Books by Sampo!

 

 

Support Us

Satellite News is not financially supported by Best Brains or any other entity. It is a labor of love, paid for out of our own pockets. If you value this site, we would be delighted if you showed it by making an occasional donation of any amount. Thanks.

Sampo & Erhardt

Sci-Fi Archives


Visit our archives of the MST3K pages previously hosted by the Sci-Fi Channel's SCIFI.COM.

Social Media


Strange and Wonderful Interview with Mike

Michael_J_Nelsontwit_5_400x400 Tired of hearing interviewers ask the same old questions of cast members? Katie Rife of the A.V. Club has an interview with Mike that’s just what you’ve been looking for.

UPDATE: The same author wrote another MST3K-focused piece at the A.V. Club today.

24 Replies to “Strange and Wonderful Interview with Mike”

Commenting at Satellite News

We are determined to encourage thoughtful discussion, so please be respectful to others. We also provide an "Ignore" button () to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our Commenting Guidelines page for more details, including how to report offensive and spam commenting.

  1. Ok, I wanna see the “transcript” of his altercation with Joel. :P

       10 likes

  2. buttery pat says:

    Jeez, when I saw his picture I thought he died.

       17 likes

  3. dakotaboy says:

    Mike’s patronus is a bluejay!

       6 likes

  4. Majorjoe23 says:

    It’s MST3K day at AV Club today, it seems.

       2 likes

  5. Sampo says:

    Brandon Pierce:
    Ok, I wanna see the “transcript” of his altercation with Joel. Razz

    You know I was pretty ubiquitous in the MSTie online circles back then and I NEVER even HEARD about this, let alone saw it. I’m curious too…

       3 likes

  6. Lisa H. says:

    buttery pat:
    Jeez, when I saw his picture I thought he died.

    I thought so too for a moment. It looked like those kind of posts in the feed.

       6 likes

  7. Ang says:

    I think my heart stopped for a second when I saw the pic as I was also thinking something bad had happened. Phew, thank goodness that was not the case. I was a proud marching band nerd in high school and college and it’s nothing to be ashamed about. I guess it’s not for everybody though and I’ll forgive Mike for feeling ashamed about it :-) .

       6 likes

  8. Into The Void says:

    “We raised a thief”

    LOL

       7 likes

  9. schippers says:

    Good interview, fun to read and not the same old boring stock questions.

       7 likes

  10. EricJ says:

    Sampo: You know I was pretty ubiquitous in the MSTie online circles back then and I NEVER even HEARD about this, let alone saw it. I’m curious too…

    Even I never heard that–don’t quite believe it either–and if it was the work of the, ahem, more heated Mike vs. Joel sentiments during fan rumors about ugliness during the changeover, even I wouldn’t have sunk that low. (So it wasn’t me that spread it.)

    Anyway, it’s good to know that Mike spending his years in band practice with nerd glasses would explain a LOT of things about his particular motif of humor…

       0 likes

  11. Ray Dunakin says:

    That was a great interview! Much more interesting, insightful and entertaining than the usual run of the mill interviews.

       7 likes

  12. MonkeyPretzel says:

    I don’t get the whole being in band = uber nerd/geek thing. My high school band (no orchestra, just marching and concert, no strings) had plenty of athletes and honor students participating. There was no mocking or belittling that I can ever remember from any other students – in fact, there was some envy over the trips we got to take (especially the excused absences). The people in band dated and had relationships at the same rate as the rest of the students. And it fulfilled our credit requirement for art/music for graduation. (In my school, it was an all year, graded course that met during a regular class period.) The only bad part was summer band camp but for us we had a month of 3 hour practice sessions, half in the morning, half at night so the students who had jobs could still participate. Is it a geographic thing? It’s not an age thing; I’m only five years younger than Mike.

       5 likes

  13. EricJ says:

    MonkeyPretzel:
    I don’t get the whole being in band = uber nerd/geek thing. My high school band (no orchestra, just marching and concert, no strings) had plenty of athletes and honor students participating. There was no mocking or belittling that I can ever remember from any other students – in fact, there was some envy over the trips we got to take (especially the excused absences).

    Still…those uniforms. (“I’m a Q-tip, what are you?”)
    Not to mention the general air that anyone who would go out of his afterschool personal-time way to support anything related to the school–at least that didn’t have the violent and/or chick-magnet instant gratification of being on the sports team–made them what the army used to call an “eager beaver”, that is to say, a sucker.
    In my early tech-obsessed days, I didn’t know there was anything wrong with the folks in A.V. Club, until that became a particularly Kevin-heavy favorite riff during the early seasons…

       0 likes

  14. Ang says:

    Hey MonkeyPretzel,
    We called ourselves “band nerds” but just as a joke. We also had athletes, cheerleaders, smart kids, etc.. in band. It was a small school and we only had about 40-45 people in high school band so we were a close bunch and had a lot of fun together. We also had the summer band practice about 4 hours a day all throughout August from 4-8pm. This was in Texas and it was very hot. The last two hours would be outside but it was still hot and sometimes people would pass out. Ah, good times!

    Needless to say, I do get a big chuckle at all the band references like selling band candy. Joel makes a reference in one ep (making fun of Crow) saying that he was like the kid who sold the most candy in band. I was usually the top seller so that one hits close to home :-D .

       6 likes

  15. Jay says:

    If there had been a picture of Mike walking barefoot over a crosswalk I would have been worried, but everyone knows that weapons are useless against ex band geeks.

       8 likes

  16. Ray Dunakin says:

    Jay:
    If there had been a picture of Mike walking barefoot over a crosswalk I would have been worried, but everyone knows that weapons are useless against ex band geeks.

    Try telling that to Krankor!

       5 likes

  17. Dr. Batch says:

    I thought it was a RIP too. Phew!

       0 likes

  18. Lavendare says:

    Mike, Kevin, and Bill are alive and well.

    In fact, “RiffTrax Live: TIME CHASERS” is now available for download or streaming at rifftrax.com.

    Dr. Batch:
    I thought it was a RIP too. Phew!

       2 likes

  19. littleaimishboy says:

    Hi, Mike! Howya doin’?

       1 likes

  20. Evelyn says:

    I found it odd that he didn’t know that ungulate actually means “hoofed animal.” I mean, for a smart guy that knows so much random stuff, that surprises me. (I recall the definition of “ungulate” was given in that giant history of the Far Side book everyone seemed to have in the late 80’s. That’s where I learned the term anyway.)

       1 likes

  21. MikeK says:

    If I could invite a celebrity couple to my wedding, it would be Mike and Bridget. I know they’re not celebrities in the traditional sense of the word, but I like them a lot and they seem like good people.

       8 likes

  22. new cornjob says:

    personally i thought when i saw his pic there, i thought, “wow, david letterman got a ‘lifestyle life’!” ;0 and looks good doing it! :)

       0 likes

  23. Johnny Drama says:

    Can you imagine Mike with a Letterman beard?

       0 likes

  24. EricJ says:

    Johnny Drama:
    Can you imagine Mike with a Letterman beard?

    Well, he’s the only RT’er now who doesn’t have one…

       0 likes

Comments are closed.