J. Elvis Weinstein (the original Tom Servo)...

[Space Muppet]

'Thought Spiral' is a podcast hosted by Andy Kindler & Josh Weinstein, who happens to be the original Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

In a recent podcast, Josh detailed his experiences working on MST3K & how he was worked over by Joel Hodgson & Jim Mallon. When the show went national, everyone got big bucks... except Josh.

Really frustrating to listen to, I really felt for the guy. Very disappointed in Hodgson in particular, I thought he was a nicer guy. Guess I was wrong.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Dear god, that interviewer was awful. His voice also really bothered me.

But anyway, to be fair, Josh was still a minor at the time and much younger than the other crew members (not to mention, he didn't have as much experience as the other members with comedy; his jokes really show it), so I can understand why they didn't pay him as much.

I can understand why you have issues with Jim because he's proven to be a real problem and he's pretty much the reason Joel and Trace left to begin with, but in Joel's defense, this happened 29-30 years ago when the show was still getting its feet wet, and from what Josh mentioned in other interviews, he wasn't too keen with the show becoming professional, and he mentioned himself that he ended up moving on from the situation (and let's not forget, they also worked together in Cinematic Titanic and there have been no stories of them still having issues with one another).

And if I'm gonna be honest, taking him off the show was a good idea. He made Servo such an annoying ladies man wannabe and Dr. Earhart had little to no character to him. It felt like he was just "Dr. Forrester's assistant."

End of the day, I don't think you should judge Joel over one incident. No one is perfect at the end of the day.

Joel never came off as a ******; I've never met him in person (but he is definitely on my bucket list) but he always came off as a pretty chill, down to earth guy. Even the nicest guys have their ugly moments, and again, echoing my post above, Josh and Joel seem to have no issues with each other anymore.

I'll even go as far as saying one of my friends on the forrestcrow forums had the privilege of meeting him twice and he had a wonderful experience with both.

End of the day, sometimes it all comes down to business decisions. But if you still want to hold a grudge against Joel then I'll let you do you.