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Update: RiffTrax Live Reviews ‘n’ StuffUpdate: John Scott Lewinski also offers a review.
John Sinnott of DVD Talk reviews the show last night. David McKendry of Fangoria interviews Mike about the show. And John Serba of MLive.com gives a brief review and posts the unriffed versions of three of last night’s shorts. The comments section in this post is being used to discuss the show. 120 Replies to “Update: RiffTrax Live Reviews ‘n’ Stuff”Commenting at Satellite News
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I sure hope there are musical interludes that make the crowd antsy!
i’ll pretend like tonight never happened just so tomorrow will be the live show for me. :cry: :cry: :cry:
No spoilers! :wink: I cannot go until tomorrow :shock:
Can someone who goes let me know if it would be age appropriate for a 14 or 10 year old? Trying to decide if I can take the kids to the encore Thursday night.
We just got home from Rifftrax Live. I have to say it was funny even way beyond our expectations. The short films used were all so extremely creepy, odd, un-self-aware or just plain bizarre all on their own that it was almost too easy for Rifftrax to bust on them. There were only about 40-50 people total in the theater in Bowie, Maryland, but the place was filled with laughter. Great show and if they release it on a DVD it’s a must buy.
I do have one question, why is that Gloria Estefan concert the standard lead-in to Rifftrax Live? That’s two in a row. Just curious how that decision was made.
@ Can someone who goes let me know if it would be age appropriate for a 14 or 10 year old?
My son is 12 and we are still careful about what he watches at times, but we took him along for this as it’s something really special for us and it’s certainly not overly raunchy. Honestly, your 10-year-old probably won’t get most of the suggestive humor and your 14-year-old will love it. If you’re a MSTie you owe it to yourself to share this with your kids.
It was an absolute scream.
It is also a must-have dvd for all future holiday scarring and nightmares. :lol:
“I am a tree, small and of no account.”
“Rudolph, I need you tonight.”
Just got back, great show. Most of the shorts are Christmas related, but there are a couple that aren’t (although hilariously shoehorned into the theme by the crew). As for content, it’s mostly family friendly, but I would call it a strong PG or mild PG-13. The final short was an animated version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer that had a sort of Manos fever dream vibe to it. The biggest laugh of the night was from that short and it wasnt even a riff, it was reaction to a line from the short itself. All in all, a great show, don’t miss it if you’re a fan.
I enjoyed the show but was seriously disappointed in Weird Al.
Just got back from seeing this. It was a lot of fun! The shorts were all perfectly weird and wonderful. The guys did a fun gift-exchange with some more weird commercials, which were pretty funny. I agree that the biggest laugh of the night was the Rudolph short, and even the guys said they lost 3 riffs because of the theaters all howling with laughter! It was awesome that Weird Al riffed on that one short with them, that was really unexpected! I was a little disappointed that he didn’t do a musical number, but they probably would have had to lose a short to do that, so I can see it either way.
Great job to Rifftrax!
If this gets to DVD like the last one, could they include those movie facts as an extra?
This was my first Rifftrax Live, and it was hilarious.
In short, I’m definitely going to the next one. :)
10 out of 10- funny, funny, FUNNY!!!! :lol:
No sing from Weird Al! I know there was some criticism about including songs last time, but I think in this instance a song would have been welcome. But otherwise, an absolutely hilarious show.
Fantastic. Our theater was a little over half full, but we never stopped laughing. Beginning to end the show was hilarious.
The tree one’s narration reminded me of Blood Waters of Dr Z. Also, that swimming short was star studded.
Outstanding show chock full of weirdness for your eyes and hilarity for your ears. :mrgreen:
Did anyone get the URL? I forgot to get it (Awesome show by the way!). Darn near cried a few times (NONE SHALL PASS!!!!!!!!!!)
I wish I had more positive things to say about the show, but unfortunately there was a sound problem at the theater where I saw it which made it difficult to hear a good many of the riffs. Since no one else has mentioned this yet, I’m going to have to assume this was a local issue. Still, it kinda makes me question whether it was worth paying $12.50 to see a show that I wasn’t able to hear properly.
Also, I’m curious why the Rifftrax guys brought in “Weird Al” to riff on a short, but didn’t have him sing one or both of his Christmas songs. That would have been a great way to wrap up the show.
Maybe only a dozen of us in the theater, but we all loved it. My personal fave was the “Jingle All The Way” reference. I felt the swimming short was a bit of a dud, but other than that, it was great.
Bill was rocking a Doctor Who scarf, which set me in the right mood for the night.
Our theater had us in the same venue Plan 9 was in, but whereas last time it was The Ugly Truth, this time we were Ninja Assassin! Oh, and we had more people this time around! Good times were had by all, and there was a huge range of ages in the theater (kids to seniors) and some hijinks. I really hope they continue doing these things – they’re so much fun.
110% better than the first live riff event. Let me emphasize that.
MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT!
I don’t know what kind of powers RiffTrax has, but they took everything I hated about the first event and totally rectified it. This is exactly what I wanted from a RiffTrax event. No ‘uninterested’ host who couldn’t keep her eyes off her cue cards, no guitar playing musician who stalled the time to get to the riffing and no lag interruptions. Mike, Bill and Kevin walk onto the stage, give their seasons greetings, point out the contest winner and immediately jump into the riffing. It didn’t take five minutes! And once a short was done, the transitions were quick, to the point and were never dull. Weird Al didn’t overstay his welcome and was quite funny to listen to.
I honestly can’t think of anything bad to say about this event. It was wonderful fun! That moment with the shovel (“Haha! Jerk is getting a shovel”) brought the house down, the special appearance of “Prince of Space” got an applause from the audience and Santa Claus bit in the Rudolph short (The one that wasn’t a riff) was the funniest out-of-place moment nobody saw coming that was perfectly followed up by Bill’s “We just missed three lines because of that, but it was worth it.”.
Great fun. Even the audience didn’t get a bad case of the coughs, so that’s a plus!
OMG, that may have been the funniest thing I’ve seen in a theater since Spamalot opened.
The Union Square theater in NYC was about 2/3rds full and the laughter was constant. It was great being able to see the guys as they riffed; Kevin obviously thinks Bill Corbett is one of the funniest guys in the world. He couldn’t help laughing when Bill was riffing.
And yes, the biggest laugh by far wasn’t from a riff but from the weirdly inappropriate Rudolph cartoon. Bill: “I think we lost 3 lines there.” Kevin: “It was worth it.”
That was my first Rifftrax Live and I am so there for any more they do.
But why bring out Weird Al for one short? That was a bit arbitrary, and odd.
just wrote the longest post of my life and decided to “preview” it. had not filled in my email addy so it’s all lost. I even took notes of the best riffs. I’m not going to write it all again, but will say in Atlanta between 75-100 in attendance. After the riffing 7 songs by either Bill, Mike, Kevin, or Al played, then Gloria Estefan.
Saw it at the Rio 24 in Albuquerque, NM. It wasn’t as packed as it was downtown a few months ago but it was fairly filled. The show was HILARIOUS as I hoped it would be. Now if you haven’t seen the show you can stop now because there may be SPOILERS ahead:
BIGGEST laughs from the riffs?:
1) “Rudolph I need you tonight” from the Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon played at the end.
2) The entire Ding-A-Lings robot toys commercial.
3) “Santa Claus and his new sidekick Prince Of Space” from the flick where the kids visit Santa’s toy shop whose title I can’t remember right now.
4) Everytime the divers hit the water HARD in that Celebrity Swim Event/Contest/Thingy that felt more like a home movie.
WEIRDEST (but still funny) things?:
1) Kevin dressed in a Santa suit but with pants replaced by fishnets & high heels during the end credits.
2) The “Gay” subtext in the following:
a. the voice of the tree of “no account” in Christmas Rhapsody
b. The Ding-A-Lings robot toy commercial
c. the whole Reindeer Rough-Housin’/ Rudolph & Santa thing from the RTRNR toon at the end.
3) The Jesters in the Three Magic Words pork obsessed short.
4) The whole Celebrity Swim Contest/Event/Thingy that really felt more like a home movie than a short.
Most DISAPPOINTING thing?:
1) The fact that “Weird Al” did NOT do any songs during this event. A song or 2 would’ve been nice.
Maybe they got bad feedback on Jonathan Coulton and decided to just drop any music from musical artists during the next show? And I guess since there wasn’t a host this time so they probably got lots of bad feedback on that too.
Still the show was FANTASTIC and well worth the money & time. I hope the Rifftrax keep doing it for many Christmases to come.
Oh and I have to ask do Rifftrax and Gloria Estefan have the same contract with Fandango or Cinemark or whoever organizes these events? Or are Mike, Kev & Bill secretly fans of Gloria? This is the 2nd time they’ve used her Live In Sin City concert to warm up for them.
Wonder if Mike, Kev & Bill will parody her show for the next event?:)
To all the “no spoilers” people, NUTS TO YOU. This is for us to talk about the show, so if you don’t want to know anything about it before you see it tomorrow then simply don’t read this comments section.
It was a really awesome show all around. I was disappointed that Weird Al didn’t actually perform any songs. It’s kind of confusing why they would get him to come, and advertise him being there, and then not have him do any music. Maybe they were trying to avoid the grinding halt that Jonathan Coulton’s performance brought on last time (nothing personal to JC, but that really was the case), but I don’t think Weird Al would have had anything to worry about. As is I think his appearance would have been best handled as an unadvertised surprise. I doubt there were many people who came to the show only because they saw Weird Al was going to be in it, and any who did would have just wound up being very let down that he didn’t perform any music. Weird Al’s riffing contribution was great though, and over all the whole show was excellent.
One other thing though, and I don’t know if it was just my theater, but did it seem too quiet to anyone else? It was sometimes hard to understand the shorts themselves (which should be expected somewhat given the source material) and riffing as well (which there is absolutely no reason for). The Plan Nine show had no such problems when I saw it. The first short was especially difficult to understand both the movie, and a lot of the riffing as well, and it was so quiet in general that much of it was drowned out by the laughing in the theater itself. I went out and asked one of the theater workers if they could do anything about it and he said he’d see. It seemed he he was a manager or something, and he instantly started walking towards the projection booth but I didn’t notice much of a change, at least not for some time. It seemed to get a little better later on, but I don’t know if that was because of the theater doing something, or something being fixed in the broadcast itself.
Just got home from the show! It was GREAT! The audience was a little cold, like Plan 9, but man, did I have a GREAT time!
Although, now I am a little CREEPED out by Christmas…
“…did it seem too quiet to anyone else?”
Yes, it started out fine, but as soon as the on-screen crowd got really loud, it’s like it cut the sound back or something.
I hope RiffTrax makes this event available later as a download or DVD..(I live too rural to see it live or encore)
Good lord… What a fun time.
I too would have liked to see Weird Al perform “The Night Santa Went Crazy”. The shorts themselves were strange and in some cases truly horrifying (“Don’t throw me away!”). Loved the Rudolph short. That scene between Rudolph and Santa could not be any more suggestive. I was at Union Square, and thankfully our theater did not have any snags.
That was the absolutely funniest evening I have ever spent; funnier than Plan 9 live. This time I took my 19 year old son; I knew he was laughing pretty much throughout, but at one point, he whispered to me “I’ve got tears running down my face”. So there you have it; they made a jaded 19 year old cry with their humor. Weird Al probably wasn’t even necessary, but he was okay. I thought Kevin really stood out; he was animated, enthusiastic, and really at the top of his game. Theater in Columbia, MD was about half as full as Plan 9; hope a lot of people are going to the encore, they won’t regret it.
We had a pretty decent crowd in Asheville NC. I had a great time – laughed my ass off. The swimming short was a bit of a dud (save for all the belly flopping, the flailing methods they used for swimming in those days, and poor gender-confused Larry), but the others were pure gold, especially the musical pork one – they just kept singing and multiplying, attempting to drive Mrs. Newlywed insane! I also sincerely hope they include the “gift” ads as digital goodies, because the whole audience damn near DIED of laughter during the Ding-Lings ad. And then of course, they died again at “I need you Rudolph!”
I agree with the others who noticed that the sound was a bit soft during the first two shorts, but it wasn’t too much of a problem and they fixed it by the third one. We did have a unique problem at ours – they started playing the audio for a trailer over the end of that terrible, trippy Christmas Dream short. I wonder if the projectionist didn’t do it just to save the sanity of the audience from the horrors of that awful little creepy doll.
I must admit, I hesitated a bit before buying tickets this time. Did I really want to fight the insane holiday shoppers at the mall to attend this showing? Answer: yes, yes, a thousand times yes! In fact, if my schedule allowed, I would go back to the encore. So much fun. I love shorts anyway, so I was predisposed to like this, but it exceeded my expectations.
I did notice some times when the soundtracks seemed to overwhelm the riffing; a shame since there were so many home runs. Missing riffs because of laughter, however, is to be expected–and a good sign! A++++. If you’re hesitating because of holiday busy-ness, kiddos, don’t. You will be sorry if you miss it!
I COULD have gone to the Fairfield Mall to see this, but my pathological shyness forbade me. I hope they offer it as a DVD image for d-l.
The AMC Garden State 16 in Paramus wasn’t sold out this time, but I’d attribute that to there being a second showing tomorrow. The smaller – but still big – crowd was just as into it, if not more than at Plan 9. An excellent time was had by all, except maybe during the swimming short.
Just got home from Stone brewery where we had beers after the show. What a funny night and it was great to meet the guys after. No autographs but I did get to say hi to everyone and I stole your guy’s pens afterward so I guess I can write my own autographs. You guys left a DVD at the table you were at, it looks like a fan made it. Leave a message in the comments and I can make sure it gets back to you. Epic show. The Prince of Space and Jingle All the Way references had my side hurting.
I was actually in person and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Tears were streaming down my face from laughing so hard after “Rudolph, I need you.” In fact I still chuckle thinking about it. I also got to meet the guys afterward and were all very amiable and eager to talk.
After the show, the person sitting next to my group mentioned that a relative of hers actually had a Ding-A-Ling toy and it was one of his favorite toys.
Like many others, I would have liked for Weird Al to do one or both of his Christmas songs. Christmas at Ground Zero would have been especially appropriate considering he has bad 50s Christmas shorts playing during the music video (including one brief clip from one of the shorts they riffed). It could have worked well as a “host segment” to break up the riffing a little.
Also, I was a little disappointed in the complete lack of Wizard of Oz references, especially when there were several good places for one: Mrs. Newlywed looked a bit like Judy Garland, and the Christmas dream had a powerful wind (tornado, anyone?) as well as waking up from a dream where “You were there, and you, and you.”
So unfortunately I will have to give it 4.8 stars out of 5.
I really do feel like the odd person out. I was extremely underwhelmed by last night’s show. Too short, far too many lulls, no Weird Al songs, and the swimming short? Really?
I’m glad that it seems to have been a hit with most fans… it just didn’t work for me this time around.
The sound at the theater we attended was not very good also. Very garbled and hard to hear. The show was still great though. I loved the observation on “How do cartoon spiders know what legs to put their shoes and gloves on?” GOD, I have a craving for pork right now!
There were some sound issues at the theater where I saw the show as well, but overall, it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t enjoy the show. And I did enjoy it, VERY much!! I always love those creepy shorts that don’t realize just how creepy they actually are. I enjoyed Weird Al riffing one of the shorts, but I have to say that I was really hoping he would do a song at some point. But, that’s just a minor complaint as the show itself was wonderful.
I am small, and of no account, but here are my thoughts.
First of all, I know I had a good time because at the end of the evening I had that pleasant dull ache in my head and stomach that I get from laughing so much. MST3K is the only thing that does that to me.
It was a great time, with more concentrated funny than the Plan 9 outing (which I also enjoyed immensely).
I think one the keys to the success of these shows is the incredible rapport Mike, Kevin and Bill have with each other. You can feel how much fun they’re having.
As noted, the line that got the biggest laugh of the evening was not a riff but an actual line from the Rudolph short. My theater (maybe a little over half-full by the way) laughed just as long as the one in San Diego where the riffers were. Kevin said three riffs went unsaid as they waited for the laughter to die down.
Incidentally, of the three, Kevin did the best job of actually watching the screen and seeming to react to it in real time. His energy level was infectious.
The show was nearly perfect and as for criticisms, they are really just very minor niggles.
Al needs to work on his on-stage riffing persona. He sort of sat hunched over his script, glowering.
Since Al was only there for a short time and didn’t do a song (which I think some folks were expecting, I would have liked a nice folky version of “The Night Santa Went Crazy” accompanied by Kevin on mandolin) it might have been smart for the RiffTrax people to have managed the expectation game a little better. Obviously, Al’s a busy guy and he couldn’t take the time to rehearse more than one short. Maybe that should have been made a little clearer at the outset so people weren’t disappointed.
My only other gripe is about the choice of the closing film. I’m not a fan of that kind of gross-out humor (and it’s a little out of character for them, seems to me), and IMO it wasn’t an optimal final impression. The people in my audience were not laughing.
Oh, and can I suggest that next time they throw a little more music on after the show is over? Feels better than walking out of the theater in silence.
I thought it was a mixed bag. No sound issues where we were at Disney’s Pleasure Island (unlike last time) and, yes, Weird Al’s appearance was, well, weird (I’m not sure why he was even there, except maybe to promote his record? He basically had about five lines and all of them could have been done by others. My wife is a big fan of his and wanted to hear him sing, but I was glad he didn’t :>).
I also thought the selection of material was mixed — some very good choices, some boring ones (the swimming short only had one good line in the whole thing — the gender bending boy in the girl’s suit?) and some very odd ones (the commercials for the first two toys, while nostalgic for this old guy, weren’t very funny and reminded me of some of the sketches MST3K used to do that went nowhere as well — the toy robots, though, was a good choice. And the ham thing, while fairly funny, just sort of killed the mood in our theater).
Without a movie like Plan 9 the evening didn’t feel all that special or seem to have a conclusion (the Rudolf short didn’t end any more dramatically than any of the others) — I think it would have been better served to do a couple of shorts and some other Christmas special or something that was at least 50 minutes and had a bigger punch at the end.
Overall I think the “Plan 9” evening was much better — from the sounds of other folks here it was certainly better attended (our theater was only about a third full and the last event was packed). But, that said, I feel I got my money’s worth and my wife and I laughed a lot (not as often as “Plan 9” but certainly as hard) and I’ll continue to attend anything else the guys do. Make no mistake about it — even a middle of the road performance from these guys is way better than nearly anything else you can see in a theater out there, just like an “average” MST3K is way better than nearly any other television show. And there is certainly something special about seeing this in a room full of liked-minded folks (I’m really sorry that shy guy here decided not to go out — having this on DVD won’t be nearly the same).
The “We sacrificed a goat to him.” line in the first short made me do a spit take.
Also, Sampo, they did start playing Weird Al and Rifttrax’s songs about a mintue or two after the film finished at the theater I was at so it might have been sometype of glitch or something.
I agree that a bit more ‘ending’ and the end in the form of a cue to leave would have been better. We were not the only people looking around wondering if it was over. Then again, the 18 year old and I were still wiping tears from the Rudolf short.
On the business side, our theater was a bit less than half full and oddly quiet (yes, I was the loon howling wildly from the front and no, there were no stimulants.) Props to Fathom/RiffTrax for hearing the comments from the first show and altering the program. This is a new concept in programming so mistakes are bound to be made.
Need I mention that ‘Ding A Ling Robots” have become a top search term on ebay? (Yes, there is a King Ding available for a mere $150! Fulfill all those holiday dreams now!)
Oooops, my bad – the King Ding for $150 is an empty box – “Perfect to house your loose King Ding!”
Saw it at the Florence DeLux. Sadly, only about a few dozen at the theater. But Cincinnati also had it playing on three screens and I heard the Mason theater was packed. We had sound issues too for the first 10 minutes, then not a one after. Oh well, satellite feeds…
Excellent show and excellent riffing. If I could I would go back tonight to see it again.
If you want to hear Weird Al and the Rifftrax guys sing, get to the theater early. They spoof the typical theater “did you know” trivia on the screen and play some of the most insane songs in the background (i.e. “When a man loves a shark, his heart is an ocean).
Only complaint: the web address for the free digital goodies doesn’t seem to be connecting. anyone else have any problems? It was /toyland correct?
Again, great job Rifftrax!
and…….. sleeeeeeeeeeeep!!!!!!!!!!
Totally enjoyd the show.
I’m glad I got to see the live show, because my local theater (Harrisburg, PA) isn’t going to have the encore. I would’ve gone if they bothered to want the business.
Saw it in South Bend, IN, last night and had a ball.
For those worried about kids, I brought my 12 and 16-year old, and I thought it was pretty much age-appropriate.
My only disappointment was that Weird Al didn’t do more–he works well with the guys, and I would have loved to have see him do more of the shorts.
Nobody’s mentioned–did all theaters have the gag movie trivia intros before the show? I wasn’t paying attention when I came, and it took a screen or two before I realized those were produced by the Rifftrax guys. They were a lot of fun [“MOVIE FACTS: Did you know that Shaquille O’Neal was originally cast as Edward Cullen in ‘Twilight’?]. I hope that a few of these make it to the DVD, if there ever is one.
Additional reflections on last night’s Rifftrax Live:
– The choice of shorts was great. I appreciated the fact that there were a couple shorts unrelated to the holiday theme, it helped keep the theme itself from becoming monotonous and kept things lively. It also emphasized just how brooding and bizarre the Xmas shorts were. The swimming short was the weakest of all as far as comedy, but it still worked okay and was a nice break from creepy lectures from creepy Santa actors.
– The Rifftones songs and fake movie trivia at the beginning was good for setting the mood before the show. I’m still mystified by the second appearance of the Gloria Estefan concert before a Rifftrax Live show.
– As many have said, Weird Al was not well utilized and I normally like his work. If you’re going to have a guest, have him do something worthwhile or don’t bother.
– Good move getting rid of the host(ess) and the musical interludes they used at the first Rifftrax Live. This show was much funnier than the first. The pacing was better with nothing jarringly out of place to mess it up.
– The “more is more” puking gag at the end was a bit much, but Kevin Murphy in fishnet stocking certainly did draw a lot of laughs.
– Great “call back” joke with the Prince of Space MST3K reference.
– Too many great jokes to mention. The creepiness and suggestiveness of the shorts in places certainly helped make the show hilarious. The toy commercials drew big laughs from me and in the theater where I watched this. Even the Ding-a-ling toy commercial seemed oddly suggestive in places given the comedy context of the whole show. The Rudolph short seemed suggestive from the start with one reindeer looking like it might mount another at the beginning and the laughs just grew from there, building to the climactic “I need you tonight” line.
– Great show overall. The three of us in my party laughed out loud quite a lot and the theater we were in, though it only had about 40 to 50 people, was alive with laughter all evening.