We all remember MST3K (Mystery Science Theater 3000 for the uninitiated), it was a great show. Most of us probably remember Mike J. Nelson as the host as opposed to Joel Robinson/. That’s okay, because Mike has a project now called RiffTrax in which he continues the tradition of making fun of movies for your enjoyment. You download the RiffTrax file and play them alongside the DVD to recreate the MST3K experience in your own home.

Well Mike, being the genius that he is, has just found a way to get you in on the action. He’s created a portion of the site where you make the comedic dubbing happen, called iRiffs. You recorded, upload it to the iRiffs site, set your own price, and they’ll handled the distribution. You read that correctly, you set your own price. They’ll pay you a percentage of the sales price for your iRiff.

In addition to getting paid, users can comment and rate your tracks. The higher ranking ones will be featured on the RiffTrax homepage. There will also be contests where the winner will be invited to work on an official RiffTrax Presents with Mike and his gang of misfits, as well as being paid for your time like the rockstar you are.

All this opens up in October, so I’d get cracking if I were you. Just dust off those old movies you have on the DVD rack next to the futon, cue up Audacity, and make us laugh. More info can be found at the iRiffs site.

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4 Comments »

1. 
   Shawn M.
   August 28, 2008 at 1:30 am

   I can almost guarantee that 95% of the user-submitted tracks will be drunken fratboys who will always make awkward sexual comments about whatever actress is on screen. Yeaaah, I think I’ll pass on that.

   I’m probably one of the few people who strongly prefer Joel’s episodes. There was just something about Mike that didn’t gel with me.

   [Reply]

   Migo Reply:
   August 28th, 2008 at 8:41 am

   I think I only preferred the Mike episodes because he didn’t remind me so much of Ben Stein. Joel always seemed like he’d just woken up and it was a huge pain in the butt to go to work. I think his everyday tone of voice and body language threw me off.

   [Reply]

   Devin de Gruyl Reply:
   August 28th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

   I’ve always been of the opinion that it isn’t entirely fair to compare Joel to Mike; their comedy styles are so different from each other, their approaches to the movies so divergent, that MST3K became almost an entirely different series when Joel left. Joel was more intellectual and more prone to point out the logical absurdities in a film, while Mike went more for the “slapstick” brand of humor. That’s okay by me, since I appreciate both styles of comedy, but for me comparing Joel’s work to Mike’s has always fallen into that “Windows vs. Mac” category; both are perfectly good, the question of which one is better depending largely on what you personally are looking for.

   To be honest, I wonder if we couldn’t do one of these iRiffs ourselves… who’d be up for it?

   [Reply]

   Migo Reply:
   August 28th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

   I’d be game, as soon as I have a more “permanent” living situation.

   [Reply]

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