Remember Mystery Science Theatre 3000? It's back, in a couple of different incarnations - one of which is Cinematic Titanic, wherein the five original members of the old show "riff" hilariously on appropriately bad movies. Scott and I have hooted, snorted, and cackled at their DVDs ever since we discovered them, so when I learned that they riff live, and that Cleveland was a stop on their tour, I was determined to go.
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Sarah and Andy felt the same, so the four of us headed off yesterday on the long drive to Cleveland. (Thanks for driving, Andy!)
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First stop: Andy's one-time hometown, Chagrin Falls. Feeling touristy despite the winter chill, we checked out the falls and visited the nostalgic Popcorn Shop Factory.
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Dinner was at Corky and Lenny's Restaurant and Deli, as traditional and delicious as you can get. I had the incredible "Three Little Tootsies," which were corned beef, chopped liver, and hot pastrami on three dinner-sized rolls.
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The show itself was even more fun than I was expecting it to be. Accompanying the cast was David Gruber Allen, whom you may remember as the guidance counselor on the show "Freaks and Geeks," although you'd probably recognize him from any number of other shows as well. He and J. Elvis Weinstein did some riotous stand-up before the show, followed by a short hoot of a routine by Frank Conniff. MST3K founder Joel Hodgson got things rolling by paying homage to some of the great TV horror hosts, including the Cool Ghoul, who turned out actually to be in the audience. And then they were off and riffing!
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The movie was "Blood of the Vampires," a dubbed Philippino horror movie made in the mid-1960s and set in 1920s Mexico. Was it riffable! The five cast members delivered line after hilarious line, which was even more fun live, since the entire audience was rocking with laughter right along with us.
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At the end, Gruber appeared with a cake for Mary Jo Pehl, whose birthday it just happened to be. She was serenaded by the cast and audience.
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We met the cast afterwards. They were clearly tired: I can see what difficult work it is now that I've seen them do it. You have to stay focused and deliver your lines with impeccable timing. I asked both Joel and Trace Beaulieu whether it was as hard work to riff a full-length movie as it looked, and they said with surprising candor that it really was..
We headed home happily and made it home by 2 a.m., which was earlier than I had thought it would be!
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Great stuff. We got a couple of blurry pictures of our own - I'll post them soon, blurry or not.
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If they ever come back around, I'm making you all go. You'll thank me for it.
