Frank Conniff (born August 30, 1956 in New York City) is a writer and performer who is best-known as TV's Frank on Mystery Science Theater 3000. He was a regular on the show from Season 2 through Season 6. He returned to MST3K for the first episode of Season 10, and also appeared in an extra feature on the Volume 10.2 DVD set.
As of 2012, some of Frank's least favorite movies included: End of Days (with Arnold Schwarzenegger), Green Lantern, Sucker Punch and Mamma Mia![1]
MST3K[]
In addition to writing and acting, Conniff's duties included screening potential movies to gauge their suitability for the show. He reportedly found many of Coleman Francis' movies hysterical, resulting in several of them being featured on the show.
In The Beast of Yucca Flats, one host segment sketch features Crow continually asking if it is 11:30 yet, which was reportedly inspired by the breakfast-skipping Conniff's obsession with having lunch at 11:30.
After MST3K[]
In 1995, Conniff wrote the MST-like primetime TV special Attack of the Killer B Movies, starring Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark.
Beginning in 1996, Conniff was a writer for the TV sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch (on which he also made a cameo appearance) and the animated series Invader Zim.
Conniff wrote and performed with Cinematic Titanic, riffing on bad movies alongside fellow MST3K alumni.
Conniff has appeared in the films God Bless America and Darkstar: Terror at the Edge of Time (based on the previously-released video game project in which Conniff had also appeared). Conniff also wrote and performed satirical bits for the second and final season of FX Network's political sketch show Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. Conniff also frequently posts to his Twitter and Facebook pages, which are often politically-charged.
In fall of 2014, Conniff appeared as the title Frankenstein's monster-based character in the music video comedy short The Frank along with other MST3K members. Later that year, Frank, Trace Beaulieu and Joel Hodgson appeared during a short which had them recounting the highlights of their personal experience with Thanksgiving and it was shown in-between the bumpers for Turkey Day '14.
In 2015, Conniff began appearing in the traveling live movie-riffing show The Mads Are Back with Trace Beaulieu. They later pivoted to livestream events. Also in 2015, they pitched a "Mads"-based talk show to Shout! Factory called Live from Deep 13.
Frank and Trace appeared at the RiffTrax Mystery Science Theater 3000 Reunion live event in 2016 and the 2017 Summer Shorts Spectacular. They also contributed to the tag-team RiffTrax of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2017.
In 2016, Conniff began co-hosting the podcast Movie Sign with the Mads, along with Trace Beaulieu and Carolina Hidalgo.
Conniff performs occasionally as a stand-up comedian. He produced and co-starred in a long-running live comedy show in Los Angeles called Cartoon Dump. He was a frequent contributor to John Fugelsang's political radio program. Frank has also written and performed in several original audio plays released in podcast format under the title Podcast 90.
Writing[]
Conniff has written several books:
- Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater 3000 Films That Changed My Life in No Way Whatsoever, 2016
- Cats v. Conniff, 2017
- How to Write Cheesy Movies, 2017
- Codename D.O.U.C.H.E.B.A.G., 2018
- Reform School Cinderella, 2019
- You're Ruining the Dystopia for Everyone!, 2020 (short story collection)
- Action-Packed Apartments!, 2021 (collection of two novellas)
- Billy Gillis: 7-Year Old Screenwriter, 2022
- Dark Apnea, 2023
- Jack & Jill: Fury Hill, 2023
- The Time Tummlers, 2024
Appearances[]
Regular roles[]
Guest appearances[]
- Gooch - Episode #202
- Winky's Mom (voice) - Episode #413
- Mirror TV's Frank - Episode #611
- Tom Servo - MST3K Volume 10 Upgrade to 10.2
Personal quotes[]
- "I’m from New York City. I’d moved to Minneapolis in 1985 to go into drug rehab. I ended up staying and doing stand-up comedy. Basically, I was a very unknown stand-up comedian when I got on Mystery Science Theater."
- "I’ve never gotten any residuals or royalties from the show, or any money from merchandising. But that has never been a bone of contention with me, because Mystery Science Theater was my first TV show. I’ve always been totally cool with that."
- (on the difference between geeks and nerds) "I think a nerd gets beat up, and a geek gets beat up and then goes and watches an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." [2]
- (on his assigned task on selecting the bad movies for the show) "I think I was given the job because everybody else was busy with other stuff. [We looked for] a movie that's really bad but at least watchable and with a somewhat of a plot..." [3]
- (on his favorite so-bad-it's-good movie) "A movie from the sixties called The Oscar with Steven Boyd and Elke Sommers is my all time favorite bad movie." [4]