Well, I will give you a brief report on the Colonial Theater event, and then open it up for reports from others.
In the days leading up to the event, Joel informed me that right before intermission they would be doing a “riff melee” in which he and all his students — and I (!) — would take turns riffing on a short. I was stunned. Riffing on the same stage as Joel?? What an honor! He sent me my script: he and I would riff for the first page or so, and then turn it over to the students, who would run in and out during the rest of the short. The jokes in my portion were pretty good (they’d been written by one of the students) but, well, I AM a member of a riffing group myself and I just couldn’t resist. I wrote back to Joel with some suggestions for what I thought were funnier lines — and he liked some of them! So, not only was I going to be riffing with Joel, but he’d be doing riffs *I* had written! Talk about a fanboy’s dream come true.
So I got there on Saturday for the run-through and I was very impressed with how Joel handled his students and kept the process moving. He really is a good teacher. The students (and I couldn’t help calling them “kids” because they’re pretty much the same age as my kid) were fun to be around, but, wow, so much energy. It was kind of exhausting, but I tried to feed off of it as much as possible.
By the way, a lot of people have asked if the show was taped. Yes it was, but I have no idea when and if it will ever be seen by the public.
The show itself went remarkably well, from my point of view. It was a bit bumpy technically, but Joel was always there to vamp while the techs worked frantically to fix things.
I have to say I didn’t really “get” the first student presentation — two guys took turns introducing very short video clips. It didn’t really make a lot of sense, but both of the guys were very funny, very relaxed and natural entertainers. I wish I could be that loose on stage.
The rest of the student acts were more traditional group riffs of shorts. Each group had invented elaborate personas and showed introductory films explaining their “backstory” about why they were riffing movies. But, I have to say, the sound was so muddy I couldn’t really follow those films.
Their riffing performances, however, were really quite good. Again, if there was a wrinkle, it was that some of the sound levels weren’t optimal and some of the riffs got drowned by the sound of the short. But overall I have to give the kids credit: they were very funny. The master taught them well.
Then we came to the Q&A portion, which, I am sorry to say, was a good deal shorter than I had hoped it would be. I DID get to ask one question I have always wanted to ask Joel: Were you ever actually stoned while performing on MST3K? After joking around a bit, he confirmed what I had always suspected: of course not.
He noted that while Trace and Kevin had their lines in front of them in the pupplet trench, he actually had to learn his. And in the theater scenes he had 250 lines to say right at the proper time code. “There’s no way I could do that stoned,” he said. So I did manage to break a little news.
But then the audience, which initially had not asked any questions, started to open up and ask questions, most of which had to do with the origin of the show, and which Joel has answered many times before. Then suddently time was up. I never got a chance to ask anything else, and Joel never got around to asking me any questions, which we had planned he would do.
Then we came to the “riff melee” and I think I acquitted myself well. I will say that one line I thought wasn’t that funny got a pitch-perfect delivery from Joel and got a HUGE laugh that really surprised me. The man can riff.
After intermission, Joel did a solo riff of the trailer for “The Blob,” (scenes from the 1950s movie were shot at the Colonial and some other spots around Phoenixville, and the town has an annual “Blobfest”) and then he and I did a brief introduction to the episode being shown that evening, “I Accuse My Parents.”
Then I had the always-delightful pleasure of watching an episode with a large group of appreciative fans — and the amazing experience of sitting next to Joel as he quietly pointed out things and laughed heartily.
It really was an amazing evening, and I want to thank everybody at the Colonial, all of whom were unbelievably patient and kind throughout the day, and especially Joel for his incredibly generous invitation and his pleasant company all day.
Were you there? What did ya think?
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My delight was bringing along some new-to-riffing friends and we all had a great time. I have been to Cinematic Titanic shows so I had seen Joel live before (always amazing) but I never got to meet Sampo before. I had barely gotten my ticket taken when I said to my friends, “Well let’s see if there’s anyone we know. Oh, there’s Joel”. He walked right by, heard his name and turned, shook my hand and said “Oh, hi. Good to see you”. WOW!! I’d have to agree about the sound mix being off at some points but they were always quickly corrected. The energy of the whole evening was high and everyone seemed to be really getting into it. Even watching the MST3K episode “I Accuse My Parents” (Joel said it is his favorite episode) was a delight even though I’ve seen it several times before (it’s true, seeing an ep with a live audience changes it up drastically). As I’m not much of an autograph seeker I didn’t expect to get to meet Sampo but, like what happened with Joel earlier, he passed right by me. He was immediately stopped by someone else and I kinda hung on while they chatted. I finally found a moment to introduce myself but I didn’t want to overstay my welcome (especially since I wasn’t, really) so I excused myself after hearing some cool info about MST history. Sampo was as cool and cordial as anyone can hope — and really kicked butt riffing with Joel. Now for my money, that could’ve gone on WAY longer. Great delivery of fine material. I look forward to more riffs from Sampo whenever or wherever that may be.
Oh no Sampo! You cut off the majority of 80’s Man in your photo!
The students were all fantastic. Their sense of fun was infectous. Getting to interview them (as well as yourself and Joel) was a load of fun too. There were nearly 400 folks in attendance who all got to witness something special, unique and cool. Of the footage that was filmed, I know that the Blob trailer riffing is being cut very quickly into a PSA for Blobfest to be posted online. I’ll be sure to email you Sampo when that happens so everyone can check it out.
There is another MST3K show at the Colonial on June 15th. It’s “The Beast of Yucca Flats” and Riff Trax short “Calendars: How to Use them”. Please come on out, as Sampo mentions it is an amazing thing to see these episodes with a huge crowd of folks.
This was my first “live” MST show. Been a fan for 20 years. I live in Phoenixville and was at the Colonial when Mary Jo Pehl came in 2007 for Blobfest after she and I had exchanged some emails about it. I didn’t get a chance to meet Joel as I’m not an autograph hound but it was a pleasure to be in the same room with him. I enjoyed Joel’s students. He taught them very well.
Hey, guys! Matt McG. here from The Aquanauts! I’m glad you’ve all really enjoyed yourselves this weekend; we in the show really enjoyed ourselves as well. Joel is an excellent teacher and I hope we all get to work together again in the not-too-distant future.
A couple of the groups have been talking about going off and doing our own shows in the future, so I’m providing the links for their Facebook pages so you guys can have all the info!
First off, here’s the page for Dover Rover (or as Joel always calls them, Rover Dover, and sometimes even Rowser Dowser): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dover-Rover/143862259080756
And, finally, here’s my group, The Aquanauts!: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Aquanauts/227531857365714
Thanks for all the love and support, everyone! Here’s hoping we can keep giving you the same quality entertainment Joel has been giving us for years.
Sounds like a great time, wish I could have been there but hopefully the CT crew will come back west sometime.
I was there, and it was amazing. I agree with you that the first bit, the clip duel, didn’t really make sense. The rest were fantastic, though I think the Valkeries were my favorite. I was surprised there weren’t more questions from the audience during the Q&A, but as Joel said, we are the high priests of the cult…maybe we just feel like we’ve heard all the stories. Personally, I was just in too much awe to think of anything coherent to ask. Just being in the same place watching I Accuse My Parents with Joel and so many great MSTies was incredibly wonderful. But then actually getting to meet Joel (who was just so incredibly nice and gracious) and get a picture with him and an autograph? I am still on cloud 9. And Sampo, nice to meet you too (I was the woman in the MST3K shirt who complimented your awesome “Swinging Church” quote shirt – which probably describes half the people there but anyway…) Thanks for being part of such a great night!
Yes, I am remiss in mentioning that during the intermission, lots of people came to talk to me and it was a real pleasure meeting all of you. It’s always great to put faces with commenter names!
As a lifetime Phoenixville resident, my dream for the last few years is to have Cinematic Titanic come to the Colonial and riff the Blob. Saturday night was very close, and it was a great show.
My wife is a very casual fan (her question when the tickets went on sale was “Is this the guy I like?”…she’s in the Joel camp in the Joel/Mike wars) but enjoyed it immensely. My son just turned 9, and I think he was a little stunned. He got to shake Joel’s hand twice, get an autograph, and a picture with him…his first celebrity stalking! I had mentioned before on the site that my wife went into labor while I was watching “Tormented”, so MST3K has always been a father son thing for us.
I think Sampo is spot on about the “clash” at the beginning. Joel said it was an experiment, and I wouldn’t call it a success. But I have to divorce the attempt from the students…they were talented, funny, and had a great stage presence. I honestly don’t think any of the MST3K cast could have carried that concept either. It had moments, and was a noble attempt, but just didn’t quite gel.
My highlight…Joel’s description of the sleep-over where he first saw the Blob. It was like Garrison Keeler, if Garrison Keeler was cool…
Well most us dream the dream to riff with Joel and then lucky people like you Sampo live the dream. It sounds like it was a great evening, hope to see a tape of it on DVD later. [hint hint] :smile:
I was there with my brother. We had an absolute blast!
I didn’t get to ask my question at the Q&A. I wanted to know if he ever watched any of the riffs by the fan groups that have popped up in the past few years thanks to iRiffs. Like Quiptracks and Hor-Riff-ic Productions, among others.
I concur with Sampo about the first part not making much sense. But I don’t fault them for trying something a bit different.
I didn’t really see the point of “you must have a setup” for why they have to watch the movies. That really only applies if you are going to have host segments, not during the riffing.
I really hope Rifftrax at some point riffs the hilarious PSA on explosives that one of the groups riffed. Best part of the night, aside from Joel himself being there.
Ryan
I had a blast! I brought two friends who vaguely remembered the show from childhood and they had a great time. I really enjoyed hearing the different riffing styles of the four groups, who, in my opinion, had a lot of courage getting up there and riffing for 400+ MSTies! I’d be petrified.
I have to say that I never thought I’d be watching an MST3K with Joel sitting three rows in front of me. I was starstruck. And Sampo! I’ve been reading this site since at least 2001, and it was cool not only to see you in person but to see you get to riff with Joel! It was a clash of the titans.
I’ve seen one MST episode at the Colonial and seen Cinematic Titanic once, and I must agree that there’s nothing quite like watching MST3K, or the alum riffing live, with hundreds of other people. The laughter is infectious and you know for certain that everyone there is as strange as you are.
Yes! Please please please put this on an upcoming CT DVD!!
Sampo, that was an amazing story. Thanks for recounting the evening to those of us who, unfortunately, live too far away to attend a live show of this awesomeness!
Saturday night was awesome! Joel was great to see, as always, and he seemed to have more energy than he does for Cinematic Titanic. I thought the students came up with a lot of really clever material. I can’t imagine getting up in front of 400 people AND Joel AND in front of cameras and performing riffs in front of probably the harshest critics possible. The sound was very spotty, though. I couldn’t hear the Aquanauts over the sound of their film, which was disappointing because I was really excited to hear them after their super campy opening video.
I would love to know the writing process the kids (now you have me saying it) went through – did everyone write during class and come up with lines on the spot? Were the writers and the performers separate groups of students? What was the deal with the movie clashing bit? The guys were great performers, but it just didn’t seem to work. And, Sampo – as much as I agree with calling Joel “the master,” I’m willing to bet the kids were funny BEFORE taking the class. They’re MSTies, I’m sure, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken the course to begin with! I don’t think they got college credit for it! I’m just saying, you come off as a little condescending.
Sounds fantastic. Would have loved to have been there.
My cousin was in one of the groups that performed last night, Jenn, so I can come close to answering some of your questions about the class. All the students wrote for the Riff Melay film. That was the first film they wrote for when they were just learning how to write riffs. They had to download some software or program to get the timecodes. They didn’t write in class so they were not put on the spot but they had a couple weeks for each film. Then they had a class discussion on the riffs and (I got to sit in and meet joel, which was amazing)and then all the students had to write for the posture film and Joel made a girl group and the girls also had to write for the film about the woman. there were some films left over (the fish one and one about hands that wasn’t shown on saturday but a group did it at the college) and anyone that wanted to could write for those. When they performed at the college, they also showed the one about explosives and I don’t know who wrote for that one. I think the groups voted on the best lines for each film or maybe Joel chose them, I’m not sure. But I know some of the lines in my cousin’s group changed between the show at the college and the show at the Colonial, so I think they could rewrite lines or add things any time they wanted to. My cousin said that some students were mostly writers and some were more performers, but everyone that performed had to also write even if their stuff wasn’t chosen as the funniest. I hope that is helpful.
@Jenna: A lot of what you’re looking for is covered in this great podcast interview with Joel from April:
http://www.youvegotgeek.com/blog/2012/4/26/youve-got-geek-episode-132-42512.html
(It’s the second half of the episode and they really dive into the structure of the class and the process for making this happen)
Thanks! So you actually got to sit in on a class? That’s so great!
Cut it out,guys! All this drool is soaking my shoes!
Sound to me like Joel was trying a movie version of a soundclash, which depends on the audience understanding and getting into the spirit to work. Credit for introducing the reggae concept and culture, and if it caught on would be a good time. Joel was always ahead of the game, just like when mst came out, no doubt people didn’t get it either. Check Rodigan for a reference point.
Sampo, congratulations! You are the luckiest boy on earth! Good job! (Joel knew you could do it!)
Jenna–oh, I didn’t mean it like that at all. I don’t meant to suggest that the students weren’t already talented before the class. Just that Joel seems to have taught them a lot.
PBWenger said: “It was like Garrison Keeler, if Garrison Keeler was cool…”
YES! That is an utterly perfect description of the slumber party story. :)
So, what part did Joel play in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”? Was he Judi Dench?
-Ted
Now that I think about it, it’s a true statement however you meant it, Sampo. If they are MSTies, which they probably are judging from the way they seemed to adore Joel during the intermission and during the VIP tour, they probably owe a lot of their humor to MST3K anyway – which they’d probably be the first ones to admit! So the master did indeed teach them well!
This was quite a profound experience for me. To note first, the eye opening beginning…
Joel Hodgson took to stage and declared that we fans are a cult, especially us happy kings and queens sitting in the VIP section (of which I was stationed in the front row of). It’s very true in a sense.
An individual can have a major impact on a person’s life, whether actually present or removed to the larger public spotlight. This can be someone who brings a person out of the depressive pits of life. Someone who has an influence in a person’s development. Someone who has guided a perspective of existence into that person’s soul.
As hokey as this sounds to me, it was very much like a religious experience meeting Joel Hodgson in person. Cult indeed.
A formal pause to ponder settles in. How awkward it might be to have swarms of people corner you after so many years just to test your hand writing skills? Though with sincere gratitude, I hope he can sense how much it is appreciated. Thank you again Joel.
The Acts:
Though a very critical person when it comes to comedy and media, I was surprisingly impressed by every group’s creation. The production value they put into this was superior to most of the work coming out of Hollywood. The Valkyrie gals’ piece was my favorite. Very professional intro video with a 70’s 16mm feel, and their writing and timing while watching a “women’s marketing” short was almost on par with Best Brains. Nice work ladies.
And Joel’s act? Exceptional! I am someone who is still on the fence of accepting rifftrax or cinematic titanic, maybe feeling the original edge has been lost. Not so this night. Joel’s commenting at the BLOB trailer, and even a very somber GM industrial short, was outstandingly sharp and highly paced. And I Accuse My Parents, with our host having to watch his own hilarious facial expressions in the lipsync segment, completed what is felt to be a personally great lifetime experience. Bravo.
Nice review of a great show. I had a front-row seat, which was good because the gain on at least one of the mikes was way too low.
I agree that the “riff battle” could have used more work. Also, the “loser” (Drop Zone) had the better delivery and quicker wit, IMHO.
As for the teams, the funniest segment by far was by “The Riffening”, but that was possibly due to the “quality” of the material (“Don’t Touch”–a grade-school scare film about the dangers of blasting caps.) Line of the night: “Yeah, it’s just like the Back-of-the-Station-Wagon channel.” (Still laughing about that one.)
The big question to me is, are they going to put the segments up on YouTube, with the riffing in place? I noticed that the raw segments are there (search for Riff Camp).
Oh, and thanks for being there with your expertise!
#25: Do you worship blue oysters?
Sampo, you’ve done a lot of good for the MST3K universe, but I take issue with this recap. I was at the Buck County Community College “Trout Mask Revisited” presentation and the “Chaos at the Colonial” show, and both shows were great. Of course, the Colonial show was 10 times better though because it’s an amazing venue, the students were one month sharper and more relaxed, the stage set up was more fitting, and the sound was superior. That’s right, folks. The sound at the Colonial was excellent. I don’t know what Sampo’s talking about. From my seat near the back of the theatre, I heard every riff delivered loud and clear. If I missed a riff, it was because of the laughter from the previous riff. And that always happens in live shows. And as far as “technical flaws”, I only noticed two. One of those flaws was having to reformat the cropping for the MST3K episode (as they were shot for TV and not a theatre screen) and the Dover Rover riffing group’s short which jammed up after a minute and had to start over. But this glitch provided some of the best laughs because Dover Rover re-riffed the first minute of the short with BRAND NEW RIFFS right on the spot. You could have mentioned that in your piece since it illustrates the amazing talent of the students and how Joel’s lessons kept them on their toes. But no, you focused on the negative.
Speaking of focusing on the negative, we’ll get to that now. The main issue that I have with this recap of the night’s events is your role in it. I think you kind of missed the point of the whole evening. The Q&A portion was short and sweet because you kind of seemed unprepared and it showed. The audience was looking for you to lead the discussion by getting Joel to talk about the whole teaching experience and the students. The night was an evening to showcase new riffing talent and salute the man who made it all possible. At the beginning of the Q&A, you said something really condescending to the audience like “Don’t ask any questions about the origin of MST3K, as Joel has already answered them a billion times. You can find them somewhere else” As soon as you said that you lost the audience. The ones who were going to ask questions clammed up and the rest of the crowd felt slighted. What you should have done was to start the Q&A by getting Joel to discuss the class, the students and how this whole evening was possible. Then you could have opened the floor up to questions. And I bet the audience would have asked more questions about the event, the students and the class because they would have been primed for it. Instead we got the lowest point of the night. You asked Joel questions that were only about MST3K (and the pot question was kind of disrespectful – the only thing that saved it was the wit of Joel and the crowd) which led to two audience questions that were basically MST3K origin questions. The Q&A segment was cut short because it was going nowhere. If you want to play the blame game for that, point the finger directly at yourself.
In summing up, this recap seems like sour grapes. Your POV is not about the event which was a celebration of the riff. Your POV is very much “It was okay. It would have been better if I got more attention.” But the evening was not “A Salute to Sampo.” It was about Joel and his students. It would have been nice of you to discuss the riff groups themselves. You do great work with the MST3K Info Society, but you dropped the ball on this one. Thank goodness Joel and the Students!
PS – I know that two of the riff groups have Facebook pages where you can learn more about them. Search for “Dover Rover” and “The Aquanauts.” I’m not sure if “The Riffening” and “The New Valkyries of Valhalla” have pages yet, but you should search for them, too. They’re an amazing bunch of performers (not kids).
I agree about questions regarding riffers partaking in drugs while they’re working being somewhat disrespectful. I do think of Joel as “the sleepy-eyed guy” but I never associated his behavior on the show to the effects of THC. Lithium or maybe even quaaludes, but not THC.
@ Biaviian – Since this is a free country, it saddens me to know that you cannot be smacked for your incredibly rude comments to Sampo posted above. Any criticisms you may have could either be 1) worded differently, or 2) KEPT TO YOURSELF. Sampo was obviously stoked beyond human comprehension to be onstage with Joel, and for you to rain on his parade this way is beyond rude – it’s petty and small-minded. I do not think that Sampo has the advantage of being a seasoned stage performer, so perhaps he can be forgiven for being a little nervous. Don’t give us this “I’m just being honest” crap – that was just being MEAN. I hope you feel pleased with yourself.
I’m a bit late with my comments, but I had a great time. The riffing groups (those lucky so-and-sos) did a good job, and it was great to have Joel & Sampo do some live riffing. It’s a tough call, but I think the posture short may have been the best one, in my opinion. (By the way, what was this obsession filmmakers had with posture in those days?) I really hope the show will end up being released on DVD.
As for “I Accuse My Parents”, as funny as it is on TV, it was even better with an audience. I joined in with the applause after the “Are You Happy in Your Work” host segment. And, having worked A/V for my (non-swinging) church, I could sympathise with the crew when the computer video conked out, and admire their foresight in having the DVD ready as backup.
About the only downsides I personally see for the show were the Colonial (a great-looking theater) had their air-conditioning turned up a bit too high, and I didn’t get a chance to have my poster autographed (I was in the rest room line).
Oh, and if they show the footage of the crowd outside, I’m pretty sure I got on camera. I was near the front of the line, wearing the off-white PCTV cap.
Oh, by the way, are the shorts from the show available somewhere on-line?
I would just like to second mdwileygrl’s comment. I have no idea how Biaviian interpreted Sampo’s post as negative; sure Sampo had some criticisms, but those criticisms were not mean-spirited (unlike the tone of Biaviian’s post). The impression I got from reading Sampo’s recap was that he was very enthusiastic about the event.
I want to hear about the I Accuse My Parents discussion after the episode, what juicy secrets were revealed?
Biaviian–Jeez, DON’T say hi.
I think it’s more than a little ironic that you would accuse me of failing to see the positive and only seeing the negative when that is precisely what you did in your post.
You’re just factually wrong about several things but you’re entitled to your opinion. Apparently you don’t think I’m entitled to mine.
Cheapskate Crow–It was very late by the time the episode was over and Joel just wrapped things up.
What an awesome show, well done to all at the Colonial, and a massive amount of kudos to Joel’s students. It’s amazing how much of what I perceived as the MST3K riffing “rules” seemed to rub off on them.
As to what Biaviian said- I actually have to agree with a lot of it. Pointing out incredibly minor technical glitches in the recap is just ridiculous. I don’t understand why you would even bother to include that in the write up? With all those mics set up, and videos running from different sources, it’s an achievement it went off as well as it did.
The “Were you stoned” question was definitely a low point. An audience-pandering question if there ever was one. Why were these questioned not tailored to the event? We all know the MST3K history, that night should have been about the STUDENTS, and how Joel taught the class. I chatted with a lot of people afterward who said similar things, they really were expecting to get some insight as to why the event was happening.
Beyond that, it was a stellar night. So much talent on display, bravo! I hope there’s a sequel!
BigBabyJesus: The very first question I asked Joel was about the class and his teaching, and he went on at considerable length in his answer, so I’m not really sure what you’re talking about. Joel and I discussed the questions I was going to ask him and that he was going to ask me (I was QUITE prepared, Biaviian) and I was working from the list we’d discussed. I actually thought the audience reaction was very positive to the “stoned” question, so we are just going to have to agree to disagree about that.
When I have Joel in front of me, and a chance to settle a question that has been at the heart of MST3K fandom for decades, I am going to take the opportunity and not apologize for it. Joel seemed happy to clear the air as well. In any case, the audience asked a number of “MST3K 101” questions once they warmed up a little, so I think it was a good mix.
I remember people debated a lot about the stoned question back in the day so I think it was valid to ask. It was cool you talked about it beforehand with him so you weren’t an ambush interviewer or anything. It’s not like Sampo was trying to spoil Joel’s big night people!
Sounds like Neptune Man can now have Sampo to do his schtick about, since we now know that Sampo is a Debbie Downer and a narcissist at the same time. Seriously though, come on people. There were technical glitches and I could not hear some of the riffs due to the microphones (the “red” mike seemed to be the problem as a couple of times I couldn’t hear the person speaking into it). But again, this did not diminish what was a fantastic night. In fact, Joel good-naturedly ribbing his sound guy was a particular highlight.
As Kevin at #26 surmised, and I completely agree with, the “Drop Zone” guy was really engaging and I think he was easily better than the other guy. As for the students, I thought that the women Valkyries group was the best. It helped that the short was so riffable. Rover Dover also did really well, but they all tried and that was the important thing.
I was saddened that the Q & A was so short. I actually wish I had asked my question right away, so that we could be spared the MST beginnings questions. Then again, as we have even seen in this thread, there were several newbies to post MST live shows, so it was probably good to have Joel talk about it. BTW, my question was going to be about Joel’s opinion on Rifftrax re-riffing Manos in August and if there were any other MST episodes that he would like to re-riff on for CT (besides SCCTM of course).
All in all, this was again a great, great night. I had never seen I Accuse My Parents, and it was fantastic (the essay running gag was a riot, and I might have been the only one in the theater who laughed hard at Tom Servo singing along softly in the shoe store about getting other shoes). I thank Sampo, Joel and the students for such a grand night.
Riffcamp? Wasn’t that about a group of kids accidentally launched into space on the shuttle who are then forced to watch bad movies? I think Kate Capshaw was in it too. ;)