From: The Milwaukee Journal*

Date: [unknown]

Headline: From UHF to Cable

Author: Drew, Mike

Page(s): [unknown]

Stevens Point native Joel Hodgson, 30, was educated there and in Fort Atkinson, Green Bay and Minneapolis. He also started out on the traditional route to comedy glory--TV late night. Actually, "Late Night With David Letterman" and "Saturday Night Live."

But after two years on the Los Angeles comedy treadmill he returned to Minneapolis, quit performing and went to work in a T-shirt factory.

Hodgson also built robots and wrote for other comics, including Jerry Seinfeld, another up-and-comer whose NBC series return soon. Then Hodgson edged back into performing with "Mystery Science Theatre [sic] 3000," on a Twin Cities UHF channel. HBO's new Comedy Channel, seeking offbeat providers of laughs, picked it up.

The series features gosh-awful old movies ("Untamed Youth") and forgotten TV series ("Captain Video") [sic], with Hodgson and two robots sitting in the front row kibitzing. The original dialog sounds pretty funny in this context and Hodgson inserts a neat comic spin.

If this recalls "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" that occurred to Hodgson and the Comedy Channel. And look what's happened to Woody Allen. Who ever thought recycling could make "Robot Holocaust" fun?