RiffTrax is Mike Nelson's clever venture which allows him (and frequent contributors Murphy and Corbett) to make fun of more current films (and TV shows) without having to deal with annoying copyright issues. Just purchase and download an MP3 of their movie commentary and then play it along with a DVD of the film. The wonders of modern technology!

We had a chance to talk with Mike Nelson about Rifftax, performing live and, of course, bad movies.

First off, thanks for once again doing some shows in our fair city. But we're wondering why you guys keep coming here. You're making other cities jealous! Do you have any other live shows planned? Perhaps a tour of some kind?

The guys at the SF SketchFest have been kind (or crazy) enough to invite us a couple of times. We did a live RiffTrax this winter and it worked out, so they asked us back. We get asked by other cities to do live shows but frankly, those other cities don’t provide as much sushi as does San Francisco. If they can pony up more sushi, we’ll consider it.

Since you're doing mainstream movies now, do you find it harder to just go see a movie these days without thinking about how it might fit into a RiffTrax, and constantly thinking up wisecracks in your head, (or perhaps out loud, to the delight of your fellow movie watchers)?

Yeah, I’m doomed to look at almost every movie as material. I watched The Hours not long ago and every tragic moment in it (of which there are dozens), I’m thinking, hm, that could be pretty funny… But no, I don’t do it out loud in a theater, even when movies deserve it, like, say, Déjà Vu.

Fan-created image of Mike "Aeon Flux" Nelson from the RiffTrax Web site.