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Nerdist was started by Chris Hardwick and has grown to be a many headed beast.

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Nerdist Podcast: Joel Hodgson

Joel Hodgson hangs out with Chris, Matt and Jonah to discuss Mystery Science Theater 3000! They also talk about how bad weather inspires creativity, and Joel does an impression of Jonah doing an impression of Joel!

 
41 comments read them below or add one

  1. Hole-leeee shit…this podcast keeps getting better and better. No one had better fucking bug me at work for the next hour or so!

  4. @Rob B – surely you jest? I mean… Hitler?

    AND YAY JOEL! This is already a phenomenal interview and I’m only 4 minutes in.

    See you at the DW screening Chris!

  6. OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!!!11!!ELEVENTY!!!!

    IT’S JOEL!!!!!! All of my favorite MST3K episodes were hosted by him! Well, “Hamlet” rocked as well, but he’s my main man! SO cannot wait to listen! Had to clap both hands over my mouth when I saw he was on the podcast so I wouldn’t fan girl squee and freak out my co-workers. Mr. Hardwick, you SO deserve brownies for getting him on!!!

    And now to listen (SQUEEE!)….

  8. For me it’s not an issue of Mike v. Joel, but an issue of Comedy Central v. Sci-Fi…and I gotta have Trace and Frank!

  10. Excellent Episode. Love MST3K. Also, Chris singing the “Hey Sexy Lady” part of Gangnam Style totally sounded like Jerry Lewis was singing it.

  13. JOEL HODGSON!!! What a treat! SO great to hear him again! I WORSHIPPED MST3K back in the day. The short films always had me cramped-up with laughter. My favorite scene in the MST Movie: The “Normal View” song. I still sing it from time to time.

    Not a plug, but just thought I’d mention that I used the Chris, Matt and Jonah Bronies in my latest YouTube cartoon. They’re not really animated or anything, I just used them in a line up along with “poo-brained horse” from Adventure Time. I won’t post the link, but you know where to find it if you want it. Muchas gracias for los burrito delicioso!

  14. Wow, that ending; Jonah got his due.

    I can see how non-threatening Joel is, though, I would do the same thing accidentally. Matt was throwing his first name around willy-nilly.

  15. Jonah – “Keep circulating the tapes.” – Yup, that’s how we learned about cool stuff back before there was YouTube and the internet – you had to know a guy who knew a guy who had something and you eventually got a questionable dub on the nifty TV show or music on VHS or cassette. I still own a third or fourth generation copy of Prince’s “The Black Album” thanks to that method.

    FYI, this is the MST3K episode Chris was talking about: http://mst3k.wikia.com/wiki/Gamera_vs_Gaos

    Here’s an episode I strongly recommend, the first one I ever saw and it made me a fan instantly: http://mst3k.wikia.com/wiki/Manhunt_in_Space

    And here’s the link to the company Joel was talking about: http://www.cannae.com/about

    I just realized we haven’t heard from Katie Levine in a good long while. How’s she doing?

  17. At last! Great conversation.
    As far as any difference in tone between the shows Joel appeared in vs the Michael ones, I did feel that some of the later Mads segments and the change in the dynamic of the relationship between host & ‘bots led to an occasional, well, “bitchy” feel to the comedy–the kind of tone that I recognized(& was put off by) back then from some theater colleagues who were “fun in small doses”, but tiresome after any length of time. But, that’s just a personal preference, and the movie riffing still made me laugh. Plus, I think I just resonated to more of the movies/the jokes(esp some of the running gags) that made it into the final script on the first 3-4 seasons.

  18. OH MY GOD!!! My head just blew up like in Scanners because of this awesomeness!! Which is funny since I’m still see what I’m typing. This podcast can’t get any better!!

  19. I first saw MST3k in the middle of the night after a bad shift at Kinko’s. The joke about Gecko-Roman wrestling was enough for me to wake my roommates and demand that they watch, too. Best. Episode. Ever.

  20. Joel says there was no real difference between his eps and Mike’s. I disagree but it’s not about who’s “better.” The Joel years had a subversive edge to them that was not there after his departure, and I missed it. That’s all. MST was a formative influence on me, even though i’m about Joel’s age and should have been past the “forming” stage. :) Thanks for a great interview.

  21. The 1st one I saw was Rocketship XM. About a week later one of the local channels played that movie straight.

  22. JOEL?! OMG. You would not believe the squeeful noise I just made! *nerd-flail!!* I can’t even. MST3K helped form my sense of humor as a human being, and Joel is such a major part of that. I’ve been an admirer for years and years; this is incredible!

  25. I think the Joel/Trace/Josh the Joel/Trace/Kevin the Mike/Trace/Kevin and then Mike/Bill/Kevin eras all had bright spots and some mediocre episodes

    I personally admire Bill Corbett, as I have the same humor, but Gamera, the sword/sandal and the biker films were great with Joel and the 70′s/80′s films I think were Mike’s forte

    Love them both!

  26. btw, Mary Jo Pehl was excited to hear that you mentioned her in the last episode. You should totally have her as a guest next time you’re in Austin, TX.

  28. Oh, fuck, I totally forgot about “Agent J” on SNL ! I totally need to seek those out. Great ep, guys.

  29. I love both Joel and Mike and think they are both hilarious individuals. They just have different delivery. MST3K is still a go to for me when there is nothing on TV or when there are no new Nerdist podcasts for me to listen to and I wanna drown out my co-workers and their babble. I did go to the Rifftrax “Manos” revisited. Took the hubby to his first show. I love the live shows, so glad Joel and Mike do these. Double your pleasure, double your fun as far as i am concerned!

  30. Squee! Like Chris, MST3K came out at a pivotal time in my life. I prefer Joel episodes to Mike episodes. I think it has to do with charisma. I know Mike wrote a lot of the jokes in the early shows, but Joel’s delivery was much better. He had this quality that just made you want to curl up next to him and giggle, and I could never feel that with Mike. I had a moment too when I realized I belonged to the same fan club that Chris did! I still have the fan club mini-poster and member card. And can’t believe I live in the same state as Joel! Hooray for PA rocking science!
    Hugs to Joel, Chris, Mat and Jonah for doing this episode – well done boys, thanks for being so nerdy :)

  31. I found MST3K during season one on Comedy Channel when I was 23. No one else liked it but me. Then on AOL in 1994 I met Chris Cornell and Brian Henry and all the AOL MSTies and that was my groove for many year. We did endless Home Games and had a FanCon in Philly where we ate junk food and live-riffed on movies for 3 days. It was the first time the Internet found people that I could nerd out with about a thing I thought no one else knew about. Also, MAJOR JOEL CRUSH hello?

  35. The ending of this episode was marvelous. I love MST3K. One of my top 5 shows and huge in my life although I´m more of a Mike and Scifi guy. Still Joel is beyond great.

  36. I just about freaked when the episode stopped on the podcast list page at about 45 min, but it seems to work on this page, whew!

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