First, Mary Jo introduced Todd Carlin [editors note: apparently Bob did not recognize that “Todd Carlin” is a character created by Dave (Gruber) Allen], who warmed up the audience with some good stand-up. He was then joined by J. Elvis and then Frank C. for a couple different comedy routines. This warm-up was followed by a brief intermission.
Then the CT show with movie got started. The movie was Blood of the Vampires, a movie made in the Philippines that is a period piece set in Mexico years earlier. There were several “call-back” jokes to old MST3K gags, like “I’d hate to shoot a butt like that” (it was “poke” rather than “shoot” in this case) and Torgo was mentioned as well. There was also a joke about performers appearing only in silhouette! The show was just terrific and we laughed throughout. It might be the funniest CT yet. I don’t want to go into any more detail on jokes as it would be a shame to have this “episode” spoiled for anyone who sees it in the future for the first time.
After the show the CT cast shook hands and signed autographs for anyone who stood in line for it and the line was quite long. Unfortunately, the theater was only about half full, but the crowd that was there was enthusiastic and it looked like nearly everyone who came to the show stood in line to meet the cast. We got cool live show CT T-shirts and got them autographed by the whole cast. They were certainly gracious about meeting so many people. We were near the very end of the line, but it was worth the wait.
I hope they do a show in Washington, D.C. or Baltimore sometime, We’d love to see CT Live again!
Thanks, Robert. Yeah, let’s hope an East Coast show is scheduled soon!
If you were there, add your thoughts in the comments.
UPDATE: Nice review here.
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I had to look up Todd Carlin because when I saw and heard him, I thought “is that Dave “Gruber” Allen. Sure enough it was. The seats were rather cramped for my friends and I in the theater, but it was still fun to be there. There were some callbacks all right. The ones in the review of course I caught, “everyone’s wearing Torgo hats”, and I’m pretty sure the comment about the mexican robot was about The Robot Vs The Aztec Mummy. Josh’s routine about the short attention span radio songs is from his stand up routine that I saw a few years ago at Acme. BTW Josh and Chris Bliss will be at Acme in Minneapolis in a few weeks. Check out Chris Bliss’s juggling routine, it’s incredible. I believe Frank’s cartoon theme was the one he did at Acme in February. If only they could have taped that and released it on DVD, since I was behing the damn support beam, I HEARD a great show that day, just wish I could have SEEN it too. I hope they do another show next year. Now, if only Rifftrax could come up here so I could get both groups to sign the 20th Anniversary DVD.
If they do a show in Baltimore, I will go, invent a time machine, and use said machine to go again.
In my opinion, it was by far the best movie CT has done yet! The cast was in fine form and seriously, I was practically in tears laughing. Many of the best jokes were brought upon by something ‘controversal’ (I won’t spoil the surprise but you won’t believe it). And the movie was so incredibly bad that the best joke in the film was from the film ITSELF without a single comment uttered from the Titans! I was lucky enough to sit in the lower level on the 7th row so it was well worth the price of admission. Unfortunately I didn’t stick around to personally meet them. I could see the person I went with was pretty tired so we decided to high tail it after the show was over. But it’s okay – just seeing them live (especially Joel, Josh, and Trace who I’ll always have a special fondness for since I’m a fan from back in the KTMA days) was more than I could have asked for. And the tour t-shirt is awesome! :lol:
Wow. I think one of the biggest advantages the Cinematic Titanic’s arrangement is that they can get away with riffing on films that they never could have gotten away with showing on the Sci-Fi Channel or Comedy Central. Blood of the Vampires employed what we might refer to as rather rascist casting. If you’re even mildly sensitive to such things, you might want to plan a long shower afterwards. Nevertheless, the show was hilarious! The Cinematic Titanic crew didn’t stop to do any skits during the movie, but it was amazing to hear the audience react, especially to the subtle MST3K references. I was in to much of a hurry to wait in line for autographs, but I did get to say hello to Josh, who was taking a smoke break. I’m looking forward to seeing the final product when Blood of the Vampires comes out on dvd, but if they had to put a content warning on Legacy of Blood, I can’t imagine what the warning on this one will look like!
Went last night with one of my best friends, the show was fantastic. Not only was it a great experience to see a movie riffed live, but IMHO, script wise this is the very best work they’ve done yet and Blood of the Vampires is a must buy when it’s released to disc. The lines were very sharp, I’d rank it right up there with any of my personal top 10 MST episodes. Also, as others have said, there is indeed a very offensive element to the movie’s supporting cast (one riff spelled it out: “Mamie!,” that’s all ya gotta know) As others have said there were great callbacks to earlier eps. I didn’t catch the Robot Mummy reference unfortunately, but as another poster said there was a great Torgo line (near the end, the entire church congregation/locals surround the vampire filled house with torches, crosses, ect. and one guy is seen from behind with a farmer’s hat and pitchfork to which Josh (I think) replied “Hat from the Torgo collection!” :D ) After the show I bought Doomsday Weapon on DVD and was waiting with my friend in the (very long) autograph line and was trying to figure out what in the heck I was going to say to them. How could I express my feelings for all the fun these folks have provided me, my family, and friends throughout the years? Well, I happen to be working on my own comic that happens to feature a guy and some robots. So, while in line, I took out the insert and drew pictures of my cartoon characters alongside sketches of Tom and Crow with the following caption: “From my guys to the MST/Cinematic Titanic Crew: Thanks for all the laughs!” reading it off to each one of them before getting their signatures. So I guess you could say that I turned my DVD insert into a personal greeting card of appreciation. :) Five of the most gracious and friendly folks I have ever met. Oh, and Frank. If you are reading these comments, I forgot to mention two things: 1.”Knobby and keyhole” was one of my fave lines of the night and 2.forgot to tell you how much I loved the Convoluted Man song! Seriously, I want my Convoluted Man flash toons filled with the tension that comes from car ride/errand-running resentment!
EAST COAST! EAST COAST!
There are so many great venues near D.C. and Baltimore where they could do that show and the number of seats are just right. Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, MD near D.C. is a beautiful concert hall with great acoustics. The Warner Theater or DAR Constitution Hall in D.C. are both great and there’s the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore too. Please CT Live, do a show in the D.C. or Baltimore region. We have lots of “MSTies” in the area who’d love it!
I saw the show, too, traveling from NJ for it. I had a really good time. The warm-up was funny (especially the KADD routine), the movie was awful, and the riffing was perfect. As for the…um, casting issues, I’d seen the movie several years ago, knew what was coming, and was eagerly awaiting CT’s reactions.
Oh, and if anyone from CT (or Rifftrax, for that matter) would like a suggestion for a show in NJ, try the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway. It’s a restored old-time movie palace with its own non-electronic Wurlitzer organ. Highly recommended.
Wow, my wife and I loved the Higgins Boys and Gruber, but I have to admit, we did not recognize Dave Gruber last night. We haven’t seen him since the last special they did on Comedy Central which was what, maybe 12 years ago or more. In any case, he was quite still funny and we enjoyed the performance. Good to see him again.
I must concur with everything that has been said so far. My sides are still aching from all the laughter from last night. And we definitely need an East Coast show for ’09. Baltimore or DC would be good, although I would prefer just a little bit south in Virginia, like in Virginia Beach or Norfolk.
I just wanted to also say that Josh’s KADD radio routine was great, he does some excellent artist impersonations.
During the opening act I was thinking “That looks like the guidance counselor from ‘Freaks & Geeks,’ but when I got back to the hotel I looked him up and saw his name wasn’t Todd Carlin. I should have googled Todd Carlin and Dave “Gruber” Allen together. The fact that it really was him just makes the night that much more awesome.
Dear CT, Rifftrax, Film Crew, …
I want to parrot what others say about an East Coast Show. I live in Alexandria, VA and am dying to see you guys live!
Thanks.
after seeing the video interveiw and hearing a live,local tv show audience go wild! Isnt it about time that somewhere ,somehow some programing “genius” figures out its time for MST3K to come back!!!! Get Best Brains off their (his) rear end and start a grassroots movement!
long live MST3K
Haha, Dave Allen was there? Awesome.
I’ll just echo what some others have said: I really, really would love it if the CT crew came to Baltimore or DC. PLEASE!
D.C, Baltimore, Alexandria : all great towns, but let’s not forget the Big Apple, guys.
Drove out from Denver to see it with my father. Amazing ep and maybe it’s the emotion that comes with watching these guys with a large crowd, but I think it really could be the best yet.
On a personal note, last night was the night I REALLY got into MaryJo. I’d never had anything against her, just part of the crew. But last night she was ON. A few lines were flubbed or mistimed and Joel came across as a little mumbly in places but MaryJo just seemed to nail every riff she had. Not putting anyone down, just elevating her stock in my book…of stocks.
Final note: Loved how during some of the REALLY cheesy the CT crew didn’t say anything. Nothing more to add and wouldn’t have been heard over the wave of sarcastic laughter anyway.
I went and saw the show, which was great. I didn’t stay to meet the cast though. I thought about it, but I didn’t think I really had anything to say, except “awesome show, I’m a big fan, blah, blah, blah”.
Tom: It’s a shame you didn’t stick around to meet them. Knowing the Titans as we do, I’m sure they would have appreciated hearing you tell them, “blah blah blah.” :lol:
I’m back from Minneapolis. It was indeed a great show and although my own personal “blah, blah, blah” probably wasn’t very interesting the cast was very gratious and took time to talk with everyone in line. These guys are great.
Frank did the Convoluted Man sketch on a show called Late Friday back on 3/23/2002. It’s hilarious and available on fan DVDs.
I’ll probably post a page on my site since I took lots of pictures again. Just need to find time to go through them and see if any turned out.
To I’m not a medium, I’m a petite says says (post #17):
My wife asked Joel H. about coming to the east coast and New York is definitely on his radar. Unfortunately, the Mid-Atlantic area did not seem to be. Maybe he didn’t play comedy clubs in the D.C. area much when he was doing stand-up? In any case, NY will almost certainly get a show, but if CT fans want one in the D.C./Baltimore/Virginia area they are going to have to lobby for it.
I hate to be a “Me, too” poster, but…me, too, to a lot of that up there. *grin*
I also didn’t stick around afterwards, as the rest of the people I was with needed to go. I do wish I could have at least said hello to Mary Jo, and thanked her for the note she sent my brother and I early this year. (A coworker of mine is a friend of hers!)
My review is up. :-)
http://deepape.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/cinematic-titanic-live-in-minneapolis-hurts-so-good/
And my page is also up:
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/ctlivempls.html