Mystery Science Theater Actors Will Hate On Bad Movies In Chicago

By Marielle Shaw in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 21, 2015 2:15PM

Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu, MST3K's mad scientists, will riff over movies at North Bar this weekend.

It might have been a while since you’ve heard someone scream, “MITCHELL!” or seen a “Honk if you love Eegah” sticker. But even if you’ve never heard of the best human and robot comedy alliance this side of anywhere, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (a.k.a. MST3K) has probably had an influence on the way you see movies with friends.

This is a good thing, because Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu, MST3K's mad scientists, will being riffing over movies at North Bar this weekend.

Created in Minnesota in 1988, the show featured Joel Hodgson (later Mike Nelson) as the stranded employee of a space station controlled by mad scientists (a.k.a. the mads) played by Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff. The scientists disliked him, and subjected him to bad movies as an experiment in punishment. The stranded employee built robot friends to keep him company, creating Cambot, Gypsy, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot.

MST3K ended in 1997, but its fandom lives on. Some of the show’s actors, including Nelson, Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (Crow's voice in later seasons), went on to form RiffTrax—,continuing the MST3K model of riffing to create audio commentaries meant to accompany popular TV shows and movies. This medium has allowed them to make fun of even bigger films like Sharknado, Night of the Living Dead, and Anaconda. It's also acted as inspiration for some of their fellow former cast members.

This weekend, "the mads" are using the model popularized by RiffTrax for their own personal appearance. Beaulieu and Conniff will be at North Bar on Friday and Saturday for four live shows riffing over various movies. The films they'll be mercilessly heckling have not been announced, though. According to a North Bar spokesperson, "They prefer to keep the movies they are riffing on a secret until the show, but said they are 85 percent bad."

Not knowing doesn’t bother us though. If there’s one thing we learned from the whole MST3K crew growing up, it’s that no matter how bad the film is, we can always make it fun with a few friends and a lot of sarcasm.

North Bar is located at 1637 W North Ave. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in advance or at the door.