June 8th’s “MST3K Reunion” event, held as part of the Toyota Comedy Festival, at Columbia University in New York City, was a lighthearted, upbeat, laugh-filled evening.

Joel Hodgson, Frank Conniff, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Kevin Murphy and Mary Jo Pehl joined moderator Lizz Winstead for about an hour and 20 minutes of conversation, most of which focused on the early days of the show. For those already familiar with the evolution of the series, little new ground was broken. The only real news that came out of the event was about the group’s current solo projects. It appears Frank is done at “The Drew Carey Show,” and said he is working on a pilot for MTV called “Motor City,” which he said “has been described as ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ in the future.” Although Josh’s last reported project, the series “Dead Last,” has been picked up at the WB, he didn’t mention it at all and instead told the crowd that his latest project is something called “A Young Person’s Guide to Being a Rock Star.” Joel said he was working on a film project with Sam Simon of “The Simpsons,” but offered no more details.

Beyond that, the evening was essentially made up of jovial reminiscences and offbeat observations. Each cast member offered their favorite movie from the show, their least favorite movie, and shared the derivations of obscure riffs. Josh and Frank seemed to be the most talkative; Trace was the quietest of the group, and sometimes seemed unable to get a word in edgewise. Joel was charming, witty and unpredictable: At one point he declared he had to pee and left the stage for several minutes. Kevin suggested to the technicians that they leave Joel’s mic on and they did—resulting in several funny moments as liquid sound effects tricked through the hall as the rest of the cast members attempted to continue talking.

The evening ended with a live rendition of the MST3K theme song with Joel singing (the KTMA lyrics) and Josh accompanying him on guitar–with the audience supplying the “la-la-las.”

The audience of about 800 (the event was not sold out) was asked to submit questions while waiting in line outside the theater, but almost none were asked. Winstead instead asked her own questions leading the group smoothly from one topic to another, but often leading the cast members over ground that had been covered in previous public appearances, in The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, or in other published interviews.

All in all, it was a fun and funny evening. Everyone present seemed to be enjoying themselves—especially the audience.