Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson announced this morning that the show is going on the road. Revived by a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign in 2015, the new season debuted in April. According to Hodgson’s recent Kickstarter update, it is still unclear if the streaming giant will order a new season. But to keep up the momentum, he and his team planned a 29-city tour.
Some tour dates will feature a re-riff of Eegah! The Arch Hall Sr. film was riffed in the show’s fifth season and gave fans the catch phrase “Watch Out for Snakes!” Others will screen a secret surprise film Hodgson referred to as “a truly weird sci-fi thriller.”
Though mostly confined to television, MST3K performed live shows a handful of times. The first occurred during at Scott Hansen’s Comedy Gallery in Minneapolis in 1989. The cast and crew assembled for Mystery Science Theater Alive at a Minneapolis area theater in 1992. And during the first MST3K Conventio-con ExpoFest-o-rama in 1994, they debut their take on This Island Earth.
Additionally, Hodgson is no stranger to riffing on the road. For several years, he and other show veterans toured as Cinematic Titanic. And just prior to to MST3K’s revival, he traveled the US with a presentation called “Joel Hodgson: Riffing Myself.”
In the Kickstarter update, Hodgson wrote that he considered the possibility of touring as far back as the 2015 Kickstarter campaign. In enumerating some of the advantages, he said it would help the new cast fine tune their performances. It would also allow him to do some “rapid prototyping” of new ideas for the series. He also added that live shows also offer fans another chance to come together, writing, “There’s something that’s just so different and special about sharing the MST experience in ‘real time’ with a thousand people who love it just as much as you do.”
The MST3K LIVE: The “Watch Out for Snakes” Tour begins in July with ticket information to follow … though Kickstarter backers will have that information soon. Are you excited to see MST3K live? Which movie do you think is the secret sci-fi flick? Post your thoughts below.
