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Weekend Discussion Thread: Worst Comic Relief in a MSTed Movie

Alert reader Doug asks:

I was watching “Women of the Prehistoric Planet” today and the comedic horribleness of the “Hi-Keeba” guy got me to wondering which comic relief character(s) from MST3K movies were the worst of all. I’m sure there’s plenty more to choose from.

I’m going to go with our favorite little monkey boy, Sid Melton, in “Lost Continent” and “Radar Secret Service.”

Who do you think is the worst?

126 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Worst Comic Relief in a MSTed Movie”

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  1. MPSh says:

    For me, it’s a toss-up between Watney, the whiney piggy-eyed sidekick from Outlaw, and Kyle, the fey red-shorted pervert from Hobgoblins.

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  2. Erik says:

    I’d have to go with the visually irritating, potato faced, sweat monkey who is Watney. Cabot!’s sidekick from Episode 519 Outlaw (of Gor). Repugnant little sod.

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  3. Trilaan says:

    I think I, personally, have to go with Droppo the Martian.

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  4. mgroves says:

    What’s-his-name from Catalina Caper. The guy who gets sea sick and gets wacky music but never actually does anything funny.

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  5. Kevin says:

    I wanted someone to slap Droppo! But in that same realm, the motorcycle from Warrior of the Lost World (GO MEGAWEAPON!).

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  6. Zee says:

    Or *Anyone* from Catalina Caper! How about Bruce Sprinstein’s little brother Wayne from “Time Chasers”? Also I bet the cab driver from new yawk would’ve ranked up there if they hadn’t cut most of his part out

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  7. Zee says:

    Oh, and the weird foreign servants from The She-Creature leave a lot to be desired.

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  8. jjb3k says:

    I really don’t think it gets much more reprehensible than Heathcliff in The Wild World of Batwoman. Just making goofy faces for an hour and a half does not make one funny. (Jim Carrey, you listening?)

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  9. Spector says:

    Definitely Watney in “Outlaw”. Without question. No contest. The most annoying “comic relief” in any of the films the Brains ever riffed. Ever. That endless chattering “Cabot! What’s going on here? Cabot! Where are we? Come on, Cabot!” That over-the-top creepy leering of women in the bar. “I love ’em! Ooooo, I love ’em”. That pig-eyed, moon face. Every time that character appears on the screen I wanna throw my remote through the TV, and I’m not the type of person who gets angered over a TV character. Tom Servo said it best in the scene where the pair have been transported to an empty desert on Gor: “Cabot, no one will know if you kill him right here”.

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  10. Not Merritt Stone says:

    Worst of all would have to be Prof. Neon and Heathcliff from WWoB. It’s hard for me to pick out what I hate about that movie the most, but I think they win. Honorable mentions:

    – Crapout from Sidehackers; makes a horrible movie even worse

    – The discount Columbo coroner from Zombie Nightmare

    – The cracker cops from Laserblast; if you want to keep your kids from taking pot, just show them their intro scene. Eddie Deezen is really slumming it here too as Froggy.

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  11. Alex says:

    Tom Nelson from “Eegah!”. I thought the character was just getting really annoying in that movie. While I don’t mind Arch Hall Jr.’s acting that much, I really think he could’ve picked a better character.

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  12. bartcow says:

    Maybe it’s me, but I think having your main villain suddenly become the comic relief halfway through the movie is a mistake. Nothing against David Warner, but I’m looking at you, Baydool (Quest of the Delta Knights).

    All my other choices were already mentioned. I think Watney is the heavyweight champ.

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  13. Sitting Duck says:

    A close tie between the inept insurance investigator in Catalina Caper and Droppo from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

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  14. Fart Bargo says:

    Monkey Boy in any movie! All due respect to the man, but I always found him to be the man be a black hole for comedy. He seems so depressed and joyless.

    My first pick was Heathcliff but Monkey Boy is 1A

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  15. Dark Grandma of Death says:

    The two guys watching the “make-out” radar in Attack of the the Eye Creatures get my vote. Oily, obnoxious, disgusting, unfunny…the perfect comic relief team!

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  16. Shut Up Iris says:

    C’mon people! Alan Hale in Giant Spider Invasion was by far the worst. It was actually painful to listen to him tell jokes. He makes Droppo look like comedic gold. There were some unfunny comic relief in a lot of MST3K films, but Alan Hale was not just unfunny, he was anti-funny. It’s like he hated the audience and wanted them to suffer.

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  17. pablum says:

    Droppo from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. He’s in the movie nearly the entire time doing his obnoxious routine.

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  18. Criswell says:

    Mitchell had the unique distinction of being the main character AND the alleged comic relief! The scene when he plays copycat with the kid will destroy your brain cells!

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  19. AlbuquerqueTurkey says:

    My first thought was Watney, although I also agree with @16 – Alan Hale almost literally “phoned in” his part! One of the worst comic relief scenes, though, is the scene between the sheriff and the drunk in Giant Gila Monster – Vaudeville never recovered from the embarrassment!

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  20. Andrew says:

    A ton of people in Angels Revenge — Jim Backus, Pat Buttram, and don’t forget the two lookouts on the beach waiting for the cocaine shipment…

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  21. rose says:

    The two drunks from “Horror At Party Beach” (who are forbidden to even say the word rubber)!

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  22. MikeH says:

    Don’t know if he the worst, but still useless. The coffee guy in Skydivers. He just seems to be nothing but a third wheel in the whole movie, and that’s about it. Got to give him credit for one thing, he has a lot more enthusiasim than Tony Cardoza.

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  23. Brandon says:

    Was Dave’s neighbor (from “Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders”) intended to be comic relief? He was pretty annoying. Has even more annoying moments in the uncut “The Devil’s Gift”.

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  24. dale says:

    Jim Backus in angels revenge. He beats out every other character in that movie slightly.

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  25. hollyhox says:

    How about the fat couple from Ring of Terror? Or Billy Barty in The Undead Or the guy in Giant Spider Invasion who said, “Thbbbbt!” (fart noise).

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  26. ety3 says:

    The Outhouse Oaf and his wife from “Boggy Creek II.”

    Ugh.

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  27. Nicolletta says:

    The creepy dress-wearing guy from “Attack of the the Eye Creatures”.

    Eddie Deezen from “Laserblast”.

    Billy the beach thug who can’t spell from “Angels Revenge”.

    Pitch from “Santa Claus”.

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  28. ck says:

    I must admit the cab driver in Time Chasers doesn’t quite reach the Robert Duvall cameo in Bullitt,
    and it is a difficult choice from two cited above (Droppo vs. the pratfall detective in Catalina Caper, but I might opt for one of the frightening cameos in Angels Revenge (except that I can’t quite choose between Pat Buttram and Thurston Howell-who apparently made his fortune off of ripping off militia wannabees before escaping to a deserted desert isle).

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  29. I nominate Sam “The Keeper” from 904 Werewolf. I think he was supposed to be comic relief, the wacky, eccentric old dude who was a cross between Fidel Castro and Santa Claus. Who can forget the sheer randomness of “I just found out that Count Dracula was a fa**ot! . . . Hey, you don’t have to believe me but that’s the facts!”

    Although which of us didn’t have that catchy Sam “The Keeper” song stuck in their head for days? “Weird things a-goin’, weird things a-comin’, weird things a-happenin’ ’round here!”

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  30. Fart Bargo says:

    I missed Sampos last sentence on Monkey Boy and nominate Dr Ted Nelsons wife’s mom and boyfriend from The Incredible Melting Man. They were a dreary duet.

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  31. Keith McCaffety says:

    Doug nailed it for me. “Hi-Keeba” is always the first thing that comes to my mind on this subject. Mork & Mindy’s Exidor from Catalina Caper is bad, but he doesn’t make you hate like Hi-Keeba does. (Wow, I haven’t thought of Exidor in many years…)

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  32. Hopkins says:

    These are all good but I have to go with Harris the Drunk from Gila Monster. The spitting and drooling as he tries to choke down one o’ them there “sodee pops” is such an affront. Yes, boys and girls, his alcoholism has become so severe he can barely eat or drink real food and it’s FUNNY! Jeebus.

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  33. Insect Man #47 says:

    I have to vote for the Idiot “retired lawyer” in Boggy Creek 2, who gets attacked by the Creature whilst in the outhouse. His wife then hoses him off as we get a full view of his poop-soaked pants.

    And I don’t know if a computer can be called a “comic relief” character, but the computer voice in “Warrior of the Lost World” was pretty irritating.

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  34. To “hollyhox” #25
    In “The Undead” Digger Smolken is also a worthy nominee – his singing edges out (slightly) B Barty (IMO).

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  35. Green Switch says:

    Probably the guy right at the end of The Killer Bees. That joke really fell flat.

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  36. MikeK says:

    Eddie Deezen in Laserblast.

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  37. eric in NJ says:

    that bongo drum playing kid in “I Was a Teenage Werewolf”

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  38. Gary Bowden says:

    Has anyone said DROPO yet??

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  39. Drunken Fist says:

    It’s a tie for me: the doucheb ag from “Outlaw,” and the idiot man-child from “Wild, Wild World of Batwoman.” Mike really sums it up when he says, “This is what happens when the guy who thinks he’s a hoot gets to be in a movie.”

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  40. fantagor says:

    Wild World of Batwoman: the brain damaged colleague who constantly mugs for the camera; the soup scene; the awful “many Ratfinks” scene near the end; and the final scene by the pool where the once brain damaged doc reverts to him old mugging self.

    I know this is considered a “comedy”, but all attempts to be funny come across as horridly ineffective comic relief.

    Randy

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  41. From 10 to 1 in ascending order of punch-worthiness:

    10. Remedy – #611 “Last Of The Wild Horses”

    9. The Two Drunks – #817 “Horror Of Party Beach”

    8. Eddie Deezen – #706 “Laserblast”

    7. The Guy Who Played Exidor – #204 “Catalina Caper”

    6. Sid ‘Monkey Boy’ Melton – #208 “Lost Continent”

    5. Winky – #413 “Manhunt In Space” & #417 “Crash Of The Moons”

    4. Einstein The Superbike – #501 “Warrior Of The Lost World”

    3. Dropo – #321 “Santa Claus Conquers The Martians”

    2. Heathcliff – #515 “Wild World Of Batwoman”

    1. Watney – #519 “Outlaw”

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  42. Krepta says:

    Kon-chan (“Officer Cornjob”) from Gamera Vs. Gaos was intended to be comic relief– thankfully they left him back on Earth so he could do less damage.

    Was “The Load” actually supposed to be a comic relief character in the original cut of The Mole People? I think of him as one of the funniest parts of that movie, but it strikes me that without the riffing, there might actually be a bit of drama to his injury and death.

    Pitch is actually my favorite comic relief character, he’s actually a very gifted physical comic. Check out the scene where he’s about to leap from the arm of the chair to the doorknob, and then just drops to the floor; that bit’s good enough that Crow can only sort of react rather than riff.

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  43. CMWaters says:

    What about the storekeeper from “The Brute Man”.

    Not because he was bad at it, but because I don’t think he was SUPPOSSED to be comic relief, but ended up being so.

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  44. hollyhox says:

    Coilythespringsprite, (#34) you are totally right about Smolken in The Undead. What was I thinking? :oops:

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  45. Jane Dobson says:

    So many good candidates for this one, but the one that first came to my mind was Richard Kind’s (mercifully) brief performance in “Quest of the Delta Knights.” “Magi?”

    Oh, and the “I’m comiiiiing!” guy, too.

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  46. rose says:

    Not the worst, but in “Sword and the Dragon” when the traitor guy falls into the trap and loses his pants. I always have to look away at that scene.

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  47. DaWurmFace says:

    I have to go with the Keeper or Watney. I will never forget when he almost gets eaten and looks at the camera and says “I’m the good guy”. Or just the random song and dracula talk. Or how creepy he looks with a cigar in his mouth while talking.

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  48. Neil says:

    the worst comic relief scene is in Future Wars where the guy from the future or space or wherever he’s from, picks up the shot gun and even Crow says, “this will have to pass as humor”

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  49. rocket9 says:

    I can’t NOT pick the monumentally repulsive Watney. As much as the guys bash him, it still feels like he got off easy.

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  50. Gary Bowden says:

    Ok,I can’t think of the character’s name,but he’s the one that got shot in THE BEATNIKS.He’s not much of a comic relief,but he did imitate the hotel manager in one scene.He didn’t leave much of an impression,so does that count?

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