| An Interview with Josh 'J. Elvis' Weinstein
A few years back I was working on questions for an interview with J. Elvis Weinstein, when I was contacted by Forrest at Dons site (Now the "MST3K Review"). He was conducting an interview as well and long story short, we combined our efforts: Here is my half of the interview. To read the whole shebang, check out The MST3K Review  I'm an unabashed Josh Weinstein fan, I thought the kid was a talent. He was an adept improviser whose Tom Servo was both slick ladies man and keen commentator on the many quirks found in these films sent to him - by his alter ego...
Dr. Laurence Erhardt, who worked with fellow mad scientist Doctor Clayton Forrester in a scheme to break a mans will using only the might of bad, bad, bad, really bad movies. In his role as Dr Larry, I laughed as he made cotton candy scream and chuckled while he strangled Dr. F with his stretchy Reed Richard arms.
Here then, is J. Elvis, in his own words. Q:� MST history as I know it: Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy went to Joel Hodgson, he came up with the idea and brought in Trace Beaulieu.� How did you get involved? A:� I got involved at the same time as Trace.� Joel and he and I were all in a writing group together, and he asked us after a meeting one day. Q:� Personally, I loved your take on Servo.� Was the Bot assigned to you or did you have a choice on what Bot you'd get? A:� Thanks.� The puppet was handed to me upon arrival. Q:� You had that little froggie voice in early KTMA episodes, what made you want to change that to the Mighty Voice? A:� Frankly, the froggie voice was too hard to keep up for two hours, so I revamped the character after a couple of weeks into the Servo I'll be going into the Museum of Broadcasting with. Q:� What was this "Beeper" character I've heard about, how long did that character last? A:� I don't think he lasted beyond the presentation tape.� We felt a character who didn't speak was a bit of a waste.� With all due respect to R2-D2 (and Kenny Baker), beeping just isn't that funny. ���� Puppet-wise, Beeper was Servo.� He may have had a little face in the bubble but basically the same. Q:� Were you the class clown?� How early did you know that comedy was your calling? � A:� I was a subversive class clown.� My goal was usually to get the teacher to laugh.� How mad at me could they get if I cracked them up?� Being funny was always important to me, and in my family.� There was no situation in our house that couldn't be diffused with humor.� As far as a career, I started stand-up when I was 15 and knew immediately it was what I wanted to do. Q:� You carried yourself with a confidence on camera and your humor was very smart and mature.� How did you become so polished at such a young age? � A:� Probably from all those years of trying to make adults laugh. Q:� It seems that in later KTMA episodes, the riffing got sharper, especially the early segments.� Was there any pre-viewing of the movies going on? � A:� Busted!� Yeah, after a while the long, deadly, silent sections started to bother us, so we started to make � how should I say? � the slightest effort. Q: What can you tell us about the KTMA days, the atmosphere, did you have any idea that the show would get as big as it did? � A: It was slapdash TV making at its best.� We'd pick a movie Thursday afternoon, come in the next morning, write some host segments in under an hour, go into the studio and shoot them, then go to lunch.� After lunch, we'd come back, shoot the movie segments real-time, edit them together with the host segments as we went, and have the show in the can, ready to air by 6pm when the local wrestling show needed the studio.� It was very fun.� And no, I had no idea that it would be as big as it was. Q:� How did you meet Mike Nelson? � A:� In the Twin Cities stand-up world. Q:� And how did you go about getting him to work for MST? � A:� I asked him.� It wasn't a tough sell, he was working at a TGI Friday's at the time.� Once he got over the pay-cut, he was in. Q:� I've read that your MST experience wasn't exactly the most fun for you.� Was it always like that, or did that start when the show moved to the Comedy Channel? � A:� The latter � once it became a business... it became a business. Q:� You've since worked with Trace and Joel on other shows, have you kept up with others like Jim Mallon or Kevin Murphy? A:� I saw Kevin for the first time in years at the Columbia U. event and enjoyed catching up.� I see Mike and Bridget Nelson every couple of years and I'm friends with Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl as well.� I haven't had any contact with Jim Mallon since 1990 or so. Q:� Your impressions of the cast, their personalities and styles of humor (Joel,Trace, Mike etc). � A:� All of the above are smart, funny, talented people.� I would feel presumptuous summing them up any other way. Q:� You've kept yourself busy in the television industry.� I'm curious about Freaks and Geeks.� It was so critically hailed, yet didn't stay on the air very long.� What kind of experience was it working on that show, and what was going through your mind as you watched a quality show like this fail to get the ratings it needed to survive? � A:� The same thing that has gone through my head on a lot of projects: "Damn, it sure is hard getting good TV made." Q:� You're currently working with Trace on America's Funniest Videos (AFV), how's that going? A:� Great.� The show is about to celebrate its 300th episode, and Trace is a great buddy and co-worker.� Very talented guy, you may have noticed. Q:� I've read that you perform music with your wife, Allison MacLeod � can you tell us more about it?� Also, what instrument do you play? � A:� We are actually in a band together with some other friends and have a great time playing semi-regularly.� Mostly Allison's songs with a few of my own thrown in.� I play bass, guitar, harmonica, and sing a lot, depending on what the tune requires. Q:� What does the future hold, what current projects are you working on? A:� I gave up trying to predict the future after being consistently wrong about it for years.� As you mentioned, I'm working on AFV as a Consulting Producer and trying to get a couple of pilots on the air for next season.� The rest is up to the show-biz gods.
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