Mike Nelson rose into the public consciousness during the 1990s as host of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show whose characters riffed on the worst films ever made, from Attack of the Eye Creatures to The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman. He's now one of the stars and writers of Rifftrax, which carries the wisecrack love even further with Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series. Here, he shares about the Midwestern brand of comedy, his least-favorite MST3K film and Harvey Korman.
Q: Many comedians seem to be miserable. Do you think that's a generalization, or largely true?
A: I think it's true -- some of the most miserable people I've ever met have been comedians. Like mounting a bell tower with a high-powered rifle. I can't tell you why that is though.
Q: Yet you seem to be so well-adjusted.
A: Maybe it's the Midwestern thing, or maybe it's the powerful psychotropic drugs I'm on. But seriously, maybe it's also because I've had a lot of different interests, like music and theater.
Q: Do you think Midwesterners are secretly funny?
A: I think Midwesterners are very funny. If you took a look at the block I lived on in Minnesota, there were people funnier than many Californians I've met. Not to disparage Californians -- there's just not much self-deprecating humor going on there.
Q: How did you choose the films you showed on Mystery Science Theater 3000?
A: We used to get boxes of screeners, or distributors would send us films that they couldn't move and thought we might want them. But a lot just came down to distribution rights and money.
Q: Were there any that made you think, "I really need to do something else"?
A: I've suffered from a chronic headache for most of my adult life, and it was particularly bad when we were working on a Coleman Francis film called Red Zone Cuba -- just a weird kind of movie that really got me wondering why I was doing this.
Q: Your company, Rifftrax, is different from MST3K in that you wisecrack at more mainstream films. Is it easier to do that, or are there films that are just off-limits?
A: You pretty much can't do failed comedies; you can't layer comedy on top of comedy. But big-budget films are really just B-movies with more money. And they can benefit from meta-comedy. We're not doing anything to the film itself, and as long as you have the technology, you might as well use it. But there aren't any films that I've really thought, "I won't touch these."
Q: Why do you think films that cost so much money often end up terrible?
A: I think the answer is Keanu Reeves. But I also think it's because they have to make it work in foreign markets, so it has to be very visual but also dumbed-down so it's easy to translate. Also, having been tag-teamed by studio execs, I know how hard it is to maintain control when there are so many people in charge of making decisions.
Q: Do you gravitate toward a particular type of film - comedy, sci-fi, horror ... ?
A: Sort of a combination. Good comedies are so rare. But there's no particular genre I prefer. I do enjoy British comedies; I think their style of humor is similar to the Midwest. We tend to share that outsider point of view. I particularly like Black Books, about a misanthropic bookstore owner. It's very dark.
Q: Do you believe funny is born or made?
A: I believe it's both. I had an Irish grandmother who was very funny. My step-mother, who was Lutheran, and my father, who was Danish, were also funny. I also think a lot comes from your family.
Q: If MST3K were The Carol Burnett Show, would you have preferred to be Lyle Waggoner or Harvey Korman?
A: That has to be one of the strangest questions I've ever gotten. But Harvey Korman seemed to be having so much fun out there -- I'll take Harvey.
