FREE to our Kickstarter 2016 backers at $50 and higher! Backers at $100+ will also receive a DVD or Blu-ray (coming late 2016)! Mike, Kevin and Bill were joined on stage by their MST3K colleagues at the State Theatre in Minneapolis to bring it back to their roots in an MST3K cast reunion the likes of which have never been seen before! Joining the guys are their old cohorts Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), Trace Beaulieu (Crow, Dr. Forrestor), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester), Bridget Nelson (Nuveena, Mr. B), as well as Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson, AND the host of the revived MST, Jonah Ray, for a hilarious night of riffing for RiffTrax's 20th Live event. Taking turns in various permutations to riff on a slew of old-timey shorts, the show culminates in a Super Riff-A-Palooza finale with all nine riffers on stage at once!
THE MST3K REUNION SHOW IS OUT!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! I know what I’m doing tonight!!!
Ryan is all by himself in this episode of The Write Idea Workshop, discussing what's going on in the X-Men comics, the emergence of a whole bunch of D&D shows on YouTube, how amazing the MST3K Reunion show was, and other things that stumble into his head at 2am.
Can We Please Get Reunion Sign? (or Never Doubt My MST3k Fandom!)
MST3k is one of two shows (the other is Star Trek) that having knowledge of my fandom for the show helps explain everything about me. Among the obvious years of laughs, MST3k is responsible for three things:
1. My broad and shockingly-erudite sense of humor,
2. My steel-willed ability to suffer through ANY film,
3. My inexplicable attraction to short, red robots (the less said about that the better, probably).
For the vast majority of my life, I’ve lived in a small southern GA town. We didn’t get access to Comedy Central until MST3k left them, and we didn’t get SciFi Channel until almost the end of the show proper. Fortunately, I had a cousin with access to both channels, and he got me started by circulating the tapes. Most people assumed that the second I was able, I would just show up at Best Brains begging for a writing job as I was (and remain) incapable of not riffing any film I’m watching. (I’ve actually lost friends over this fact. I don’t talk in theaters much, but at a home viewing, I am a riff machine). Anyway, by the time I was old enough to beg for said job... the show had been cancelled.
But I remain a devoted fan of not only MST3k, but also all the projects it has spawned over the years. 2016 has also been a nightmare of a year, and the MST3k reunion show was one of the few things I’ve had to look forward to. But as I said, I live in a wasteland of a southern town. To see any Rifftrax Live show, I have to drive through country emptiness an hour to the nearest town. I also don’t own a car, so I always have to borrow one or convince a friend to take me. Despite these challenges, I have managed to see 17 of the 20 Rifftrax Live shows, over a dozen of which were at the same theater, Regal Savannah Stadium 10. I usually have an amazing time, and the staff is always excellent.
That brings us to the cursed reunion show:
On 6/28, I showed up to the theater with a group of friends psyched to see the reunion. The first hour went swimmingly. Then, a massive thunderstorm (thanks, summer in GA) blew in and knocked out the satellite feed. Despite remaining for the entire hour left in the run time, the audience only got to see a couple of scrambled minutes past the first hour. The manager (also a MiSTie) apologized for storm, and offered either a cash refund or a free pass for the replay showing in two weeks. My friends and I all took cash as we didn’t know if we’d be able to make the trip again for the reshow.
Fast-forward to tonight, 7/12, and the reshow. My friends couldn’t get away to attend. However, at the last minute, I was able to borrow a car and drive myself. When I got to the theater, a man was complaining to an employee that the sound was not correct for the pre-show. So, for the entirety of the pre-show, we got to listen not to the lovely sounds of musical numbers from MST3k, but the annoying sound of an English woman selling jewelry on some sort of QVC-type program. While the staff worked on correcting the issue, the audience began to provide their own riffs. Would the sapphire necklace sell out? “It’s such a low price! How can you miss this deal, Mary from Wickham?! Have you no self-respect?”
We got to hear none of the audio from the pre-show. The staff paused the playback as the main event started to spend 10 more minutes working on the audio.
Audience riffing continued. “It’s a theater full of MST3k fans. At least half of us are in IT. Let us help. ... Have you tried turning it off and turning it on again? ... Just get Frank to push the button already!” Finally, the show started properly (although slightly late), and the audience cheered. However, during the entire run of the show, the sound would periodically cut for a few seconds causing us to miss entire jokes. In spite of the annoyance, the dedicated audience stayed until the end. To the theater’s credit, they (for yet another show) agreed to refund anyone who talked to the manager.
I was the last one out. In speaking to tonight’s manager (who remembered me from other shows and knew how difficult it was for me to get to the theater), she explained what happened. From my understanding (according to what the manager said), each theater is allowed to record the feed from Fathom to facilitate a repeat showing for events that do those. Since the original satellite feed ruined the local recording, Fathom sent a DVR containing a clean copy. The early QVC audio was from a different recording, and they were still baffled as to how that audio got played at all. As soon as they found the correct audio, either the audio cable or port developed a short and would only work if someone was holding the cable in a specific spot. So that’s what they did. A worker (and bless that poor, most-likely-minimum-wage worker) stood there for two hours holding the cable still. The times we lost audio after were because that person had to move or sneezed or something. Insane. I told the manager to give that person a hug and a raise. Above and beyond.
So that is how I’ve spent 8 hours at least (between travel and viewing time) trying to see the MST3k reunion show and will STILL have to wait for the DVD/download to finally see/hear the whole thing. I hope they release it ASAP so I can finally get this one under my belt. The staff at the Regal Savannah Stadium 10 are rock stars who did everything they could. Props to them, and never hesitate to give them your money if you are in the area.
Moral of the whole thing? NEVER doubt my MST3k fan dedication.
(I hope they get everything worked out again before Mothra.)
Feliz bigote and Merry Mustache! As you twirl your lustrous lip sweater, feast your eyes and ears on this year's annual Cinco De Mustace improv commentary comedy special from your couch buddies at OneWallCinema! First up is a profile of a barber from Iraq who dreams of making it big... By singing nonsense words. Then for part 2, we take you back to a bygone era where gentlemen were obsessed with flat tops and women took so long to get their hair done, your 8 year old could smoke almost an entire pack of cigarettes before she was ready. So apply your mustache oil liberally and settle in for some quality goofs from k1 and K2!
So excited that @jonahray & Joel riffed a short at the MST3K Reunion that we did an improv riff of back in May for Cinco De Mustache!
If anyone wants to check out our version, here you go! (Use coupon code MST3KReunion to get 50% off)
