The Taxonomy of Riffs: Listing of Types of Riffs
• Title & Credit Riffs – mostly puns, name juxtapositions/combinations or pronunciation jokes
• References – literary, cultural, film, religious, historical, musical, political
• Ironic Humor – “it’s the music that makes this scene come to life” – in a scene that is starkly silent
• Observational Humor – non-joke factual references to things about the film, example, “this film has certain flaws”
• Advertising Related – product related jokes, sketches or jingles
• Music Riffs –
– song lyrics, “Hey Joe” – “Where ya goin’ with that gun in your hand”
– hummed or sung melodies – examlpe, humming batman Tv show theme, refueling music from skydivers
– Musician riffs – examlpe: singing REM songs when character onscreen resembles Michael Stipe
• Jokes
– Ironically lame or old jokes “take my wife, please”
– “inside” jokes relating to regional or cultural beliefs
• Puns
• Line Finishing – example; ‘I’m not a medium’ – – “I’m a petite”
• Drug, Hippie & 60’s – allusions, sight gags, puns & Jokes
• Alcohol & Drunk jokes
• Oblique Sexual References – including crossdressing, GLBT and gender jokes
• Crass Humor – jokes that are sorta cruel and mean
• Juvenile Humor – timeless fart, pee and poop jokes
• Playground Humor – really simple childrens jokes
• Micro-Specialized Humor – such as JFK riffs only meaningful to well read assasination conspiracy researchers
• Synonyms and Homonyms – Fun with language riffs.
• Ruthless put-downs
• Repeating Riffs
– Callback lines taken from riffed films,
– Callback jokes or lines taken from previous episodes
– Callback lines taken from non-riffed popular films or culture
• Non-Film Related Non-Riffs
– when they discuss stuff amongst themselves while in the theater,
– Also times where they ‘loose it’ and go crazy, try to escape or bawl during ruthlessly bad films
Would you make any changes? Did he leave any out?
Here’s my contribution, though I can’t claim credit for thinking it up. A good buddy of mine once described what he called the three levels of reference riffs.
• Level one is a straight reference that fully explains itself. Example: A latina is singing on screen and somebody riffs “It’s Gloria Estefan!” The lady looks like a popular culture figure, and you’ve observed that. Mildly funny (a.k.a. the “state park joke”).
• Level two makes a reference without explaining what the reference is to. Example, in the same scene: “Where’s the Miami Sound Machine?” The lady looks like a popular culture figure and you’ve observed that indirectly. Moderately funny.
• Level three, the level that makes MST3K great and separates it from what most other riffers do, takes the reference one level further by adding a witty twist: Example (from episode 204- Catalina Caper, in which the latina singer saves the mood of the party): “Hey, it’s Gloria Estefan and the Catalina Deus Ex Sound Machina!” That’s (at least) three jokes in 11 words, people.
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To The Professor: I’ve made suggestions to Sampo in past threads, but so far none have been taken up. Those included:
-naughtiest individual riff
-which season will first be completely released commercially on dvd, and why (or why no season will be completely released)
-most annoying child characters
-any riffs that angered you for personal reasons
As for your suggestion, are you talking about a “dream set”, where every episode is one you’ve been dying to get on dvd? Or other things, like extras, design on the box set, particular figurines, etc?
I certainly like the “riffs that angered you for personal reasons” idea. As for mine, it would indeed be a “dream set” which episodes i’ve been dying to get, along with the extras, design and all that. The Gamera box set in my mind would be the greatest box set…EVER! :wink:
I’m not adding anything, I’m just saying that one of my favorite riffs are the “losing one’s sanity over the terribleness of the movie” jokes. You know, the ones that come near the end of the film, after an hour of pain.
Like in “Wild World of Batwoman”… Servo’s “ENNND!! EEENNNNDDDD!!!” cracks me up every time.
(“Do-do do do do do… EAT IT, MOVIE!!”)
Part of the fun in being a fan can be dissecting what you like about the show.
There’s really no magic to movie riffing anyway – they didn’t sit in meetings saying “hey it’s time to add an observational riff.” They just went with what was funny – so for us to categorize them may be pointless, but I still think it’s interesting and doesn’t ruin anything for me.
ps – Remain in Light by Talking Heads is an AWESOME album…
Doesn’t ruin anything for me either and I don’t know why people would make such a big deal about it.
So you don’t like this discussion thread? Why the %$&*# are you reading and replying to it?
You whiners are probably one of those people who write to the FCC about a “dirty word” that was broadcast on a radio station that was aired 2000 miles from where you could hear it.
Don’t like it? Change the channel!
Yah, I’m right…he IS Tolkien.
One of my favorite all time riffs is from Gunslinger when Cane Miro (Meerough? whatever) proclaims “The good always die first” and one of the riffers replies, “Most people being morally ambiguous accounts for the largely random pattern of death”.
What kind of riff is this? Philosophical reflection, or meta-logical analysis? Or maybe just being an analytical smart-ass?
sound effects – Kolos’ felt pants, Driscoll cleaning his glasses, clone boy keeps getting shot
exclamations – Quick zoom in on tanta Ernest Borgnine, statues come to life, Dad feels compelled to put a handkerchief on his head; the result: a simultaneous “GAAHH!” from all three.
With you Slager. The “losing it” parts are my favorite. Remember “the Invasion of the Neptune Men” with the endless air scenes, with Servo slowly losing it. Finally Crow asking, “Do you know any music about watching stock footage?” Servo says “Sure! I know some music! Dada dadadada Dah! BITE ME MOVIE!!!!”
This list is great and I don’t have much to add. However, one thing that they do can’t really be considered riffs, but are a series of riffs that stay on topic and actually recharacterize characters in the film. For example:
Joe Don Baker/Mitchell: While JDB is a slob in the movie, the riffs make this the foundation of his character. He goes from being a journeyman cop with no rules to a totally uncouth, drunk and asocial slob who happens to be a cop. They did an awesome job of this with Mike from Manos, Billy from Laserblast, Mitchell, Pumaman, Zap Rowsdower, to name a few.
My favorite riff types are the subtle, barely audible and often off-color responses to very distasteful things on the screen. Mike’s quiet but desperate “ohhhhh…ohhh…noooo” as a cupless Phantom of Krankor walks right toward his face destroys me every time.
Prof. #52 – Ooooh! I like the “dream box set” idea along with dream bonus footage, dream “extras” (mini Crow, posters), and dream packaging.
(That sounds like a project Joel would give the bots!)
#61: “My favorite riff types are the subtle, barely audible and often off-color responses to very distasteful things on the screen.”
I’m right there with you on that one. One of my all-time faves is in Touch of Satan when Melissa invites Jody up to the walnut ranch he replies “Why?” to which Mike chuckles and very quietly says “Smooth.” Good good stuff. On another note, Remain in Light is good, but I think More Songs about Buildings and Food is Talking Heads’ best. Followed by True Stories. Then Remain in Light.
My favorite riffs were always those directed at the characters as we’ve come to loathe them as the movie progresses. Deathstalker or Arch Hall Jr from Eegah comes to mind. I suppose these could fall into the cruel or mean category. At one point Crow comments, “I’m glad he gets hit alot”, or Servo’s wishing for a “tragic accident” when Roxie tosses the rifle to Arch. Now thats good stuff!
How about just the “Eeeew!” every time they show Arch’s face?
Have we covered the ‘Smartass’-type riff?
You know, like in GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS, where a jukebox song says “Everything I touch turns to gold!” and Tom responds, “What if you touch gold?”.
One thing I like doing is watching the style and content of the riffs change as people come and go. For instance, when Joel left, he seemed to take a lot of the ‘Classic 50’s TV’ riffs (“And now, the Emmet Kelly girls perform their famous spotlight routine”) and some of the weirdly whimsical comments (“Oh look, he’s calling all the animals to help him!”).
I like #50 the professors idea, what would you put in a mst3k box set?
it should be like a shot box set with all the dvds in individual cases, it must have I was a teenage werewolf, war on the colssale beast, santa clause, mole men.
the extras should be more interviews with the cast, maybe new short films, perhaps some of those rifftacks shorts if Mike and the guys are generous. and hey how about a full size poster?
or maybe a short riffed on by CT just for an extra feature, why not?
ide like to see what everyone can come up with, lots good ideas on here, maybe some day they will be a reality.
“honey bunches of death!”
What about mispronunciation/misreading/mishearing riffs?
Mispronunciation:
[‘THE PUMAMAN’ appears on screen] Servo: “Oh, The Pyu-may-min.”
Misreading:
[The words on the side of an airplane read ‘Lift Here’] Mike: That plane belongs to Lieutenant Hebe!
Mishearing:
Movie: “He shriveled up like a dried prune.”
Joel: “Like a drag queen?”
If you get what I’m trying to say, these are some of the funniest kinds of riffs in my opinion.
The one riff that I don’t think has been covered is added sound effects: squeaking shoes and/or doors, quacking noises, etc. Can’t think of any specific examples right now, but I know they’ve done ’em.
in response to agent k, #68: one of my favorite riffs is a mishearing riff, from laserblast…
mumbling cop: “What do you know about Chuck’s car being blown up?”
crow: “Chuck’s carbon donuts?!” :lol:
“I am the Phantom of Krankor.”
“CRANK WHORE?!?”
“‘Beautiful steamed weeds’?!”
Just curious – does anyone know the origin of the term “state park joke?” Google has absolutely nothing relevant.
Also, I can think of another category I didn’t see mentioned: the “non-verbal” riff (not a very good term, but I can’t think of a better one).
Most of the time, these tie in with sight gags. My favorite example is in the “Design for Dreaming” short: One of the cars at the auto show has a grille that makes it seem to be grinning or grimacing, and Crow makes a loud, manic “RRRR!” sound.
Another one, also in a short:
Narrator: “Many people who have an unexpected encouter with a train will say…”
Tom: “AAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
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