself: It's a show, you should just relax...

I love BOTH robots equally!

That's a really good question.

The answer is YES. The movie was EEGAH, and the person I felt we were particularly tough on was Arch Hall, Jr. I believe we called him a "stiff with teeth and hair." I met him this summer at a convention, and he couldn't have been nicer. And he's a wonderful guy and was very complimentary and said he was really glad we riffed the movie. He said something like "It isn't lost on me that I get to work these conventions because you guys did my movie." He was really nice about it. But i was pretty nervous meeting him, because I thought he was really going to hate me, but he was really nice about it.

1) For Joel episodes, I like "I accuse my parents" and for Mike episodes, my favorite is "Final Sacrifice."

2) Yes, yes I did. But it took me a long time to come back and watch the show. I was really frustrated when I left and didn't really want to watch it.

I'm not at liberty to say right now. You'll just have to tune in.

Hahahaha!

Wow, that's really great.

I'm not going to tell you to get beyond Thunderdome. I know what you're trying to do, and I'm not going to try to ask you to get Beyond Thunderdome.

I think, for the reboot, obviously people would really want to see the original robots back. So I intend to do that. But hopefully we'll bring some new ones too.

Oh my god.

I guess, to answer your question - "The right people will get this" was the way I felt about it at the time, and it just happened to work, you know?

Oh my god, NO. You're reading way too much into it!

Oh! Yeah, I just got worn out in LA. I felt like I'd done everything I'd set out to do, and there wasn't anything left for me. And right away, I was happy I went back. Because I still had a lot of cool bohemian friends that were hanging out in Minneapolis doing fun things, so it was fun right away.

No... the amazing thing was, we never had any interference from the executives at Comedy Central when we were making the show. There was only one and that was they wanted us to make the silhouettes green on the B&W movies because they felt people wouldn't be able to see our silhouettes. So we did that for one episode, that was ROBOT MONSTER. But we figured out how to fix it, by putting a blue cast to the film.

I like to think you're freaking out, that's good. Watch the Turkey Day Marathon. I want 2-3 more days of solid, good freaking out.

OF COURSE. There are movies that people love and are very familiar with and I kinda feel like, you know - part of the allure of Mystery Science Theater is that you kinda don't know what movie you're getting? It's like going on a tour of a scary house in your neighborhood, you don't know what's in there.

I do remember it. Thank you very much. And it WAS awesome.

Well, I'll give you the usual answer, and it's kind of long, okay?

Going back aways - we'd get the movies when they were cleared already, so the lawyers already felt confident that they could license the movies. Not the other way around, because it would take investment and manpower to go through them and riff them. It's somewhat obscure, because I think people think we window-shopped for movies, but it's more like fixing up a home - so you want to make sure you can BUY the home first, before you spend a lot of time and money fixing it up.

I didn't have anything to do with that, those guys are good friends of mine, just last year I riffed a bunch of movies with them in Austin.

Hahahaha!

I completely expect I'll be killed by Crow. Tom couldn't do much, he could just pinch you.

We're working on it. I'll tell ya later.

Thanks for checking in about that. I'm certain that I'll release a version of it in the future.

I think I should answer this by saying: It sounds like you are letting me write my own ticket, is that correct? And I appreciate that. Thanks for letting me write my own ticket. And I guess I will say: one of my favorite features of the show is the concept of Movie Sign and I put that in there so we wouldn't have to figure out how to end sketches - the Movie Sign just comes in there and we have to run away. Movie Sign is one of my favorite features, and I put it there because it's impossible to write good endings for sketches, so Movie Sign comes in there and interrupts us so we never have to finish them.

Oh, the movie I would like to do most is HAPPY FEET 2! And why? For obvious reasons.

The worst meal I ever had... oh my god... uh... oh boy... I think a pizza i had at a bowling alley once was pretty bad.

No...?

Yes, I like the one from when we did surgery on Frank and it was a giant Operation game.

I think there is no way in hell Beeper could have made it in the show. And the fact that he's your favorite confounds me. Is there a way to block you on this?

Seriously, man, I'm worried for you.

This is so stupid! I can't believe you are asking me this! But I will answer your question!

A tie! He'd wear a Fred Flintstone style tie!

There's not that many things, when you think about it. It's either going to be a tie or a hat. Did Huckleberry Hound have a tie? I don't think so. They were mostly collars. It seemed like they always gave them collars you know?

A collar / tie hybrid.

It's really nice when they hand me their original INFORMATION CLUB membership cards, that's always kind of amazing, because that means they've held onto it for over 20 years.

I would say: just keep a notebook. Write all your ideas down. And take all your jokes, and arrange them from your favorite joke to your least favorite, and start with your second-favorite joke and end with your best joke.

I was just going to say something from Monsanto!

That's a really good question, but i don't have an answer. It's been so long since I've watched THE FARM REPORT, I can't answer that.

I'll hold him up to the keyboard. It takes him a while, cuz his hands are so small but here goes:

^Hi^there,^I'm^Tom^Servo!^Thanks^for^coming ^to^Joel's^AMA!

And I don't know... this is Joel. Sorry.

I guess I would like to riff a movie with George Méliès, because he created fantasy film. And I guess - HAPPY FEET 2?

Perfect! We'll call it ROCK N' ROLL DEMONSLAYER: TIME TRAVEL VAMPIRE! It writes itself!

Yeah, we've talked about it over the years. And you know... my impressions is the thing that's nice about MST3K is that it gets refreshed with new characters and new situations. And the thing about TV is that it's the same characters. Obviously I would never say never about that, but that's my impression. It's just easier to refill with new movies rather than with a TV show that has the same characters.

Jimmy Smits.

Thank you. I designed Tom Servo.

Hehe. Oh my goodness. No, but I can say the hardest one to riff on was MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE. I can't think of the easiest, but the hardest one was MANOS, for me.

I'll just answer this by saying: Haha, I was only kidding about that. I've actually gone through most of my life relatively unscathed, I'm happy to report.

That must be for MASTERPIECE THEATER.

Swiss Miss instant cocoa has put it out as an intelligence test. If you order all their flavors and combine them, you'll get an interocitor.

Oh! That's a really good question. And I think it's really true. We've already pioneered this idea for Cinematic Titanic when we re-riffed SANTA CLAUSE CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. We did all-new jokes, except for one.

Oh yeah! Just a week ago, I was at a wedding in LA, and I met Mitch Hurwitz, who created ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, my favorite show, and he shocked me by saying he was a huge fan of MST3K. So that was kind of an amazing experience.

AND recent!

I'm glad you're finally getting the message, because Werner and I have been working on affecting your dreams, a la Inception, for years now....

1) Actually, it wasn't a green screen, it was a process called luminance key. Which was essentially a large white wall. And the way I was able to see myself was we had a monitor down below the theater seats.

2) It was all written.

3) HAPPY FEET 2.

Hmmm. If you've been really, really good...

I don't want to spoil anything. That would be telling.

ICYMI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq8WhYTRbC8

Cinematic Titanic was really great, just because we got to kind of develop everything in front of a live audience, so we really found out what worked with a different experience. It changed the content a bit, but was also really fun, because we could also see what was working.

Mostly I do "Riffing Myself" when I make comic-con appearances, so if you have one, bring me in!

My opinion is they are kind of a big misunderstanding.

Movies like that are predicated on confusing a large percentage of the audience into thinking they were meant to be good, but somehow turned out misaligned, thereby driving discussion online and elsewhere.

But it's a common creative exercise to try to make something bad and I think there are a lot of good benefits to that.

Well, fortunately we did 22 episodes before I had to pitch it. So it existed prior to pitching it. So fortunately we just put together a reel and showed that. And it got bought, so...

My favorite Bond movie? I think it's probably... Goldfinger, I guess?

Oh, what a great question... BEGINNING OF THE END is a good one?

I don't believe that film exists.

Sometimes they do, and they're always really disappointed.

I'm like everybody else: when I go to a movie, I'm hoping to be taken up into the movie just like everybody else. Riffing on movies is my job, and I go to movies to have fun.

It was really fun to do. I love both those guys SO much. And I think we were all about equally drunk at that time on that show.

I think you're on the wrong AMA, man.

Well, I was born in Steven's Point. And lived there, and Edgerton, WI, Fort Atkinson, WI, and Ashwaubenon, WI. I'm really proud to be from Wisconsin. I love the Packers. And yes, i think it had a lot to do with who I am.

TARS from INTERSTELLAR, and Twiki from Buck Rogers? Twiki would be a good counterpoint.