All posts tagged comedy

Mystery Science Theater at MIT

January 19, 2009

I manned a video camera last night for a talk at MIT by two of the creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Joel and Trace), which was pretty rad.

It was a little inspiring to hear about how the show started pretty much from scratch in Minneapolis/St. Paul and gained a local following, before eventually attracting the attention of cable networks. I often think about how much of a handicap it is for someone to do art somewhere outside of LA or NYC.

Also funny was hearing about confused feedback they received early on, from people complaining they couldn’t focus on the movies with all the snarky commentary interrupting. Reminded me of when in college I got one of the funniest guys on campus to write a fake, obviously humorous advice column for the school paper – people would hilariously complain that he was giving out bad advice.

In case you were wondering, the most disturbing (clip) and funny (commentary) MST3K clip they showed would have to be this one on how young women should dress themselves.

They also showed bits of the trailer to the 1972 ecological sci-fi film Silent Running, which formed part of the inspiration for the show. Joan Baez sang two songs for the movie (co-written by Peter Schickele of PDQ Bach fame, of all people), and here’s the one I like best:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B2pfSelIKo[/youtube]

I hear the talk may be on some MST3K DVD in the future, so be on the lookout if you’re a big fan…

Songs from a Colbert Christmas

December 25, 2008

Speaking of Christmas music, OMG, how hilarious was Colbert’s Christmas special? (Link goes to Google Video results.) I saw the tail end back when it came out, but only saw the rest of it today.

In case anyone else missed it too, IMHO here are the musical highlights (first two are PG-13, FYI) –

Willie Nelson spoofing the three kings:

I don’t have anything against singing traditional Christmas carols – I did it twice already this month, at a Quaker potluck and at a solstice party – but I do approve of post-religious alternatives emerging through the folk process.

And I suspect that funny songs like these are more likely to catch on than anything self-consciously written as a “humanist carol.” (Like how some people would rather praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster than explicitly identify as humanist.)

John Legend, “Nutmeg”:

I can imagine caroling that next year, can’t you?

If not that, perhaps Elvis Costello’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love & Understanding”:

(Supposedly this version includes the video, but my Firefox crashes when I click it)