Information about Joel Hodgson

Joel Gordon Hodgson^[1] (born February 20, 1960) is an American writer, comedian and television actor. He is best known for creating Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and starring in it as the character Joel Robinson.

Early life and career

Hodgson was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin in 1960. Starting as a stage manager for Ashwaubenon High School, his professional career progressed as a stand-up comedian and magician.

Saturday Night Live

Hodgson performed several minutes of his prop-based act on a November 12, 1983, airing of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Teri Garr. An infamous prop during the performance was a time bomb. During the act, Hodgson would announce that he only had three minutes to perform. He would then reveal the time bomb, and proclaim, "We ALL have three minutes." The prop department thought they could make a better time bomb than the one Hodgson had, which was used in the show. They gave Hodgson the prop as a gift, but he 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".

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Hodgson was the first choice to portray "Philo" in the film UHF,^[2] but at the time of the filming (1988), he was involved in the production of the first season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 at KTMA, a UHF station in Minneapolis.

Building on his gift for designing toys and other gizmos, Hodgson built three robot puppets and created MST3K in 1988. He starred as the show's long-suffering but inventive protagonist, Joel Robinson, who in the backstory is the character responsible for creating his own robot companions.

MST3K originally aired on KTMA, before becoming one of the first two shows to be picked up by the Comedy Channel, the forerunner of Comedy Central. The other show, also created and written by Hodgson, was the shortlived Higgins Boys and Gruber, a sketch comedy program that primarily involved three guys sitting around and talking in between clips of Clutch Cargo and Supercar.

Hodgson surprised many fans when he left MST3K just as it became nationally popular in 1993. In contemporary interviews, Joel said he was uncomfortable with acting and being in front of the camera, citing that as the reason he quit the show just as he and MST3K began to gain popularity.^[3] During an 1999 interview with The Onion A.V. Club, Hodgson added that he and producer Jim Mallon had been fighting over creative control of MST3K. His departure allowed the show to continue and gave him the opportunity to focus more on his preferred creation and production work than on performing, which he did only reluctantly.^[4] Hodgson reportedly chose MST3K head writer Michael J. Nelson to be his replacement as host because he felt that Nelson was a natural leader, a gifted comedian (as well as a musician, handling most of the show's musical numbers), and, additionally, he thought Nelson looked good standing next to the show's puppets. Hodgson later made a surprise guest appearance in the season premiere for the final season of MST3K ("Soultaker", episode 1001).

After MST3K

After MST3K, Hodgson formed Visual Story Tools (VST) with his brother Jim Hodgson. They created a live pilot episode for an interactive sketch comedy program called The TV Wheel for HBO, which Joel produced and hosted.^[5] It aired only once, on Comedy Central, after the last new Comedy Central episode of MST3K; the show was never picked up as a series. Joel Hodgson's VST work has been primarily behind the camera, building gadgets and writing scripts.

Hodgson's other post-MST3K projects and contributions include Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, You Don't Know Jack, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Everything You Need to Know. He also played a recurring role as a disco-loving clothing store owner and DJ on the short-lived series Freaks and Geeks.

In 2007, he portrayed Blackbeard the pirate in two episodes of The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd and recently joined fellow MST3k alum Frank Conniff's monthly comedy revue Cartoon Dump, helming his self-created puppet "Dumpster Diver Dan".

References

External links

• Joel Hodgson at the Internet Movie Database

•  • [ e] Mystery Science Theater 3000
List of episodes • • Best Brains • MSTie • MSTing • RiffTrax
Satellite of Love:	Joel Robinson • Mike Nelson • Crow T. Robot • Tom Servo • Gypsy • Cambot • Magic Voice
Deep 13/Castle Forrester:	Dr. Clayton Forrester • Dr. Laurence Erhardt • TV's Frank • Pearl Forrester • Professor Bobo • Observer
Cast:	Trace Beaulieu • Patrick Brantseg • Paul Chaplin • Frank Conniff • Bill Corbett • Joel Hodgson • Bridget Jones • Jim Mallon • Kevin Murphy • Michael J. Nelson • Mary Jo Pehl