Line #16 Creator/JoelHodgson


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3	->''"Sometimes I go into my own little world. It's okay, they know me there."''
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5	Joel Gordon Hodgson (born February 20, 1960 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin) is an American comedian, writer, and actor best known as the creator and original host of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''.
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7	Hodgson started out as a prop comic, working comedy clubs and making appearances on ''[[Series/LateNight Late Night with David Letterman]]'' and ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. After meeting Jim Mallon, the production manager of St. Paul's KTMA station, he came up with the concept for ''[=MST3K=]'' and began going through KTMA's library to find old movies that could be featured and riffed on the show. He was partly inspired by the film ''Film/SilentRunning'', which was about a man stranded in space with only robots to keep him company. Hodgson built the robot puppets and set for the show in one night. His subsequent sleepy-eyed appearance in [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000PilotTheGreenSlime the pilot]], which was taped the following day, was incorporated into the show as a permanent aspect of his performance. Hodgson hosted ''[=MST3K=]'' as the character [[TheDanza Joel Robinson]] from its debut in 1988 until partway through its fifth season in 1993. He left the show due to [[CreativeDifferences creative differences]] with Mallon and handed over the hosting duties to head writer Creator/MikeNelson.
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9	Hodgson's first project after leaving ''[=MST3K=]'' was an Creator/{{HBO}} pilot called ''The TV Wheel'' that was not picked up. He worked as a writer for ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'' and continued to make occasional TV appearances, including a recurring role on ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' and a return to ''[=MST3K=]'' in 1999 for the show's [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S10E01Soultaker tenth season premiere]]. Later on in his career, he became a voice actor when he began playing Mayor Bill Dewey on ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''.
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11	In 2007, eight years after ''[=MST3K=]'' ended its run, Hodgson began a new riffing project called ''WebVideo/CinematicTitanic'' alongside ''[=MST3K=]'' alums Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl and J. Elvis Weinstein. They toured for a number of years before the project came to an end. Hodgson also reunited with Beaulieu for the short-lived sci-fi comedy ''Series/OtherSpace'' in which they played characters similar to the ones they had portrayed on ''[=MST3K=]''. In 2012 he appeared as a guest in the first season of Creator/JerrySeinfeld's web series ''WebVideo/ComediansInCarsGettingCoffee''.
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13	In 2013, Hodgson began hosting a revival of the ''[=MSTSK=] Turkey Day'' concept on Website/{{YouTube}}. Every Thanksgiving, when the show was still running, Creator/ComedyCentral would air fan-favorite episodes as part of a marathon that fans could watch while eating their Thanksgiving dinner. The return of Turkey Day proved to be a hit with the fanbase and sparked interest in a revival of the show itself. In 2015, Hodgson announced a Website/{{Kickstarter}} campaign to do exactly that. The campaign was a huge success and the revival debuted on Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2017. The show is currently hosted by comedian Jonah Ray with Hodgson serving as executive producer. There have been several ''[=MST3K=] Live'' tours, one of which featured Hodgson returning to riff alongside Jonah and the Bots and another featured Joel without Jonah. In 2019, Joel told Kickstarter backers that the show would not be returning to Netflix but promised to explore other options for the future of the series. That would ultimately pay off in 2021, when a second Kickstarter campaign helped to fund a 13th season of the show, this time to be hosted on an online platform known as the Gizmoplex. The 13th season will be split between episodes hosted by Joel, Jonah and newcomer Emily Marsh.
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15	!!Tropes:
16	* ArchEnemy: Creator/{{Gallagher}}. Hodgson once found Creator/{{Gallagher}} rummaging through his prop collection, presumably to steal his ideas. This led to many anti-Gallagher jokes on ''[=MST3K=]''.
17	* StartMyOwn: After no fewer than three cancellations of ''[=MST3K=]'', he finally decided to launch his very own streaming platform Gizmoplex, getting to completely be his own boss for the first time and not beholden to any network demands.
18	* TechnicianVsPerformer: The ''[=MST3K=]'' relaunch has made clear that Joel is far more a technician as opposed to Mike Nelson's performer, with a sizable interest in building out the setting of the series and introducing new characters, whereas Mike's ''Podcast/{{Rifftrax}}'' is purely about the jokes.
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Context Creator / JoelHodgson