Sean Thomason

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments is a 2026 American limited series created and written by Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. A crossover of the 1989-99 cult sci-fi comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, which Nelson, Murphy and Corbett worked on variously throughout its time on the air, and their spiritual successor RiffTrax, made by them without the cooperation of their MST3K colleagues.

For the first time ever, we’ve assembled five shorts about death, loneliness, and dismemberment into one big, old-fashioned yukfest. On their own, they would have been too depressing to put out into the world. But together, they form into a Voltron of hilarity, if Voltron was eventually going to die facedown in the snow, sad and alone.

In RiffTrax Live: Reefer Madness, Mike, Kevin and Bill deliver their trademark form of rapid fire comedy in front of a live audience! Lines could be flubbed! Tomatoes could be thrown! Mountain lion attacks are entirely possible!

He’s back! You probably didn’t know that he was gone, but he was and now he’s back! Swamp Thing, AKA Swampington Montgomery Thing, returns to thwart the sinister plans of the evil Doctor Arcane, who apparently is also back. But! Here for the first time is Heather Locklear, the young woman who is drawn to the mysterious charms of Mr. Thing and desires a love that is both human and plant-based. A sequel to the Wes Craven cult classic, The Return of Swamp Thing is decidedly NOT directed by Wes Craven, but that’s fine, because it means this one is bigger, more fun, and way more riffable. Plus, to kick things off, a puppet goes to the dentist in Danny's Dental Date, a short that's way scarier than anything you'd find in Dr. Arcane's lab.

It’s the year 2762. The galaxy is plagued with warring factions using hokey special effects to destroy each other. Out of this chaos a hero rises: the dashing, exquisitely bearded Captain Saber Raine (Casper Van Dien). Saber and his elite squad of commandos (other actors) embark on a dangerous quest to save the Prince and Princess of an unnamed planet from the clutches of the Evil Overlord Sinjin - an overlord so evil HIS VERY SKULL IS FILLED WITH CHERRY JELL-O. Can our heroes fend off Sinjin’s army of mutant androids and rescue the Prince and Princess? Probably! After all it’s Space Opera, but you never know! Join Mike, Kevin and Bill for an unforgettable Sword-And-Laser Swashbuckling-ly fun time, beamed to theaters nationwide!

Like a comet streaking across the sky with a trail of suffering, ennui, and industrial puncture wounds behind it, GrimTrax Returns! Five shorts too grim to release individually, including one we recorded TWO YEARS AGO and held onto for just this moment.

Santa’s sleigh is stuck on the beach, and only one creature can help him: The Ice Cream Bunny! Unfortunately, the fire truck that the Ice Cream Bunny drives needs repairs, so he’ll be a little late coming from Pirates World, the run-down theme park that he lives in. We’d like to take this moment to remind you that, yes, this is a REAL movie that people ACTUALLY made. Filmed in front of a live audience at the historic Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, Mike, Kevin and Bill are delighted to inflict, er, present it LIVE for the very first time!

From the strange and ridiculously colorful world of K. Gordon Murray comes the 1959 Holiday classic Santa Claus. Made in Mexico and dubbed into glorious English, Santa Claus tells the story of, well, Santa Claus, who lives in a big white castle above us in Geosynchronous Orbit and watches over us all in a way that would make the NSA jealous. It’s Christmas Eve, and on Earth poor little Lupita wishes for a doll. Santa hears her wish and prepares for his yearly visit, helped by the heavily medicated Merlin the Wizard and Santa’s unintentionally creepy mechanical reindeer.

Join Mike, Kevin and Bill, along with guests Bridget Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, the Mads from MST3K Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff, and special guest Paul F. Tompkins and relive this amazing summer-themed night of riffing and comedy!

Bill and Kevin are joined onstage by the great Paul F. Tompkins, and together they host and riff an amazing set of bizarre short films. The shorts cover every subject under the sun (y’know, because “Day”), from workplace safety to childhood safety to sentient talking pillow safety. And that’s not all - we’ve got more guests, riffing teams and legends galore! John Hodgman, Frank Conniff & Trace Beaulieu, Cole Stratton & Janet Varney, and Bridget Nelson with Sean Thomason, RiffTrax Senior Writer, making his live riffing debut.

Starship Troopers is the tale of young trooper Johnny Rico, played by Casper Van Dien, star of this and...well, some direct to video sequels of this, mostly. He’s joined in the war by Denise Richards, impossible to believe as a gifted starship pilot long before she was impossible to believe as a gifted nuclear scientist in that Bond movie. He’s also joined by the great Neil Patrick Harris, who is somehow much easier to believe as an intelligence officer with psychic abilities that help him communicate with the giant bug aliens. Throw in Michael Ironside, because duh, it’s a war movie, you’re gonna need Michael Ironside, and Jake Busey, because duh, he just showed up on set and wouldn’t leave, add a love triangle, heaps of alien splatter, and you’ve got the sprawling, great, goofy mess that is Starship Troopers! Join Mike, Kevin, and Bill for this gorilla-gram free version of the blockbuster live show!

In the futuristic world of 2004, Jean-Claude Van Damme isn’t just doing leg splits, he’s splitting the very barriers of space and time. Get ready for TIMECOP! Yes, it’s one word! After the death of his wife (Mia Sara) at the hands of time-traveling goons, Jean-Claude Van Damme is recruited to an elite task force of time-based police officers. Why does the government have an elite task force of time-based police officers? TIMECOP may, or may not, have answers to that perfectly reasonable question! Unfortunately, a U.S. Senator (Ron Silver) has gained access to their system of time travel and he’s using it to commit unspeakable evils – huge campaign finance violations – across generations. Imagine a nightmarish world where stuff like THAT happens. You can’t! Will the Timecops stop the senator in time to save the future?

For those who missed it in theaters, this is a completely new riff of “Manos” The Hands of Fate, the Texas-fertilizer-salesman-directed classic made famous by Mystery Science Theater 3000. All new jokes, same old Torgo. See Mike, Kevin and Bill riff it all on stage in front of a live audience at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville! PLUS! Before the main event, a live riffing of two extra-demented shorts. At Your Fingertips: Cylinders, from the same insane child arts & crafts series that brought you Grasses and Boxes. And Welcome Back, Norman which introduced us all to revolting folk hero Norman, along with his now famous (and also revolting) catchphrase.

Mediocrities, Assemble! Super Zeroes is a special packed with the best moments of some of the corniest vintage superhero flicks ever made. Complete with host segments from Mike, Kevin and Bill!

Is there any possible downside to accepting an invitation from Vincent Price to spend an evening in a creepy mansion that was built on something called “Haunted Hill?” If so, Mike, Kevin and Bill couldn’t find it! In fact they were so eager to join Mr. Price and his terrifying moustache that they riffed the film live, on-stage, and now you can reap the rewards from the safety of home with this live show DVD! Yes, horror classic House on Haunted Hill provides a mesmerizing walk down “people actually used to find this SCARY?!?” lane. Join the RiffTrax guys as they bring their special brand of rapid-fire comedic commentary to every skeleton-hanging-from-visible-wires, clumsy sexual overtone, and a stunningly inept test pilot whose “heroics” typically lead him to bloody his own nose after locking himself in a broom closet!

Star Wars: lots of people hate it, and those are just its biggest fans. But even if you’re a casual Star Wars fan who can’t tell Jyn Erso from Jizz Wailing, you have to admit, it inspired a whole lot of crap. Hunks of Junk is a collection of this crap, which a generous critic might say was “inspired by Star Wars” and a more accurate critic might say “appears to be at least 60% stolen footage from Star Wars.” There’s Turkish Star Wars, Japanese Star Wars, Italian Star Wars, He-Man Star Wars, John Boy Star Wars, direct-to-video Ewok Star Wars, animated Star Wars, even Donny and Marie Star Wars. We’ve even riffed Ernest Cline’s Fanboys, which shows that the author of Ready Player One can write a deeply emotional work without relying on tired pop culture references (we’re kidding, it’s worse than his poetry). Mike, Kevin, and Bill provide bantha fodder, er, host segments in between riffs. So what are you waiting for? Get into the garbage chute, flyboy, it’s time for Hunks of Junk!

Mike, Kevin and Bill were joined on stage by their MST3K colleagues at the State Theatre in Minneapolis to bring it back to their roots in an MST3K cast reunion the likes of which have never been seen before! Joining the guys are their old cohorts Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), Trace Beaulieu (Crow, Dr. Forrestor), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester), Bridget Nelson (Nuveena, Mr. B), as well as Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson, AND the host of the revived MST, Jonah Ray, for a hilarious night of riffing for RiffTrax's 20th Live event. Taking turns in various permutations to riff on a slew of old-timey shorts, the show culminates in a Super Riff-A-Palooza finale with all nine riffers on stage at once!