So I Was Reading Movie Megacheese...

[Queen Shadowrama]

...when I came across this passage:

"For there is nothing sadder than a comedian bombing. Several levels of hell below that is a prop comedian bombing. All prop comedians, viewed outside the very specific frame they have set for themselves, look like sad, sick little children craving love they can never have. No one wants to hug a prop comedian." - Mike Nelson

Ouch. Granted, he was talking about Carrot Top when he wrote this, but still, some harsh words from our beloved Mike. I couldn't help but think of poor, sweet Joel at that moment, desperately craving love and attention...

I definitely want to hug a certain prop comedian...

Thoughts?

[Cookie]

I'd like to hug him. In fact, that's my favorite "tender" daydream about him. I imagine myself consoling him after an especially harsh movie session on the SOL (somehow I've managed to sneak on board without Dr. F finding out -- I haven't worked out all the details yet).

[Robyn]

Joel is not a prop comedian, he's a comic/magician/spy! Dur-hay!

But seriously, prop comedy has not aged well. Hardly anyone does it anymore, and the most well-known prop comic is...well...this. So it gets a bad rap.

I was reading an old review of Joel's stand-up, and I noticed this:

"Sporting a hang-dog look and an idiosyncratic punk haircut, Hodgson doesn't so much enter a stage as he creeps on. It's as though he's still wearing the scars of having to give book reports in junior high school and would really rather be elsewhere. He just knows he's going to bore you silly, but he's got to get through this."

And I think that's what's so endearing about Joel, and what separates him from other prop comics - he KNOWS, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he's pathetic and his act is lame. But that's just part of the charm of his act, which is NOT really lame. Or something. Am I making any sense?

(Cookie, that's MY favorite "tender" daydream too! Only it's him hugging me me and trying to comfort me, 'cause I'm stuck on the SOL and the movie was really bad and I miss my family and he says something like, "Look, uh, me an' the Bots, we're like a family y'know, we help each other out and stuff...and like it or not, you're a part of this family now...so just remember we're here for you, okay? You're not alone." I know, I know, Sappy McCheese over here. XD )

[Donna IS 3 times a lady!]

queenshadowrama said:

...when I came across this passage:

"For there is nothing sadder than a comedian bombing. Several levels of hell below that is a prop comedian bombing. All prop comedians, viewed outside the very specific frame they have set for themselves, look like sad, sick little children craving love they can never have. No one wants to hug a prop comedian." - Mike Nelson

Ouch. Granted, he was talking about Carrot Top when he wrote this, but still, some harsh words from our beloved Mike. I couldn't help but think of poor, sweet Joel at that moment, desperately craving love and attention...

I had the same reaction when I read that passage, Queen! It's kinda like, hey, way to bite the hand that hired you, Mike. Sheesh!
In my more charitable moments, I like to think that Mike didn't actually consider Joel a prop comic anymore. After all, at the time of writing, Joel hadn't done that act for years.
Why can't they all just get along?

[Queen Shadowrama]

Robyn - Dear God girl, why didn't you put a warning on that picture???!! Holy crap, that is the most hideous thing I have ever seen!! That face, those veiny, bulging muscles...the uber low-rise shorts that let you know he's not wearing underwear...ugh, I want to barf. Someone needs to put that thing down...it's downright unhealthy.

Oh, and your explanation about Joel made perfect sense to me!

Anyway, the invention exchanges were Joel's only prop outlet during MST, so yeah, I don't really think you could consider him a prop comic anymore. Especially when you have mutations of nature like Carrot Top and Gallagher claiming the title. I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with those people.

But in regards to the passage...I really don't think Mike was considering Joel, or if he was, it was all in good fun. Mike doesn't hate Joel. He hates Carrot Top. And I don't blame him. ;D

[Cerrita]

robyn said:

the most well-known prop comic is...well...this.

I want you to all bow down and thank me. I was going to post a pic of that with Joel's sleepy visage plastered over it, with some clever quip about "the only time you wouldn't hug Joel", but I decided at the last second to delete my hellish work and show mercy.

[Queen Shadowrama]

Thank you Calandra, you are indeed merciful. By the way, where the heck have you been? We've missed you!

[Cerrita]

I got a new job a couple of weeks ago. It starts at 6 am, so I have to get up at four, and it's been an unending cycle of work and sleep while I try to break in a new sleep pattern. It's going well, though.

[msmystie3000]

This is why I get weirded out buy thoughts of a LIVE-ACTION "Joike" fantasy....cuz real life Joel/Mike seems almost like oil & water. Joel is weirded-out by Mike & RiffTrax (even when Mike is holding out the olive branch) & Mike makes odd comments that...while most likely just concerns Carrot-Top & his alien horror...could be seen as a vaguely-disgused swipe & Joel.
What the heck's with Joel? He's willing to pretty much forgive & hang with Jim "Mr. I'm-A-Jerk-Who-Basically-Drove-Joel-Away-From-MST3K-And-Alienates-Others" Mallon BUT he seems to avoid Mike (and perhaps Kevin & Bill) as if they had Ebola or something! Joel's okay with Jim but Mike's the antichrist....something's weird here!

EDIT: Y'know, perhaps Joel doesn't hate Mike but maybe it's a political thing....I recently read that interview with Mike (the one he gave MST3K Reviews & reproduced on various NeoCon sites) and Mike....though probably a nice guy....is creeping me out big time (extolling 'Passion Of The Christ' whilst blabbin' in a jingoistic 'America Is Christian' way, redubbing names of local papers with commie-themed names, etc. I, Ms. Mystie am not anti-Christian, I'm anti-pseudo-Christian. Jesus seems more 'Woodstock' than 'SBC'). Perhaps Joel wont riff with Mike because they're just no longer compatable (probably another, unspoken reason he left MST3K). Frankly, I don't know if Mike's exaggerating or he's serious.

MIKE NELSON....IS....POE'S LAW!!!

EDIT: Now, I'm not badmouthing Mike, he's a funny, loveable, handsome guy & he MIGHT be exaggerating just to be weird. Nothing wrong with being "Conservative" per se & I don't mind if someone thought "TPotC" was a good movie...it's just NeoCon crap that irks me: Bigotry, Fundieness, Jingoism, etc. & he sounded like the 700 Club when he was extolling the movie. I still like Mike but some things I perfer to not think about.

[msmystie3000]

Apr 1, 2008 3:21:04 GMT -3 Robyn said:

Joel is not a prop comedian, he's a comic/magician/spy! Dur-hay!

But seriously, prop comedy has not aged well. Hardly anyone does it anymore, and the most well-known prop comic is...well...this. So it gets a bad rap.

I was reading an old review of Joel's stand-up, and I noticed this:

"Sporting a hang-dog look and an idiosyncratic punk haircut, Hodgson doesn't so much enter a stage as he creeps on. It's as though he's still wearing the scars of having to give book reports in junior high school and would really rather be elsewhere. He just knows he's going to bore you silly, but he's got to get through this."

And I think that's what's so endearing about Joel, and what separates him from other prop comics - he KNOWS, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he's pathetic and his act is lame. But that's just part of the charm of his act, which is NOT really lame. Or something. Am I making any sense?

(Cookie, that's MY favorite "tender" daydream too! Only it's him hugging me me and trying to comfort me, 'cause I'm stuck on the SOL and the movie was really bad and I miss my family and he says something like, "Look, uh, me an' the Bots, we're like a family y'know, we help each other out and stuff...and like it or not, you're a part of this family now...so just remember we're here for you, okay? You're not alone." I know, I know, Sappy McCheese over here. XD )

....In fact, Joel was the ONLY good one out there! Prop Comedy's lame-o no matter what but all the humor is in delivery. Joel was this deadpan, stonerish, surreal, Steve Wright kinda guy who was really cute, boyishly charming & clever. He wasn't a shrill nightmare, he was an a-dork-able hot guy in a white tux....and some props were clever "Catapult Card Trick", "Invisible Man Phone Call", "Braille Bumper Sticker", "Pocket Mohawk"......oh and of course anything involving a common object morphing into a gun with the punchline "......and by night, I'm...AGENT-J".......
.....and that off-key singing ;D so sweet....ESPECIALLY "MYSTERY DATE!" *melts into a puddle of fangirl bliss*

.....and ya gotta love the concept of "Comic-Magician-Spy"......a loveable Anti-James Bond with really stupid inventions & stuff that's seems not to go as planned.