Live ‘MST3K’ coming to the Orpheum in Nov.
First Memphis show part of ‘final live tour’
“Mystery Science Theater 3000” will bring its live movie-spoofing show to the Orpheum Nov. 23.
Tickets go on sale Friday.
The Orpheum performance will represent the show’s first appearance in Memphis, and it comes none to soon: The show is billed as the “final live tour” for “Mystery Science” mastermind and original host Joel Hodgson, who created “MST3K” — as the program is known to fans — in 1988.
The show coming to the Orpheum is formally titled “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live: The Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour.” According to the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” website: “This is the last chance to see Joel as he celebrates his final live tour performing the unique comedic art form he created.
“The exhilarating, nonstop, rapidfire hilarity is brimming with hundreds of jokes riffed on a ‘So-bad-it’s-good’ feature film, plus spirited sketches and songs that turn the stage into a circusthemed party.”
The movie that will be screened in Memphis and subjected to the barbs, quips and derision of Hodgson and his wise-cracking robot sidekicks — Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot and Gypsy — is new to the crew for this tour. It is “No Retreat, No Surrender,” a 1986 “Karate Kid”-meets-“rocky IV” American martial-arts film directed by Hong Kong action specialist Corey Yuen.
According to Wikipedia, “the film has received praise for its well-choreographed fight scenes,” but “MST3K” publicity describes it as the story of “a self-conscious teen” who becomes “a martial arts master under the tutelage of Bruce Lee’s ghost,” played by “a Bruce Lee lookalike, who looks nothing like Bruce Lee.” Also in the cast, according to “MST3K,” is “a fresh-faced Jean-claude Van Damme as a brooding hit man.”
“Mystery Science Theater 3000” debuted on Minneapolis television before being introduced to national audiences on the Comedy Central and Syfy cable networks. Since then, it has become a comedy institution and cult phenomenon, spawning merchandise, DVD box sets, a touring live show and several movie-riffing imitators, including The Film Crew, Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic. In 2017, the show was revived with new episodes on Netflix.
The series premise is that a human host and his robot companions are trapped aboard a spaceship and forced to watch bad movies by their mad-scientist kidnappers, in an experiment to see how much torture a mind can withstand before it goes insane. More than 200 movies have been screened, including “The Crawling Hand,” “Women of the Prehistoric Planet” and “The Slime People.”
Tickets go on sale Friday via Ticketmaster; orpheum-memphis.com; or the Orpheum box office (901-525-3000). Regular ticket prices are $32.50-$49.50, but extensive “VIP” options will be available.