Meet our New Head Writer… Elliott Kalan!
almost 10 years ago
– Fri, May 20, 2016 at 11:26:15 PM
Dear MST3K Revival League,
This just in: I can finally share that big introduction I've been waiting to tell you about!
I am happy to confirm that the incredible Elliott Kalan has officially joined Mystery Science Theater 3000 as our new head writer.
To a lot of you, Elliott's name is familiar because he was the former head writer from The Daily Show, but he's written lots of other great stuff too. He was at the top of my wish list, so I'm really happy to have him on board.
Also, I think Elliott’s happy to be getting a break from topical, daily, humor, and is enjoying snuggling into cracking wise on some nice ripe cheesy movies. And I'm even happier to tell you that he's a few months into the job and he still hasn't quit, so… I think we found a good one!
Now, one thing I want to tell you: even though Elliott was also head writer at The Daily Show, it doesn't mean that we're planning to make MST3K more political. He'll explain for himself, but one thing I like about Elliott is that he's really "one of us." Elliott has been a MSTie since he was a teenager, and even more importantly – at least to me – he’s really fun to write with.
Anyway, since Elliott has joined MST3K to help supervise the writing, I thought it might be nice to let him write the rest of this update, and introduce himself to all of you.
Take it away, Elliott!
Hi MSTies and MSTettes!
I’m Elliott Kalan, and I’ll be performing head writerly duties for the new Mystery Science Theater 3000. You may know me as the former head writer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or as co-host of the bad movie podcast The Flop House, or as the writer of Marvel’s Spider-Man and the X-Men miniseries. Or you may not know me at all, which is okay, too.
Whatever the case, it’s nice to finally meet you!
And yes, that means I’ve had the amazing privilege of working for Jon Stewart, Spider-Man, and now Mystery Science Theater. I’m the luckiest man in recorded history. Feel free to hate me for it. Even I kind of hate me for it. I’m so honored and so thrilled to be working with Joel and Jonah and everyone else on Team MST3K. This has literally been my dream job since I was an adolescent. Other kids were sneaking out of the house to go drink beer in the park. I was sneaking into the basement to watch the midnight MST3K rerun on Comedy Central.
For roughly two decades I’ve rued the fact that I was too young and too not-in-Minnesota to work on this show. But now it’s finally happening! This is so exciting! All those hours reading and rereading the Amazing, Colossal Episode Guide are finally paying off!
It’s been a blast working so far, and while I can’t tell you what we’ve got planned I will sum up most of it in one word: silliness. Like, a lot of it. Which is a huge relief to me – after more than a decade of looking into our nation’s political system, it’s nice to only have to look at the worst movies we can find.
Which is not to say these movies aren’t bad. They’re terrible. Just not as soul-crushing as, say, Congress.
Thank you so much to everyone who supported the Kickstarter and, as a happy side effect, made one of my lifelong dreams come true. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. All I can promise in return is that I will try to make this show even goofier than you thought was possible. To me, that is a solemn trust.
Thanks!
Elliott
Okay, hi everyone. It's Joel again.
Now that you've met Elliott... what do you think, sirs? Pretty good, right? If you've got questions for him, go ahead and ask them in the comments. Or on Twitter, if that's your thing.
That's pretty much it for this update, but we're finally making progress on some of the big issues that have been keeping us from sending out your Reward Order Forms… so yeah, we should have more news about that soon.
Cheers and Thanks,
Joel
You heard Joel, people: there's a new boss in town! And also, we've hired some new guy to come up with more riffs for me. How about giving him a big hello?
Just post this message to Twitter & Facebook right now:
