Joel Hodgson

John Joel Hodgson (born February 20, 1960 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin) is the creator and original host of Mystery Science Theater 3000. His character, Joel Robinson, was featured from the show's creation, through the middle of season five.

Before MST3K

Early Life

Joel like many of the crew of Mystery Science Theater 3000, grew up in the midwest. Early in life Joel had a flare for both creativity and comedy, in second grade he created "the Cracker Cracker" which was a hand attached to a board. He attended Ashwaubenon High School. In 1975, as a sophomore he was named Junior Magician of the Year. After graduating, he attended Bethel College in St. Paul, MN majoring in speech communication. In 1981 he won the Bethel College Campus Comedy Contest. Around this time, Joel made the decision to become a standup comedian.

Standup Career

Joel's standup was a prop comedy orientated act. He developed a persona called Agent J.

He began performing locally in the Minnesota area. He began performing at the Minneapolis Caberet Club. He was booked to headline the opening of The Comedy Gallery on March 18, 1982. On September 26, 1982 he won the First Annual Twin Cities Comedy Invitational beating some well known comedians in the process. He took this opportuniy to move down to Los Angeles.

Joel was given a gig at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles within a week, and had arranged an audition to be on David Letterman. He got booked and made his national television debut on February 15, 1983. He was then booked on a few HBO and Showtime comedy specials.

He made his debut on Saturday Night Live on November 12, 1983 with host Teri Garr. An infamous prop during the performance was a time bomb. During the act, Joel would announce that he only had three minutes to perform. He would then reveal the time bomb, and proclaim that "we ALL have three minutes." The prop department thought they could make a better time bomb than the one Joel had, which was used in the show. They gave Joel the prop as a gift, but Mr. Hodgson decided that he liked his own bomb better, and left the NBC prop in his hotel room. When he arrived in Minneapolis, he was greeted by the FBI. It appears that a cleaning lady found the bomb, thought it was real, and three floors had to be evacuated. The next day, New York Daily News headline announced that "SNL Comedian Bombs In New York".

Joel continued appearing on David Letterman and Saturday Night Live through the next year. In one SNL apperance, he mentioned his Mystery Science Lab. In the summer of 1984, NBC executive Brendan Tartikoff offered him a role in a sitcom called High School USA. Joel turned down the project because he believed it wasn't funny. Believing it to be a negotiation ploy, NBC doubled the money. Joel at this point believed that Los Angeles was phony and he didn't like it anymore, and he would return to Minnesota.

He made one more apperance on national television on September 18, 1984 on David Letterman. He had a new act, just so he could prove that he could still be original. On November 4, 1984 he did an act called "Hello, I must be going" which was his farewell to standup comedy. After the show, the props he used were auctioned off.

Back in Minneapolis

Joel took odd jobs and found ways to keep his creative mind active, like ironing decals at a t-shirt factory, repairing Gobot costumes used in Tonka trade shows and building and selling one-of-a-kind robot sculptures at a Minneapolis store called Props.

In November 1985 he met Jerry Seinfeld after his performance at The Comedy Gallery. The two comedians would then work together when Joel co-wrote and appeared on Jerry’s HBO special in the spring of 1986. It aired in 1987.

During the spring of 1987 Joel taught a class called Creative Stand-Up and Smartology. One of his students was a young comedian named Josh Weinstein. It was also about this time that Joel met Trace Beaulieu at Eugene Huddleston's improvisational workshop that they both attended.

By June of 1987, Joel returned to standup comedy, periodically performing at the the Ha-Ha Club. His new act was called Heavy Levity and was more prop orientated than that of his Agent J routine. He was now an inventor, claiming his props were created in his Mystery Science Lab of the Gizmonic Institute. During a month in the spring of 1988 he did a short tour to prepare for his return to comedy. At the end of April, Joel made his official return to comedy with a show at The Comedy Gallery.

MST3K

KTMA and the birth of Mystery Science Theater 3000

Joel Hodgson met Jim Mallon in 1985 or 1986, when Jim rented some studio space on Robert Street, to edit his film Blood Hook, next to a factory where Joel was working. Jim eventually became station manager of KTMA 23, a local low rated UHF station.

In the summer of 1988, Mallon needed someting to fill two hours on Sunday Night. Mallon met with Hodgson in a deli in St. Anthony's Place, to discuss a show based on standup comedy. Hodgson suggested he talk to Scott Hansen. Two week later they again met, and Joel proposed the idea of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

In September of 1988 work began on the pilot, which featured Trace Beaulieu as the robot Crow and Josh Weinstein as the robots Gyspy and Beeper. In the pilot they explained the premise that Joel had built the satellite and launched himself into space. The movie that was riffed was The Green Slime, though only about thirty minutes of it was riffed. Jim met with Don O’Conner, the general manager of KTMA, in early October 88 and was able to convince him to buy 13 episodes of the show. Jim and Joel formeed Best Brains Inc.

Around this time, Joel was asked by Weird Al Yankovic to play the role of Philo in his comedy film UHF. He turned him down due to scheduling conflicts.

Some changes were made to the show, including the character Beeper being dropped in favor of Servo. The show was given a budget of $250 a week, Joel received $50 a week for creating the show, starring (as himself), writing, and props. The first three episodes were taped sometime in October of 1988. They then debuted the first two episodes as part of a Thanksgiving science fiction movie marathon. The third episode aired that Sunday, and on it they setup a telephone number to call to get a reaction.

When the forth episode (Gamera vs. Baragon) aired, they received the feedback which was mostly positive. The show continued on with some minor changes like Servo's voice becoming deeper, and the introduction of mad scientist character Dr. Clayton Forrester and Dr. Laurnce Erhardt.

Joel's main source of income was still standup. He would perform regularly at the Comedy Gallery. He was even written out of an episode for a comedy apperance (which was not uncommon for the KTMA years).

On March 25, 1989, Joel taped a pilot, with co-host Sue Scott, for Seriously Weird Magazine at KSTP-TV, channel 5 studios. It was recorded in front of a live audience in two separate shows at 1 PM and 7 PM. The producers, including Scott Hansen, were hoping this would be the first comedy series syndicated by Hubbard Broadcasting.

It was announced that the station was going bankrupt. The final aired episode of the first season announced the show was going on hiatus, and would be back following the summer.

Move to the Comedy Channel

In April of 1989, Hair Brain productions made a seven minute pilot pitch tape for other stations. One station that received the tape was HBO which was starting a 24 hour comedy network called The Comedy Channel. At this time Best Brains Inc. was formed with Joel, Jim Mallon, Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu, and Josh Weinstein.

In Septmber, HBO agreed to pick up the show for thirteen episodes. even with the demand that it be produced in Minnesota. BBI built a studio inside a 7,500 square foot warhouse which was sublet from Trace’s brother Bryan, in an Eden Prairie industrial park. Production began in October of 1989.

Joel was still had his hand in standup. On October 21, Joel was taped as he performed onstage at the KCTA-TV Land O’ Loons III showcase. The show aired December 6.

The show finally premired on the Comedy Channel on November 18 with the Crawling Eye. Joel's talent for creating props was showcased as each show opened with an invention exchange. Some changes were evident, such as the color of Servo, Joel's character name was now Joel Robinson, they would show serials before some movies, and the mad scientists were now outcasts. The most important change was everything was scripted at this point.

The Comedy Channel intially promoted it as a children's show. During this first season, the show was given mostly public domain movies, until the ninth episode when movies were taken likely from HBO's library. The first season was well received by fans and some critics. Though in later years some members of the crew looked back at the season poorly for what they thought were bad episodes. The network however was failing, but MST3K was always singled out as the exception. Despite the sucess, they were not signed to another season. Fans mailed tothe network, and MST3K was picked up for another 13 episodes in July of 1990.

Around this time the show was suffering from disagreements and in fighting. Josh Weinstein left the show because they no longer improvised the show. Because of this, Joel and Jim went to a busines therapy course. They learned to communicate better and setup some new rules. These rules included not working past 6PM and no working on weekends.

The second season debuted on September 15, 1990 with Rocketship X-M, and there were more changes. The production values had improved. Servo had a new voice (Kevin Murphy replaced Josh Weinstein), there were more riffs, the set was now more white and less loud, and the dropping of Dr. Ehardt and addition of lab assistant Frank (played by Frank Conniff).

The writing also improved to a new system in which they made Mike Nelson head writer. The riff quantity began to pick up. They began producing more songs and more guests would appear due to the addition of the hexfeild viewscreen on the Satellite set wall.

The season was even more well recieved by fans. Critics were praising the show as well. In November of 1990, HBO executives made a trek to Minnesota. They offered MST3K a three season contract for twenty four episodes a season.

The Comedy Central Glory Years

The third season debuted on July 1, 1991 with episode Cave Dwellers. The show had reached it's zentih as now comments were up to around 750 per episode. The season is well remembered for it's use of Sandy Frank movies and films from the AIP catelouge. Also thrown in were movies from Film Ventures. It was one of the most well remembered seasons. Popularity was growing for MST3K. Comedy Central ran a highly rated Thanksgiving marathon of episodes which would become a tradition for future years.

In November of 1991, the Washington Post mentioned Joel was working with HBO Downtown Production on an idea called the Mr. Elk and Mr. Seal Show.

The fourth season of the show was considered by many another high point for being a solid season and the epitome of the show. Years later many deride it for being too esoteric and not featuring many classic episodes. However the popularity of the show was still high. They even appeared at Starcon '92, a large science fiction convention.

Departure

In early 1992, BBI had discussion with Paramount Pictures (including executive Brenden Tartikoff) on creating a motion picture based on the show. The studio wanted the movie to be about the origins of the show, and Joel being shot into space, while BBI wanted it to be similar to the television show. They would also not give them creative control, and wanted the option to recast anyone. Best Brains turned them down. Joel Hodgson has said he didn't want to become a movie star, and at this point, he came close.

Best Brains then present MST Alive at the Uptown Theater on July 10, 1992. They lampooned the movie, World Without End. It was something of an experiment to see how the premise would work infront of a large audience. Also the idea for a live tour were being thrown around.

The show was becoming very demanding for Joel. While the schedule on a day to day basis was light, it left little room for outside projects, as an episode took two weeks to produce. Jim Mallon wanted Joel to focus on the show that they already had. Joel said he didn't want to be a movie star. Joel and Jim were now fighting for creative control of the show. .

Finally on May 11, 1993, Comedy Central sent out a press release announcing Joel was stepping down as host of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Some say that Joel made the decision on his own as he was never comfortable in front of a camera. Josh Weinstein however said that Joel was forced away from the show by Mallon.

The fifth and final season for Joel began airing on July 17, 1993. Joel's episodes were considered strong by fans. Joel's final episode (Mitchell) was filmed in July, and aired in October of that year. Though intially it was stated he would continue in an off camera role, he took hiatus after production was completed, and eventually left the show all together.

After MST3K

Joel's first post MST3K project didn't fair too well. He was a consultant for Paula Poundstone's new talk show, which was cancelled after two episodes. Him and his brother Jim then formed Visual Story Tools.

The TV Wheel

The first production by Visual Story Tools was the X-Box R & D which later became known as the TV Wheel. It was a large set that would film shows live with no editing or post production. The concept was a 32-foot turntable with a stationary camera in the middle. A pilot was taped for HBO in March of 1995, but no agreement could be made when to air the show. It finally aired on Comedy Central, immediately following the final new episode of MST3K. The show wasn't picked up.

Statical Planets

In the summer of 1996, Joel had another idea. It was a show with no real sets, but instead had environments that were projected using a process he called Hodgson Backscreen ’90. Static A Matic was another name. Joel directed and wrote, Statical Planets around this idea. The movie featured Joel, Frank Conniff, SNL alum Morwenna Banks, MST alum Tim Scott, Let's Bowl's Rich Kronfeld, and voice of Sabrina's cat Salem, Nick Bakay. The film was never released in full.

Special Apperances

After leaving MST3K, Joel would make guest apperances on other television shows. One of his first apperances was on Space Ghost Coast to Coast (after writing an episode). He may have appeared on one of the episodes of the Paula Poundstone show. He also had a recurring role on the critically priased Freaks & Geeks, as a disco loving clothes store owner. He eventually came full circle and appeared on MST3K one more time, though he was not involved in any theater segments.

Behind the Cameras

Joel after Statical Planets, mostly did consulting work for other shows. He was the "magic consultant" on Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. He got a job as a script doctor for a while (one such script was George of the Jungle). He co-wrote the direct to video Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves in 1997. He was involved with the creation of Robot Wars. He worked with Penn & Teller on occasion. He also did work on the game show You Don't Know Jack. He was working on Jimmy Kimmel Live as a producer, writer, and effects director. Currently, Joel and Jim Hodgson are the executive producers of The Discovery Channel's Everything You Need to Know.

Personal Life

Joel is believed to be married with two children.

On November 3, 1997 Joel issued a cease and desist order to Lisa Jenkins (known as Agent J) when he felt his privacy was being invaded and Lisa was embellishing the extent of their association on her website. Lisa quickly responded to Joel’s request and removed the material in question from her site.