I am ashamed to say I actually know nothing about the origins of the original KTMA MST3K. Did it start as Joel’s idea or was it a group-think kind of idea that started with the whole original team? How did the first MST3K team get assembled? Did they know one-another from other projects or from doing stand-up?
Does anyone have a link to someplace online with these details? Maybe an interview or podcast episode?
I suddenly find myself very intrigued and the obvious places have very few answers…
The MST3K cast wrote The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide that has some explanation of the origins of it.
For a really comprehensive look at the show’s history from the pre-KTMA era, the KTMA days, and onward, you’ll wanna check out Tom’s Temple of MST3K Stuff.
For the complete history directory, you’ll want to head here.
I am on part 5 of reading this out loud to my wife. Thank you for sharing. As my wife so eloquently put it, “This is f***ing gripping.”
Thanks for giving us something new to share around this amazing show.
Crow and Cambot found themselves bored in Minnesota, offered their services to a local UHF station, then they hired Joel to be their token human, he thought a spin on the “horror host” legacy would be fun, and the rest is history.
Why is it that-- Everyone always-- I can’t believe in this day and-- Why do people like y-- GAH! It’s NOT TRUE! STOP SAYING THAT! It wasn’t Crow and Cambot at the start! It was Crow and Beeper! Cambot came along after the pilot after Crow and Beeper had a falling out over Crow’s dental hygiene. Tom Servo was driving a taxi, bringing Cambot (Crow’s buddy from improv class) to the set, and he really hit it off with Gypsy, who had come out to pay the fare because improv geeks are notoriously forgetting their wallets. Cambot saw the camera and said to Crow, “Hey, can I run that instead?” And the rest was history. I don’t understand why that part of the story always gets cut out. 
well I didn’t want to bring up that drama with Beeper (such a diva for a “baby robot”) so early in the conversation!
I don’t know where you’re getting this Dylan hippied out concrete satellite reality story of how things started but it wasn’t like that at all. When they say it’s how they reckolleck it they were so freaking hopped up on RAM chips. And then Scorsese tries to tell the story? Please, man couldn’t direct an orange out of a paper bag.
So, reading that I learned that the sitcom Joel turned down was ‘High School USA’ - and Bridget and MJ riffed the pilot movie for that!
You’ve got to wonder who Joel was supposed to play in it. None of them seem to really line up with his standup style.
They were probably just going to try and shoehorn him into one of the characters. Like how Bob Saget (RIP) played such wholesome tv characters when his stand-up was anything but.
Gleaning from his interviews suggests it woulda been a science teacher. Some kind of wacky science teacher.
There was one of those when I was in 8th or 9th Grade but he in no way resembled J.H. He was legendary for wearing the widest, loudest ties in existence during a time when that wasn’t in fashion at all.
All good info here, but if you go waaay back, I think the real origin of the show was when Mr. Rocket married Miss Space Station, and then 9 months later they produced a little baby satellite that they both loved very much.