A lot of the shows that really become hit shows are often demonstrated, like Mystery Science Theater.
A lot of times when I sit down with the other comics and try to talk theory, they say I'm being too serious.
Beanie and Cecil was the first cartoon I remember watching and I think there are analogies.
Besides, it doesn't make any sense to have these characters living in the year 3000 when all their points of reference are from the pop culture of the 80's and the 90's.
But after that, I was extremely happy with the story and the look of the show at the beginning of season two - everything was working together. I felt like it was finished conceptually.
But if you think you aren't creative that's cool, too. I think being around people who aren't creative is kind of refreshing and nice.
Even The Simpsons began as those little interstitials with Tracey Ullman.
Gypsy was the name my brother gave a pet turtle he had. I always thought it was so peculiar.
I didn't walk up to Jim Mallon with a finished script and a show bible for MST3K. I just had a few drawings of a set and some robots and a some silhouettes in theatre seats.
I mean, Mystery Science Theater could not be written on a piece of paper and given to somebody. It would have to be seen.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what I do and how it fits into the scheme of things. I won't do something just because it's funny.
I think the most direct link is to the Douglas Trumble film Silent Running, which had a huge influence on me as a kid.
If you notice any of the press from when I was with the show, I would always deny it being the year 3000.
It was very disorienting and I didn't like it, but the people who like Mystery Science Theater all seem to understand the story.
It's always a great compliment when I find out that some of my work has inspired someone else to try something creative.
My brother and I work together, and we do demonstrate every show we create. We are really into the concept of exhibiting ideas.
Mystery Science Theater is really a postmodern show, it's really derived of many influences.
So if you're looking for conceptual congruity, start looking for it at the beginning of season two of the Comedy Channel.
So the actual riffing came out of us just sitting there and doing it the way I think some people think we really did it, which is all spontaneously, and it really was.
South Park started as a little video Christmas card.
That's why I did what I did - others inspired me.
The first twenty shows at TV 23 were really a workshop.
The idea of a guy alone with robots is from the movie Silent Running. I saw that as a kid and it had a huge influence on me.
The internet is a total inversion of television. It's the opposite.
The Mads attached the 3000 to make it look like it was the 3000th version of the experiment, you know - sort of spruce it up a bit. Obviously, they were lying and it was only the first version.
The name Crow was inspired by a number of things. I thought it would be cool to have a robot with sort of a Native American feel to it.
Then a friend of Jim's suggested we make a theme song to explain the story, and this is where the Mads came from. Josh and I wrote it into the theme song.
Then we tried to come up with ideas for the sketches, and then, when we actually shot the movie, we really just sat down - never previewed the movie - we just really winged it.
These production deadlines are murder, especially if you're a group of people who had never really built a TV series before.
They would hear 3000 and think it was the year 3000, I was hoping it would sort of disorient them and prepare them for the strange message they were about to receive.
Well, really the way worked was that I had probably built fifty robots before Mystery Science Theater, and I had sold them in a store in Minneapolis in a store called Props, which was kind of a high end gift shop.
Well, we had more money and more time the first season than we did at TV 23.
When we did the pilot, I sort of pictured this guy pirating a signal and then this story unfolding of him building this satellite and these robots and watching these bad movies.
When we got signed to do a second season for the Comedy Channel, we had more money and more time than the first season.
Joel Hodgson "Well, really the way worked was that I had probably built fifty robots before Mystery Science Theater, and I had sold them in a store in Minneapolis in a store called Props, which was kind of a high end gift shop."
Joel Hodgson "But if you think you aren't creative that's cool, too. I think being around people who aren't creative is kind of refreshing and nice."
Joel Hodgson Beanie and Cecil was the first cartoon I remember watching and I think there are analogies.
Joel Hodgson "When we did the pilot, I sort of pictured this guy pirating a signal and then this story unfolding of him building this satellite and these robots and watching these bad movies."
Joel states the show The Children's Film Festival with Kukla, Fran and Ollie influenced the stucture of MST3K.
Joel Hodgson "It's time for me to hang up my red jump suit and move behind the camera. Besides, there's an old show business adage I once heard Adam West say: 'Stay in the same costume and before you know it, you end up signing pictures at an R.V. show.' Maybe it was Clayton Moore, now that I think of it."
After MST3K, Joel formed Visual Story Tools with his brother Jim.
Joel openly admits that he hates the Hollywood "system."
Joel made five appearances on David Letterman and four on Saturday Night Live.
Joel graduated Ashwaubenon High School in Green Bay, WI.
Many of the inventions featured in the MST3K Invention Exchange were props that he had personally built and used in his stand up comedy routines. When he left, the exchange was quickly discontinued since the inventions were usually of his devising.
Joel is inventor of "Gizmonics Institute."
Joel's nickname to his co-workers is The Gizmocrat.
Joel not only helped write the lyrics and music to "Love Theme from Mystery Science Theater 3000", he also provided the vocals as a fake band called "Joel and the Joels."
On January 9th, 1997, the Dallas Video Festival presented its first-ever "Ernie Kovacs Innovation in Television Award" to Joel.
Joel got the charactor name of Gypsy of MST3K from a pet turtle he had.
Joel said he named the MST3K charactor Crow after a friend in college who had a friend named Tommy Crow he had all these adventures with.
Joel has admitted to having many disagreements with Kevin Murphy on the future of MST3K.
In 1983, Joel Hodgson had a run in with the FBI after leaving a "bomb prop" from an SNL show in his hotal room.
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