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Weekend Discussion Thread: Riffs that Got Run Into the GroundAlert reader Todd writes:
My choice: “By this time my lungs were aching for air…” Funny once. Sigh-inducing after the 10th time. Even Joel eventually disapproved. What’s yours? 175 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Riffs that Got Run Into the Ground”Commenting at Satellite News
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In general, I enjoy the running gags. For me, the point where one of the characters tells another one to “stop it” is part and parcel of the running gag, and if you didn’t get it at first, you won’t like it better when they do that.
That said, I agree that “shut up, Iris” was used more than necessary.
The one that gets me more though is in “The Incredibly Strange Creatures” where they keep making all the drag-queen jokes about Carolyn Brandt. OK, she’s tall and has sharp features, but she’s actually a fairly attractive woman, and I don’t think that joke was worth making more than once.
Ooh, I thought I’d wiped it clean from my memory, but the Owner of a Lonely Heart gag makes my butt hurt. :evil:
Two that always annoyed me were typically done by Servo, one being “Hello, Mr. (something something), uh hello, Mr. (something something), he-hello…” and the other being “Doo hoo hoo! Doo hoo hoo!” I don’t know what either one of those refer to, but they always annoyed me.
Along the same lines as “Doo hoo hoo!” any goofy filler noise like “Boing!”, “Bwomp!” and similar (see also: half of Catalina Caper). This was much more prevalent during the Joel-era and thankfully went out the window during the Mike-era, not that it wasn’t without its own annoying jokes (the aforementioned “JEEEEEEEEEED!”)
And while not really a riff but along the same lines, in the host segments whenever Frank would make that “Yuck-guh-ooh!” (dunno how to write it in text form) noise.
I like most of the running gags. I think when they overdo something, it’s sort of obvious that they know they’re overdoing it which makes it funny.
That said, the one that bothers me is the various mentions of “He’d never touch you, Teri. You’re dirt.” This line is sort of funny in the original movie, but it seems like when they use it as a riff, they try to shoehorn it into situations where it doesn’t quite fit, and it just sort of falls flat. If they were a bit more discriminate about when they used it, it would be funnier.
#83, right on!
Thank you, Cabbage Patch Elvis, I had hoped to erase “Owner of a Lonely Heart” from my memory banks. It was sort of a “shut up, shut up, shut up, stop singing moment”. I have forgotten which episode that was though, but not the pain.
Speaking of running things into the ground… “I like pie.” is one of the quotes I throw out when I run out of things to say in a conversation. (The Dead Talk Back) That drives my mom nuts, so I alternate that with “I eat biscuits”, which isn’t very popular with her either. Her logic is that I really don’t like pies, so I shouldn’t say that. What’s your favorite quote and/or what quote do you use most often?
I can’t say that any running gag got annoying to me. ‘By this time my lungs were aching for air’ cracked me up every time! Some references may have aged, but hearing them again reminds you of when they were fresh. Maybe the only time something got old was the sarcastic Tom Servo. Like in Spaceship to Venus ‘Oh, a planet with deadly slime? Give me more of that, please!’ But that was only for a couple episodes, and they even made fun of it when Tom’s head exploded from being too sarcastic.
Yeah, this thread didn’t necessarily have to get so negative, but it’d be hard for it not to. I’m sure it looked good on paper.
For a somewhat more positive thread along the same lines, how about “Name one riff they SHOULD have made, but didn’t”. One particular moment in all the eps you’ve seen where they missed a golden opportunity, and explain how YOU would have used it.
For me, it would probably be in ‘Prince of Space’, and sort of generation gappy, so I’m not saying I blame the Brains for missing it. That 3-barreled gun that Phantom/Krankor and some of his henchmen use in the first half looks almost exactly like the gun from the back of the Thundertank on ‘Thundercats’. One could build a few riffs off of that: How or why did the ChickenMen of Krankor steal it from Panthro? Are they somehow related to the VultureMen of Plun-Darr?
Okay, it wouldn’t be the greatest riff, it’s just the gun was RIGHT THERE for several minutes, and should have been played off of. And don’t tell me it’s too obscure: ‘Thundercats’ was one of the most watched cartoons of the ’80s, and the Thundertank, sporting that gun, was in any typical episode. It’s certainly better known than ‘Manimal’, and I always laugh at that reference despite never having seen a single episode, because I can tell Servo means it. Because he “was there”.
“You’re going to make it after alllll!”
“Rowsdower!”
Just says “Yeah… we got nothin” on the part of the Brains.
Worse still there’s a compilation clip of “Rowsdower!” bits on You Tube. Comments included “Epic” and “Best stuff ever”. Seriously?
“Hey, where you going, man?”
“Nowhere in Particular.”
“Man, I wish I was you.”
Yeah, well hang in there.”
The “are yu ready fer somm FOOTBALL!!!” never got old to me. Heck, that well used riff actually made that episode (Laserblast) enjoyable for me because I, for one, hated all of Hank Jr’s commercials period. Especially that one for Budweiser – “an I’ll fax U uh BUUUUDDDD!” (in retrospect, I could’ve used Joel’s invention, the Funny Gag Fax to fax ‘ol Hank Jr an ice cold can of Bud…..SHAKENED!)
As for a riff overused (although it really wasn’t used that often) – “I sing whenever I sing whenever I siiinnng … I sing whenever I sing whenever I siiinnng”.
“hey…more Reba!”
“Turn it off! Turn it off!”
One they beat into the dust was whenever a woman was on screen driving a car, Servo would break into singing the opening words of the Mary Tyler Moore theme. “How will you make it on your own…”
The other was Mike occasionally singing the Keebler Elves theme whenever something gross or disgusting was being made/created/cooked up onscreen. “Oh you never would believe where those Keebler Cookies come from”.
Funny the first time or two and casual viewers won’t pick it up but for a die-hard fan like me I got very tired very quickly hearing them repeatedly going back to the well on those two riffs.
I actually liked “By this time my lungs were aching for air.” Mike and co. actually reprised it in the Jaws RiffTrax!
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Crow’s “Wiener Man” song from season 1.
Okay, people, due to the fact that I’ll watch a MST3K episode when somebody brings it up on MST3Kinfo.com, here, I decided to watch 102 – Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy for the first time, and they mention ‘golf courses’ quite a few times throughout the episode, and you know what I thought … “Instead of riffs I just heard, they could have put a brand new joke in that would have been fresh and smart instead of rehashing the same exact thing I just heard.” Boy, were run-ons a huge mistake for MST3K, indeed.
Miniature golf course, I might add. Ulgh …
“Now. it’s garbage!”
It’s not MST related, but I REALLY CANT STAND the AFLAC duck commercials. I would be glad to listen to any MST ran-into-the-ground riff over and over opposed to one more AFLAC commercial
I’d agree w/ both #82 (Rex Dart) & #84 (Joe Raygor). I’m kind of sorry I even opened this thread & read through it, actually.
I like alot of the mentioned quotes alot but the 2 i’ll mention not being my favorites are:
“I don’t know how it works, goodbye folks”
“watchout for snakes” thatone was only funny in the actual episode.
I think this thread has been really interesting, and hope most folks have been having as much fun with it as I have, and I see nothing negative about it at all. I’m surprised someone would read through the whole thread if it “bothered” them so much.
Each reference to Nestor Paiva as “the load” in Mole-people is funnier than the last. It’s a riff that gathers hilarity like a comedy avalanche.
While this thread isn’t pure negatativity, it sure does bring out the incredible disparity between different opinions. I mean, my god, most of the gags mentioned here so far are personal favorites of mine that are frequently repeated amongst myself and my friends.
“I don’t think this has to be a negative topic. Sometimes it’s just a simple truth that the same riffs can get dull, or were never funny to begin with.”
. . . but for different people, which riffs are “simply, truly” dull or unfunny will, of course, be different. It’s subjective.
So far, I’ve disagreed with – criminy, I’m not sure I even want to count them all – well, suffice it to say that I like (or have grown to like, through the enthusiasm of others), gags such as McCloud, “are you ready fer some football,” chicken noises, Japanese-stuff references, the Joe-Don bashing,”RADAR,” “trapped in another dimension,” “I’m Peter Graves,” “SLEEP,”, the 3M bit, the cardigan thing/Prince references from HARM,”I thought you were Dale,”, etc, etc. The sheer simple absurdity (including the meta-absurdity of the repetition itself), especially when contrasted with ostensibly serious films, is superb.
And the Rowsdower stuff is friggin’ amazing, mostly because of the implication that this strange kid has developed an obsession with a random chunky backwoods loser named “Rowsdower.” It’s so simple, but the concept works repeatedly for me because it implies a bizarre fascination/admiration with someone not really notably deserving of it.
“My Rowsdower has come for me!”
Another favorite that was done in numerous eps was when someone would open a door.
SURPRISE! Happy Birthday To You…
“Krakatoa…East of Java…”
I disagree on the fat jokes. I laughed then and I will always laugh – especially on “Overdrawn…” and anything with Joe Don Baker.
Though I really liked the episode, I think the Canada bashing got a bit much in “The Final Sacrifice”.
One running gag I really liked was the “LI-AR, LI-AR, LI-AR Uh-WEEEEE!” from “I Accuse My Parents”. A mediocre episode at best, but I was in hysterics every time they pulled that guy out.
The only episode I can think of offhand where a running gag doesn’t really do it for me would be The Crawling Hand, specifically the approximately 8 million Skipper/Gilligan’s Island jokes. Yes, we know, Alan Hale was the Skipper, you don’t have to bring that up literally every time he’s on camera or his character gets mentioned.
Otherwise, recurring riffs generally don’t bother me very much and I actually like almost all of the ones previously mentioned, especially the Sessions Presents jokes from Tormented (if only for the final payoff of “Sessions Presents: Faces of Death!”).
Also I still say that a potentially amusing line of discussion would be the best (or at least least-bad) movie ever riffed. I mean, for example, Parts: The Clonus Horror actually had a pretty interesting premise and was put together reasonably well. Still a hilarious episode, but a surprisingly decent movie by MST3K standards.
Oh damn, I messed up my tags. Can, uh, can somebody fix that? I haven’t done that in a long time and I feel pretty embarassed about it.
I don’t get it, Joel. What does this thread have to do about waffles?
while “he tried to kill me with a forklift” was always good the “rocky!…again?” routine got tiresome
In a word, “SLEEEEEEEEEEP!”
“And the crowd goes wild!”
…
…
Yay?
I liked the burping and farting noises.
Those of you who’ve read my posts know how I feel about Final Sacrifice, so I’ll restrain myself.
The riffs I hate, hate, hate are the ones about the Kennedy assassination. I’m old enough to remember coming home from kindergarten to find the TV off, which tipped me off immediately. My mother told me what happened, but being only five, I didn’t really understand until years later.
I know the man was a notorious womanizer, but did he really deserve a bullet in the head? I don’t think so.
Add my vote for all those “Biography” riffs. Once, sure. Twice, okay, Three times, maybe. But over and over again? I refuse to believe the Brains didn’t have enough talent to come up with something better – like those “Airplane” references some of you have come up with.
There, I’m finished venting. :wink:
Chief? McCloud!
and
NBC Mystery Movie (although they addressed this one on the show with shock therapy to the bots)
I never really thought
“Ahhhhhh Rickkkkkiiiiiii” thing was all that funny. And after a while, it really grated on me every time I heard it. It sent bad shivers up my spine.
I’m just baffled by everyone saying they hated Clonus because of all the “Biography” riffs about Peter Graves, yet no one mentions It Conquered The World where they riffed Biography through the whole thing (because Peter Graves was actually IN the whole thing).
Besides that, I found them all funny. “I’m telling you, this is a weird day . . . on Biography.”
You want something annoying? Nummy Muffin Cooklebutter.
some jokes ran into the ground, but that’s the point, right? Poking fun at the monotonous nature of the crappy movie using monotonous jokes. Like Family Guy – I’m sure not everyone loves that show, but it constant and dragging gags gives us the prolonged awkwardness that makes us cringe – just like the crappy movie! I cannot say that anything in MST3K got “old” for me. I wouldn’t be the same person without it.
I hope nobody thinks that not liking certain gags translates into a dislike of the show, at least from my stance. They’re just things that make you go ugh. As for Clonus, I think it’s awesome as a whole, just that for Peter Graves, there were just too many Biography jokes. Like the one where he’s waving to the crowd and someone just says “Biography!” It seems like they could’ve done the Airplane! references that have already been stated, or for me some Mission: Impossible references would’ve been way cool. Just to mix it up a bit. Clonus still rocks hard as nails. And remember, only you can prevent crotch fires!
I like the idea someone mentioned earlier about posting riffs they don’t get. All weekend I’ve been trying to remember what the reference was to “I thought you were Dale!”. I know I should know, but all I can come up with is Phil Bergman’s voice saying it (Firesign Theatre)…anyone care to help….help me Dr. Memory!!!
#142 Clem
The trouble with that idea is that it’s a simple matter to refer people to any one of the MST3K annotation guides on the web. So it would end up not being a very lively topic, IMO. You’re not really getting people’s opinions, just answering a bunch of people who are too lazy to Google.
OTOH, those Annotated MST3K sites are generally woefully incomplete. And sometimes they explain a reference without really putting it in the proper context to understand why the riff is supposed to be funny. Satellite News ought to have it’s own Annotation page. If you went episode by episode you could get the readers to write the trickier annotations for you!
For me, the Lembach riffs are the only thing that make The Projected Man bearable!
The best being as the camera slowly pans up…across Big Ben…into the night sky…”Lembeccch! Where are youuuu?!”
agreed Thecastlemo (144) the one that Sampo uses is actually very lame ( sorry samp ). I think the boys over at the DAP have been working on something, but i haven’t checked back in a while.
Maybe we need a MST3wiKi that we can collaborate on or some such. Wish i had the skills and the temporal resources….
I never really get tired of the running gags.
But, one thing that I have to fast-forward through every time is Gypsy’s screaming in Segment 2 of Mitchell when she thinks Joel is going to be harmed. It’s shrill and irritating– and maybe I just don’t like Jim Mallon very much.
#143/144 – Castle Monster
You’re probably right in both cases – besides, I let that querry run in my brain and came up with “Catholic High School Girls In Trouble” from “Kentucky Fried Movie”, unless that phrase is from somewhere else as well.
Wasn’t “Catholic High School Girls In Trouble” one of Shakespeare’s lost plays?
Isn’t the “I thought you were Dale!” riff explained on one of the FAQs on this very website?