Will Mike ever come back?

MST3K Central
43

I would love to see one more appearance by Mike as Torgo, or for Trace to reprise his role as Crow, but I totally respect that these guys have moved on with their lives and careers and the MST chapter is closed for them.

The thing I would really hate to see is for any of the former cast feel like they were being pressured to come back. If they want to come back, amazing, if they don’t, then that’s cool too.

I think MST is actually pretty unusual for a show that has been around for as long as it has in that no one has stuck around so long that their character has become stale. Everyone who’s left the show, for whatever reason, has left us wanting more.

7 Likes
44

This is beautiful. :joy:

2 Likes
45

Especially if the movie they get is a remastered Superdome.

4 Likes
46

Shout only owns MST3K and The Film Crew. Rifftrax is owned by Mike, Kevin, Bill and one of the David Martins. I’m pretty sure Cinematic Titanic is still owned by the five riffers. But Shout does license the CT library and some Rifftrax for DVD/streaming purposes.

6 Likes
47

I sense you are an optimist. I personally align on pragmatically guaging what’s possible tied to an open mind and a total lay of the land of where every body is buried and what that means.

Mike is receptive, cordial, and good natured and absent MST3K Rifftrax wouldn’t exist. His former collaborators and friends are welcome on Rifftrax his turf any time because he is at peace with the past. Part of that peace is work on his own terms and Rifftrax is his home now and probably forever.

There’s a saying. “I forgive but I don’t forget.” Mike lead the writing room in the Joel era, hosted the show for 5 1/2 seasons and a movie, and was the face of Mystery Science Theater absent any longstanding stake in it after Joel. His hardships and responsibilities piled on and once MST became no more he compensated by conceiving another child.

Going back to MST now… I detect reading those reunions you speak of, his body language during them, and his radio silence away from Rifftrax touting The Return that Mike closed that chapter in his life. I concur anything could emerge and I would celebrate if it did nevertheless Mike in his face, eyes, interactions, choice of words, and repeated behavior hints to me he won’t be warping to the SOL anytime soon and barring a breakthrough likely never.

Mike moved on and his attention is on where he is not where he was. To return would be a step back in his head and to Mike he wants to march ahead instead. I would love to be wrong and I hope I am. “Only time will tell…” Thanks!

48

Mike can produce so much more content so much quicker with Rifftrax, so instead of a brief Mike cameo I think the other way around could be more interesting. Will we ever see some of the MST3K S11-S13 riffers do some Rifftrax, either as individual guests or in teams of their own?

3 Likes
49

That is basically Bill Corbett’s feelings about playing Crow again. He’s said as much. He enjoyed his time as Crow, but he’s moving on.

3 Likes
50

There is a difference, though, between coming back to play a character regularly and just doing it once for old time’s sake. It would be the equivalent of a long-broken-up band getting back together for a one-off anniversary or charity concert… not a commitment for anything.

1 Like
51

Unfortunately, it’s been about a decade since Rifftrax has had a guest riffer, outside of live shows and Batman V Superman. I could see them being open to Jonah, Hampton and Baron doing riffs, because I remember Frank answering at a Mads show that there was talk of Rifftrax hosting Mads VODs, but the cost of flying Frank to Minneapolis to record with Trace scuttled things, but the days of people like Joel McHale, Weird Al and Neil Patrick Harris dropping in for a riff seem to be well in the past.

1 Like
52

What about Morrissey’s haidresser? He just came out of that coma!

3 Likes
53

I’ve felt the same about it. Even the MST3K reunion was done in the context of Rifftrax, not in the context of being back on the show.

And he, Bill and Kevin have a pretty good thing going with Rifftrax at the moment. I don’t know how much money they bring in from it, but it’s gotta be fairly profitable.

3 Likes
54

I don’t see Mike, Trace, or Frank getting involved in any way. As many have said, Mike seems to be focusing upon RT and content to keep it that way. And Trace and Frank have seemed nothing but bitter regarding the return of the show (or rather, with how Joel handled it in regard to the classic cast). I’d love to see any of them make an appearance, just don’t think it’s in the cards.

3 Likes
55

didn’t trace come back for the first online turkey day voicing crow, even paying tribute to bill’s version of the voice saying ‘it was better?’ or am I mis remembering?

1 Like
56

Why would Trace and Frank be bitter? They both left the cast voluntarily long before the TV show ended.

57

Neither has responded positively, in the slightest, since the first Kickstarter campaign began in 2015. There are either a lot of sour grapes or they’re both really committed to a negative bit.

58

I don’t know the details, but the gossip is that they had some initial dealings with Joel when the show was first being rebooted that ended badly.

Whatever happened, they have responded in a less than positive way when asked if they’ll be involved with the show again.

1 Like
59

I always gathered that they where sour on the whole idea of the show going ‘hollywood’. And quite frankly, I Was too. it turned out ok in the end, but this is why I’m more interested in seeing how emily does as a host. she is more an unknown like joel and mike where so it seems more in tune with the original idea of the show. and less hollywood.

2 Likes
60

What Frank had to say about the reboot, when he was talking with Bill Corbett on his Funhouse podcast. (This is long. Read it to the end if you want to understand why Trace and Frank aren’t participating. )

Bill: So the new Mystery Science Theater has been out for a couple of seasons and, you know, we’ll be diplomatic and, erm, I, just upfront, I love Jonah, he’s a pal-

Frank: Great guy.

Bill: Great guy, I love, I think there are amazingly talented people working on it across the board, but I did want to say, that on your behalf, whatever else my, my intense feelings about the endeavor were, on your behalf, I think that was the most offended I got, was when they suddenly announced TV’s Son of TV’s Frank with your basic hair-

Frank: It was a photoshop of Patton as me, basically.

Bill: Yeah, and I know you’re good friends with Patton, and anybody who’s met Patton loves him, he’s a great, generous guy-

Frank: Yeah, he did a shout out to me on the Tonight Show, and on Conan, uh, which is the closest I’ve ever been to being on those shows, so he’s, he’s, he’s the best.

Bill: He’s, he’s paid it back. But that seemed like particularly maladroit, to take your, to take your persona in a way, and just like slap it up there-

Frank: Well, I just, I just thought like Joel, you know, he should have just sent me a message like a day before, two days before, ‘Hey, here’s what’s about to happen, I’ve uh, I’ve cast Patton as uh, the new TV’s Frank and we’re, and the announcement is coming, so, since you’re the old TV’s Frank I thought I’d just let you know that…’ He didn’t do that, you know, I just logged onto the internet one morning and uh, and there it was, you know? And people kind of assumed that I was in on it, you know, and that- even Patton, ‘cause I did a couple of like jokes about it online, I said, “People say ‘Oh Frank, are you a part of this?’ and I would say ‘Joel has sent all of the old cast members to the glue factory,’” and, uh, so Patton like DM’d me, he was like ‘I thought you knew about it’, you know, and he’s like – and I told him, you know, don’t- this has nothing to do with you, you know-

Bill: No, he’s a decent guy, (unintelligable)

Frank: -don’t worry about it, and he knows that I’m cool with it and he’s cool with me, so there was no problem along those lines. But uh, you know, there wasn’t any, there wasn’t any kind of communication from Joel, when the whole thing was happening, the whole, uh, new Mystery Science Theater was being started up, and what makes it awkward is that, you know, we had just recently been working together on Cinematic Titanic, you know, we were like a whole family on the road for like five or six years or something like that, and then when he gets the new Mystery Science Theater started he’s just like ‘Well, you’re not gonna be a part of it. I’m not going to consult, I’m not going to ask you about anything, I’m not gonna ask your opinion about any of it, I’m just gonna do it, I’m gonna hire new writers, I’m not, you’re not going to be considered as a new writer’ and uh, and he just didn’t communicate with me at all about it. So that was, that was a little offputting, you know. And there was also kind of this, uh…one of the, the Kickstarter guys, one of the kind of top people there, was, was very – what I thought, and, uh, Trace thought as well, was very disrespectful to us, and very ageist. He posted one thing about how sad it would look if we came back in our Old Guys now wearing the costumes and that that would be kinda sad, and um, you know, and then on the last tour Joel got back into the costume, so…(chuckles) But uh, you know, so there was that kinda element to it. But in general it’s it’s been a fine thing, the new Mystery Science Theater I think has been good for all of us-

Bill: Yeah, yeah.

Frank: It like raised awareness, um…Trace and I have, you know, our shows sell very well, and, and it just doesn’t hurt. You know, there’s, one thing I’ve learned is like, when we were doing Cinematic Titanic, we like, we looked at RiffTrax as like our rivals, you know? And, and I kind of realize now that there’s just room for, for all of it. Our fans are so…there’s no fan that I’ve ever met who’s like ‘Oh, I really like Cinematic Titanic but I don’t like RiffTrax’, you know, and I, I-

Bill: You could, you could probably find them on MST3K Info site, the real granular-

Frank: Yeah, but overwhelmingly they’re like, they love RiffTrax, they love Cinematic Titanic, they love The Mads, they love the new MST-

Bill: They love it all, yeah.

Frank: And actually, I reached the point too where I just had to- well, I didn’t have to but I, I just started accepting compliments for RiffTrax.

(Bill and Frank laugh)

Frank: Where people said ‘Oh, I love that RiffTrax that you did!’ And I got that like so many times like eventually I would go “Yeah, that was a good one, wasn’t it?”

Bill: “Wanna buy my book? It’s just as good!”

Frank: Yeah.

Bill: Yeah, I mean, when, when it was announced I think it all, it took us, it caught us all at RiffTrax somewhat flat-footed, although, it’s not when it was announced, it’s when we knew it was seriously happening.

Frank: Uh-huh.

Bill: Um, and I just, it was very mixed feelings for me, because on some level like, I kinda get it, and I respect the desire to start new, it gets-

Frank: Yeah, that happens all the time in show business-

Bill: It gets hairy, of course, when but the thing, I think it was the thing that you just said, that kinda rankled me the most, which is “Yeah, we need some new blood to handle this riffing thing, it’s not an old man’s game.” Meanwhile, we’re all doing live shows, and doing fine and-

Frank: Yeah, that’s a, that’s a, that’s an important point, because Joel actually made that statement several times, where he said “Riffing is a young man’s game.” Which is just, it just is an expression that sounds good in your head, uh, but it has no relationship to truth whatsoever. And you guys, are proving it all the time, and I’m even older than you guys and I’m proving it! And I kinda feel, I’m 62, and, and people may disagree, I kind of feel like I’m at my height creatively these days. I, I feel like I’ve, uh, like you know, all the writing I’m doing, I don’t feel like anything has really dried up for me. And I, and, and one of the reasons that I…if I think of myself as a success in show business at all, it’s because I’m at my age and I’m still actively engaged in it. And after all these years I’m still, um, excited about things, I still have creative projects that I work on and that I am hopeful for and you know, I know there are some people my age who like, who feel like it’s all over for them, but that, that’s a state of mind, and Joel has said in many interviews, like almost every interview he’s given, in fact, he’s always said ‘I wanted to have people in their 30s writing and not people in their 60s.’ And that’s ageism! That’s discrimination, and you know what? It’s also against the law.”

11 Likes
61

That’s an interesting read.

But I have to ask because I don’t keep up with stuff like this at all and it’s going to sound bad but is a genuine question. Is Jonah really that famous? I’d heard of Patton Oswalt but only vaguely. Before the reboot, I couldn’t have told you anything about what he’d done. I’d never heard of Felicia Day. So are these people genuinely famous and I’m just out of the loop (entirely possible) or are they famous in their niche and not really outside it?

2 Likes
62

I didn’t have TV and I’m not into comic books and movies and typical “nerd culture,” plus I’m older Gen X, so I had never heard of Jonah, Patton, or Felicia before November 2015. I think Patton was the most famous because of his stand-up career, but Felicia was and still is very much in that nerd culture niche, and Jonah? Again sort of a niche performer in the comedy world, I guess mostly known for The Meltdown and being on the Nerdist podcast.

2 Likes