The Mary Jo Pehl Show

Dumb Industries Chris Gersbeck, the man behind The Mads Livestreams, brings us a brand new show from another MST3Ks alumnus, the incomparable Mary Jo Pehl. Premiering on Twitch, Aug 24th, 2021, and hosted by her pal from Austin, Robert Faires, the first episode is a retrospective of projects she's worked on over the years - from an early sketch comedy troupe, "The Boneless Hamms", to a short titled "Lipstick" - from "RenFest", to Ruth Larson and her "Vuh-log", and finally, my favorite, the hilarious "America Obscurious" which should have been picked up by someone - it's centered around a bunch of found footage, which MJs character builds a false, and funny history for. ("Dolls on turtles" was the tagline of the night). MJ is joined by many faces familiar to MSTies... Trace, Gruber, Kevin, Bridget, you'll even spot some costumes by Beez. Wonderful opening episode, much fun, and frivolity, which highlights what an incredibly talented and clever woman Mary Jo Pehl is - even if networks and streaming sites have failed to appreciate that fact, we fans have always been in the know.

Mary Jo Pehl was a teenage existentialist. MJ is joined by special guests who take turns reading her diary entries - pals like Beez, Howie Michael Smith, Martha Kelly, Devon Coleman, and Dave 'Gruber' Allen. The readings were dramatic, amusing, conversational, with God, psychology, Roddy MacDowell, and the Vikings among the journal topics (etc, etc, etc). It was a charmer, a cute idea that worked out pretty well. At the end, there was a lecture on puns, a brief Q&A, and a giveaway... a lucky viewer won a wooden urn, handcrafted by Mary Jo's father (and our friend MST3K Temple drew a laugh out of that).

For the third episode, we watch 7 "vepisodes" of Ruth Larson's "vah-log". The heart of this one runs about a half hour, with another 40 mins of Q&A in total. We've seen some of these in the first MJP show, but they're still a kick, and it's a joy to hear the backstories and such in between. Oh, and I love Sandy Thomas's concerned/confused expression during the last episode (while holding a Joey Fatone doll), she cracked me up.

Mary Jo hosts a Zoom-era version of the classic game show TO TELL THE TRUTH! Three contestants will claim to be the same person - but only ONE is telling the truth. It will be up to a panel of four comedians to determine who are the imposters, and who is the real McCoy!

The sixth episode of The Mary Jo Pehl Show, featuring The Partridge Family Book Club, wherein Mary Jo and several friends discuss the bizarre series of young adult novels featuring The Partridge Family.

On the instant-classic seventh episode of The Mary Jo Pehl Show, MJ finally gets around to checking Chris's references, something that slipped through the cracks upon Chris's hiring. Featuring special guest appearances by Kevin Allison (RISK!), Trace Beaulieu (MST3K), Frank Conniff (MST3K), and Dave Hill (The Dave Hill Goodtime Hour).

The eighth episode of The Mary Jo Pehl Show, featuring Mary Jo taking numerous questions from friends, fans, and a few very special guests including Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Dave Hill, Kevin Allison, Joel Hodgson and more! Plus, Chris asks repeatedly for the $7.50 MJ owes him for an omelet, setting off a chain of events known as "The Omelet Incident."

This month, Mary Jo will be watching a reel of vintage ads with YOU!

This month, MST3K's Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Rebecca Hanson, and others play "One Dollar Pyramid"!

The eleventh episode of The Mary Jo Pehl Show, in which Mary Jo was away at a family reunion and left Chris in charge to mixed results! Plus: Mary Jo and special guest Bridget Nelson team up to cook another mystery recipe!

The twelfth episode of The Mary Jo Pehl Show in which Mary Jo reads from her book, Dumb, Dumb, Dumb, with the help of some very funny friends including Jim O’Heir, Tim Kazurinsky, Jackie Kashian, John Erler, Kevin Murphy and more. Plus, more unboxing videos and polls for Movie Jo Night!