Lesley

Lesley Kinzel (she/her) is a writer and editor. She was Deputy Editor at women’s media website xoJane.com until 2016, and she is a writer, associate producer, and community engagement mastermind for the record-breaking Kickstarter revival of cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000. As a veteran of online publishing and community building, she also manages social media for national clients, and works as a communications consultant for some very nice nonprofits. She also had a super fun part-time job in a sex shop, until COVID put an end to that. Lesley lives in Providence, RI with her cat Sausage, where she spends her free time fermenting vegetables and crocheting.
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WATCH: Do You Want to Know MORE About the MST3K Live Cast? Check Out Our New Interviews Coming Soon on Twitch!

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Hey MSTie crew! I hope you all had restful holidays, and that 2021 is treating every single one of you with the tenderness you deserve! 

We’ve got something new and exciting for you today — we’re unveiling a series of cast interviews between Alternaversal’s own delightful Matt McGinnis and the MST3K Live cast of Emily Marsh (Emily), Yvonne Freese (Mega-Synthia/GPC), Nate Begle (Crow), and Conor McGiffin (Tom Servo). We’ll be running a series of these interview segments on our MST3K channel over on Twitch. Want to know more about our MST3K cast members? Consider this your engraved invitation to get to know them a little better.

We’re sharing this first look here with you today, and we hope you enjoy it. If you do, you can catch the rest of the interviews exclusively on Twitch very soon. And as always, let us know what you think in comments below.

Thanks team!

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POLL: Which Invention Would You Rather Get as a Gift?

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It’s another holiday-themed poll! Come on this journey with me, won’t you?

In the spirit of the season, your kindly Aunt Susan has brought you a gift. Despite Aunt Susan’s very mediocre record with gift-giving, you gamely open the tastefully wrapped package to reveal her selection for you. Keeping in mind that you don’t have the Mads’ Wish Squisher on hand to convert your gifts to something better (or worse), which invention would you rather receive?

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WATCH: All the Turkey Day Memories Segments, Collected in One Video!

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Hey MSTie pals! As promised, we’ve collected all the MST3K Turkey Day Memories segments in one video for your holiday pleasure, and/or to expedite your pre-Christmas procrastination this week!

We want to thank you all again for your generous participation and support in this year’s marathon, as well as the whole ding dang year long, and we are incredibly excited to continue to share new stuff with you in 2021.

Enjoy!

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POLL: Who Would You Rather Host For the Holidays, Mitchell or Rowsdower?

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Hey MSTie pals, I hope your seasonal season has thus far been very seasony! While work around here proceeds behind the scenes (including the next phase of this website, which I am SUPER excited about, although we’re going to have to be patient for a bit) I’m trying something a little new here; a thought experiment, if you will.

Imagine it: it’s the holidays, on a snowy evening, and travel is treacherous. You hear a knock at your door — who could that be? You’re not expecting anyone. You open the door a crack and in the cold darkness you just make out a heaving meaty lump of a human. He tells you his car has broken down, could he possibly seek shelter for the night in your warm domicile?

You open the door further and light spills onto your front steps. Who would you rather see at the door?

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Watch All the Turkey Day Host Segments RIGHT HERE, Including the New Short Featuring Emily!

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You asked, and asked, and requested, and inquired and cajoled and appealed, and YES, we have collected all the Turkey Day host segments (including many of YOUR Turkey Day memories!) into one delicious video feast, available exclusively here on MST3K.org! See Tom Servo, Crow, GPC, Jonah, Emily, Synthia AND Mega-Synthia guide you through the Turkey Day shenanigans, and catch any segments you might have missed.

This video also includes the NEW re-riff of “Behind the Scenes at the Supermarket” featuring MST3K LIVE host Emily, so it’s basically everything you ever wanted.

If that wasn’t cool enough for you, we’re also sharing the two new shorts we made for our MIGIZI Fundraiser, featuring the first-time combination cast of Joel Hodgson, Bill Corbett, and J. Elvis Weinstein!

A bit of helpful context: the first of these two shorts below, “Behind the Scenes at the Supermarket,” was the original version preceding Emily’s re-riff on Turkey Day.

Finally, thanks again to all of you for participating in this year’s Turkey Day marathon, and for all your great feedback during and after the event. We hope you enjoy all of the above new content as much as we enjoyed making it for you.

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LIVESTREAM: Watch the 2020 Turkey Day Marathon Right Here!

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Hello marvelous MSTies! We hope you enjoy this year’s marathon as much as we enjoyed putting it together. If you’re curious as to what to expect today, you can get all the details here — but we won’t fault you if you’d rather be surprised. You can watch the stream here all day, as well as lots of other options wherever you are.

ETA: The YouTube livestream cuts off after 12 hours, but we’ve collected all the new host segments and the re-riffed short featuring Emily over here.

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TURKEY DAY IS UPON US! Here’s the List of Episodes You Will See Today (Plus We’re Revealing Some Big Surprises!)

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At last, the day is here! You voted, and the results are locked in. The Turkey Day Marathon begins shortly at 9am ET / 6am PT; if you’re still unsure how to watch, we’ve got your options covered over here!

I’ve got your schedule for the day below, but first, a small preamble. When we launched the 2020 Turkey Day Tournament, many of you asked if you’d be able to vote to include episodes from the Netflix series — the Jonah Era — because Jonah deserves representation on Turkey Day too. We loved that idea and couldn’t agree more, it just took a little more wrangling to figure it out, and our options were limited* so voting wouldn’t be possible anyway.

But if you wondered why this year’s Turkey Day is starting early, this is why! You’re not getting six episodes this year, you’re getting EIGHT EPISODES, because we’ve added two Netflix episodes to the Turkey Day roaster — I mean roster.

That’s not all! You’ll also be seeing some brand new segments we made especially for this year’s marathon, including a series of interviews with Paul & Storm, your MST3K Turkey Day memories, and some insider looks at the world of Alternaversal, your production company behind all things MST3K!

And last but definitely not least, this year’s event will also include a NEW riff of a short film by the MST3K LIVE cast led by Emily Marsh, making the 2020 Turkey Day Marathon one in which every host of MST3K is represented.

Phew. Can you handle it? Today’s schedule of events is below:

9am ET – I Accuse My Parents

11am ET – Hobgoblins

1pm ET – Pod People (TURKEY DAY TOURNAMENT WINNER!)

3pm ET – Carnival Magic

5pm ET – Final Justice

7pm ET – The Day the Earth Froze

9pm ET – Night of the Blood Beast (Wildcard Entry!)

11pm ET – Cry Wilderness

Yes, this year’s Turkey Day is HUGE! Our heartfelt thanks, again, for your enthusiastic participation in this year’s Turkey Day Tournament, and for your support for all our efforts. And an extra special thanks to Shout! Factory for collaborating on this event with us so wonderfully.

We hope today’s marathon provides warmth and laughter for you today. Happy Turkey Day!

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*We can only stream episodes we have certain rights to, so we picked the best ones we had available. We’re all adults here. And it’s Thanksgiving!

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It’s Turkey Day Eve, and We Have a Request!

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Greetings, devoted marathoners, and I hope your excitement for this year’s Turkey Day event is reaching a fever pitch! I’m here today to remind you that this year’s marathon starts at 9am ET / 6am PT and features NEW segments with the cast of MST3K LIVE, including host Emily Marsh, Tom Servo (Conor McGiffin), Crow (Nate Begle), and GPC/MegaSynthia (Yvonne Freese). There will also be appearances by Jonah Ray and Rebecca Hanson, and, of course, Joel Hodgson. It’s going to be a veritable cornucopia of fun!

Has it been awhile since you watched a Turkey Day marathon? Still got questions about how to join? We’ve assembled a list of options for where you can watch and how to tune in.

We also have a request: While you’re watching this year’s event, we would love it if y’all would think about what you like (and don’t like) about the platform you’re watching it on, and report back to us here (or via email to info@alternaversal.com) — your feedback will be super helpful as we decide how to use streaming platforms going forward. So if you’re a big fan of watching on Twitch, or PlutoTV, for example, tell us why! And, of course, if you’ve got gripes, we want to hear those too. Our deepest thanks in advance for pitching in to help us plan for the future of MST3K!

Tomorrow morning I’ll be back with your episodes for this year’s marathon. This may be a non-traditional Thanksgiving for many of us, but remember — you’re never truly alone on Turkey Day when you’ve got MST3K on your side.

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