Oh, and just for trivia, this is from "The Screaming Skull" which was the last ever episode, to date, of MST3k shown on television. (it was the last re-run SyFy ever broadcast)

Screaming; Skull

MICKEY!

MICKEY??!

Mike period: the crew laughing at their own jokes

Joel period: the crew sounding confused and/or stoned

Yeah, before that I could still deal even though Joel took a lot of the charm with him. I think I made it maybe a season and a half after he left. I've heard that there are some really good later episodes (and Hobgoblins supports that) but it usually seemed like they were trying to pack in as many jokes as they could and make sure every joke would play to the largest possible percentage of their viewers. What I loved about the show in the first place was that it was completely unafraid of relying on material that they thought was funny regardless of whether many people were likely to get the majority of it, and it made it feel like you were listening in on some people making each other laugh, not watching a production staged for you the viewer.

I remember around '93 or so there was a Comedy Central half hour special on the making of MST3k and at one point they ask them about whether they worry about the audience getting some of the more obscure references, and I forget whether it's Joel or Trace who says it but the response is that they just go with what makes them laugh and don't really take the audience into account at all, because they trust that even if most people don't get any given joke "the right people will get it."

That absolutely epitomizes what made the show good and why it started to slip a bit as soon as Joel left and from what I've seen declined quickly after they changed networks.

No pardon me while I wash and wax my beard.

"but it usually seemed like they were trying to pack in as many jokes as they could and make sure every joke would play to the largest possible percentage of their viewers."

What an odd criticism of a show that's trying to entertain people.

I get your point -- lowest common denominator typically means low-grade humor -- but post-Joel didn't go all Tom Green. I invite you -- nay, I fucking DARE you -- to watch "Horror of Party Beach":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF8MIZwb8ws

Keep an eye open for a couple different "Spinal Tap" references, a "Waiting for Godot", a Jean-Paul Sartre riff, and even an appeal to Shelby Foote. I'm not saying it's Dennis Millerishly impenetrable just to prove they're smarter than everyone else, but neither is it all poop jokes (though there are a couple because why not).

Brain Guy shouting "For the love of Heidegger" is all you need to put aside any fear you have that later seasons were dumb and targeting common idiots.

all of mst3k is great, this shit is the same as sox / yankees, mac / pc, tom / jerry,

One of my favorite things about MST3K was that jokes I didn't get as a child gradually made sense to me as I got older and I broadened my scope of knowledge. That didn't really go away when Mike took over.

I love Pearl and Dr. Bobo. They are funny, they have great repartee, and I'm actually such a fan of Mary Jo Pehl that I follow her on Facebook and Twitter and think she was the best part of the later seasons. Sure, Mike is a Tea Party loudmouth now, but he wasn't then.

If you didn't like the switch from Joel to Mike, stay far, far away from RiffTrax.

For a while, I stuck with the show after Joel, Frank, & Trace left. However, I loathed the very last seasons episodes. From Lowest Common Denominator to Absolute Nadir.

Totally a crime against humanity.

I always thought the MST3K took a nosedive after Beaulieu left. Afterwards, the show could still be funny but took on a decidedly more fratboy air.

Also, I'm pretty sure it's Horse*plop*

Star nothin', a pox on your house if you DON'T know where that's from!

It's from that video "Pull the string, pull the string, pull the motherfucking string", right?

"Your body needs angora so wear that shit."