Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) has had one of the strangest journeys of any television series. First, is it even a television series? The episodes are two hours long and there’s rarely long-term continuity, aside from the fact that an inventor and his or her robot buddies are forced to watch terrible movies, providing comic feedback (or riffing) while they do so. The show began on local television in Minneapolis before becoming one of the first two series (both co-created by Joel Hogson) that launched Comedy Central (then known as The Comedy Channel).

Hodgson would leave in season five, Comedy Central would cancel the show, SyFy (then known as the Sci-Fi Channel) would pick it up and then cancel it, and Netflix would pick MST3K up after 18 years and then ‘cancel’ it as well. The most recent season 13 was crowdfunded by fans and streamed through Hodgson’s own online platform devoted to MST3K, ‘The Gizmoplex.’

Which leads us to today and the hopes for a full season 14. A fundraiser is currently in progress to help an upcoming season come to fruition, and you can find out more at the MST3K Showmaker site. Hodgson has already announced a few exciting titles for season 14, including the all-time so-bad-it’s-good classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space. They’re also airing a 48-hour Mega Turkey Day Marathon throughout the Thanksgiving holiday, with a constant stream of incredible Mystery Science Theater 3000 classics beginning Nov. 23 at 9am ET. You can find out more at MST3KTurkeyDay.com.

Hodgson spoke to MovieWeb about the past and future of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in this gracious, wide-ranging interview. You can watch the video above.

Mystery Science Theater 35 Years Later
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Release Date November 27, 1988 Cast Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, mary jo pehl, Bill Corbett, Joel Hodgson, Jonah Ray, Felicia Day, Patton Oswalt Main Genre Comedy Seasons 13
MW: You once said in an interview that Mystery Science Theater 3000 is “the perfect job.” Do you still feel that way, and could you elaborate on that?

Joel Hodgson: I think I meant it. It was kind of like I was born to do this job, right? Because I got to use everything I was really ever interested in, from puppetry to science fiction to comedy to prop building. All those things got to blend together into this thing that I am super proud of, and I think it’s had a nice long life. And so it all kind of worked out. I’m deliriously happy, I’m still getting to talk about it 35 years later.

MW: It’s great that it’s still something you love.

Joel Hodgson: I mean, I will ultimately retire. I’m not gonna do this forever. I just think, for comedy, there’s kind of a limit at a certain point. Most of the best riffers are in their 30s I think 20s, and the 30s are when they are kind of at the top of their game with a lot of pop culture and social mores and all that stuff. It’s when it’s really flowing a lot. So we have writers of all ages, but predominantly, it’s people of those age that are kind of doing the heavy lifting with movie riffing right now.

MW: Between all the characters, is there any specific one you’ve always loved to write for the most?

Joel Hodgson: Yeah, to me, the Mads [mad scientists] are always the most fun, because it’s kind of your most cynical, verbose voice. And we always write them at the end, and they encompass this vibe that is dismissive of everything. It’s so much like Trump, like, ‘I’m so important, you’re so nothing,’ it’s just that vibe. After a long day of movie riffing, it’s really kind of refreshing. It just cleanses the palate.

Joel Hodgson’s Invention Exchange

MW: The invention exchange in each episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is always a joy. Where did that idea come from, and have you ever wanted to turn anything from the invention exchange into a real-life product?

Joel Hodgson: Yeah, there’s stuff that’s actually happened over the years. I think the biggest thing that I created that’s used all over the world, which is called the Vent-Mask, which you’ve probably seen. A lot of times, ventriloquists use it when they’re in competition shows. They bring someone up from the panel — if it’s America’s Got Talent, they’ll pull someone up from the panel — and they’ll put a mouth on them, and they control the mouth and do ventriloquism. That’s my creation. I invented that. It’s used by thousands of ventriloquists all over the world right now. So that’s one that just actually got into the ether and is being used by a lot of entertainers.

Joel Hodgson: I want to get back to your question about the invention exchange itself. I had a lot of them. These are my notebooks [holds up a thick gray notebook]. So I think this is the 188th. And so I’ve always kept these notebooks […] ever since college, so I always just banked a lot of ideas. And by doing that, it was just easy to pull out ideas. I worked on the first 100 episodes; there was no timeline to the show, and so we didn’t have to do much exposition, there’s really just setting it up.

Joel Hodgson: And so what the invention exchange did was, it just kind of forced some really compressed jokes to happen right off the bat. They’re very percussive and very visual. And so you get through the theme song, you get the Mads kind of announcing the movie, and you check in with the host and the bots, and then you get the invention exchange. It just gets to it right away. It’s just kind of a ritual that’s based on those kinds of jokes. So it’s just a natural, easy way to do it, and there’s always something really interesting visually about them. And people love that, because you’re just about to go in and watch a bad movie for 13 minutes, and so it just gives you a little bit of a pop, and then you go into the movie and get ready for the next host segment.

RELATED: Mystery Science Theater Season 14 Will Finally Riff on the Ultimate Bad Movie

MW: I know you stepped away from MST3K for a bit, and have said in the past that you were a little uncomfortable being on-camera. You do great work in Season 13 though. Have you gotten more comfortable acting?

Joel Hodgson: I’m willing to do anything, I’ll perform if I have to, I’ll do whatever, but I have to bring everything, so I don’t naturally like to do it. I think on certain things, I like to do it. It’s just kind of like, with Mystery Science Theater, I thought it was really important to derail the Joel / Mike thing and kind of start fresh. And to find Jonah and then find Emily and bring them out, and have people like them as much as they do, is super cool. Those are the ways I look at performing, and I kind of feel like I had to perform last season — just because they gave me such a good idea for me to be on the show last season, that I was willing to do it.

But it’s not my natural state. Like, I had to go lift weights and watch my weight for like two weeks, and get a haircut, and just all the things you have to do to look okay on camera. It’s just something I don’t really do naturally, and with Mystery Science Theater, I really prefer to stay off camera. I like to watch everyone else make it.

MST3K Turkey Day Marathon and Season 14

MW: You’re doing a 48-hour marathon of Mystery Science Theater for Thanksgiving. That’s a lot of riffing. Do you have a favorite episode or bad movie that’s included here?

Joel Hodgson: Yeah, absolutely. One of the things I love about this Turkey Day is that we’re closing with three of our very strongest Christmas episodes. So we’re doing Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Santa Claus, and The Christmas Dragon. So to me, those are so strong and such a great way to go into the holidays. And that’s what I love so much too, is that people feel like they can kind of deal with Christmas better and more if they watch one of our episodes that kind of like goes into it. Because I think it’s so loaded right, it’s a holiday that everybody has a lot of feelings about, and I think being able to be a little bit sarcastic about it as you go into it is really useful.

Related: The Best Sci-Fi Comedies, Ranked

MW: What can the fans do to help the show continue?

Joel Hodgson: Oh, listen, they don’t gotta do anything. I mean, I’m thrilled with where they brought us. We just kind of made history in a couple of different ways by bringing the show back, and we’ve done 33 episodes plus seven live shows. So 40 new Mystery Science Theaters. I’m like completely thrilled we got to do that, if nothing else happens. So I just appreciate everybody. They don’t gotta do nothing, and just have a good time. I was gonna say, ‘Keep circulating the tapes,’ but that’s a medium we don’t use anymore. It’s the URL now, I suppose.

Well, keep circulating the URL then, and spreading the message, because this iconic show deserves to continue. The marathon will be available to watch on a wide variety of platforms beginning Nov. 23 at 9am ET. Don’t forget to set your timers for both The Mega Turkey Day Marathon Telethon and your turkey, and for the latest updates follow MST3K on TikTok (@mst3kofficial), Instagram (@MST3K), Facebook, and X/Twitter (@MST3K).