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How Was the Show?An open thread for reports from Friday’s Cinematic Titanic show in Morristown, NJ, and Saturday’s show in Princeton, NJ.
30 Replies to “How Was the Show?”Commenting at Satellite News
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What a hoot! Great riffing, great venue. Cast stayed to sign posters and chat with the fans.
I just got back from Princeton; I had a great box seat just over Joel’s shoulder, so I’m sure I made him feel awkward the entire night.
Lovely time despite the nearly 600 inches of rain which fell today. I was rooting for the My Cheesesteak movie to be picked but the Baltimore Alien Project, which apparently was the one chosen last year at the same venue, and which I didn’t attend because I went to the one in Manhattan the next night instead, made the cut.
I marvelled at the movie’s ability to capture people who really aren’t professional actors moving with the most awkward and unnatural body language imaginable.
Was I the only person to notice that the movie’s cops looked like the villains in every Mark Trail storyline ever?
I didn’t stick around for the signing of things after the show; I imagine everyone’s still there, and this hours after I got home.
Great show in Princeton! Would have prefered RATTLERS though. Pretty close to a sold out crowd. Stayed for the meet and greet and Frank, Trace and Joel were awesome and very friendly. Josh and Mary Jo seemed a little tired (I don’t blame them). I’m sure they will come back to Princeton and I hope they don’t do a movie that is already on dvd.
(Laura…you don’t know what you’re missing!)
WOW! My first CT show was awesome! Yeah I had a long drive, about two hours, in driving rain, but it was so damned worth it. I’m still flying high from meeting the cast, they where so gracious! Alien Factor reminded me greatly of Troll 2 in it’s quality.
All of their shows are great, but does anyone know why they stopped doing DVDs? Are they not lucrative?
Well after driving the two hours plus to get there in that epic rain I was a bit disappointed to hear it was Alien Factor. I knew most of the jokes although they note only added a few boy did they curse through it. Still a good show and my kids enjoyed it. Although my 11 year old fell asleep with about twenty minutes left. Quite impressive given the volume of the place.
I didn’t stick around for the meet and greet. Really wanted to but the kids were already falling asleep and that line looked like it was going to be another 30-45 minutes.
The pre-show stuff was a bit on the odd side but interesting side. Well except for Josh’s doing covers which seemed out of place at a comedy event. I want to give credit to Joel for acknowledging MST3k even all these years later and not getting bitter about it. The two of them doing the theme song was awesome. Plus Joel’s magic trick looked right out of the old skit he did on SNL.
I really thought my two kids would be the youngest at the show. We were surprised to find that they werent nearly the only kids there. MST has managed to skip generations even though they dont get the references.
Chuck,
Im guessing you’re the other person from PA I met at the bar there then
I also went to the Princeton show last night, and I was a bit bummed that they were doing Alien Factor (it must have been worse for people who saw the same movie in the same venue two years in a row). But since I have a terrible long-term memory, it was pretty much fine to see this movie live again as I only had remembered like 10% of the jokes from when they did AF in Philly. Plus they brought plenty of new riffs to this clunker of a film.
I went with a friend who had seen MST3K showings at The Colonial in PA as well as Rifftrax shows in the theaters, but this was his first CT show of any kind. He loved the CT show more than any MST-related experience, so I was glad to see that. We didn’t stay for the meet and greet this time, but I did buy the East Meets Watts Live DVD. I only wish they had had regular CT shirts with their logo on them for sale as I would have bought that as well.
The opening stuff from the CT crew was decent. Frank stole the show in my mind with his bits about horror movies and Twitter (so much better than Convoluted Man). Mary Jo’s scrapbooking bit was funny in an uncomfortable way, but I honestly think it should be shelved. The rest were good.
“Danger on Force Perspective Mountain.”
I went to both shows and i had a great time. I did vote for the “Samson” movie for the Princeton show as I haven’t seen it but I got “Alien Factor”…..which I saw last year at the same place…..and have on DVD. It was still good. My props to Frank for his “3 hours to drive around Gov. Christie” joke in his monologue! I actually liked that “Scrapbook’ bit with Mary Jo (they chose the woman from the audience who was right behind me). They were all nice at the meet & greets plus at the Princeton show I had the cast sign a DVD set of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”. Frank, I think it was him, said he preferred the Walter Pidgeon film which I said “Shhhhh! Don’t tell Gypsy!”. Trace got a kick out of it as he loved that show as a kid & wanted to build a model of the Seaview at one point!
@Patrick..I was wondering the same thing,but since it’s coming out of their own pockets,there’s no telling how much goes into making them and how much time either.I thought maybe they should have a DONATE button on their site,so it could help them out and put out more product and get more movies to riff.
Last night’s movie was not the same as last year’s as has been suggested. Last year they riffed War Of The Insects.
Thanks, Gary. I agree and would be willing to contribute.
Didnt arrive until about 8:30, when Josh and Gruber were doing the iPad Elvis Costello bit; did the show start at 8:00 sharp? Never saw alien factor, so wasn’t as disappointed as those who own the DVD already. What was the crowd reaction when they announced it was Alien Factor? There was a lot more cursing than usual, for these guys (6-7 times). I’d prefer if they kept cursing & politics out of the shows. That was the haiku-discipline of the original Mst3k.
yeah, that “you voted for the same movie that we did last year” bit was a joke, guys – last year’s show was “war of the insects”. i figured the audience laughter would have clued everyone in. i voted for “samson” as well (already saw “rattlers” in newark last thanksgiving weekend plus they did it the night before in morristown – i’d say that’s enough “rattlers” for new jersey) but i wasn’t disappointed with the “alien factor” as the evening’s choice – i hadn’t seen the DVD in nearly a year & it’s the one that convinced me that these guys can still knock one out of the park after being unimpressed with their studio releases. also, the electricity of seeing something like this with a crowd really makes it a different experience for me – same with the rifftrax events.
anyway, on to being a nit-picky nerd: it’s kind of bugging me that the warm-up part of the show has gotten substantially longer since the first time i saw them. when i caught CT in princeton last year the warm-up with gruber was about 20 minutes. the warm-up without gruber at NJPAC was about 40 & this one was 3 or 4 minutes shy of an hour. i like seeing the guys come out & do their thing for a few, but last night’s warm-up really seemed to draaaaaaaaaaagggg. people around us were getting antsy & started talking, texting, etc. i think it’d work better if they all just limited it to about 5 minutes for each performer so it doesn’t seem like it takes forever to get to the movie. i understand that this is their show & they can do whatever the hell they want, but from my vantage point the audience starting getting restless about 20 – 30 minutes into the warm-up. it reminded me of milhouse watching the first itchy & scratchy & poochie cartoon: “when are they gonna get to the fireworks factory??”
again, though, hilarious riff & well worth the drive (& walk!) through the insane amounts of rain we got last night!
Had a great time time in Morristown Friday night. As for the “opening acts,” I can’t speak for the Princeton show but I got the feeling that the Titans were intent to give us a good 2+ hours of entertainment, and though I didn’t keep track, Rattlers felt pretty short. (But then, time flies when you’re having fun.)
Gruber’s warm-up was excellent as always – I enjoyed the local historical facts he peppered in – “The Frelinghuysen arboretum was named by the Dutch Jerry Lewis.”
Mary Jo’s scrapbooking bit felt a bit too forced – they really would’ve benefitted from a table – but “You may want to refrigerate your scrapbook when you get home” still has me giggling.
Josh performed “Watching the Detectives” with Gruber accompanying on iPad. Josh does a great Elvis Costello, but I would’ve liked to see them do the Attention Deficit Radio bit again.
Thankfully, we were spared Frank’s Convoluted Man song, although he did seem to be on a quest to get as many groans out of the crowd as possible. “Hey, you can’t boo me until I’ve finished the joke!” But the locals seemed to love the Governor Christie is fat jokes.
Then Trace read a few of his Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children, with Len Paralta’s illustrations onscreen, and Joel did a classic Joel Hodgson magic trick that went over great. I don’t recall Trace or Joel getting their own spotlight acts when I saw them in Times Square last year, so that was cool.
As for Rattlers, boy howdy they found a good one. You know they’ve struck gold when the audience is laughing at the movie itself. I’d guess almost a third of their riffs when unheard. Thank you, the ’70s. You’re always there for us to laugh at.
Saw the show in Princeton last night. I’d seen them riff on “Alien Factor” a while back at the Trocodero in Philadelphia, but there were enough new riffs (or my memory wasn’t so good) to make this one OK. In any case, there were enough spots where the audience was laughing at the movie even without any jokes.
I noticed that the warm-up with Gruber had changed since the last time I’d seen it (Gruber was away during the show last fall at NJPAC.) I thought it was good, though a couple of bits probably worked better for those closer to the stage. I noticed before Joel had pointed it out that they were now using iPads rather than paper notbooks.
One thing about “Alien Factor”: the character of Zachary is one of the most insufferably smug guys in the history of MST/RT/CT. In rerence to another insufferably smug character, I was waiting for them to wait for one of Zachary’s expository speeches and adding, “Oh, it’s true.”
Looks like after seeing seven shows, I’m confusing which venue showed which film. Yes, it was “War of the Insects” that was shown last year. Oh, for Mary Jo’s “Scrapbook” bit: This seems to be a new bit so it’s being “worked out” on the tours. Don’t many rock bands have some new songs worked out on stage before heading to the recording studio?
I went to the Morristown show on Friday. Had a great time, sans the guy next to me burping every 20 seconds.
Anyone know how CT works when they do a double feature? Do they still do the warm up considering they have a couple hours of riffing ahead of them? I am going to see them in SF in a couple weeks and last time I saw them it was only a single movie (war of the insects) so I’m not sure. I’m taking my husband and I am already worried about him getting antsy enough with the two movies (he is not as big a fan as me, in fact he probably wouldn’t watch MST at all if it wasn’t for me making him!). And since the double feature is optional (you could buy tix to either show or both and I chose both of course) would they warm up in between shows and have to come up with new stuff? Just wondering if anyone has been to one of these doubles before and has any insight…
I live 5 minutes from the theater in Morristown, and I was really looking forward to this a few months ago, but I gave them a miss this time, because they were doing “Rattlers” which is the same movie they did a few months ago when they were in the area. I realize they pepper the act with some new material, but (and here I realize I’m whining), couldn’t they just plan their itinerary so that they don’t do the same movie in the same neighborhood? They have 5 or 6 that they keep in rotation these days — why not something they haven’t done within a 250 mile radius?
Because I have several friends who are not MSTies and they enjoyed the show in Newark, but none of them were interested in seeing the same movie again.
Just a thought. I’m sure everyone in Morristown had a great time.
They do a warm up before each show. When we saw them in N.H. in January they did warm up before each show. One thing J. Elvis did was a different song for the second show. And Frank mixed his stuff up a bit and Trace had a problem with the pictures sinking up to what he was reading for the first show but everything went smooth for the second show.
Sorry, Kevin. :-((
Oh, I almost forgot! Trace mentioned me, that namedropper:
Movie: “Can you imagine what would happen if you dropped those cannisters in the ocean?”
Trace: “Sharktopus?” :shock:
Screw you, Croamn. I thought had it first. 8-)
…and by Croamn, clearly I meant MST3k fixture and now SyFy shill Roger Croamn. Curse these clumsy sausage fingers.
Really glad to hear the CT crew is still doing a great job. I look forward to seeing them when the eventually make their rounds up here in the Pacific North West… almost as much as I look forward to their next DVD, which is coming out when again????
I agree that the warm up show needs to be shorter. The scrapbooking skit with Mary Jo just seemed flat. Unless you were close up, you couldn’t tell what was going on. Frank was the best, nice stand up comedy bit. Trace read about a 1/4 of the rhymes from his book. I bought the book before the show for $20 and was through it in 5 mins. Joel was also funny and entertaining. The MST3K sing along was perfect to get in the mood for the main event…the movie.
I know they want to give the fans a show…but a short intro and the movie would be fine with me.
I have to disagree with everyone about the scrapbooking skit, I thought it was hilarious, was laughing the entire time.
I was at the Princeton show. Seconding Chuck about the scrapbooking bit, which I thought was hilarious and told Mary Jo that afterward in the signing-stuff line.
I also took the opportunity to ask Joel if there were going to be any more live DVDs in the future, because I had been hoping to see Rattlers or Samson or one of the ones I hadn’t already gotten to see on DVD or in person, and was a bit bummed that folks had voted for Alien Factor. (He made it sound like there were plans to do more DVDs, but that it had been on ice for a while because it’s a bit of a rough process.)
Man, I really hope he didn’t think I was grousing! I get all tongue-tied every time I meet them and say something at least partially stupid. The first time I met Trace after a live show in Philly I blurted out “THATWASAWESOMEANDYOU’REASUPERHERO”, really fast and loud like that, and he looked at me about the way you’d expect.
In any case, the show was great; if it had to be one that was already on DVD, Alien Factor was probably the best one it could’ve been.
Also, I like Gruber a whole lot. Just throwing that out there.
As indicated above, the “same movie as last year” was indeed a joke.
Loved the show. I’m sure the warmup acts were longer due to the length of the actual film.
Got tired of the “so original” Christy fat jokes, but was glad to hear that Frank actually acknowledges that that’s about the deepest political commentary you’d hear!
I thought the scrapbooking bit was funny, especially when there was some ad-libbing due to the dropped bread!!
Wish I could have hung around to meet them all again – oh well, next year.
Fantastic show, and well worth getting soaked!
@darthservo:
My stance has not changed. No show in Atlantic City means I no-show. I will not kill my car for any event. Whether or not they release more DVDs means nothing to me. I still will not purchase them.
@28..Laura,how can you make any show in the first place when you have no job? I read where you purchased some of the box sets and was wondering how you could do that,since you have no income.Not unless you’re getting unemployment.Remember a while back,I suggested to you that you need to find a job and get your car fixed before thinking about going to see CT? Seems to me you need to get your priorities in order(job,getting car fixed)before even going to see them.If you get a job,you can save to get your car fixed.Find a part-time job,if it means working at a fast food place.Anything is better than nothing.
I know the show was almost a month ago, but I didn’t even think of coming here to comment on it until I was looking at the site today. I never saw “Alien Factor” so I guess I was lucky haha. I brought my gf who went along with me last year when they did the New Years Eve show in Philly. That was a really long show but I enjoyed every bit of it. My gf on the other hand didn’t and she was really not wanting to go to this show because of that but I promised her it wouldn’t be as long haha. I wasn’t really sure but thankfully it wasn’t haha. I also brought along our 2 friends that I turned on to MST3K. They enjoyed themselves at the show as well. The only thing we were annoyed at was, they wouldn’t allow anyone to bring food or drinks to their seats. If they would have posted a sign or said something at the consession stand that would have been nice. Besides that, oh and the rain it was a great time.
The signing after the show was great as well. I had to wait on line to get autographs and meet everyone. I have been a MST3K fan since as long as I can remember and I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. Everyone was very nice and friendly. Frank seemed extremely tired and quiet though. I also felt like an ass when I talked to Joel. I was so nervous I tripped over everything I said and I couldn’t remember the show (in Philly, it was Philly Joel not Newark lol!) that I first saw them at. All was good though. Got a signed poster and the 2 dvds I bought at the show signed. I hope they come to NY eventually. I missed the one in Manhatten last year. Maybe they will come out to Long Island? PLEASE!? =o)
Now where can I get a shirt?