Upcoming Live Shows!

[SJP]

Should be at the Royal Oak show myself...I haven't seen any Cinematic stuff either, but I remember saying to myself I'd love to see them if they came to town, and lo and behold, last week I found out about the show.  Only going to the later show ($50 is still a little out of my price range), but I still think it's going to be a lot of fun.  Also, a friend that missed the two Rifftrax Live shows is going to be able to see this one, which will be pretty nice.

[SJP]

Ok, went and back.

All right, before the show even started, I have to say, on the one hand, the seats were a little cramped.  I've never been to the Royal Oak Theater, so I was a little surprised to find the seating wasn't permanent...just rows and rows of very small plastic folding chairs.  Now, I'm not in good shape, but I'm not a big fat guy either, so I'm not just saying that because I should've bought two tickets for my ass or something.  But when you have to keep your arms folded in at all times or else end up proposing to the two people on either side of you, maybe the spacing could've been a little more comfortable.

But when the show finally got started, it was just sort of...well, weird to see everybody live.  Even with Rifftrax Live, I still wasn't in the same theater as Mike, Bill, and Kevin, but here, it just seemed cool to finally see them all live.  And really, except for Joel and Josh, nobody looked like they had aged a day since MST3K.  Granted, I haven't seen any of them SINCE the show left the air, but I think Frank could really get a gig as the new Dick Clark.

The show was great, too; I can honestly say that, while I didn't laugh as hard as I did at either Rifftrax show (the Rudolph short practically had me on the floor), I think I may have laughed more consistently.  And I did notice that, even though I'm not sure which of the 5 wrote each joke, this is definitely the group that has the "obscure old-timey references" writers in it...something I really miss with Mike, Kevin, and Bill.  Which just goes to show that while they're all talented writers, nothing will ever be quite like them all in a room, thinking about what a couple of puppets would say at the moment.

Not that I'm saying they need to; Rifftrax AND Cinematic Titanic are both excellent, and MST3K is just that; brilliance that didn't overstay its welcome.  And having had a great time (and getting some nice autographs on my DVD set lobby cards), I'll probably end up picking up some of their their DVDs in the near future.

NOTE: A big highlight, though, were the tipsy hipsters who sat in front of us.  They were NOT there to enjoy the show (as evidenced by the fact that they left about 25 minutes in), but apparently to show everybody, "OOOO, look at US!  We're attending the COMEDY SHOW!  Aren't we fan-TAS-tic?"  After ordering enough Zima-esque beverages to choke a mongoose, the turtle-necked Bruce Campbell look-alike and his darling wife started taking pictures of everybody in the audience.  My friend asked, "So, uh...you putting these up on Facebook or something?"  To which Turtleneck asked, "What's Facebook?"  Yes, that man was internally chortling, reminding us all of the fact that he is so hip that this whole INTERNET thing is above his notice (the guy was about 35, so he's clearly not old enough to not use computers).  I don't think they left angrily, but more of the shame one feels upon accidentally vomiting 13 Zimas down a $300 angora turtleneck.  I cannot prove that happened, but I think he may have been so hip that he would never let anyone SEE him throw up.

Compare this to the older gentlemen who sat next to me, and kindly showed me his Amazing Colossal Episode Guide and Fan Club Memorabilia he'd brought to get signed, and was overall just a pleasant person to talk to.  You just never know who you'll meet.

[spaceforarent]

I'll probably end up picking up some of their their DVDs in the near future.

While I love CT, and have enjoyed every release, I will say that you might be disappointed in their early DVDs if you haven't seen them yet. They've improved along the way but unless you really enjoy their style of comedy (like me) they'll be rather "meh".

[dangfish]

I went to the Royal Oak show as well.


I've been patiently waiting for them to come to Michigan and last night my patience paid off. They did two shows and I attended both. The titans were very funny. I really hope, however, that if they ever come back to Michigan that they pick a different place. This was my first and very definitely last visit to the Royal Oak music theatre. I bought my ticket the first day they were available in order to get a front row seat. I arrive last night and excitedly make my way to my seat, only to set eyes on what looked like an over-crowded town meeting in a high school library. All of the seats in the first fifteen rows were plastic folding chairs. They had crammed more folding chairs into the first few rows in order to get people to pay more thinking they were getting 'premium sitting.' I walk over to my seat and find that I'm crammed between two John Candy look-a-likes. Through the entire first show I had to keep my arms folded close and my breath sucked in because there was literally no room to sit comfortably. For the second show I found a seat way in the back so I could actually take deep breaths.

In addition to that nonsense, my plan to get my MST episode guide signed also didn't go exactly as planned. My plan was to go to my car after the first show and then get it signed during the meet-n-greet between the two shows. I was told that if I left the theatre then I would not be able to re-enter until they were seating for the second show, which would be too late for the signing. Also, nobody in the theatre seemed to know exactly WHEN the second show was supposed to start. Our tickets all said 10pm but then several people said it didn't start till 11. I asked three of the people working there when the second show was supposed to start. Two of them told me 10 and the other told me 11. Turned out it was 11.

They also did their damndest to mess up Joel and company. Our riffers were happily riffing away and then about 30 minutes into the first film the screen suddenly goes black. At first I thought it was part of the show (maybe a skit or something like when they freeze the film on the DVDs). I could tell by the look on the riffers faces,however, that it wasn't. Like the pros they are, though, they recovered quickly and came up with some funny improv stuff during the five or so minutes it took for these Royal Oak dumbbells to get back to the right spot in the film, which they never really did. I think they got close, but it was obvious that we missed at least part of a scene, if not more. A couple of the performers were having trouble finding the right place in the script until Joel quietly said 'page 36 guys.' The only reason I heard him is because I was in the front row. Luckily, there were no more film mishaps all night.

Okay, I'm done whining now. Sorry, had to vent. Please, guys, if you ever come back to Michigan, go to Ann Arbor or even Detroit! You and the audience will be treated better.

[Nunyerbiz]

I agree with Dangfish and SJP about the lackluster venue... I had never seen a show at the Royal Oak Music Theater... had been there a number of times in the 90s/early 00s when it was a dance club on weekend nights. Anyways, I sat in the balcony and the seats seemed to be vintage 1927 from when the joint was built. Each individual spring in the cushion made it's presence very well known to my ass. I suppose folding plastic chairs would have been worse... but I guess it wasn't a dealbreaker either way. The audio quality left something to be desired as well... some jokes I couldn't really make out. 

As far as the show itself, the opening act... I forget his name already... was billed as a "Professional Warm-Up" and he did a decent job... never jaw droppingly funny, but got some deserved laughs. Some of the headliners also joined in the warm-up festivities... With J.Elvis, Joel and Frank all  participating. Frank came out with a little stand-up bit, taking the obligatory shot at February's crop of trite and predicable romantic comedies... Then in what I can only assume was some brilliant stroke at ironic humor... he followed up that bit by performing a comedic musical number that was... well... trite and predictable.

The movies themselves were a mixed bag. The first showing, a Japanese flick called "Attack of the Insects" was the strong point of the evening... Even with the technical difficulties with the Christie Digital Projector system. If you could find that old floppy disc with "timespacecontinuumeditor.exe" on it... You could easily have squeezed this effort into MST3K Season 3 or 4 and it would probably be considered an upper-tier episode. There were all the benchmarks for a great episode: copious amounts of overacting, characters that leant themselves to great recurring jokes, downright goofy ass scenes that drew audience laughter when no riffs were being dropped... It just worked very well.

The second film I thought dropped off noticably. It was a Samson movie... and much like many of the Hercules / Samson movies featured on the show... there were noticable dull stretches where the movie just didn't provide much for the performers to work with. I'll admit that I've never been a huge fan of the Hercules efforts from MST3K and I suppose audience fatigue could have been a factor as I was reaching into my 4th hour in the venue.. But there were stretches, even with jokes being dropped, that garned little more than some polite chuckles from the audience... and I don't recall that ever happening in the first showing. That's not to say it was a poor effort, there were laughs to be had, but the movie and the accompanying jokes clearly had less energy than it's predecessor. If "Attack of the Insects" was grade A, then I'd think the Samson movie was a B- or C+.

I didn't bring anything to sign or stand in line for autographs... but it was great that this was included with admission. I was sort of surprised that they weren't hawking any product. I was actually looking forward to buying a release or two on DVD at the show... but unless I missed it... there was no merchandising presence at all. In general, I would say it was a good time and money well spent... although I really don't think they brought a top-tier product to the second showing. I had heard great things about "East vs West" and was disappointed that wasn't one of the featured films.

[oddstocks]

They did have merch, but it sold out pretty fast. Always like to see Gruber...loved him in Freaks & Geeks!

[Nunyerbiz]

Hmm.. where was it located? I obviously must have missed it... as we were one of the first folks in the door.

And yes... GRUBER... Dunno why I couldn't remember that seeing it's been barely 24 hours. He was pretty good... but I wish they could have varied the bits up a bit more between the two shows...

[dangfish]

Yeah, I was wondering about the merchandise too.  The guy sitting next to me in the first show had purchased two DVDs. I talked later to the guy selling the stuff and he said  he sold out of everything before the first show even started. 

And I agree with Nunyerbiz about the first show being better than the second, although I think I enjoyed the second one a little more than he did.  In the Samson film there were definitely some periods without much laughter.  In particular there was a 20 minute stretch in the middle with barely a chuckle to be found in the theatre.  It was just a lot of horse riding and marching and not much for them to work with.  However, there were a few scenes in the film that inspired some of their finest riffing of the night. I found myself laughing harder at these scenes than anything in the first film. The first movie ,however, (War of the Insects? ) was more consistent with solid riffing throughout. Overall it gave them a bit more to work with. And I know I already did my whining in the previous post, but Nunyerbiz reminded me that I neglected to mention the crappy audio quality. There were quite a few jokes that I wasn't able to make out. You'd think that a venue that bills itself as a 'MUSIC THEATRE"  would maybe have a halfway decent sound system?

[TeamRAD]

We got a guest appearance from Patton Oswalt at the latter of the two shows!!!   

What a truly awesome experience it was in Milwaukee last night, both shows were sell-outs!

- before Genocide, Joel reminiscing w/ the audience on various things about his experience growing up in Wisconsin such as...Samson, Ward Allen & Albert, Fort Atkinson, etcetera...just pure bliss.

- Patton Oswalt!!! He was performing over at the Pabst, and came over to the Turner after his gig. He did some stand-up for 10 minutes, and absolutely killed the audience w/ his story about seeing Jerry Maguire w/ his brother on Christmas Eve '96. It was so fun.

- it was Joel's birthday! We sang "Happy Birhtday" to him after the first show

- Frank's STILL doing his "Convoluted Man" bit! 

- The first film, Genocide War of the Insects, was insane, and it did practically riff itself (looking SO forward to the DVD release of it). The Samson flick, by itself it's weak, but the riffing was amazing, and the Titans seemed to be having such a great time onstage. Joel's "White Christmas" riff in the latter was tear-inducing! And Samson sucking in his gut while dead was great...LENS CAP!

- the light-hearted heckling of Joel prior to the first flick; Joel sharing how Milwaukee was always the big city while growing up in Fort Atkinson, and someone from the audience shouting out, "It still is!". That was hilarious, and the Manos quip from the audience prior to Genocide was neat, too.

- I had no idea Gruber was in Crossroads

- and lastly, plenty of Spotted Cows were had!

RAD, if by chance you've read this, give my warmest thanks to Mary Jo & the gang. It was special. 

[spaceforarent]

- I had no idea Gruber was in Crossroads

Mike actually points that out in the riff, kind of. He says something like 'the Naked Trucker seems to be enjoying it" during the karaoke scene. He's only there for a quick second though.

[Nunyerbiz]

In particular there was a 20 minute stretch in the middle with barely a chuckle to be found in the theatre.  It was just a lot of horse riding and marching and not much for them to work with.  However, there were a few scenes in the film that inspired some of their finest riffing of the night.

Yea... that seems to be the calling card for just about every "greased up 1950s bobybuilder playing a poorly dubbed mythical figure" movie that has ever been attempted in MST3K and it's various offspring... Brilliant two minute flourishes of comedic gold nuggets followed by 20 minute stretches of panning in the river and coming up with nothing.

I suppose I may have been a tad harsh with my thoughts on the second show, and I agree there was some really funny jokes to be had.., But while I think you can get away with inconsistent source movies a little easier when looking at a 20+ episode television season... or even sprinkling one into a handful of DVD releases... You really, really need to bring your top stuff when putting on a live event in front of 1,000 people or whatever... and I just didn't think that Samson movie was up to muster. If it was a MST3K episode that I had come across 12-15 years ago during my tape trading days, it would have fallen into the "no hurry to revisit" pile.

[SJP]

I don't know...maybe my opinion would've been different if I had seen the first show, but I've always had a soft spot for the Hercules-esque films, and this one was especially ridiculous in that nobody in China has any problems that their savior wears naught but a diaper for the entirety of the film, and then leaves like Poochy ("I have to go now!  My planet needs me!").

But, I just wanted to mention one of the more memorable lines of the movie...

*Samson throws down stuffed tiger he'd been wrestling with*  That one was for Roy Horn!  Tell your friends!

I also liked Josh's "Zaxxon" line, and I like that he noticed the three people who chuckled at it.

Sucks that Patton showed up for the Minneapolis show and nowhere else.  Would've loved to see him live.

[Sharktopus]

Anybody else going to the Times Square show in April?

[Sharktopus]

So, uh, anybody going to Danger On Tiki Island in NYC this Saturday? I'll be there, but don't let that scare ya. I'm quite cuddly.

[k1]

So, uh, anybody going to Danger On Tiki Island in NYC this Saturday? I'll be there, but don't let that scare ya. I'm quite cuddly.

Going to the Boston show with MrTorso on Thursday in MA.