Submit your questions here!

[RoninFox]

Inflicting bodily harm in reaction to a pun is practically a riffing tradition that goes back to Joel ripping off Crow's arm in the theater.

Plus there is always just a touch of 3 Stooges vibe to the chemistry between Mike, Kevin and Bill so that kind of thing never bothered me.  I can see how the hypocrasy of it might be bothersome to someone, since unlike in MST3K there's no separation between riffers like between the pun-using bots and the human taking the high road.

[LucasM]

Thanks, RoninFox.  I never quite understood why it bothered me even more with the RiffTrax personas than it did with the bots.  You hit it on the head.

Even though I know they aren't 'really' doing anything, and that isn't their 'real' behavior, the fact that it is three PEOPLE makes a difference.

One of the things I edited out in the previous post was about the Stooges, who I've never found the slightest bit funny.  At a party at a friend's house some two decades back everyone was drinking and watching, so I sat and payed attention.  In an hour I laughed ONCE, and it was for a comment that was absurd, not for the violent slapstick or verbal abuse that made up 99% of the show.  But Hell, I never liked Tom and Jerry, Sylvester and Tweety, and the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote for much the same reason.  I just don't find that funny.

But, like when Brain Guy said he liked that his choice of apples he'd used in the pie he'd supposedly baked (which became mushy), as Bobo said of the preference while cross-examining, "Some folks do... some folks do...."

[bratpop]

It's based on the premise that the riffs are improvised. Stop hurting each other for bad puns and the live dynamic goes away. And then it will sound so stilted that they might as well get all the actors who played Anakin Skywalker to read the scripts.

[LucasM]

It's based on the premise that the riffs are improvised. Stop hurting each other for bad puns and the live dynamic goes away. And then it will sound so stilted that they might as well get all the actors who played Anakin Skywalker to read the scripts.

QUITE true... if there weren't SOMEthing to draw attention to that said: "Look!  We are coming up with this and it is happening RIGHT NOW!"  Then it would lose some of its 'energy' and feeling of faux interactivity... that, even if the MEANS of doing it involves (repeatedly) invoking 'humor' I don't particularly care for.

And I can't think of ANY other way to make it seem 'live' (beyond an increase in the occasional interruptions by Disembaudio, which would wear even thinner, even quicker.    )

Thanks... that helps me to repeat to myself: "it's just a riff, I should really just relax." 

[FordPrefect]

Thanks, RoninFox.  I never quite understood why it bothered me even more with the RiffTrax personas than it did with the bots.  You hit it on the head.

Even though I know they aren't 'really' doing anything, and that isn't their 'real' behavior, the fact that it is three PEOPLE makes a difference.

One of the things I edited out in the previous post was about the Stooges, who I've never found the slightest bit funny.  At a party at a friend's house some two decades back everyone was drinking and watching, so I sat and payed attention.  In an hour I laughed ONCE, and it was for a comment that was absurd, not for the violent slapstick or verbal abuse that made up 99% of the show.  But Hell, I never liked Tom and Jerry, Sylvester and Tweety, and the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote for much the same reason.  I just don't find that funny.

But, like when Brain Guy said he liked that his choice of apples he'd used in the pie he'd supposedly baked (which became mushy), as Bobo said of the preference while cross-examining, "Some folks do... some folks do...."

Although they're more well known for their physical comedy, there is some funny wordplay in many of the Three Stooges shorts. I remember one critic (I think it might have been Leonard Maltin) was talking about the Stooges in a documentary about them because he was a fan. He said other people would tell him they hated the Stooges. His would then ask them which one they saw, and then they wouldn't be sure. He said that the Stooges were contracted by Colombia to do a lot of shorts every year and some of them were much better than others. They had a pretty good batting average, but it was by no means perfect.  Mike is a big fan of the Stooges so I'm sure that influences his comedy, along with his love of Monty Python and many others.

[bratpop]

Dear Mike,

Do you get tired of people asking you questions you'll never answer in a thread you'll never read?

[BrainWave]

Mike when you attended the University of Wisconsin River Falls what dorm build did you stay in?


If anyone knows the answer to this let me know!

[ApacheMan2K]

Mike, I have a little question for you. Have you considered finding some way to create riffing commentaries for modern video games, particularly ones with flaws like crappy animation and poor voice-acting?

[bratpop]

I'm sure Mike hasn't considered that, no.

[CWR]

Dear Mike,

  Any reason why no James Cameron films have been RiffTraxed, or is it just a fluke? And a follow up; do you really expect us to believe that?

[Doctor Who?]

Mike are you going to do 3 riffer editions of all the solo riffs you did when Rifftrax started?

If so I would love to hear a 3 riffer edition of Night of the Living Dead.

[FordPrefect]

Mike are you going to do 3 riffer editions of all the solo riffs you did when Rifftrax started?

If so I would love to hear a 3 riffer edition of Night of the Living Dead.

A "Three Riffer Edition" of Night of the Living Dead is coming in April.

[Doctor Who?]

YES!

[Thrifty]

Mike,

How do you type while wearing boxing gloves?

[kebsis]

Mike,

In the later episodes of MST3K, Mary Jo is, in the intro, crushing an inflatable ball painted like the Earth and sticking it in her purse.  As she's squeezing it, something 'pops' from the side of the ball.  It looks almost like a smaller balloon popping off the side of the large one.

What the hell was that?