By the time I was able to drag myself away from the art museum, it was nearly 5pm, and I wanted to be downtown by 6. I took a bus. I could've walked, but my shoulders were killing me from carrying my bag all day.
Downtown Minneapolis was loud and crowded, and just when I was starting to feel overwhelmed and crazy, I saw it...
an oasis...
one of my favorite sights in the whole entire world...
an oasis...
one of my favorite sights in the whole entire world...
So I stopped in, bought a panini & hung out there for a while. Then it was time to head to the theater for the hottest ticket in town.... Rifftrax Live!
A lot of people were already waiting in the lobby....
Well, people and robots.
Before long, they let us into the theater. I was in the third row! Amazing seats!
They had a few shark balloons around the theater. I think some had helium, and one was being remote-controlled.
Prior to the show, we got to see the joke slides ("trivia") they show before any Rifftrax Live presentation.
Then some folks came on stage and began to throw things to the audience -- T-shirts and rubber sharks. I've been to events where people get absolutely rabid about catching "free stuff" and will bring out their claws. But when a shark came towards me, and I caught it -- only to drop it -- I was able to retrieve it without being eaten alive. (Thank you, seat-neighbors... you are second to none!)
Then some folks came on stage and began to throw things to the audience -- T-shirts and rubber sharks. I've been to events where people get absolutely rabid about catching "free stuff" and will bring out their claws. But when a shark came towards me, and I caught it -- only to drop it -- I was able to retrieve it without being eaten alive. (Thank you, seat-neighbors... you are second to none!)
So now I have this shark. I love it!
At 7:00, the show began. Now, I've been to most of the Riffrax broadcasts that go out to theaters around the country. By the time they get to Oregon, they're not live; we're 2 hours behind. So experiencing it live was something new. Also, experiencing it with Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett -- RIGHT THERE... yeah... that was pretty amazing!
The guys introduced themselves and made some jokes, then told us we were going to watch a Short that had MST3K ties. It was A Case Of Spring Fever! COILY!! I've seen that one many times. The new jokes were great! It was obvious that a lot of people there hadn't seen the short before (or not in a very long time) because they weren't just laughing at the jokes, but laughing at the short itself. (Well, it is completely insane.)
Next they showed us a preview of the next Rifftrax Live show, which'll be the 1998 movie Godzilla. The sound didn't work on the clip at first, but the guys ad libbed like pros. (ie "Godzilla was actually a silent film!")
Then we got to the meat of the evening -- Sharknado. I had never watched it... I'd debated whether or not to do so before this performance, but ultimately decided not to. It turned out to be horrible, the movie. But the riffing was top-notch.
While the movie was playing and the riffing was happening, I didn't know where to look. Part of me wanted to watch the movie, part of me just wanted to continuously stare at the Riffers. I was in the same room as Mike, Kevin, and Bill (or Mike, Servo, and Crow, if you will.) I just... didn't know what to do with myself!
The movie -- and the riffing -- got a lot of laughs. Some of the scenes were sooo absurd. There was a guy sitting not too far from me who kept going, "WHAT?!" throughout the film... verbalizing what the rest of us were definitely thinking. There's one scene in particular where the star of the movie goes into a shark with a chainsaw... and if that's not bad enough, comes out alive... and if that's not bad enough... well, I'm going to make you watch the movie to see what happens next, because it is SO COMPLETELY NUTS. People were roaring with laughter!
When the show ended, it took quite a while to get out of the theater. The aisles were small and few, and a lot of people were standing around chatting. I worked my way out of the theater by going down several different rows to try to get around people, and as luck would have it, I ran in to someone gushing over someone else and wanting to take a photo. Who was this someone else? It took me a minute to place him, but then I realized -- it was Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Forrester, and the first Crow T. Robot!) How exciting to see an unexpected member of the MST cast at the show!
Outside, afterwards, I stood with some other fans, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Riffers as they left. Instead of Riffers, we saw a flying shark!
Apparently one of the shark balloons either got loose or was let loose. In the picture above -- see the top of that building on the right, with the light posts on top of the railing? People were eating dinner up there. I hope they were appropriately amused/frightened.
Below is the van that, I presume, broadcasts the show to the other theaters? Or at least helps with that endeavor?
It never really occurred to me how much work it probably takes to make one of these shows happen, not only live, but simultaneously around the country (and Canada!)
[Side note: Back home in Oregon, on Tuesday, 7/15, my friend and I went to the encore showing of Rifftrax Live: Sharknado! at our local theater. So I got to watch the same show I did on Thursday, yet it was a completely different experience. It was really cool! I saw myself on screen a couple of times, too. The movie and the riffs still made me laugh, and I heard a few jokes I hadn't caught the first time around. So great.]
So Thursday was a very busy, very crazy, very awesome day. After the live show, rather than trying to spend the next hour trying to make bus connections, I splurged and took a taxi back to the motel. There, I began making plans for Friday.
* * * * *
What did I end up doing? Find out in Part 4!
No comments:
Post a Comment