As we continue our “favorite moments” series, we turn our attention to Mr. Josh “J. Elvis” Weinstein. Josh gets short shrift by some, and this is not really deserved, in my view. A review of season 1 reveals Weinstein as a gifted young man with a sense of humor and style well beyond his years. He certainly held his own in many ways with co-stars many years his senior.

Here are my top five, in episode order:

• 102- THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY–Josh’s puppetry and voice work is great in the segment where Tom Servo faces down the demon dogs … and soon regrets it.
• 103- MAD MONSTER–But his work in the “Tom hits on a blender” sketch is even more impressive. Josh never had the chance to get as comfortable with the puppet as Kevin did later (and the early puppet was much less expressive) but he did a lot with what he had.
• 104- WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET–Clay & Lar’s Flesh Barn–showing off his considerable musical talent, Josh give us the first original song on the national series, with guitar accompaniment.
• 105- THE CORPSE VANISHES–The classic “Joel gets a haircut” sketch would be considerably less hilarious without Josh’s comedy stylings.
• And let’s not forget one of his greatest moments for MST3K happened off-camera: it was Weinstein that spotted struggling comedian Michael J. Nelson and suggested he be hired!

Those are mine. Note that I did not include any KTMA moments. I’m sure other will, however…