Joel Hodgson is no stranger to Milwaukee, or Wisconsin for that matter. He was born in Stevens Point and later moved to Fort Atkinson and Green Bay, where he discovered his passion for building props and other things that would be later utilized in Mystery Science Theater 3000, a comedy show he founded in 1988.
The live show (dubbed the “Watch Out for Snakes!” Tour) launched this month and features the same classic b-movie riffing comedy as the television show, featuring old favorites like Jonah Ray (who plays Jonah Heston in the show), as well as robot companions Crow (Hampton Yount) and Gypsy (Rebecca Hanson), but also offers interactivity through audience participation. Hanson’s other character, Synthia, and her Bonehead henchmen will appear, and the Mads, Kinga Forrester (Felicia Day) and TV’s Son of TV’s Frank (Patton Oswalt) will appear via video screen.
The first film shown at the Pabst Theater on July 15 at 7 p.m. is the fan favorite Eegah while the 10 p.m. film remains a secret — all Hodgson will say is that it’s never been shown before.
You’ve helped host live shows recently with Cinematic Titanic, but how does it feel to be back hosting this live MST3K tour with Jonah?
It’s pretty exciting, because I’m really just the director, and I get to come out and MC. It’s really Jonah and the new guys who are doing the show. I just do a few things on it and most of it is them. So, it’s quite a different experience. It’s still very exciting and very fun and I still get a little nervous. But, ultimately, they do all the heavy lifting as far as the performing goes.
I imagine you’ll be reminded of your time hosting the show during this tour.
Yeah. In fact, they’re in the next room practicing. They’re getting sharper. We’re going to get on the bus tonight at midnight. It’s a bus tour so we sleep through the night on the bus and wake up in Columbus, Ohio, and then tomorrow night, we’ll do Columbus. They’re practicing for that. I get to do more interview while they work on the show.
What’s one of your favorite Milwaukee memories? What effect did Milwaukee have on your career?
When I was a kid, TV was so mysterious. Sometimes you’d drive through [Milwaukee] and see the big tower with Channel 4 on it. And you’d go “Oh wow, that’s the signal for Channel 4 at the bottom of that big antenna.” I remember identifying that and saying “This is where they make TV in Milwaukee.” There were some local shows. A show called Cartoon Alley that I really loved that was a local kids’ show. That was really neat. That was one of the things I remembered the most about Milwaukee: they make TV there in Milwaukee.
You were born in Stevens Point and later moved to Green Bay. How did your time in Wisconsin influence your views on comedy?
People say I bring a Midwest sensibility to Mystery Science Theater. And I don’t exactly know what that means. I think it means we’re not too cynical. Maybe a little bit hopeful. I think maybe that had something to do with it.
It sounds like you were already into building props and other stuff back then.
Yeah. I was very interested in being an entertainer. But I wasn’t very clear how to do that. I got into magic and ventriloquism when I was a kid. I lived in Fort Atkinson up until about fourth grade, and I think most of that happened when I moved to Green Bay. That’s when I started building puppets and magic tricks and stuff.
What are your favorite (good or bad) movies are that were either set or filmed in Wisconsin?
I remember watching a show in Green Bay called Eerie Street. It was my sixth-grade birthday and I had a sleepover, and we watched The Incredible Shrinking Man and then The Blob. It was funny: I just happened to watch The Blob last night. And it reminded me of finding it on local TV. The other thing I remember was when they were shooting The Giant Spider Invasion. I think they shot that in Ripon, [Wisconsin]. I remember those guys coming through town and doing promotion in Green Bay and explaining what they were doing. He had a little studio in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. Bill Rebane did The Giant Spider Invasion. I think he was creating a film studio in Grantsburg.
With MST3k, were there any notable instances where Wisconsin references popped up?
Oh yeah. Mystery Science Theater is filled with Wisconsin references. We’d always talk about the Wisconsin Dells and riding the Ducks. I think the most famous one, though, is during Giant Spider Invasion, there’s like this giant spider attack and Mike and the bots keep screaming “the Packers won the Super Bowl!” when the Packers won the Super Bowl. It’s kind of like that vibe when the Packers win the Super Bowl, how crazy everyone in Wisconsin goes.
What did it mean to see the series return this year and remain as popular as ever?
It was amazing…doing a Kickstarter and having 50 thousand backers put in their hard-earned money to bring back the show. We raised over six million dollars. It was just so useful for the brand to know that there were people still out there who still wanted it back and were interested. It was really exciting and great.
How did you balance updating the show for Netflix with keeping the core elements intact?
It’s a good question. I just try to really look at it. And it hadn’t been on for 17 years. My goal was to look at it and see if there were any things that weren’t funny or useful anymore, or if there were any things that needed updating that didn’t hold their meaning anymore. One of the most relevant ones: we always used to have Gypsy voiced by a man. Gypsy had a big job. She ran the higher functions of the ship. So, she appeared kind of dimwitted. That was one of the things that didn’t translate to 2017, to have a man play the role of a dimwitted woman. That was one of the things that I felt I needed to change. We now have Rebecca Hanson, who plays the character Synthia on the show, and she also voices Gypsy.
What can you tell me about the two films being shown? How are you planning to get the Milwaukee crowd involved?
The first one is Eegah, which is one of our most famous titles. It’s the 49th-lowest-rated film in history, according to IMDB. We were fortunate to have a new film print of it, the best-looking film print in 50 years that people have been able to see. It’s vastly superior looking to the one we used in the old show. It’s a fan favorite.
And the second show is a secret film so it’s kind of a surprise. It kind of fits the way we chose to do season 11, to not billboard what movies we were going to use. So it was a surprise for the audience. Some people like that. They like coming to it and having that haunted house experience where they don’t know what movie we picked. I’m keeping that secret for the time being.
Will there be a lot of Milwaukee references in the shows?
Yeah, we do talk about Milwaukee in the show for sure.
It sounds like the live show is pretty spontaneous and keeps everyone on their toes.
There are windows where Jonah and the bots are really great live. It’s never the same show twice. I feel very comfortable saying that. But things happen and each show is absolutely different. There are no two shows that are the same.
Get tickets: Mystery Science Theater 3000 at the Pabst Theater, Saturday, July 15: 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
