kevin murphy

This week, Thursday to be exact, our alarmingly successful Rifftrax Live show from August 19 will be rebroadcast across the country.  This makes me very happy for many reasons.  First, There are an impressive amount of people who have written or twitted to me expressing their disappointment at missing the live show, I'm happy that it will be piped out once again, and although it won't be live this time, it will be real-time, and hopefully will capture all the flavor of that night, which for me was the most fun I could imagine with my clothes on. 

Second, and since I had so much damn fun doing it from the stage, it'll be an interesting experiment to sit in the audience and watch it with the mobb.  It does however give rise to some nearly metaphysical quandaries:  I'll be sitting in an audience watching a big-screen high-definition screening of my cohorts and me, playing to an audience watching us on a stage some weeks ago, while thousands (thank you so much) watched us from movie theaters, including the one in which I'll be sitting.  There's something freakily Stargate-y about it, although I won't be able to reach in and change the past, meaning my handful of badly flubbed lines, But I'll be tempted.  I'll also experience a weirdness of seeing myself perform, something I don't much like to do, except as part of a critical, note-taking function, in which case my face generally isn't blown up to the size of a Prius and my voice blasted out in Dolby 7.1.  I'm bound to cringe more than I did at Halloween 2.   

But I'm willing to let that self-conscious bullshit go.  I'll be sitting with you folks, the good guys.  What we Riffers do is essentially to be a professional Groundling, an audience member busting through the fourth wall from the wrong side, storming through the front door to take over.  We're on your side, you're on ours.  the invective is aimed at the screen.  So I'll be in good company, and I'll try not to cringe at myself too much.

For those who have already seen it, and those who may miss it again, fear not.  This live theatrical streaming is a really cool technology, and it allows us to do something rather wonderful, which is to bring the fun of a live riff to a whole lot of people, not only in big cities but also in small towns, in nearly every state in the country, and reach people who otherwise would never get a chance without considerable travel and expense.  And we can do it at a price doesn't sting that much.

We'd like to do it again soon, and I really hope we do.  Being up on that stage, cracking wise at Tor Johnson and Dudley Manlove and a host of black-and-white stewardesses, peeking out at the audience joining in the goofiness, I then would glance at those huge cameras in the back of the room and feel a connection with my wife Jane and her parents watching in Minnesota, My sister Kass in Madison, Brother Brian in Illinois, friends in about fifteen states, fans who had written in from nearly every state, including Hawaii; and it may have been the most thrilling moment I've ever had on a stage.  it felt so huge and yet so intimate, a goofy evening with friends, just joking and riffing and singing and acting like an occasional zombie.  

That thrill came from you folks being there.  I'm most grateful.  Thanks to all of you.  Keep watching.

-kwm