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Joel InterviewThe “Pod People” podcast interviews Joel about the proposed MST3K reboot, the upcoming web series “Other Space” and other science facts. Listen to it here.
26 Replies to “Joel Interview”Commenting at Satellite News
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Good depth to the interview and doesn’t do the standard long rehash of how MST3K came to be. Lots about Joel growing up in his household, community and church. His home city of Fort Atkinson, Wis., is 20 minutes drive from where I live, so I’m interested in those experiences. Also seems to push off the reboot a bit. Hoping the crowd-sourcing campaign begins early 2015 and not later in the year. Of course, I’ll be excited regardless of the schedule.
He’s from Ft. Atkinson? I assumed he was from Ashwaubenon! I used to be 40 minutes from the latter, now I’m 12 minutes from the former.
Huh.
In other news, my optimism is still cautious, but growing.
I’m open to the idea of a reboot, but I’m hoping it will be taking more of a Next Generation approach than trying to recapture the exact feel of the old series because I don’t think the latter really ever works that well. I feel like MST3K is as much a product of the 90s as Star Trek was a product of the 60s. But the way Star Trek: The Next Generation worked, it was very much an 80s-90s show and it didn’t try to be the original series as much as it was a reimagining of the same basic concepts. So if I could give a tip, I’d say bring back the stuff that people like but let it have its own beat. If that’s the approach, I could really see it working.
I think he moved to Ashwaubenon perhaps while a teenager (?).
I just hope the reboot has Joel, Trace and Frank in it. I know, realistically, that the Rifftrax gang won’t be involved – which is really tough, b/c Kevin IS Tom Servo and I love Mike & Bill.
I don’t know why you’d necessarily need a new cast. I really don’t. Joel still looks great and he’s hilarious. Trace and Frank are one of the funniest comedy duos ever.
Here’s my official suggestion:
Bring back Joel, the Mads and Trace’s Crow. Tom Servo can be replaced by…..Frank Servo. You could even give him the spit curl. Explain it as changing his head or something. And then Frank could voice Servo like he did in that Gila Monster extra.
When he came to Green Bay to do the CT show a few years ago, he did some local press and recounted that he was in the first class to go through Parkview Middle School (where my kids now go) which opened in the 70s so he couldn’t have been any older than 10 or 11 when he moved to Ashwaubenon. It could have been even earlier than that.
I really don’t get the point of a “reboot”. It’s not the concept that I like so much as the people involved.
I like Joel. I like Trace. Those two guys are really funny. I think Josh is pretty funny too, despite his era on the show being a little rough. Maybe CT didn’t do well, but that’s not because of those 3. And Frank is funny when he doesn’t get too political.
I really don’t want new people. I’ve tried some of the Rifftrax with other people and they just are really, really terrible. Especially that British guy. So unfunny it’s well, not funny. I can’t stand most “modern” comedians, either.
I really don’t get why Joel didn’t approach the idea of rotating performers for CT.
I love when people say they enjoy Frank/his comedy but have to qualify it by saying when he’s not political. People are so sensitive.
Yes he was born in Ft. Atkinson and if memory serves he also spent some time in Stevens Point before settling in Ashwaubenon where he lived the bulk of his childhood and coming of age years.
I feel like there are two kinds of MSTies, those who never got over the show ending and love the robots so much that they’re willing to sacrifice nostalgia for a new format and possible voices. I’m not saying that they are wrong, I’m just the opposite, I just want the old voices, they are very important to me. I agree with #7 above, anyone else I hear is just not going to do it for me. I have ten years of a very funny show to enjoy, and I like Rifftrax most of the time and that’s enough for me.
Note: I didn’t mean to come off like a jerk in the above post. I hope the reboot is very successful and all who wanted it will enjoy it.
wow, that interview covers up for a multitude of shoddy ones by underinformed interviewers we have seen. Well done, very in depth. Interesting to hear the influence Joel’s religious upbringing had on his stand up, magic and really his approach to things.
I’m with you about wanting Joel, Trace and Frank. All of them were great in CT, and I would so dearly love to have them do the new MST. Unfortunately it sounds like we will get a new cast. I mean, that could work, but it’s a HUGE risk.
I don’t understand anybody who prefers Rifftrax over CT. I love Rifftrax, I go to all the live shows. But when you have Joel, Trace, Frank, Mary Jo and Josh, you just can’t beat that. If I had my choice of which one I could see more of, CT wins hands down.
Rifftrax has a real problem with being very dark, and it’s really unnecessary. Also way too much terrified shrieking and screaming. That’s really not funny. /rant over.
I would give a reboot a chance but I don’t know why Joel, Trace, Frank, etc. aren’t doing it. They were great in CT although to be fair, I think the first few CT episodes were not great and it took them a while to get their groove back.
OF COURSE most Americans would find Frank “too political;” it’s because this is the Land of The Brainwashed, whereby the primary method of the corp/state to impose thought control comes via the public’s routine exposure to propaganda and ‘national mythologies’ that enable a crime syndicate corp/state to engage in the most heinous, obvious malfeasance/war crimes, all with nary a peep from the Good Germans. Besides, it’s a post-constitutional USA, now, anyhow …C.O.G. (continuity of govt) plans that override constitutional law were enacted Sept 14th 2001, and have been re-signed into effect every yr since by both empty suits of the deep state. Congress is breaking the law by refusing to assess the SOE justifying COG being in place. There is no ‘war on terror,’ only a war OF terror against humanity.
I can say this…having been a fan of MST since stumbling upon it on cable in 91 or 92, having used to tape multiples of every episode (and now have scores of the dvds) I’ve maybe spent all of fifteen minutes TOPS on both CT and RT movie riffing combined. Without the initial framework of the show and its beloved characters, the appeal wanes for me. All the best to the endeavors of everyone involved, though.
My main concern about a reboot/remake is, “Will it be funny?” Beyond that, I’m flexible.
@16
cool story, bro
Wow, it’s SO unusual for me to agree 100% with anybody about anything (I’m just too contrary, I guess :>) but Buttery Pat expresses *exactly* how I feel.
I don’t like the idea of MST3K — I like MST3K. As the old quote goes, “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be” and it was never truer here. Bringing back something that’s “MST3k-like” with a different cast is not just a Bad Idea, it’s not going to work.
And, I hate to say it, but I doubt it would even work with the original cast, no matter what combination they came back in. Reunion shows *never* succeed — I could list a dozen or more but you can find them on your own. They always come off as pale imitations at best (and sad attempts at worst) because, as others have noted here, they are as much a part of the times they were made as they were anything else.
As Pat puts it (but I would extend it) we have the old shows, we have Rifftrax (and the old CT stuff and even The Film Crew) and that’s PLENTY to keep us entertained for years and years to come. Could Joel and Co. pull off a “Next Generation” sort of MST3K? I suppose it’s possible, but it’s nothing I’d hold my breath for or even care if it doesn’t come about.
Finally somebody making some sense.
I know absolutely nothing about Joel’s upcoming plans. What I do know is that Joel is very funny (with a particularly distinctive type of humor); is even more inventive/creative than he is funny; and most of all he gets bored quickly and hates to repeat himself. So I think it’s fairly safe to assume that whatever project he has in the works will definitely not be MST3K Mk II. Will movie riffing be involved? Probably. (The man knows where his bread is buttered.) Will there be puppets? Possibly. Will it be different and not at all what we expect? Absolutely. Will familiar faces/voices be involved? Of course. And, most importantly, will it be funny? We shall see, my friends. I’ll be first in line.
@16
Though to be fair, ANYONE will cease to be funny if they get TOO political, including, say, the Illuminati, The Omega, Novicorp, or Cobra.
Just checked IMDB, and he’s the Mayor on Steven Universe. I was confused because someone said he voices the Principal, but Steven’s never shown going to school. I’ll have to rewatch those 2 or 3 eps.
I too was surprised at how integral his church activities were to getting him into magic, which led to comedy, but the pieces all do fit. His sense of wonder at discovering magic supply shops actually made me regret not spending more time at my local Century Novelty Co. store before it closed. (It’s not as sad as driving by a closed video store, but still…)
His “Riffers can’t be jerks” mantra points out the importance of the framing premise in conveying that the riffers are being forced to sit through the movie. I think part of the reason guest-Rifftraxers hardly ever work is that even just rotating the cast away from the any of the regulars subconsciously comes across as aggressive, making the audience feel that they’re choosing to attack the movie rather than defending against it. Whatever his new project is, it’ll need a comparable structure to MST despite being different enough to be it’s own thing. Looking forward to whatever it is!
@14, I agree that Rifftrax can get too dark at times besides being too snarky and relying too much on internet geek culture memes. I remember at a live CT show Joel tried using a few internet meme based jokes and they bombed bad and he was visibly shocked by it. Hopefully Joel learned from that. With Rifftrax and the later Live CT dvds I missed the riffer framing device that MST3K and the early CT dvds used. I like the Rifftrax Live shows but they always feel a little empty the way Mike, Bill, and Kevin just run on and off the stage without much to do and it would be nice if they did a little sketch like Kevin did with running around with a fancy headress at the end of the Grass short.
So there is one type of fan that wants the format, and the other type of fan that wants the voices. And I’m sure there is plenty of fans who love “both”.
I like Rifftrax, but it can get disorienting, wondering where those voices are coming from. Count me as someone who loves the shadowrama/puppets at the bottom of my screen, along with the skits in the middle of the movie (plus, I’m one of those old coots who like commercial breaks – so I can make popcorn or go to the bathroom. Rifftrax forces you to pause the film – or if you’re at the live theater showing, you just have to hold your pee).
@22 and @23: Last year at Joel’s Seattle Riff Camp class, he talked about the importance of the framing device and that it is important to explain why you are watching a bad movie. After hearing that, I had to ask him why did CT abandon the framing device? He said that he was outvoted by the other CTers.
To wrap up notes on Joel’s Wisconsin ties, I got a response from him on Reddit, and he said he was born in Stevens Point, and spent time in the following Wisconsin cities: Edgerton (that was news to me — I do some work there), Fort Atkinson and Ashwaubenon (I’m assuming in that order). He said he is proud to be from Wisconsin and that he is a very big Packers fan (as am I). So, all I have to say is (to borrow a Mike phrase), “Packers! Woohoo!”