RiffTrax (NOT) Live review by Jeyl

[Jeyl]

This was the one showing 3 miles away from the Anaheim Convention Center in California. Blizzcon was happening and I thought this would be a nice distraction for my friends who had nothing to do on that night.

The Good:
- The short was fantastic. In fact, I thought it was worth the admission alone. Plan 9 was good and I liked the updated riffs (Someone after seeing Transformers 2)
- The digital goodies
- The slide show that was shown during the waiting period for the event was great. (Movie Mistake: Keanu Reeves casted in "The Day the Earth Stood Still)

The Bad:
- About a good 3/4 of the riffs were already from the old previous incarnations. Thankfully that was told ahead of time.
- Too many riffs per minute that didn't give the time for audiences to laugh out the current riff. Some good riffs were missed.
- Connection glitches during the short.

The UGLY
- Veronica Belmont. Definitely didn't put much effort into hosting the event and didn't seem to be enjoying it on the whole. In fact, her performance as host was riff worthy in on itself.
- Jonathan Coulton. Ok. What was the point of this guy? I didn't like any of his song and his 'audience participation' wasn't fun at all. All he did was waste 15 minutes of our time before we got to the Riffing of Plan 9 which is what we went there to see! I was quite relieved when Kevin came out and performed the zombie bit because I was about ready to leave the theater till it was all over.
- Something Awful. The two segments were meh, but what was point? They didn't do anything to enhance the experience and it looked amateurish at best. Again, another one of those things that would have been better riffed on than shown as is.
- NOT RIFFTRAX'S FAULTThe audience. The theater I went to had some of the worst audience members I have ever experienced in my life at the movies. They talked all throughout the movie about stuff that wasn't the movie and almost everyone had a serious coughing condition. A kid coughed constantly behind me, some big guy literally inhaled deeply to cough like a canon and other audiences were coughing all through out like we were in a waiting lobby for people who have colds or bad coughs. That ruined the event more than anything
- IT WASN'T LIVE. We traveled from Portland, ME to California for Blizzcon and we were hoping that we could see this live, but we found out that it was going to be taped delayed in California so we were going to be up well passed midnight our time.

Suggestions.

- Let the Rifftrax Crew do the hosting. They always seem to be in high spirits when they do events like this.
- Give some warning to the audience that some of the riffs are fast paced so they know that more good riffs will probably be spoken while the audience is still laughing off from the previous ones.
- No musical numbers please.

[torgosPizza]

Good feedback, except for this part:

- IT WASN'T LIVE. ... we found out that it was going to be taped delayed in California so we were going to be up well passed midnight our time.

Not sure what you mean... unless you had to drive another couple hours after the show? We watched it in San Diego on the tape delay, from 8pm-10pm. Got home before midnight for me.

And if the show had been live on the west coast, it would've been at 5pm - when most people are just getting out of work. That's kind of a worse alternative, don't you agree?

[Postmark]

Loved Jonathon, loved Flour Expo.  I somehow managed to enjoy the other 95% of the evening enough to not care that the emcee's 2 minutes of screen time wasn't riotously funny.

I do agree, though, that the audience should be warned that funny things might be said, and that for the consideration of others, laughter should be toned down to less than 1 second per riff.

[MrTorso]

- Too many riffs per minute that didn't give the time for audiences to laugh out the current riff. Some good riffs were missed.
......

- Give some warning to the audience that some of the riffs are fast paced so they know that more good riffs will probably be spoken while the audience is still laughing off from the previous ones.

Too many riffs? What are you the execs at Gramercy? I would be extremely disappointed by less Riffs (Batman and Robin anyone?). The whole point of the RiffTrax live is the communal setting.  Yeah you might miss something but the answer is not to have less of it. 

I do agree, though, that the audience should be warned that funny things might be said, and that for the consideration of others, laughter should be toned down to less than 1 second per riff.

/sarcasm   

I hope??

[torgosPizza]

Pretty sure that *is* sarcasm, Torso

I would like to posit that laughter be limited only to mild chuckles. A warning to audiences stating that "No hearty belly laughs in excess of 100dB" be played before the show opens.

[MrTorso]

Pretty sure that *is* sarcasm, Torso

I would like to posit that laughter be limited only to mild chuckles. A warning to audiences stating that "No hearty belly laughs in excess of 100dB" be played before the show opens.

I assume it is but you never know.  I propose we limit ourselves to one single Krabapple like "HA!".

[Steve-O]

- IT WASN'T LIVE. ... we found out that it was going to be taped delayed in California so we were going to be up well passed midnight our time.

Not sure what you mean... unless you had to drive another couple hours after the show? We watched it in San Diego on the tape delay, from 8pm-10pm. Got home before midnight for me.

He's from Maine.

And seriously, torgos, what the hell?  Why did you guys not plan the event times around the convenience of the two or three audience members who might be visiting from the opposite coast?

[spaceforarent]

Pretty sure that *is* sarcasm, Torso

I would like to posit that laughter be limited only to mild chuckles. A warning to audiences stating that "No hearty belly laughs in excess of 100dB" be played before the show opens.

I assume it is but you never know.  I propose we limit ourselves to one single Krabapple like "HA!".

I was going to suggest the Neil Patrick Harris laugh from Commentary! The Musical on the Dr. Horrible dvd....but I'm not sure anyone would know what I'm talking about

[doggans]

Jealous? Ha!

[Jeyl]

Too many riffs? What are you the execs at Gramercy? I would be extremely disappointed by less Riffs (Batman and Robin anyone?).

Did I say or even suggest that there should have been less riffs? No way. I just think movie audiences tend to laugh longer in bigger crowds and this was no exception. I've listened to both versions of Plan 9 from RiffTrax (Solo and Trio) and even I missed out on some of the riffs because the audience was laughing so hard. Is the audience laughing so hard a bad thing? Heck no. The joke worked and they responded accordingly! 

[Steve-O]

Is the audience laughing so hard a bad thing? Heck no. The joke worked and they responded accordingly! 

It's just that "bad thing" is somewhat implied by you having put it under the heading, "The Bad."

[Postmark]

What's "sarcasm"?  I thought that was the weed of deceit...

[spaceforarent]

Jealous? Ha!

[Jeyl]

It's just that "bad thing" is somewhat implied by you having put it under the heading, "The Bad."

The good, the bad and the ugly. Not good, not ugly, just in between. I like the title "The good, the bad and the ugly" so I've been using that as my 3 categories. Would you prefer 'meh'?

[ShadowDog]

Whether you like it or not, words mean what they mean.  Well, except when bad means good, but nevermind that right now.