-Courtesy of Kimmel Cultural Campus
photo by Brandi Morris
The Kimmel Cultural Campus presents Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live: Time Bubble Tour at its Merriam Theater on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. This comedy cult-classic, long-running series will be brought to life with host Emily Connor and the world’s greatest – and only – movie riffing robots, Tom Servo, Crow, and GPC. Returning is the beloved cast from the 2019 Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour: Emily Marsh, Conor McGiffin, Nate Begle, and Yvonne Freese. Together they will take you on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride through the film Making Contact, imposed by Mad Scientist, Mega-Synthia (Yvonne Freese).
Deeply committed to the health and safety of guests, artists, and staff and proudly certified by GBAC, the gold standard for infection prevention programs, the Kimmel Cultural Campus is requiring masks to be worn at all times, as well as proof of vaccination for those over 5. Guests under 5 will be required to show a negative PCR test result or negative rapid test. Additional details below.
“Philadelphia audiences can expect a little bit of everything on our Campus – from Your Philadelphia Orchestra to rock, jazz greats to Broadway, comedians to dance,” said Frances Egler, senior director of programming and presentations on the Kimmel Cultural Campus. “A show like Mystery Science Theater 3000 mixes satire & science, bringing us laughter and togetherness like so many of the other comedy shows on our season this year.”
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) originally aired for 11 seasons from 1988 to 1999, becoming one of the most beloved cult TV shows of all time. Fans enjoyed the hilarious riffing, the wisecracking robots, and the silly sketches that made the show stand out. The snarky commentary was almost even more entertaining than the actual media. Main character of Joel Robinson was played by the show’s creator Joel Hodgson and later hosted by Mike Nelson. The show was brought back to life in 2015 when fans (known as MSTies) united behind a record breaking Kickstarter to garner a brand-new 14-episode season, premiering on Netflix in 2017.
Notable praise for MST3K began when the show won a Peabody Award in 1993 and was then nominated for two Emmy® Awards in 1994 and 1995. In 2007, MST3K was listed as one of Time’s “100 Best TV Shows of ALL-TIME.” Even as recently as 2012, the show was listed as #3 in Entertainment Weekly’s “25 Best Cult TV Shows of the Past 25 Years.”
Former cast members have gone on to similar projects based on the riffing of films, including The Film Crew, RiffTrax, and Cinematic Titanic. MST3K also brought to light several older movies that had fallen into obscurity and many of these films were subsequently identified among the worst movies ever made, most notable among them Manos: The Hands of Fate.
Other featured performances on the Kimmel Cultural Campus include Tig Notaro (January 29, 2022, Merriam Theater), Hasan Minhaj: The King’s Jester (February 2, 2022, Merriam Theater), Friends – The Musical Parody! (April 15 – 16, 2022, Merriam Theater), Whitney Cummings (April 30, 2022, Merriam Theater), and Hannah Gadsby (May 7, 2022, Merriam Theater).
Tickets
Tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999 or online at http://www.kimmelculturalcampus.org. In-person ticket sales can be conducted daily from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the Academy of Music Box Office, located at 240 S. Broad Street. See www.kimmelculturalcampus.org for more information.
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