The Taxonomy of Riffs: Listing of Types of Riffs
• Title & Credit Riffs – mostly puns, name juxtapositions/combinations or pronunciation jokes
• References – literary, cultural, film, religious, historical, musical, political
• Ironic Humor – “it’s the music that makes this scene come to life” – in a scene that is starkly silent
• Observational Humor – non-joke factual references to things about the film, example, “this film has certain flaws”
• Advertising Related – product related jokes, sketches or jingles
• Music Riffs –
– song lyrics, “Hey Joe” – “Where ya goin’ with that gun in your hand”
– hummed or sung melodies – examlpe, humming batman Tv show theme, refueling music from skydivers
– Musician riffs – examlpe: singing REM songs when character onscreen resembles Michael Stipe
• Jokes
– Ironically lame or old jokes “take my wife, please”
– “inside” jokes relating to regional or cultural beliefs
• Puns
• Line Finishing – example; ‘I’m not a medium’ – – “I’m a petite”
• Drug, Hippie & 60’s – allusions, sight gags, puns & Jokes
• Alcohol & Drunk jokes
• Oblique Sexual References – including crossdressing, GLBT and gender jokes
• Crass Humor – jokes that are sorta cruel and mean
• Juvenile Humor – timeless fart, pee and poop jokes
• Playground Humor – really simple childrens jokes
• Micro-Specialized Humor – such as JFK riffs only meaningful to well read assasination conspiracy researchers
• Synonyms and Homonyms – Fun with language riffs.
• Ruthless put-downs
• Repeating Riffs
– Callback lines taken from riffed films,
– Callback jokes or lines taken from previous episodes
– Callback lines taken from non-riffed popular films or culture
• Non-Film Related Non-Riffs
– when they discuss stuff amongst themselves while in the theater,
– Also times where they ‘loose it’ and go crazy, try to escape or bawl during ruthlessly bad films
Would you make any changes? Did he leave any out?
Here’s my contribution, though I can’t claim credit for thinking it up. A good buddy of mine once described what he called the three levels of reference riffs.
• Level one is a straight reference that fully explains itself. Example: A latina is singing on screen and somebody riffs “It’s Gloria Estefan!” The lady looks like a popular culture figure, and you’ve observed that. Mildly funny (a.k.a. the “state park joke”).
• Level two makes a reference without explaining what the reference is to. Example, in the same scene: “Where’s the Miami Sound Machine?” The lady looks like a popular culture figure and you’ve observed that indirectly. Moderately funny.
• Level three, the level that makes MST3K great and separates it from what most other riffers do, takes the reference one level further by adding a witty twist: Example (from episode 204- Catalina Caper, in which the latina singer saves the mood of the party): “Hey, it’s Gloria Estefan and the Catalina Deus Ex Sound Machina!” That’s (at least) three jokes in 11 words, people.
