I was wondering if anyone’s had any interesting encounters with the MST cast.
A few years back, I invited Mary Jo up to Canada for the weekend to hold one of her humor seminars for our authors association. She was living in Minnesota at the time and I gave her a call to discuss particulars. It was kind of surreal talking with her on the phone and she started teasing me about the invitation saying: “So, how do I know you’re not an axe murderer?” When I picked her up at the airport several weeks later, I think the first words out of my mouth were: “Hi…I’m the axe murderer.” We got along famously after that.
Do you have a story?
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Alas, all of my brushes have been rather limited — or at least 2nd hand.
– Bill once retweeted one of my jokes about Jesse Ventura, and he also commented on the Rifftrax forum that I came up with a good zing during the Twilight baseball scenes that they missed (Baseball..Bats…Vampires…do your own homework on this one).
– The head engineer at the place I work went to Bethel College with Joel, and Joel was the RA for his dorm floor. My co-worker says that he did a great job and was fun to be around.
And that’s it, unless you count some of the Minnesota riffs in MST/RT/CT that were uncomfortably close to me. MaryJo and Bill made a crack about a junior high school that was visible from my home.
I’ve got about 20, but here’s one. Years ago, I got the opportunity to meet Ted V. Mikels and I keep in touch with him. He is the director of “Girl in Gold Boots” and has a credit in “Catalina Caper”. Right after the filming of one of his AstroZombies movies, I met one of his actors, Scott Blakshear, who I’d already established an online friendship with.
This actor told Ted V. about how an online group of us admire MST3K, etc. etc. Ted V. says “I wish they’d use more of my movies.”
Well, I got a chance to tell Frank that at Dragoncon and through some emails.
Well, there was this one time when, visiting Scotland, I got the chance to go boating on one of their many famous Lochs. Everything was calm and peaceful when, all of a sudden, a mist rolled in from nowhere. I was soon cut off from everything. It was then that I heard it: the sound of something rising up out of the water. I couldn’t see anything, yet could swear I caught a glimpse of a long reptilian neck, slowly disappearing back into the water. Then, when it had disappeared, the mist blew away, and I was alone again on the Loch. Fantasy? Maybe. But I think it was very real.
And that, my friends, was my brush with Great Ness.
As for anyone related to anyone from MST3K? Nope, never seen any of them. I don’t think they really exist…
No brushes with the MST3K Gods, but my current hometown and one of its claims to fame was mentioned in one of my most favorite episodes. In case “Scott the axe murderer” might be reading this I’ll not say was it was. But I just love it when that part comes up. I’ve always wanted to send of box of that stuff to them as thanks. Just that little bit makes me a part of my favorite show, sort of. And that’s kinda neat.
Was just going to add, it’s a tiny town so Scott could find me easy. :eek:
I remember seeing Mike one time at a special appearance he was making in Rochester, NY. The local film society had invited him to introduce the flick “Carnival of Souls.” This wasn’t long after MST got the axe and he was busy plugging Movie Megacheese. After they showed the film, they passed a mike around the theater and took several questions from the audience. A lot of them were along the lines of “So when’s Mystery Science coming back?” and Mike had to patiently explain “No, the show’s over. It’s not coming back.” After the umpteenth MST question, he finally pretended to tear up saying “Will you guys stop reminding me the show’s over?? It’s the best job I’ve ever had!” He was just joking around but I’m sure the regret was real since he eventually jumped back into RiffTrax, etc.
I talked to Detroit Tiger baseball great Mickey Lolich who played a doughy security guard in “The Incredible Melting Man” on a radio call in show. He said his agent got him the role, which, he (Lolich) wound up having to pay his own plane ticket to California, Union Dues, and meals just to take a shot at Ted Nelson. He knew it was a bad film and on MST. Overall, Mickey laughed about it and vowed to stick to Tiger fantasy camps in Lakeland, FL.
A very brief brush, while touring Best Brains Kevin walked by hawking the new CD “Clowns in the Sky II”.
Last time Rifftrax came to Nashville (Jack the Giant Killer) my wife saw Bridget Jones Nelson in the bathroom. As if not awkward enough, then my wife asked if she could have her picture with her…. in the bathroom. Bridget was a good sport about it and so I have a picture of Bridget and my wife with the lovely backdrop of a bathroom mirror and paper towel despenser.
I have what I believe to be the best story of all, because it is both meaningful to me personally, and it is indicative of the good people behind the show.
Back in 1993 my mother was undergoing one failing treatment for cancer after another…She was sick and weak, and the family took turns watching over her at home. One of my ‘shifts’ was Saturday mornings. I asked her if it would be okay if I watched something on tv, and she said she did not care…I turned on MST.
Now, I would have to state that my mom was not the sort of person who got into things like MST…Her taste in entertainment was ‘Jackie Collins’ pot-boilers and soaps, etc…MST was something that I expected her to merely tolerate at best.
Well..We watched ‘Rocketship X-M’ ..and she was hooked ! …She LOVED IT!
After that, it became our weekly ‘thing’ to watch MST together. We watched and laughed and laughed…
Until the day she had trouble breathing, was taken to the hospital…and did not return.
Afterwards I was struck by just how much the show had done for her…and for me…giving us something to connect over and enjoy TOGETHER during the last months of her life. I wrote Best Brains a letter, thanking them for giving my mom some of the VERY few lighthearted moments she had before ‘the end’.
Roughly a year later,I went to the ConventioCon and waited in the mile-long autograph line to thank them personally…I got up to Jim Mallon, and started to tell him that I wanted to say thanks for giving my mom a little happiness at that sad time, when he stopped me by exclaiming “You wrote us a letter!” I nodded, and Jim immediately said “Don`t move!” He turned to the other ‘Brains’ and got their attention, telling them “Remember the letter we got? About the guy whose mom passed away? This is HIM!”
Well, they dropped what they were doing and got up and came over …Mike, Bridget..EVERYONE crowded up on the other side of the table, offering a hand and saying “We are so sorry about your mom”…”Thank you for that letter, that means a lot to us”, etc…
It was a strange moment…There they were, with THOUSANDS of people there to applaud and appreciate THEM…and here they are, making a big deal out of me being there!
How many people on tv do you think you would get that sort of response from ?…and in the middle of a convention, yet !
That has always been one of the really good things about MST to me…
The good people behind it.
– After the Christmas RiffTrax show, Bill answered some tweet about the 4th Doctor scarf he was wearing, which prompted me to mock his height (not that I have any room to talk). He replied with denial and it made my day.
– My dad went to college with Jim Mallon and apparently bought a t-shirt for the Pail and Shovel party. That’s about as close as that goes.
– Do Cinematic Titanic shows count? I kinda half-count those. Notable memories are having a photo of me and Joel as the background of my cell phone two years ago and my first college roommate asking if he was my dad. Then there was the time I introduced Trace to Plushie Forrester (a crocheted and poseable doll made for me by a friend). Josh laughed his ass off while Trace was afraid of its voodoo potential, but he quickly warmed up and played with it.
I’m fortunate to get to work with Joel, Josh, Trace, Mary Jo and Frank on Cinematic Titanic. A dream come true for me. Frank, Joel and Josh have also all done voices on the podcast I produced The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd. Before all this though I’d met a lot of folks at the second convention.
My ULTIMATE brush though was getting to have dinner, several Tuesdays in a row with Clu Gulager at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, CA. He prefers his apple pie with cheddar cheese on it.
In one of her Cinematic Titanic site blogs, Mary Jo Pehl mentions a fan that came to a show in St. Louis and made her sign a pair of MST3K boxer shorts. That was me.
I was at the Cinematic Titanic release party for their first DVD. The audience got to ask questions with mine being “Wasn’t there also going to be a toast to the 20th anniversary of MST3K. They obliged by using it as a nice lead into Josh bringing out his guitar and everyone singing the MST3K theme song with the audience. Afterwards we got to visit all five of the Titans at a table to shake hands with them and get autographs. I engaged in a brief debate with Trace regarding whether the “You know you want me!” catchphrase on my t-shirt was from him or Bill Corbett.
But the most memorable thing for me was something I asked Mary Jo. During the release party everyone except Trace had given us a taste of their standup routines. Mary Jo’s opening bit featured her talking about reading the DC Comics crossover series from the 80s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and being saddened by the death of Supergirl at the hands over the Anti-Monitor’s anti-matter blasts because “My grandmother died the same way!” DC Comics happened to be right in the middle of a big follow up to that series after 20 years or so. I asked her whether she was keeping up with with the new “Infinited Crisis”. She had no idea what I was talking about. I tried to briefly explain that I was referring to the comic book series she was talking about in her act. We looked at each other awkwardly and I moved on down the table. I’m assuming that she hadn’t actually read the 8th issue of “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. The concept just fit her routine well.
Thank you for sharing that @Paladin, I just teared up reading your story. I watched the show with my mom too when it was on when I was a teenager and we always kind of bonded over it too (in spite of it being a time in our lives that we didn’t really get along in any other regard. Gotta love teenagers,ugh.) so I felt particularly touched by your story.
My wife, Valerie, and I took another MSTie friend with us to see the Gateway SciFi Convention 2000 in St. Louis when Mike, Bill, and Kevin were guests with Mary Jo as a surprise guest. Val had made an awesome Pearl costume and got mistaken for being Mary Jo in the hotel. I made a Manos costume, and the cast goofed around with the hands design after the costume contest.
The best part, though, was when the three of us were walking around downtown St. Louis looking for a place to eat and bumped into the cast. Val and Marianne were busy looking at signs, and I said, “Uh, you two might want to just notice that you’re walking right past the cast members if you just take a quick look at the people on your left.” Mike and Kevin kept walking and stood at the end of the block waiting while Bill and Mary Jo listened to us gushing over them and inviting them to dinner. They declined.
Bill was gracious enough to lend a Brain Guy-esque voice to my in-progress short film!
I’ve also worked on the encoding/authoring of the live RiffTrax Blu-rays, and I just found out yesterday that the company I work for manufactures the Cinematic Titanic DVDs. :-D
And finally, Mike and Bridget used to rent movies from the video store I worked at in college if that counts.
Minneapolis is pretty darn small for a big city.
I had a couple emails from Mary Jo because I had some trouble getting her book “I Lived with My Parents.”. Later, we took it to the CT show in Cleveland hoping to get her to sign it. Her reaction: “Put that away! Somebody might see it!”
I was at the comic-con in San Diego for the Rifftrax panel and just before the live riffing began Bridget snuck out from behind the panelist curtain and sat a few seats away from me for the show. I reconised her instantly. I got her autograph and thanked her for giving me so much laughter. She is a real classy Lady!
Ha! I only wish. The closest I’ve gotten was having Cinematic Titanic posting a story I had written on Facebook. (http://mytruthfulopinion.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/how-i-kept-my-sanity/)
I’ve been thanked twice for #FFing Cinematic Titanic on Twitter. Does that count? Also, somewhat Rifftrax-related, my local cult cinema has shown The Room often (complete with audience participation, from my understanding), and Tommy Wiseau has apparently been there at least twice.
Back in 2003, Mary Jo’s book was being published by the ill-fated Plan Nine Publishing. The publisher, David Allen, was also publishing my books. He managed to get Mary Jo to come to Midwest Furfest, a furry con. (And, alas, I am one of those “furry artists” they talk about in psychiatric wards all over the world.)
Mary Jo was naturally bemused by the whole thing, but she was WONDERFUL all the same. She took everything with a good humor. I was lucky enough to show her around the con, and when she asked me about some of the weirdness, I quoted Crow’s “Try not to think about it. You’ll be glad you did.” And she laughed!
One hilarious bit is when we went through a revolving door. She was in the section of the door behind me. All of a sudden the revolving door STOPPED with a “thunk.” My first thought was “CRAP! I’ve injured Mary Jo Pehl!” Then I looked behind me, and she was smiling impishly, holding it closed. She said, “Haven’t you ever pulled that prank before?” I laughed my butt off, relieved as heck.
She read from her book to a bunch of fans, and hung out behind the dealer table. It was a bit thrilling, as, um, it so happened I was the guest of honor at that particular convention. Getting to hang out with her was one of the best experiences of my life.
Photo: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q115/TKDye/mff.jpg
We met again at a Cinematic Titanic “meet and greet” and we discussed old times. It was funny, because we were talking a lot, and Joel was right next to her, and I remembered… “oh, Lord… I forgot about Joel Hodgson, the originator of the freakin’ show.”
Mary Jo’s just wonderful… I’m hoping that between CT and her own efforts, she’s got a comfortable, happy living going on. She deserves it.
My friend Jim Got drunk with trace at Gate way con one year and No Trace didn’t not pick up the tab. I have see all the Mst crew so many times but no neat story like his.
I met Mary Jo in October at a master pancake show in Austin. She was very nice and even posed for a pic.
Only interaction I ever had with the Brains was the Conventiocon in 96. They all seemed like nice folks and I still have the handwritten post cards they sent to people for ( I think) joining the info club or going to the convention. Had the mads on it with thanks written in white out and a note on the back thanking me and my brothers by name. Was a nice gesture.
Thanks to going to both MST3K Convention-Cons put on by the cast and crew and going to five CT Live shows we’ve had the chance to meet and even mingle briefly with cast members a number of times. At the Conventio-Cons the cast and writers mingled heavily with the fans at the costume balls, which gave us a chance to have some real conversations rather than rush through an autograph line. Every encounter with MST3K cast and crew has been enjoyable, polite, fun and funny every time. Mary Jo told our son that he was her favorite fan after recognizing us at one of the CT Live shows from a previous encounter.
Actually I just found the post card and they were to thank us for a Variety ad that misties had participated in. My brother Matt’s that I just found says: “Hey Matt! Thanks for your help on the nifty keen ad! Your pal, Trace”. Even has a crow and dr forester stamp on it. That was pretty awesome of him. Can’t believe I forgot what they were thank yous for.
Sometime around 1992, I was working as an overnight stock-guy at a giant grocery store in Bloomington, MN. One Friday night around 1 AM, a very dapper Joel Hodgeson walked through the store holding up a very, very drunk Rich Hall (the Sniglets guy). My guess is that Rich must have needed a snack after spending some quality drinking time at the mega-mall which was a few miles away. I told one of my co-workers who Joel was and after being sufficiently egged on, I started to approach Joel to tell him that I was a huge fan. At that point in my life I had way too much time on my hands and thought it might be a good idea to be the size of a Mack truck and was spending about 4 hours a day lifting weights. When Joel saw me coming, he had the look of someone being approached by a knife wielding sociopath, or a shaved gorilla so I decided that having to carry a blathering, drool-covered Rich Hall was enough stress for the day and I turned around and went back to work.
I remember a while back emailing Mary Jo at her website to congratulate her on her engagement, and that resulted in a really great sort of “pen pal” situation for a long time. She was always just so sweet, and she actually took the time to read a short story I’d written and was very encouraging (she called it “very Roald Dahl”).
I’ve met Gary Numan, Neil Patrick Harris, Muhammed Ali and Nick Cave but never anyone from the MST cast. And thank you so much for bringing up such a painful memory. While you’re at it, why don’t you give me a nice paper cut and rub some lemon juice in it?
I suppose the closest I got was in a six-degrees-of-separation kind of way by being at a mall and seeing Jack Palance in a JC Pennys (or maybe it was Sears) in the early 90s. Jack Palance of course being in Outlaw of Gor, Angels Revenge, and who the subject of Joel’s invention exchange in Being From Another Planet.
Hey. I live in West Virginia. This is as close as I’ll get here.
Met Michael J. Nelson at the University of Magnolia in Magnolia,Arkansas back in 2006.He showed a clip of his solo riffing on House on Haunted Hill and answered questions,then did a meet and greet afterwards.He autographed his 3 books that I had and I asked him if any of the movies The Film Crew did were ones that MST3K passed on.I think I held the line up a bit,but I did manage to get a pic of him and myself..I also met Cinematic Titanic when they were in Dallas,Texas back in 09,too..Before they opened the doors,we were all lined up and Trace came out and made his way through the crowd.When he got to me,I asked him,”Sir,are you lost?” and he said he liked my shirt because I was wearing a CT t-shirt.I told him that I know where I could get one for him.He laughed..I don’t know if this counts,but I met Gruber outside the theater before the show and he signed my Amazing Colossal Guide and RAD(that’s Mary Jo’s husband,right?)got there a little bit afterwards..
I’m jealous of all of you.
Not a true brush with fame, but I did see Bill and his family at a Minneapolis BBQ restaurant several months back. Though his wife-to-be was a year ahead of me in high school, and my junior year, I was stage manager for a show she participated in: a readers’ theater presentation of pieces from the high school literary magazine.
I met Trace in Hollywood at a comic store which I don’t remember what it is called now, but it was for his comic “Here come the big people” he signed my copies of the comics along with my MST episode guide. I told him it was awesome and an honor to meet one of the MST cast, which he downplayed, he is a very humble person.
I also got to peek into the Best Brains studio when they were closed one day when I was in Eden Prarie in 1997. Just being at the studio door gave me the shivers.
From 1997 to 2000 I worked at an office building a few blocks from Best Brains offices in Eden Prairie. We had a little sandwich shop in our building and would occasionally see cast members getting lunch. Paul Chaplin was the most frequent person visiting.
I’ve talked to Mary Jo’s husband on the ForrestCrow board once or twice, but that’s about it.
I spoke with Bill over the phone for BlogTalk Radio. I remember asking if having MST’ed actors like Peter Graves or Beverly garland as guests for Rfftrax was considered, and he said it was being considered. Unfortunately this was a couple years before Graves and Garland past away (and before it was revealed Graves hated MST3K).
I met Joel, Josh, Frank, Mary Jo, and Trace at a CT showing. I spoke briefly with Mary Jo commenting on the Michael Jackson joke. Ran into Trace on the way to the bathroom. Trace looks so short in real life!
I saw the CT crew when they came up to Seattle, and then here in Portland. At one of the meet-and-greets, I mentioned to Joel that I’d been a fan ever since his old stand-up act.
He looked very somber, not at me, and said dejectedly, “That was a long time ago.”
Everyone else was really friendly, and I suspected that Joel would have been if I hadn’t reminded him how old we are.
I resolved after that to only talk to the Brains, on the rare occasions I see them, about their current projects. (I still got my 20th Anniversary set and Episode Guide signed, though.)
Oh, and Frank “liked” my Facebook page about my internet radio station.
I don’t know if it quite counts, but I had a great chance encounter with Bill at last year’s Dragon Con. I was only there for one day, having driven up from Chicago one day, hitting the con the next and heading back to Chicago that night. As a result, due to other conflicts, I wasn’t able to go to Bill’s panel, with the next one being at 8 PM or something like that, but I had that pesky 14 hour drive back. By myself. I decided I would try to find him. Not even twenty minutes later I was in the line to go down an escalator, and who should be walking by at that precise moment? In the exact lobby I was in of one of the 5 or so hotels the convention was in, with this particular lobby being filled with hundreds of people? It was Bill! I shouted, “Bill!” And he stopped, and I went up to him and he was as nice as could be. He waited for me to get my pictures out to be signed, he posed for a picture with me, and we chatted briefly and shared a joke. I don’t even know where he was heading, but that he was willing to stop and wait for me to get my stuff out and all that, was just super incredible and really made the trip worth it!
I live in Argentina so I have not even the slightest chance of meeting any member of Mystery Science Theater, thanks Sampo, now I’m depressed, I’ll go watch Blood Waters of Dr Z to cheer up.
That would be a good theme for a next discussion, how many of us ar foreing fans of the show.
Gary Bowden @#32…
Thank you for your post! You just reminded me that I have a video file of that VERY appearance by Mike at the University of Magnolia. Boy, I haven’t watched that little gem in quite a while.(I think I must have found it thru eMule or something…) I remember him reading excerpts from Mega Movie Cheese, and another bit using a tabbed book that automatically created hilarious random movie taglines. The video is shot fairly well, and Mike’s very personable, witty and charming throughout the evening. Even his battle with technical glitches, while trying to play excerpts from the “House on Haunted Hill” DVD, ends up being a spontaneously amusing moment.
Hmmmmmm……Now if I can just remember which hard drive it’s stored on………
RE: “hellokittee :
December 3, 2011 at 2:19 pm;
“Thank you for sharing that… I felt particularly touched by your story.”
Thank YOU for the kind remarks.
I was 33 at the time this took place,(now I`m closing in on the age my mom was when she died)…
The thing that still resonates with me about meeting the Best Brains crew at the ConventioCon is how INTENSE Jim Mallon was when he realised who I was. I had handed him my Con Guide Booklet to sign, and as I did so I just said ‘When my mom was dying of cancer the show meant a lot to her.’ ..and Jim`s eyes just lit up and he snapped his fingers and pointed at me and exclaimed “You wrote us a letter!”…It startled me that he remembered it –as it was last year, and I was aware how popular the show was, I mean how many letters do you think they had gotten since receiving mine?…Yet every one of them had apparently not only read my letter, but they remembered it very well.
I was really blown away by the reaction of all the BB crew…They were SO EARNEST in their condolences. (Bridget had a deeply sympathetic look in her eyes) All of them were so caring it was a little bit awkward….But very nice.
When I set out to say ‘Thanks’ to them, it was in the frame of mind that ‘I`m here in the same place with these people and they made my mom laugh before she died, so I`m going to thank them for it, personally’, but I was just going to mention it to Jim Mallon and leave it at that.
They all showed me that it mattered to them, and that they cared.
Good people, all of them.
A few years back when CT first started touring, I saw them in Chicago for a three night extravaganza. Before one of the shows, my girlfriend and I were standing outside in line and I noticed someone coming out of a door farther down the building and pacing around getting some air down by the corner. It was TRACE! No one else saw/recognized him so I went up to him and said/mumbled things like hi, loving the new CT thing, glad you guys are touring, etc. Then a city bus just happens to drive by and stops at the corner. The driver opens the door and shouts “Hey, you’re Trace Beaulieu!” And Trace hops up on the bus and shakes the dudes hand…It was pretty weird. Then in the best Crow voice I’ve ever heard he exclaims to me “I just got recognized by the bus driver!” Then we got a nice picture together. Best day ever.
Rocky Jones @42..Hey,if you don’t mind,would you mind making me a copy? I remember a few years ago Michael Slusher(cheesyflix)said that someone recorded it,but said the audio wasn’t very good and wasn’t going to sell it on his site.Get back to me and let me know,ok? Thanks again..
At the NYC CT show in September I saw Joel and Dave Allen smoking outside of the theater well before the show and they were both kind enough to talk to me for a few minutes. Other than that at the RI CT I met the CT crew again as well.
Actually, kind of disappointed to learn that Joel’s a smoker.
I lost my dad to lung cancer when I was 29 due to his decades of smoking. So smoking is one of those things that pushes my buttons a little bit.
I stuttered and ranted at Mary Jo Pehl at the Blob Fest in Phoenixville, PA a few years back. She kindly signed my colossal episode guide despite the traumatizing experience of my awkward presence. She wrote in the book that the whole guide was written by herself alone, quite an impressive feet. (in jest). I almost got to meet Ray Dennis Steckler in his home town of Reading, PA, but he declined to show at the last minute for the appearance. He passed away not long after, maybe his absence was health related. I guess I’ll try not to hold it against him.
I went to DragonCon 2008 the day after getting a tooth pulled just to see Joel, Frank, and Trace. Most of the weekend was a painkiller haze; I barely remember the showing of the newest CT episode and the autograph signing afterwards. Trace asked me about my costume (it was Yomiko Readman and not MST at all) and I got to shake Joel’s hand. I remember he looked a lot like early, innocent Joel. XD (I’m also terribly shy. I’m amazed I stood on line at all!)
I still remember the first time seeing CT at the now closed Lake Shore Theater. They killed me with Blood of the Vampires, and afterwards, they lined up the gang in an autograph line towards the door. Joel was the last one and he was a little surprised that I had a copy of the 20th anniv set in the tin. Though the way he finished up my night i still remember. after signing his name on the boxset inside, he politely closed the tin’s lid, and passed it back to me with a smile.