Thanks for taking the time to do this online interview with us, we greatly appreciate it. Here are the compiled questions submitted by the dwellers at the MST3K Discussion Board:

Q1: How did you get involved with MST3K originally?

A1: An oft-told tale: Joel, Trace and I were all doing stand-up comedy in Mpls. at the time and we were all part of a writing group with several other comics that would meet once a week in a library basement meeting room. We would throw out joke ideas and premises that we were working on and everyone would throw in their ideas and help each other build their bits up. It was incredibly hippyish for a group of comics, who are usually cutthroat and competitive.

One day after the group, Joel pulled Trace and I aside and said something like. "Hey, I'm doing this TV pilot thing tomorrow and it's got puppets in it and I'm watching a movie. Wanna come help?"
 

Q2: Everyone knows about the infamous picture on a milk carton being the last sighting of your MST3K character Dr. Larry Erhardt. How do you think Larry should have been written off MST3K? And how do you think he might have changed over the seasons if you had stayed on the show?

A2: While it (the milk carton gag) was a tad cold-blooded, I'm sure it gave everyone at the show a hearty, mean-spirited laugh at the time, so who am I to go back and re-write them? It was also a fast, clean way to get rid of Erhardt and get to the business of introducing Frank.

As far as how Larry would have changed had I continued with the character - I'd like to think I would have continued to develop the character to the point where he was at least 2-dimentional.
 

Q3: We all love your mighty voice for Servo and the cool "been there done that" persona you gave him. At what point in the KTMA season did you realize Servo's voice had to change?

A3: I was doing a high, throaty, kind of Marvin the Martian voice for him for a bit, but as we started talking more and more during the movie, it was hard to sustain and hard to be expressive with, so I came up with something a little more comfortable and a little more character specific in the form of "Tom" Servo.
 

Q4: In the KTMA & Season One episodes, you seem to have been responsible for the majority of the puns because they seemed to fade away after you left. If so, are you still a punster (recovering or active and unrepentant)?

A4: Based on the prosecutorial tone of the question, I'll keep my answer brief: I believe puns are a valid part of a balanced comedy breakfast. I like good ones (and believe such a thing exists) but take no particular pride in being a punster. I probably was more proud of it at 17 - it wouldn't be the only thing I mistakenly thought was awesome about me then.
 

Q5: How were the host segments of the KTMA episodes put together? Did someone actually write out a couple pages of scripted stuff or were you just kind of winging it, or both?

A5: It was some of both. We would arrive at KTMA about an hour (or less) before we shot the show. We would stand in Jim's office and spit out ideas and rough out scripts for the 5 segments which Jim typed on his computer. Then we'd head into the studio and shoot some approximation of what we just wrote. Communication between Joel and the Mads, was the only thing we had to watch our scripts for since those segments were shot separately and had to cut together.
 

Q6: How did you get involved with Cinematic Titanic?

A6: Joel asked me over lunch.
 

Q7: After such a long span between your days in the early era of MST3K and then being a part of Cinematic Titanic, did you watch any MST3K episodes to get up-to-date on the changes in the show over the years?

A7: No, the widest ranging look I got was at the USA Film Festival in Dallas this past year where they did a 20+ minute video retrospective montage of the entire series. I was watching next to Trace and had to keep leaning over asking things like "Is that Torgo?" or "Oh, so that's Professor Bobo."
 

Q8: And do you ever watch any episodes of MST3K now and then? If so, do you critique it in anyway?

A8: Nah, I never watch 'em, but if I did, I'm sure I'd critique them in some way, that's just how I roll.
 

Q9: Are there any films that MST3K riffed on after you left that you wished you were around for?

A9: There's enough regret involved having watched the movies I did riff to regret not watching others.
 

Q10: Did writing and performing the CT commentary feel like "coming home" to the experiences you'd had way back with MST3K? Or, since you left the show so early on, did CT feel more like a new experience?

A10: The chemistry is familiar and homey, but the situation is so different that, fortunately, it feels more like a whole new thing.
 

Q11: We love the Cinematic Titanic theme song. It's a nice throwback to the great themes of the '60s and '70s. Did you have any specific shows/themes in mind as influences when you wrote it?

A11: Glad you like it. I was definitely going for a 60's, Henry Mancini-esque, kind of feel. I like that sense of mission it evokes and it seemed to go with the aesthetic we were shooting for.
 

Q12: Was it just a little bit strange to walk back into the art of film riffing after over 15 years away, or was it just like riding a bike again?

A12: I've done so much video mocking over the years - AFV, Talk Soup, Later with Greg Kinnear, etc. - that it wasn't very foreign to me. The strange, "life is a circle" feeling came from doing it with Joel and Trace again.

 

Q13: The name "Cinematic Titanic" is great - who came up with that one? And were there any other good names tossed about?

A13: That's on Joel. As far as I know, he liked it because it rhymed and because Trace laughed when he said it.
 

Q14: Do you find Cinematic Titanic easier to do than MST3K because you don't have to lug around a puppet and change your voice?

A14: That's about the only thing that's easier. I'm so much more involved in the production and business end of things this time around that the performing feels like the easy part, puppets or not.
 

Q15: What's it like to work with Frank and Mary Jo, who came on MST3K after you left? And has Frank ever thanked you for leaving and opening up a major on-screen role for him on MST3K?

A15: I worked with Mary Jo and Frank as a stand-up quite a bit in Mpls. and was already friends with both, so I knew how much I liked them. Cinematic Titanic has only intensified my affection for both of them.

And no, Frank has never thanked me for not only leaving, but for leaving such tiny shoes behind for him to fill.
 

Q16: Did you bury the hatchet with Jim Mallon at Comic-Con?

A16: No, I was too stunned to find myself in the same room with him again after so many years and the occasion was all about celebration, not conflict. Nor do I think it's ultimately important that he and I hash over things that took place in the 80's, hard to imagine it being satisfying for either of us. While it's not a relationship that I suspect will ever be repaired, I wish him well. With the 20th anniversary, I've come to the conclusion that life is too short to carry long-term grudges about puppet shows. (That goes for my vendetta against Kookla as well).
 

Q17: Hopping in Wayback Machine for this question, but there is one episode in the KTMA season in which you didn't riff the movie with Joel yet you were with him in the host segments. If you still recall it, was there a reason for that like scheduling conflicts or something?

A17: Actually, it was Trace who was gone that week. I played Crow in that episode (the voice was still in a more stilted, roboty phase so it was easy to mimic). I think there was another week Trace was gone where we froze Crow like a Christmas tree to cover his absence.
 

Q18: Do you have anything planned for your website, Stinkburger Inc?

A18: What? You don't think five years without updates qualifies as anything? Right now, I'm more concerned with getting the Cinematic Titanic website to a good place. Someday Stinkburger will rise from its greasy cyber-ashes.
 

Q19: How did you and Trace get involved with America's Funniest Videos (AFV) and why did you both leave?

A19: I was hired as the Head Writer of the show in '97 after Bob Saget left and the show's future was very much in question. Trace had moved to LA around then and he and I were becoming good friends again, so I hired him. Trace remained there while I left to do a few quickly-cancelled episodic series (Freaks and Geeks among them) then I later served as a writer and consulting producer on the show working almost entirely from home. Ultimately we both left because we had hit the wall with the sameness of it all. Vin Di Bona, the owner and Executive Producer of the show was a heckuva nice guy to work for though.
 

Q20: Now that everyone else from "Freaks & Geeks" is a huge mega-star, when is Judd Apatow going to hook you up?

A20: I don't know, I guess when he gets to the "W's".
 

Q21: How do you write? What I mean is do you have a set timeframe during the day you commit to writing, certain goals on how much your going to accomplish and what not. Also, could you describe a typical CT writing session? Do the writers work together in the same room? Or does anyone (or everyone) work in different locations on the writing?

A21: I'm not a terribly disciplined writer. Give me a deadline and I'll make it, but I'll use every minute I got. I don't like writing many drafts, so I tend to work things in my head over and over until they're written, from there it's just typing. I believe most writers don't have more than three really productive hours in them per day and I tend to spread those out over the course of 8-10 hours at my computer.

As for the CT writing process, it's ever changing and evolving. Jokes tend to flow from east to west and have been largely assembled and edited by Frank, Joel and I together here in L.A. Once we're all together for a shoot, we continue to pitch and revise jokes up until taping.
 

Q22: What was your favorite invention for the invention exchange (i.e. the one in which you were the most proud of the idea or construction)?

A22: The list is very incomplete in my memory but as I recall, we were still using a bunch of stuff from Joel's stand-up act back then. The "Clay and Lar's Flesh Barn" song sticks out as something I brought to the table, though probably not my favorite.
 

Q23: That you brought Mike Nelson into the MST3K fold is something that all MSTies are eternally grateful to you for. Can you tell us what in particular you saw in Mike Nelson that made you think he'd be a good addition to the MST3K team?

A23: He was both very funny and a very good hang, we were looking for both. From a business perspective, I sensed that he could be lured away from his day job at TGI Friday's despite the pay cut it would entail.
 

Q24: You're so multi-talented, musically, comically, performing, writing, directing, and so on and so on (you get the drift) - so what is your favorite medium to work in?

A24: Aw shucks, thanks. I don't think I have a favorite, I really just like making stuff. It has likely been to my career detriment that I don't have laser-beam focus and ambition towards one specific thing, but I've gotten to make a bunch of cool stuff with a bunch of cool people (as well as some crap with some assholes).
 

Q25: how often do you get asked whether or not you wrote for "The Simpsons" ?

A25: It comes up a lot. For a while, the other Josh Weinstein and I were at the same agency, so I'd get calls from agents who would just come on the line talking and it would be a minute before I put together that they thought they were taking to the other JW and have to stop them - awkward!

The one time I met the other JW, I was pleased to hear he got a lot of MST3K questions (petty, I know).
 

Q26: Since leaving MST way back when, you've become quite an accomplished writer and producer. So what exactly was Joel's sales pitch to get you to re-enter the highly lucrative world of self-financed, self-promoting, awful movie riffing?

A26: It wasn't much of a hard sell. Joel, Trace and I had recently gotten together to develop and pitch a different idea, so I was already onboard with working with them again. Like I said above, I like making stuff, even more so with friends. It also didn't hurt that we would be doing it during the writer's strike, and I couldn't do anything else at the time.
 

Q27: Having "Elvis" as a middle name is pretty darn cool. Are you named after THE Elvis or is it a family name or from somewhere else?

A27: When I joined the Writer's Guild in '94, the other Josh Weinstein was already there, so I had to choose a different name to work under. I was never that fond of going by Joshua, and my real middle name, Stuart, wasn't that much fun either, so I gave myself the Elvis. It was much more in deference to Costello than Presley, but mostly I liked the initials it gave me (I considered J. Einstein Weinstein as well, which I figured would also serve as a pronunciation guide to my last name).
 

Final Question from Outer Space:
Q28: This one's from way out in left field, but what do you think would have been a better way for Padme Amidala (from the Star Wars prequels) to die in Episode III instead of dying of a broken heart?

A28: What if instead of just shoving Padme to the ground, Vader/Anakin would have split her open with his light saber like Han Solo did to the Taun-Taun on Hoth, then turned and walked away before he could see neo-natal Luke and Leia ooze out onto the tarmac?
 

Back to Our Second Interview with Josh “J. Elvis” Weinstein Intro