Oh hey, remember when I had a blog? Then I started grad school, then a new job, then another stint of grad school, and suddenly it’s been years since I’ve posted anything.

I’m hoping to change that, and I have a longer post planned for the near future. But I figured I would ease back into blogging with a post about my trip with Chelsea to see Hodgson’s & White’s Cheese-Capades/a recent trip to Madison, WI.

The show featured Joel Hodgson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Wayne White of Pee Wee’s Playhouse, along with Joel’s MST3K co-star Yvonne Freese (Mega-Synthia/GPC 2), singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston, and a backing band, Packer Country (actually The Know-It-All Boyfriends).

Simpsons writer/Stan Against Evil creator Dana Gould was going to be part of the show in his Dr Z persona, but the California wildfires lead to him canceling his appearance. Which is understandable.

The show started with Joel & Wayne running through the highlights of each others careers, with Joel talking about characters Wayne had voiced on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and asking Wayne to do some of their voices. Wayne did the same with the bots Joel created for MST3K, asking him to favor us with things like “the classic Tom Servo voice.”

“Um, other people did the voices,” Joel pointed out.

“Real puppeteers also do the voices, Joel,” Wayne chided gently.

They also did a bit on the Give a Show Projector, which they correctly pointed out was basically a low-powered flashlight that let you display cartoon stills on the wall. They showed a few highlights, giving us examples of how often head injuries were the payoff of the strips. They then showed some updates of a Flintstones strip, guest directed by Quentin Tarantino. But they gave him a Flintstones-style name. Maybe it was Quentin Quartz-antino. I may be wrong on that part.

Here’s the setlist for the show:

We’re an American Band (Grand Funk Railroad cover)

Heard it in a Love Song (Marshall Tucker Band)

Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way (Waylon Jennings)

Freedy Johnston solo set

The Waiting (Tom Petty)

The Lucky One (original)

The Lonely Drummer (original)

Dolores (original)

Freedy Johnston with Packer Country

Bad Reputation (original)

Joel Hodgson & Wayne White with Packer Country, Freedy Johnston and Yvonne Freese

Gitarzan (Ray Stevens. Freedy Johnston performed what would have been Dana Gould’s part)

I’m pretty sure the last song was a cover of Aerosmith’s Train Kept a-Rollin’. Unless it was New York City by Owl City. But that seems less likely. 

After the show we got to meet Joel, Wayne, and Yvonne. I also approached a man who I thought might be MST3K writer Paul Chaplin. Turns out he was a very nice man named Jay, who was a childhood friend of Joel. My guess is this brings the number of people who have been mistaken for MST3K writer Paul Chaplin to a total of one.

I was also recognized for something I have written for the first time outside of Iowa! We ended up sitting next to Mary Jo Pehl show viewers Wise Twin Sailor and his wife Mary, who have been following the drama of my stolen phone over the last few years. That’s the kind of thing I probably should have posted about on a blog or something…

The next day we wandered around Madison a bit, visiting Retro Revolution, Meep Meepleton’s World of Fun, Willy Street Treasure Shop and a few others. 

We also got to go to Rocky Rococo’s for lunch. For a brief period in the late 80s/early 90s, Rocky Rococo’s tried expanding into Iowa. I remember going to the location in Cedar Falls several times. The one we went to in Madison seemed like it hadn’t changed since the 90s. It was an enjoyable bit of nostalgia. 

I’ll see you back here soon for a less fun post.