VIRUS may be the most disappointing riff yet

[CountMeowt]

I don't have a lot of opinions about Virus because I only watched it once and I usually need to watch a riff many times before I can say whether I really like it or not.
I basically agree with most comments, both the negative and positive about RiffTrax.
It does feel stale but I don't think it's “dead” yet.
I do however wholeheartedly agree that they need new writers, I've held this opinion for a long time now. And I agree with peephalk that they should try the old-school approach, although I think it's difficult because Connor and Sean live in different states, so everything has to be done by Zoom, I guess.

Regarding the hit-or-miss, I think it's been like that since day one. But every time I think it's gonna be all duds they release something I'll love; for instance, prior to releasing 'Day of the Assassin', they had released a few riffs I didn't like all that much, and at that time I thought "well, it's over, I guess" and then they released 'Day...' and it became an instant Top5 for me.
But one person's Top5 is someone else's least favourite or even hated riff.

One thing that I wanted to get off my chest for a long time now is my “problem” with Bill. For quite some time now, Bill seems to not want to let jokes “stand” (or “land”, or “fly”). He'll tell a joke and instead of just letting it “stay”, he'll continue by saying shit that isn’t all that funny. He does that on live shows too which is really annoying.
One example is from what I think is Light Blast, which is one of my favourites. Some character asks “what's in it?” to which Bill riffs:
“Oh, lots of things” - and I go “hah, I get that reference. now let us move on to the next joke”, but then he continues:
“Chicken, corn...” - and I go “I already got it, you don't need to continue, thanks”. and he continues!:
“I got it from Johnny Longbow, ok?!” - to which I just groan. And to make matters worse, Kevin does a really forced laugh right after it that just irritates me.
This is just one example but it has happened a lot. I don't remember that happening when they started or during their peak. I know it seems small but I find it quite irritating, especially Kevin's forced laugh.
but I digress

Now this thread just made me think of the dreaded day when MKB will stop riffing, I know it'll happen eventually (obviously) but it's so sad to think about it; it makes the whole thing about staleness and duds just minor aspects of the whole thing.

and yes, more Janet & Cole riffs, please. How about a special riff of MKB with Janet & Cole, or with MJ and Bridget ? or another riff with Weird Al...

[SuspiriaTrumpsItFollowsCrap]

In "Virus", there were more than a few fab jokes, yet a lot of weak-sauce jibes.  The weak-sauce material was clearly created from the non Kevin/Mike/Bill writers (look at these Millennial "writers" and their attempts at jokes, when they are alone and "only amongst themselves" during a stream when none of their comedic elders are present; no funny jokes).  It's like Gersbeck (whom is often funny) compared to his partner, whom is rarely funny (why else would they reduce their youtube presence?).  Gen Y is often funny, but Millennials (a privileged behavioral subset of Gen Y) are almost *never* funny. When anyone has witnessed the travesty of comedic attempts by the Millennial writers on-their-own, it's wretched. When you listen to jokes primarily written by MKB, the laughs ensue.  Therefore, when we are asked this question regarding "Virus", it behooves us to answer in a manner which evaluates the jokes individually. The "boomer" jokes (and Kevin is a boomer, as is Bill, and Mike squeaks by as the youngest boomer on the cusp of "booming") land more often than not, whereas the millenniwank/hipsterwank jokes (like most Jonah "hipsterwank" jokes) fall flat. Again, Gen Y can be funny, but there are no funny Millennials nor hipsters. Thus, I do not think "Virus" is the most disappointing Rifftrax yet, but ALL Rifftrax jokes written by Millennial writers are more disappointing than material written by non-coddled, non-helicopter-parented performers whom grew up before "screentime", and whom had to make their bones on-stage.  The greater the preponderance of millenniwank jokes becomes, will mean the "less funny" that Rifftrax becomes.  But if Rifftrax hires funny Gen Y writers rather than millenniwanks, the result shall be different.  It's up to them; MKB can say "In a Comedic sense, the Millenniwank Emperor has no clothes!".  Or they can clap at the naked Emperor and play musical instruments as the Titanic sinks into freezing waters.

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The Poll: true democracy! Bwah hah!

[thecellar]

MST3K s04e06, Attack of the Giant Leeches: In the scene where they're hunting for bodies in the swamp, one of the dogs howls. Servo says, "Yeah, yeah, we know, you saw the best minds of your generation destroyed by madness." What I like about the original MST3K is that the writers worked from the assumption that the audience was smart and cultured enough to get all the references, or at least look them up. I know Rifftrax is going for a different type of audience and there's no point in wishing it were more like MST3K, but IMO that's not enough to justify riffing that's merely snide and sarcastic most of the time.

[blurg]

In "Virus", there were more than a few fab jokes, yet a lot of weak-sauce jibes.  The weak-sauce material was clearly created from the non Kevin/Mike/Bill writers (look at these Millennial "writers" and their attempts at jokes, when they are alone and "only amongst themselves" during a stream when none of their comedic elders are present; no funny jokes).  It's like Gersbeck (whom is often funny) compared to his partner, whom is rarely funny (why else would they reduce their youtube presence?).  Gen Y is often funny, but Millennials (a privileged behavioral subset of Gen Y) are almost *never* funny. When anyone has witnessed the travesty of comedic attempts by the Millennial writers on-their-own, it's wretched. When you listen to jokes primarily written by MKB, the laughs ensue.  Therefore, when we are asked this question regarding "Virus", it behooves us to answer in a manner which evaluates the jokes individually. The "boomer" jokes (and Kevin is a boomer, as is Bill, and Mike squeaks by as the youngest boomer on the cusp of "booming") land more often than not, whereas the millenniwank/hipsterwank jokes (like most Jonah "hipsterwank" jokes) fall flat. Again, Gen Y can be funny, but there are no funny Millennials nor hipsters. Thus, I do not think "Virus" is the most disappointing Rifftrax yet, but ALL Rifftrax jokes written by Millennial writers are more disappointing than material written by non-coddled, non-helicopter-parented performers whom grew up before "screentime", and whom had to make their bones on-stage.  The greater the preponderance of millenniwank jokes becomes, will mean the "less funny" that Rifftrax becomes.  But if Rifftrax hires funny Gen Y writers rather than millenniwanks, the result shall be different.  It's up to them; MKB can say "In a Comedic sense, the Millenniwank Emperor has no clothes!".  Or they can clap at the naked Emperor and play musical instruments as the Titanic sinks into freezing waters.

---

The Poll: true democracy!  Bwah hah!

[billythefist]

[Torgo]

I don't have a lot of opinions about Virus because I only watched it once and I usually need to watch a riff many times before I can say whether I really like it or not.
I basically agree with most comments, both the negative and positive about RiffTrax.
It does feel stale but I don't think it's “dead” yet.
I do however wholeheartedly agree that they need new writers, I've held this opinion for a long time now. And I agree with peephalk that they should try the old-school approach, although I think it's difficult because Connor and Sean live in different states, so everything has to be done by Zoom, I guess.

Regarding the hit-or-miss, I think it's been like that since day one. But every time I think it's gonna be all duds they release something I'll love; for instance, prior to releasing 'Day of the Assassin', they had released a few riffs I didn't like all that much, and at that time I thought "well, it's over, I guess" and then they released 'Day...' and it became an instant Top5 for me.
But one person's Top5 is someone else's least favourite or even hated riff.

One thing that I wanted to get off my chest for a long time now is my “problem” with Bill. For quite some time now, Bill seems to not want to let jokes “stand” (or “land”, or “fly”). He'll tell a joke and instead of just letting it “stay”, he'll continue by saying shit that isn’t all that funny. He does that on live shows too which is really annoying.
One example is from what I think is Light Blast, which is one of my favourites. Some character asks “what's in it?” to which Bill riffs:
“Oh, lots of things” - and I go “hah, I get that reference. now let us move on to the next joke”, but then he continues:
“Chicken, corn...” - and I go “I already got it, you don't need to continue, thanks”. and he continues!:
“I got it from Johnny Longbow, ok?!” - to which I just groan. And to make matters worse, Kevin does a really forced laugh right after it that just irritates me.
This is just one example but it has happened a lot. I don't remember that happening when they started or during their peak. I know it seems small but I find it quite irritating, especially Kevin's forced laugh.
but I digress

Now this thread just made me think of the dreaded day when MKB will stop riffing, I know it'll happen eventually (obviously) but it's so sad to think about it; it makes the whole thing about staleness and duds just minor aspects of the whole thing.

and yes, more Janet & Cole riffs, please. How about a special riff of MKB with Janet & Cole, or with MJ and Bridget ? or another riff with Weird Al...

Count, I'm singling out your comment because besides agreeing with a lot of it, you mentioned some things I feel people miss:

1. It can take more than just one viewing to really enjoy a riff.  I have no idea why, but that happens to me all the time.
2. It's always been hit and miss.
3 (sort of). You were worried about quality until Day of the Assassin came out and it became a top 5 favorite.  I've watched that one twice and both times have come away unimpressed.  That may change with more viewings, but the point is, what someone finds great, someone else may find lame.  The whole "one man's trash" philosophy. 

Something I've felt since the MST3K days, is their has to be something that really stands out from the movie that clicks with the writers/riffers. It could be a character, repeated beats, the filmmaker's reach exceeds their grasp, whatever.  Those things get me invested in the riff.  If you try to make fun of something like Ouija Shark, it makes it harder (for me) to care about it.

Lastly (I swear) I too don't like thinking about when MKB aren't riffing anymore.  That's also why I don't sweat it when a new riff comes out that doesn't hit MY top 5.  At least not at first viewing

[I Want To Go Faster]

 except for the fact that it's public domain.

There we go, that's why they chose it. 

Lady, now I need to fish out my copy of Battle Royale! for a rewatch. Katniss and Peeta can eat it. Lol.

Someone else used the word "lifeforce" above, and I'll say again that I'd love to see how the guys handle that 1985 classic without cutting a single minute from the runtime. 

I *love* Lifeforce.  Have re-watched it many times. 

(... although I would never try to argue it's great cinema ... it's possibly not even *good* cinema.)

You are so right Jet, it would be amazing to see it Riffed.

[Flowers789]

They've been downhill for a long time. Rewatch an old riff from 2010 and see the difference. Also all the new writers are bad and over sensitive and they cut down movies too much. They shouldn't cut anything out of movies

[SuspiriaTrumpsItFollowsCrap]

Response to Blurg and Billy:

At least in the old days, the funny days of rifftrax, MKB wrote their own jokes.  Which - as proven by the poll of this topic and hundreds of posts on this forum and hundreds on other forums - indicates that the hipsterwank humour fails compared to non-adolescent humour.

The “use” of juvenile gifs (which other people created; neither you nor the other gif-junkie created the gifs used above, despite how easy it is to create gifs) is like swiping other peoples’ jokes and/or replies versus making your own, and underscores my point. You kicked the soccer ball past your own goalie to score a point against your own team. But of course, that is the hipsterwank way.

Thus, your reply and the following reply of the other gif-junkie provide an object lesson to the hipsterwank wannabe joke-writers of any riff-show, which is absolutely “on-topic” for this thread.  The lesson: When anyone takes the results of the poll into account, it’s clear that individuals whom giggle while munching on over-sweetened breakfast cereal while watching SpongeBob after sucking the smoke from a Mary Jane device cannot express humour that will allow the rifftrax brand to continue to be successful creatively, nor maintain the profit-margin of a few years ago.

But, by all means, feel free to (again) swipe the work of others and thereby “gifsturbate” a bit more, in order to prove (again) how unfunny people addicted to “gifsturbating” truly are.  The souls of Rodney Dangerfield, Judy Tenuta, Phyllis Diller and Gilbert Gottfried will thank you for it.  And since I have remained on topic, out of respect to Stormium, I hope that this retort will be allowed to remain on this thread.

[billythefist]

Response to Blurg and Billy:

At least in the old days, the funny days of rifftrax, MKB wrote their own jokes.  Which - as proven by the poll of this topic and hundreds of posts on this forum and hundreds on other forums - indicates that the hipsterwank humour fails compared to non-adolescent humour.

The “use” of juvenile gifs (which other people created; neither you nor the other gif-junkie created the gifs used above, despite how easy it is to create gifs) is like swiping other peoples’ jokes and/or replies versus making your own, and underscores my point. You kicked the soccer ball past your own goalie to score a point against your own team. But of course, that is the hipsterwank way.

Thus, your reply and the following reply of the other gif-junkie provide an object lesson to the hipsterwank wannabe joke-writers of any riff-show, which is absolutely “on-topic” for this thread.  The lesson: When anyone takes the results of the poll into account, it’s clear that individuals whom giggle while munching on over-sweetened breakfast cereal while watching SpongeBob after sucking the smoke from a Mary Jane device cannot express humour that will allow the rifftrax brand to continue to be successful creatively, nor maintain the profit-margin of a few years ago.

But, by all means, feel free to (again) swipe the work of others and thereby “gifsturbate” a bit more, in order to prove (again) how unfunny people addicted to “gifsturbating” truly are.  The souls of Rodney Dangerfield, Judy Tenuta, Phyllis Diller and Gilbert Gottfried will thank you for it.  And since I have remained on topic, out of respect to Stormium, I hope that this retort will be allowed to remain on this thread.

You mentioned how easy it is to make your own gifs, but you don't realize that your post doesnt deserve even that much effort