I will add that if they were to ever to attempt to re-perform any of their live shows on the Gizmoplex, I’d be there with bells on.
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I think something like this would be an awesome idea next time they do a tour. Maybe do a live stream to the gizmoplex and give people who havent gone a great reason to go to a live show and just what to look forward to. They would just need a few cameras and a director with a history of shooting live.
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Just a n.b., beaming a show live is expensive af if you’re doing it via satellite and, as we all know, difficult to do when it’s being streamed on the internet (and still costly). That is why Rifftrax Live is live to tape, recorded earlier that day. So if this was to happen and it was to originate from a theatrical venue, it would be financially more sound to do live-to-tape.
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All I would say is that I didn’t get a chance to see the live tours here in the UK and there’s character stuff that we missed out on. From things said in the livestream it sounds like the dynamic on Emily’s crew was slightly different too and that might’ve been nice to experience, so I do regret that there’s no record of that alt-universe mst3k iteration. It’s also fun to see the cast interaction in real time and catch them cracking each other up.
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I think logistically this would be tricky to pull off with the amount of performers involved with MST3K, but I would like to point out that Trace Beaulieu & Frank Conniff write/perform an all-new live-riff online monthly that sounds an awful lot like what you’re describing: The Mads Are Back | Trace Beaulieu & Frank Conniff from Mystery Science Theater 3000 — Dumb Industries
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Having lived in Nashville and attended many RiffTrax Live shows, they are indeed live and not live to tape for broadcast later in the evening.
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I got mixed up by the actual ones intended for live exhibition that day because Nashville is Central Time. My bad.
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I’m an introvert and am used to laughing alone. Also, crowd energy isn’t a guarantee with me. There are times when it definitely was a boon (I saw Manos in a theater and the crowd elevated that to new highs), but there are also times when people are laughing around me at a stand-up show or whatever, and I’m just sitting there silently thinking, “this isn’t funny”.
Permission to laugh, I like that. There’s a Harry Langdon film (Long Pants) with this controversial scene that’s been long debated, and even Langdon die hards have spoken against it. One DVD commentator mentioned that people never laugh at the scene when he’s hosted or attended showings… yeah, but if you’re sitting there with a stern look on your face, couldn’t they just be following your cue.
I wonder what the reaction would be if I were in the audience? And they see/hear me, and I’m losing it as I usually do… now, do they have, as you say, permission to laugh. Will they follow my lead?
Spoiler details
The scene is a parody of Dreiser’s American Tradgey where Langdon is attempting to murder his girlfriend. Keaton argued that Langdon “lost” his audience with that bit, but honestly, he never had me in the first place. His character’s a little weird and off putting (and the comedy is dark throughout), and for me the humor in the scene isn’t that he’s trying to kill this sweet person, but that God, the fates, nature, or whatever, simply will not allow him to do so… he’s thwarted at every turn, and not due to incompetence. It like some other-worldly force is saying, “Nope, we’re not going to give you this one. Go on your silly journey with that other gal, but this isn’t happening.”
For me, it’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in silent comedy (and comedy in general)
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As to the topic, there are so many live shows that I wasn’t able to attend because they never came near my town. I’ll never get to see them or laugh at them. They are gone forever.
So yeah, even if it was a one and done deal, if they staged Argoman or Making Contact for a night at the Gizmoplex, or even a Rifftrax like Fathom event. I’d happily take that. Even if I couldn’t revisit them or own them, just to have seen it once would be great (the memory of No Retreat, No Surrender -the one tour that did come to my city- still warms my heart and makes me smile).
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My wife still remarks on how NRNS made her laugh until her face ached.
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I’d love it if they were able to renegotiate rights that would allow them to stream/sell past live tour events? (If anyone thought to record any?)
I suppose if they were able to live stream a last show/homecoming of a future live tour event that hadn’t passed through my area for me to attend in person I’d consider it?
But, if I’m 100% honest, I really don’t even like the Selects content being fleeting, so I’m not sure if a watch once and never again thing would sit great with me if I ever wanted to watch it again in the future and couldn’t?
I’m too much of a hoarder/completionist for fleeting to be a good thing in my mind?
If it exists in digital form, I want it to not just go poof for the sake of going poof…
But… I’m weird.
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I mean, you are talking to the community that had “keep circulating the tapes” as a rallying cry for years on end, so you might not be as alone as you think.
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Nod.
True.
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