Joel Hodgson on Mystery Science Theater 3000

John Joel Hodgson (born February 20, 1960 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin) is best known for creating Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and starring in it as the character Joel Robinson. He actually began a life in theatre stage managing at Ashwaubenon High School and his professional career progressed as a stand-up comedian and magician. He performed several minutes of his prop-based act on a November 12, 1983, airing of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Teri Garr. An infamous prop during the performance was a time bomb. During the act, Joel would announce that he only had three minutes to perform. He would then reveal the time bomb, and proclaim that "we ALL have three minutes." The prop department thought they could make a better time bomb than the one Joel had, which was used in the show. They gave Joel the prop as a gift, but Mr. Hodgson decided that he liked his own bomb better, and left the NBC prop in his hotel room. When he arrived in Minneapolis, he was greeted by the FBI. It appears that a cleaning lady found the bomb, thought it was real, and three floors had to be evacuated. The next day, New York Daily News headline announced that "SNL Comedian Bombs In New York". Image File history File links Joel_mst3k. ... Image File history File links Joel_mst3k. ... February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Stevens Point is a city located in Portage County in central Wisconsin. ... Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988–1999), usually abbreviated MST3K, is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc. ... Joel and the bots. ... Ashwaubenon is a village located in Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. ... Richard Pryor hits the money line A stand-up comedian or stand-up comic is someone that performs in comedy clubs, usually reciting a fast paced succession of amusing stories, short jokes and one-liners, typically called a monologue. ... A magician is a person skilled in the mysterious and hidden art of magic, which can be described as either the act of entertaining with tricks that are in apparent violation of natural law, such as those performed by stage magicians or illusionists, or the ability of those who claim... November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 49 days remaining. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City which has been broadcast by NBC nearly every Saturday night since its debut on October 11, 1975. ... Teri Garr (born December 11, 1944 in Lakewood, Ohio) is a United States actor. ... NBC, (Formerly an acronym for the National Broadcasting Company until 2004), is an American television and radio network based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... This article is about the city in Minnesota. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... New York Daily News Building, Raymond Hood, architct, rendering by Hugh Ferriss The New York Daily News is one of the largest newspapers in the United States with a circulation well over 700,000. ...

Combining his gift for designing toys and other gizmos, Joel built three robot puppets and created his famous MST3K series in 1988. It originally aired on KTMA, a UHF station in Minnesota, and it then became one of the first two shows to be picked up by the Comedy Channel, the forerunner of Comedy Central. The other show, also created and written by Hodgson, was the shortlived Higgins Boys and Gruber, a sketch comedy program that primarily involved three guys sitting around and talking in between clips of Clutch Cargo and Supercar. 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... KMWB (Channel 23 analog, 22 digital) is an affiliate of The WB Television Network serving the Minneapolis-St. ... Ultra high frequency (UHF) designates a range (band) of electromagnetic waves whose frequency is between 300 MHz and 3. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ... Comedy Central is a cable television channel in the United States. ... The Higgins Boys and Gruber was a cable television show that aired on weekday afternoons during the last few months of 1990. ... Clutch Cargo was an animated television series produced by Cambria Productions and syndicated beginning in March 1959. ... Supercar was a childrens TV show produced by Gerry Andersons AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. ...

Hodgson surprised many fans when he left MST3K just as it became popular in 1993. In contemporary interviews, Joel said he was uncomfortable with acting and being in front of the camera, citing that as the reason he quit the show just as he and MST3K began to gain popularity.^{[citation needed]} During an 1999 interview with the Onion AV Club, Hodgson added that he and producer Jim Mallon had been fighting over creative control of MST3K. His departure allowed the show to continue and gave him the opportunity to focus more on his preferred creation and production work than on performing, which he did only reluctantly.^[1] Hodgson reportedly chose MST3K head writer Michael J. Nelson to be his replacement as host because he felt that Nelson was a natural leader, a gifted comedian (as well as a musician, handling most of the show's musical numbers), and, additionally, he thought Nelson looked good standing next to the show's puppets.^{[citation needed]} Hodgson later made a surprise guest appearance in the season premier for the final season of MST3K ("Soultaker", episode 1001). 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... From left to right, Crow T. Robot, Joel Robinson, and Tom Servo. ... Jim Mallon was the executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning series Mystery Science Theater 3000, and president of Best Brains, Inc. ... Mystery Science Theater 3000s Mike Nelson (left) and Kevin Wagner Murphy, at Exoticon 1 convention panel in Metairie, Louisiana, November, 1998. ...

After MST3K, Hodgson formed Visual Story Tools with his brother Jim. They created a live pilot episode for an interactive sketch comedy program called The TV Wheel for HBO, which Joel produced and hosted.^[2] It aired only once (on Comedy Central, after the last new Comedy Central episode of MST3K) and the show was never picked up as a series. Joel's VST work has been primarily behind the camera, building gadgets and writing scripts.

Joel Hodgson's other post-MST3K projects and contributions include Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, You Don't Know Jack, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Everything You Need to Know. He also played a recurring role as a disco-loving clothing store owner and DJ on the short-lived series Freaks and Geeks. Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves is a 1997 direct-to-video sequel to the 1989 movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, it is the second sequel, the first sequel was Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. ... You Dont Know Jack is a series of computer games developed by Jellyvision. ... Jimmy Kimmel Live is a late-night talk show in the United States created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast from the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California. ... Disco is a genre of music that originated in discothèques. ... Freaks and Geeks was an American television series, created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 TV season. ...

Trivia

Joel was the first choice to portray Philo in the film UHF,^[3] but at the time of the filming (summer '88), he was involved in the production of the KTMA season of MST3K. UHF (also known as The Vidiot from UHF in Europe and Los Telelocos in Mexico) is a comedy cult film made in 1989. ... KMWB (Channel 23 analog, 22 digital) is an affiliate of The WB Television Network serving the Minneapolis-St. ...

References

1. ^ Phipps, Keith (April 21, 1999). "Interview: Joel Hodgson". A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
2. ^ The TV Wheel at the Internet Movie Database
3. ^ "Trivia for UHF (1989)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.

April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years). ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about actors, films, television shows, video games and production crew personnel. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about actors, films, television shows, video games and production crew personnel. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years). ...

External links

• Joel Hodgson at the Internet Movie Database