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“The Right People Will Get This.”Jeff McGinnis of the Toledo Free Press comments on a remark Joel made 20 years ago that is at the heart of why we love MST3K.
17 Replies to ““The Right People Will Get This.””Commenting at Satellite News
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All content posted on Satellite News is copyright © 2024 by Chris Cornell and Brian Henry, except where otherwise noted. This Date in MSTory is written and compiled by Steve Finley, Chris Cornell and Brian Henry. Copyright © 2024 All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce This Date in MSTory items in any form without express written permission from the authors. Items of MST3K news may be duplicated or reposted, as long as Satellite News is cited as the source. The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Satellite of Love, LLC. No warranty is expressed or implied that the information given herein is completely accurate, and in fact this information can and will change at any time. So there. Mystery Science Theater 3000, its characters and situations are copyrights and trademarks of Satellite of Love, LLC. Banner image created by Larry Lee Moniz. |
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Very nice.
This is a wonderful little article.
*golf clap*
I want to say for some reason I remember Neil Patric Harris said this in the This is M.S.T.3K show. I do remember Joel saying it as well, when asked how they decide what riffs to use. I have always felt good by thinking I’m one of the right people that gets this. Have you ever asked someone about the show and they say “Is that the show with the stupid puppets that talk/make fun of the movies so you can’t hear what’s going on?” I think to myself this is not one of the right people.I have a bunch of friends that are “The Right People.” They really love the show and have M.S.T.3K parties and watch it every day. A bunch of us are going to the C.T.shows up in N.H. at the end of the month,this will be our fourth time seeing them live. As well as all the Rifftrax shows we’ve seen, proves to me this stuff is the best night out if you you want laugh and have fun.Keep up the good work and a special thanks to SHOUT AND RHINO for helping to keep the shows alive.
Love it. Love it soo much. This concept is exactly what drew me (and I would imagine everyone here) to the show as a teenager, because it made me laugh and actually think instead of just depressing me with mediocrity like everything else was at the time. I guess I am just stating the obvious though. Anyway, thanks for sharing.
While not exactly on point, this echos a similar truism my wife and I are often found of quoting when it comes to doing something that may offend — “The people who matter won’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.”
As long as you’re true to yourself (but live that “examined life”) you can let the chips fall where they may.
In the mythical abstract vacuum there are no truer words. “The right people will get it.”
But in the real world numbers still matter. What if the “right people” totaled 20 worldwide? Well obviously MST would have never made it past KTMA. After all a certain “critical mass” was required for two networks to give it 10 seasons (of varying length) of life. It is to all of our good fortune that “critical mass” existed.
So if all that matters is being true to oneself then Joel’s words are words to live by. But even he made some compromises in order to give this think life. That ranges from the handful of season 1 episodes with green shadowramma theater seats to the tight movie selections of season eight to…
Yes, it is depressing when you show it to someone or mention it and they express horror that anyone could possibly like it because you can’t hear what’s going on in the movie and they have little skits in between with puppets.
I find especially that people given to drinking large amounts of alcohol on a frequent basis seem to have the most problems with, at least in my experience, because their brain synapses are so slowed that they can’t focus on what’s happening or being said in the movie at the same time as hear and comprehend the riffs, at least quick enough before the next one.
At least these people have an excuse though, that they drank too much and that’s why their brain can’t keep up with it.
(Yet there are some whose dinking is no barrier whatsoever to their comprehension of it).
Worse are the folks who are completely sober who can’t keep up or focus on the two things at once.
Then you have the ones who don’t understand any of the references, so it’s lost them too.
It really does take a special individual to appreciate the show for the excellent entertainment and humor it provides.
yes, Obviously ‘dinking’ CAN be a barrier.
If someone is total dink, they certainly won’t get the humor.
I have GOT to use that preview more often.
Then I coud learn to spell my own name right too.
for once, i’m in the “right”. it is amazing the continued life this wacky little show has had. i’ve heard a lot of confused comments about it over the years and always knew that it just takes the right kind of person. i’m glad the two gangs are making new product to watch, because a lot of the older references are gonna be lost on the younger generations. but again, the right person regardless of age will get the jokes. thank you to the whole mst gang for still making me laugh even after watching episodes enough to know almost every joke without actually watching the movie(watch in the background most of the time).
Fortunately “the right people” turned out to be enough people for a basic cable channel. When I first discovered MST3K during season 2 I quickly feared after getting hooked on it that it wouldn’t be on TV for long given it’s often erudite, obscure and eclectic humor. Then when they announced the Comedy Channel and Ha! Channel were merging I figured it would be a victim of the merger and revised program scheduling. I was so delighted at the time when they began advertising new season 3 episodes were coming. I smile every time I watch Cave Dwellers when Joel says, “Hi, everybody, we’re back” at the beginning of the episode because I still remember how happy I was that the show was indeed back all those years ago. When it lasted for years longer I was amazed and delighted.
Hey, now, let’s not put down alcohol and MST3K viewing (some of our best viewing comes when my wife and I have been drinking Prosecco in voracious quantities).
It’s what we used to say at community theater when doing comedy — the second act always plays better because folks get lubricated during intermission.
(And for you kids to whom alcohol isn’t your particular poison, don’t tell me you haven’t enjoyed “Harold and Kumar” just a little better when indulging in H and K’s proclivities).
Some of the greatest wits in the world were fueled by distilled spirits (and perhaps Joel was one of them).
I’d never even heard of show, but one day right after our cable system picked up a bunch of new channels (including the Comedy Channel) I decided to check them out. I was probably about 13 or so and I see this giant turtle knocking over an iceberg. One of the guys says “gentlemen, let me break the ice”. I was hooked.
Sad though that some people I show the movies to just don’t get it. In my opinion its the best TV show ever. Hands down. End of discussion. One of my friends even complained about them talking over the movie. What?!?!
That kind of attitude is why MST3K is so great. For every joke that you didn’t get, you know another person watching knew exactly what they were talking about.
I felt that Joel’s original comment was along the lines of “don’t worry about the jokes, the people who enjoy this kind of thing will find the show and get the humor”. I feel that over time, his phrasing has led people to take it to mean “Those poor sad fools who don’t ‘get it’. How much better we, the ‘right’ people, are than those saps.”
I don’t think so at all. As I remember it, he was specifically talking about including jokes that not everyone will get, and why they don’t worry about it.
In my opinion, this has led to the over-emphasis by the fans on the Sci-Fi episodes (about 1/4 of the episodes). Those episodes have 90% fewer pop culture references in them than the earlier episodes, and are a lot more accessible to newer fans.
If you look in comment threads here, there are people who almost exclusively refer to those episodes, and almost never to older eps (except for a few that have been out on video forever, like “Manos” or “Pod People”.) I think this speaks directly to Joel’s point, and there seem to be a lot of people who don’t “get” the earlier episodes.
I’ve commented on this before, and I don’t want to seem obsessed with the subject, but it seems to me to be the 800 lb. gorilla in the room that almost no one acknowledges.
Mike in Portland –
90% fewer pop culture references?
Thats highly exaggerrated.
‘Riding with Death’ alone had more 1970’s pop culture references than most of the episodes combined.
I’m old enough that I “get” 99% of every pop culture reference. Being the same age as Mike will cause that. We experienced the same culture, saw the same television programming, commercials, theater movies, fads, catch phrases, heard the same forcefed & overplayed songs on the radio, etc. and all at the same age.
I’ll give you that there may be fewer pop refs in the newer ones, but certainly not 90% fewer.
And recycling the same references show to show didn’t happen as much in the sci-fi years, and I’m grateful for that.
In my opinion, they overused alot of material between episodes during the Joel era. Especially pop music references. I find the 4th season to be pretty lame for that reason.
Like ‘The Indestructible Man’ for instance, I cant even get into because the whole first hour is nothing but recycled references from other episodes. I’ve never made it past that point for that reason, so I couldn’t tell you if it remains that way all the way through.
You will also notice that the younger generation that likes the show is more likely to laugh at the insults and ridiculing of the things and people of the movies, rather than any pop culture references, and obviously so since they don’t get many of them.
(Or else they will say the episode sucked, when in reality they just didn’t get any of the references).
I find that the riffing is fuller and broader in its references during the sci-fi years. Also it’s more relevant to the time period and what was going on then in the world, and thats the way it should be. It would have been awful if they were still joking about 1992 pop culture during the sci-fi years of 1997-99.
You also have to keep in mind how sentimental people are to the way it is when they first begin to watch. the Joel era newbies always prefer the Joel years, the Mike-Kevin-Trace-Frank era newbies love those years the best, and the Bill Corbett era newbies always love that team the most. It’s just human nature.
I bet a good scientific survey could be done between Mitchell and Final Justice. You would see that pop culture refs are about equal, but relevant to their respective time periods. The flat out ridicule and insults are equal too. It will come down to what era you began watching the show that really decides which you like better.
Personally I would say Final Justice is way funnier and better written all the way around, (though the movie itself gives the gang more to work with than Mitchell did).