From: Jim Pellmann <jgp@Rational.COM>

Date: Wed, 26 Feb 92 13:22:59 PST

Subject: MST3K article from SF Chronicle TOM SERVO EXPLAINS IT ALL

by Jon Carroll

from the San Francisco Chronicle

February 3, 1992

The most important thing to realize here is that I do have a Life. Sometimes I start talking about one of the things I talk about, and someone suddenly shouts, "Jon, get a Life!"

But I have a Life. I have been to hardware stores; I have paid taxes; I have chatted informally with family members. What could be more Life-Like than that? I am definitely not one of those people you hear about who consume media indiscriminately and develop passions virtually incomprehensible to normal people.

That Bill Clinton/Joe Gibbs/Kevin Pursglove/Big Bird/Gloria Steinem/Jim Mitchell/Mike Tyson endless bubbling brain stew you may have heard about: Not me.

It was in the midst of this Life that the voice of Tom Servo appeared on my answering machine. Just an ordinary event in an ordinary day. Maybe I muttered "far out" under my breath, but I'm kind of trapped in a slang time war anyway.

So: Tom Servo. Tom Servo is a robot character on a cable television program called "Mystery Science Theater 3000," or "MST3K." Tom Servo, with his human pal Joel and his robot pal Crow, watch very bad movies and comment on them; that is the essence of "MST3K."

We the viewers get to watch the very bad movie and to listen to the comments; it's as though we're behind these three zany friends in a movie theater. The comments are extremely fast and extremely funny and cover the entire cultural landscape from Mummenschanz to "Mission Impossible" to modems.

It looks like a show put out by a lot people who should probably get a Life.

When first I mentioned "MST3K," I alleged that Tom Servo was a stupid robot. This brought a flood of letters from fans who said that Tom Servo was actually a sensitive robot, almost a Leo Buscaglia automaton.

"MST3K" has very loyal fans; it cherishes them and they return the favor. Like the Grateful Dead, "MST3K" has a policy of encouraging people who tape their shows and circulate the tapes. So there are people who know really quite a lot about "MST3K"; people who might consider, at some point, getting Lives.

Kevin Murphy has a Life; his Life is writing for "MST3K" and playing Tom Servo on the show. Servo, says Murphy, is "a little left of center, kind of weepy, but with a heart of gold. I think there's some pain in there; I think we can say Tom has known some pain."

But he's a 3-year-old robot.

"Not a lot of pain. I grant you that."

It takes six writers to produce "MST3K" (now in its fourth year and approaching its 70th show); there are 700-800 jokes per episode. It's a chuckle-intensive operation.

The actual filming is "intimate. We get to know each other quite well. The theater seats are just Styrofoam cutouts. Joel sits on a bridge chair; I sit on the floor holding the Tom Servo robot. We actually sit in front of a white wall staring at a little monitor on the floor. We're there fora long time."

Murphy is bemused by the cult status of "MST3K." One minute he was doing a weird local show in Minneapolis; the next thing he knew he was at the center of a nationwide hive mind.

"We really are in close contact with the fans. We know a lot about who they are. It's very inspiring," he said, sounding like your average New Age robot in touch with his feelings.

"MST3K" is on Comedy Central, Cable Channel Something in your area, at 7 p.m. Saturdays and at sundry other times.