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In this episode of Castle Talk, Jason chats with former Brady and Gidget Caryn Richman, who plays a key role as a psychic who may be in over her head in the new film The Puppetman on Shudder.
Posted in: Books, Podcasts, Pop Culture | Tagged: Bridget & Mary Jo, mary jo pehl, MST3K, rifftrax
Mary Jo Pehl of Rifftrax Returns to The Brain That Wouldn't Die
In this episode of Castle Talk, Jason chats with Mary Jo Pehl of Rifftrax. Pehl is a writer, comedian, and commentator, published everywhere from magazines and anthologies to NPR's All Things Considered, and she's the author of the 2022 book DUMB DUMB DUMB: My Mother's Book Reviews which came out this past May. But many of us know her as one of the voices and minds behind the Peabody-Award-winning Mystery Science Theater 3000, and over the last few years as a part of the comedy duo Bridget & Mary Jo on the Rifftrax video series with writer/comedian Bridget Nelson. Their most recent release is a new riff on the 1962 cult film The Brain That Wouldn't Die.
A lot of Pehl's conversation circles around returning to a film that she helped turn into a beloved MST3K episode nearly thirty years ago– The Brain That Wouldn't Die was an early episode on which Pehl was a writer for the show and was also the first episode in which "Mike Nelson" (a TV version of (and played by) writer/comedian Michael J Nelson) acted as the host of the show. Now, Bridget Nelson and Pehl return to the show. Across the expanse of time, different jokes appear, Pehl says. They wouldn't have "pushed back" against the material then the way she would now, and whole worlds of gendered conversation have opened up in the intervening years.
Pehl also talks about the creation of her book Dumb Dumb Dumb, which resulted from finding a trove of short reviews written by Pehl's late mother on notecards. The results are often as hilarious as they are koan-like ("Brass Verdict/Michael Connelly/Can't remember but kept me interested.")
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Jason Henderson hosts the Castle of Horror and Castle Talk Podcasts, the "Castle of Horror Anthology" series editor. The newest volume is Castle of Horror Anthology Volume 8: Thinly Veiled 80s. He is the author of The Serpent's Nest: Young Captain Nemo from Macmillan Children's Books. His most recent book is 18 Miles from Town: a Midlife Crisis Thriller. Find Jason on Twitter at @jasondhenderson.
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