We had another grand weekend of shows in Austin, Texas. Thank you for attending and treating us like family. Thanks to MJ and RAD for hosting us in their lovely town. We truly had a wonderful time.
Now I’ll answer a few more of your 20 questions.
13. Mr. Limpet
“Your impersonations (Ed Wynn, The Riddler, Tony Curtis to name only a few) are spot-on and not the usual fare. I greatly admire your amazing ability. Since we’re the same age, I’m curious to know if the exploration and discovery of this talent of yours was born from any of the great impersonators from our generation, i.e. David Frye, Frank Gorshin, George Kirby, etc. or were you inclined toward your gift independently?”
TB – Mr. Limpet,
I admire all those people you mention. There was a show called, I believe, THE COPY CATS. I loved watching Frank Gorshin. The whole cast was great but I always loved his stuff. He did a bit as Kirk Douglas singing A BOY NAMED SUE. Brilliant.
I never set out to do impressions; it sort of evolved. I think everyone has a few voices that they are good at.
14. fatheroftears
“Was this the principle used when The Umbilicus was built?”
TB – I think it was the “tethered satellite” idea.
15. Interoceter:
“Are the other cast members jealous of you being the coolest of them? Also I have to second the above about the voice work. Your impersonations are killer. My favorites are Gregory Peck and James Mason. Will we get to hear more of them in upcoming CT episodes?”
TB – Oh, come on. We all know Frank is the cool one.
I’ll sprinkle a few in from time to time when it is appropriate. There are voices I just don’t do and there have been a couple of times on recent CT movies where I was assigned a line and I had to pass it on. In SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, Josh does a killer version of Shatner reading the word ‘sabotage’. In BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRES Joel does an awesome Geraldine ala Flip Wilson.
16. nummymuffinCTinSFbutter
“Well, come on Trace!! Tell me what type of books line your library walls? What’s your current fave? favorite authors past and present…..?”
TB - Well I sort of covered this already. I read all sorts of books but stray toward nonfiction. I don’t do a lot of fiction, but I do have my favorites. Vonnegut, James Elroy, Douglas Adams, Stephen Fry…
17. ic8spots
“WHY IS MY BUTT SO ITCHY?!?!?!”
TB – Okay I’ll even answer the serious questions. If it’s like mine, it’s probably these pants.
18. ic8spots
“I saw this stuff at the store…but it seemed newfangled and scary…it’s called soap. should i try it?”
TB – Yes, soap is good idea. You might try accompanying it with warm water
19. Wesely Stamper asks:
“Who was more diabolical, Dr. Forrester or Professor Moriarty?”
TB – Professor Moriarty was a criminal genius, and super-villain. Dr. Forrester was a wanna-be Mad Scientist and an hacky opportunist.
20. psychokitty asks:
“I notice you’ve lived on the west coast but returned to the midwest. I was raised in So. Cal and reside in Minneapolis, so I can completely understand wanting to stay in MN in spite of the bitter hellatious cold. Why do you gravitate to the midwest/Minnesota in particular?”
TB – I grew up here, and my Dad and my sister live here. I live in a small town, and I must say it is a nice change from Los Angeles. I like the Southern California weather but the congestion was taking its toll stress-wise. I got tired of all the billboards and visual pollution involved with living there.
20a.) “Is the beard an attempt to beat the freezy freezy weather? Would you have grown one if you had not been playing the beardless Dr. Forrester? Did you know they sell razors at Target?”
TB – I grow a beard every now and again. It’s like a hobby.
20b.) “If you hadn’t been handed the Crow puppet, what would you have done with your life?”
TB – Hard to say. I would have done something in the comedy area. I don’t really speculate on the “what if”. This is what we have; this is what we are doing.
21. nummymuffin asks because SOMEONE has to:
“If you were a tree what kind of tree would you be?”
TB – Monkey Puzzle (araucaria araucana) It takes 50 years to mature and produce a nut.
22. Flopsy T Hamster would like to know:
“If you had decided to stay with MST3K during the move to The Sci Fi Channel, do you think you’d have wanted the show to move in a slightly new direction as it did, or would have wanted it to remain the way it was on Comedy Central?”
TB – The SCI-FI offer was not on the table when I decided to leave. I always thought of MST as a comedy show first and foremost set against a Sci-Fi backdrop. Comedy Central was the perfect place for it on cable, especially during the early years. I know a lot of the fans took exception to some things the channel had done over the years with MST, but I think the channel and all the people there who championed the show deserve credit for keeping the show around as long as they did. The channel was not the bad guy.
I don’t really think it needed to change. It sounds like that need came from outside sources. I wasn’t there for SCI-FI, but we never had notes from the outside before that. When a show starts making concessions to people from outside who don’t really have the shows best interests at heart, that’s rarely a good idea for the show.
22a. “Do you think that changing the show up a bit might have made the show more interesting for you to work on?”
The show was constantly changing and always interesting to work on. My frustration was with the work environment at BBI. It really looked to me like season 7 was to be the final year for MST, and I had personally decided that for me it was.
I wanted to stay around and see how the film would do, but with the corporate structure the way it was, it became clear that getting any other show or project off the ground - and have it be a fair and equitable situation to all involved - was not possible.
22b. “Would you have made any changes to Crow after he was abandoned in space by himself for centuries, or left him the way he was?”
TB – I can’t speculate on what might have been.
That’s all the time I have for your questions this week. I promise that I will answer more of your 20 questions next time.
In the meantime, I’ll see you in Seattle this weekend for two shows Friday and Saturday at the King Cat Theater. We are also making a special appearance at SCARECROW VIDEO, on Thursday night.
TB
