Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then moved to nationwide broadcast, first on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central for seven seasons until its cancellation in 1996. Thereafter, it was picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel and aired for three more seasons until another cancellation in August 1999. A 60-episode syndication package titled The Mystery Science Theater Hour was produced in 1993 and broadcast on Comedy Central and syndicated to TV stations in 1995. In 2015, Hodgson led a crowdfunded revival of the series with 14 episodes in its eleventh season, first released on Netflix on April 14, 2017, with another six-episode season following on November 22, 2018. A second successful crowdfunding effort in 2021 will bring at least 13 additional episodes to be shown through the Gizmoplex, an online platform that Hodgson will develop for future MST3K works that launched in March 2022. As of 2022, 230 episodes and a feature film have been produced as well as three live tours.
Michael Ian Black is an American comedian, actor, writer, and director. He has starred in several TV comedy series, including The State, Viva Variety, Stella, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Michael & Michael Have Issues, and Another Period. In the late 1990s to early 2000s, he was the puppeteer and voice actor for the Pets.com sock puppet dog. He also appeared on Celebrity Poker Showdown several times. He released his first children's book, Chicken Cheeks, in 2009, and has since released six more, in addition to four books for adults.
The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides. As a cinematic phenomenon, the midnight screening of offbeat movies began in the early 1970s in a few urban centers, particularly in New York City with screenings of El Topo at the Elgin Theater, eventually spreading across the country. The screening of non-mainstream pictures at midnight was aimed at building a cult film audience, encouraging repeat viewing and social interaction in what was originally a countercultural setting.
USA Up All Night was an American cable television series that aired weekly on Friday and Saturday nights on the USA Network. The show aired from 1989 to 1998.
Mac and Me is a 1988 American science fiction film co-written and directed by Stewart Raffill. Starring Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Ward, and Tina Caspary alongside Lauren Stanley and Jade Calegory, it centers on a "Mysterious Alien Creature" (MAC) that escapes from nefarious NASA agents and befriends a boy named Eric Cruise. Together, they try to find MAC's family, from whom he has been separated.
Robert Jolin Osborne was an American film historian, television presenter, author, actor and the primary host for more than 20 years of the cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Prior to hosting at TCM, Osborne had been a host on The Movie Channel, and earlier, a columnist for The Hollywood Reporter. Osborne wrote the official history of the Academy Awards, published in 1988.
Christopher Ryan Hardwick is an American comedian, actor, television and podcast host, writer, and producer. He hosts Talking Dead, an hourlong aftershow on AMC affiliated with the network's zombie drama series The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, as well as Talking with Chris Hardwick, a show in which Hardwick interviews prominent pop culture figures, and The Wall, a plinko-inspired gameshow on NBC, Hardwick created Nerdist Industries, operator of the Nerdist Podcast Network and home of his podcast The Nerdist Podcast, which later left the network and was renamed to ID10T with Chris Hardwick. His podcast has broadcast 1,000 episodes as of December 2019.
The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1990 American satirical black comedy film directed and produced by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall, and Morgan Freeman. The screenplay, written by Michael Cristofer, was adapted from the bestselling 1987 novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe.
Douglas Steven Benson is an American comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television host and actor, best known for hosting the podcasts and TV series Doug Loves Movies (2006-present), The Benson Interruption (2010-2013), Getting Doug with High (2013-2019) and The High Court with Doug Benson (2017). As a comedian, he has released 10 comedy albums, starting with Professional Humoredian in 2008, and has regularly appeared on TV shows including Comedy Central Presents, Best Week Ever and @midnight. In 2007, he was a contestant on the 5th season of the reality competition show Last Comic Standing.
Elliott Charles Kalan is an American comedian. He was the head writer for the Netflix era of the cult series Mystery Science Theater 3000 and a former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as well as a comic book writer and co-host of the podcast The Flop House.
SModcast Podcast Network is a podcast network owned by Kevin Smith. The network was started in January 2010 to host the podcast SModcast alongside the popular Tell 'Em Steve-Dave! and Highlands: A Peephole History.
Thomas Papa Jr. is an American comedian, actor, and radio host. He hosts the Sirius XM Satellite Radio show Come to Papa and, in July 2019, he and Fortune Feimster started hosting the Sirius XM show What a Joke with Papa and Fortune. Papa hosted the show Baked on the Food Network and was the head writer and a performer on the radio variety show Live from Here, hosted by Chris Thile, where he delivered the "Out In America" segment.
Maximum Fun is an independent, cooperatively owned podcast and radio show production organization founded by Jesse Thorn. The organization originated with Thorn's college radio show The Sound of Young America which continued in an adapted format and with a new name, Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. Maximum Fun has since grown to include several other programs.
Albert Charles Kreischer Jr., nicknamed "The Machine", is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, reality television host and actor. In 1997, he was featured in an article in Rolling Stone while attending Florida State University. The magazine named Kreischer "the top partyer at the Number One Party School in the country." The article also served as inspiration for the 2002 film National Lampoon's Van Wilder. Kreischer has served as host of the television series Hurt Bert on FX as well as Bert the Conqueror and Trip Flip on Travel Channel. He appeared in The Machine, a comedy film loosely based on his life.
Dan McCoy is an American comedian and was an Emmy-winning writer for the news satire program The Daily Show. He is the producer and co-host of the movie podcast The Flop House, which he co-hosts with comedian/bar owner Stuart Wellington and former Daily Show head writer Elliott Kalan. He is the creator and co-star of the animated webseries 9 AM Meeting, which won an MTV development deal at the 2010 New York Television Festival.
Daniel Van Kirk is an American comedian, podcast personality, and writer from Rochelle, Illinois.
Stuart Lenton Wellington is an American comedian and bar proprietor based in Brooklyn, New York. With Dan McCoy, he is a co-creator of the bad-movie podcast The Flop House, which he has co-hosted since 2007 with McCoy and Elliott Kalan, moving to the All Things Comedy podcast network in October 2012 and then the Maximum Fun network in September 2014. He has been featured in The A.V. Club's Podmass column for his work on the podcast.
How Did This Get Made? (HDTGM) is a podcast on the Earwolf network. It is hosted by Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas with occasional substitutes and/or guest hosts. Each episode features the deconstruction and mockery of outlandish and bad films.
Headgum is an American podcasting network founded in 2015 by Marty Michael, Amir Blumenfeld, and Jake Hurwitz. The latter two – known collectively as comedy duo Jake and Amir – built upon the success of their podcast If I Were You to launch the network, with the show serving as its flagship program. Before founding Headgum, Michael sold advertising space and branded content for CollegeHumor. Headgum has studios in Los Angeles and New York and, as of March 2019, hosts 57 shows, 34 of which are ongoing. Headgum also features an active YouTube channel and presents Headgum Live!, a series of live shows featuring podcast hosts from the network.
Love on a Leash is a 2011 romantic comedy film. It has become known for its unusual creative choices and is frequently included on lists of especially bad or bizarre movies.
