Atlanta , Georgia ( CNN ) -- In the late 1980s through the end of the 1990s , an unusual show on Comedy Central ( once called the Comedy Channel ) cultivated a devoted audience that loved bad B-grade movies and inspired heckling . `` Mystery Science Theater 3000 '' showed series creator Joel Hodgson as a man stranded in space with some wisecracking robots . As original cast members left the show and new comedians were introduced , the show continued to deliver a unique brand of humor . Years later , `` MST3K '' has given rise to Cinematic Titanic , comprised of Hodgson , J. Elvis Weinstein , Trace Beaulieu , Mary Jo Pehl and Frank Conniff . Cinematic Titanic met with CNN to discuss their process and something called `` Weisenheimer 's . '' CNN : What 's it like being back with some of the old `` MST3K '' gang ? Hodgson : It 's been great . We 're kind of like different gangs all intersected because our times at `` Mystery Science Theater '' did n't all overlap . But we all knew each other before `` Mystery Science Theater '' even started , because we were all comics . So it 's been great . It 's been fun to hang out with these guys after so many years . We hang out a lot now because we 're on the road together quite a bit . Conniff : It feels safe . [ Everyone giggles. ] . Weinstein : This is like our third year doing this , so we 've had a lot of experience . We 've done 60 shows on the road these last three years , and each time we go to a new location , so we 're spending a lot of time with each other now . Or , just enough time . Pehl : And we all share one room , so that 's ... [ Mary Jo rolls her eyes. ] . CNN : Can you explain the process of finding the movies that you 're going to give the Cinematic Titanic treatment to ? Hodgson : I do it now . Frank did it for `` Mystery Science Theater , '' so he can give you his take on it for that . For Cinematic Titanic we use certain vendors who search for movies , so occasionally they 'll bring stuff to me . Or I 'll just look for stuff . Half of our stuff is licensed , so they 're representing different producers , and half of it is public domain , so that 's a whole different process . You find a movie , and you have to find the right print and you have to do a copyright search , talk to the lawyer , make sure it 's OK to use . Then , once we have those that fit that profile , then I show it to everybody and we go through the process of everyone signing off on it , saying if this will work . We just did that with a new movie we 're working on right now . It 's called `` Watch Out for Snakes . '' [ Cinematic Titanic grins and snickers. ] . Pehl : People get ravaged . Is that a bad way to use that word ? Beaulieu : They do n't get ravaged in a good way , they get ravaged in a bad way . By snakes . Conniff : For `` Mystery Science Theater '' it was a little different , in that we would be sent a bunch of screeners . When we were working with Comedy Central they would find screeners and send them to us , and I would just do the initial process of going through the boxes and watching them , find the ones I thought could work as a show , and then show them to everybody else . But back then we had the machinery of a cable network to help us with that kind of stuff , but now we 're on our own . CNN : How is Cinematic Titanic distributed ? What 's working , what 's not and what are your future plans ? Weinstein : We 're self-financed and self-distributing . Trace and his wife do fulfillment stuff . We also offer the show through download at a site called easytakes.com . And it seems like it 's about half and half . Beaulieu : Yeah , it runs , hard disks maybe twice as much as downloads . Hodgson : Plus easytakes is packaging our movies as apps for the Droid so you can buy the app and it will just play the movie . Weinstein : The Droid thing has yet to launch . Beaulieu : We sell a good number of DVDs here [ at Dragon*Con ] and at our live shows , too . It 's a real manufacturing to customer direct line . Conniff : We leave out the middle man and pass the savings on to you ! Hodgson : He 's waited his whole life to say that . CNN : Do you find that audiences at Dragon*Con are especially tuned in to your brand of humor ? What is the con circuit like for you ? Hodgson : Well we do n't really do the circuit , we sort of just go to the occasional con . Beaulieu : This is the one we 've been to the most . This is our third year . This one fits our sensibility more because our MO has always been do-it-yourself , and this one is all that . It 's really people-powered . Comic-Con is really just Hollywood blowing you away with how much money it has and awing you with its giant displays and you really are , as a fan or an observer , you 're really put in this category . Here it really just , like , flows everywhere . You just can see people being creative and kind of doing their own thing . I think this one fits much better , I prefer this con way more than Comic-Con . Weinstein : We did the Cinematic Titanic panel last night to a packed ballroom and then we showed our episode and then came back afterwards and did some signing afterwards . But 90 percent of that audience stayed to watch the episode . Beaulieu : Yeah and they were a great audience for that episode . Weinstein : Yes , they were totally tuned in and it was exciting to see . CNN : Josh , how did you decide on the moniker J. Elvis ? Weinstein : I decided on it because when I joined the writer 's guild there already was a Josh Weinstein , and I gave myself the Elvis because I loved that it gave me the initials J. E. W. and also somewhat inspired by being a fan of Elvis Costello , but mostly it 's about J. E. W. Hodgson : In LA there are very few people not named Josh Weinstein . CNN : Can you describe the transition from `` Mystery Science Theater '' to what you 're doing with Cinematic Titanic and what your old coworkers are doing with RiffTrax ? Hodgson : Well , when we started we were really interested in doing very quirky movies , and [ RiffTrax ] were doing big movies . They did `` Lord of the Rings , '' and any big blockbuster that came out . It seemed really clear that we 're working this side of the street with old movies and they 're working new movies . But that 's getting kind of muddled now because they 're coming back and doing old movies . Like we did in `` Mystery Science Theater . '' CNN : What 's the secret to making wisecracks for a living ? Conniff : That 's a long process . We all started out as stand-up comics , so we all set out for careers being weisenheimers , making wisecracks . Beaulieu : You have Weisenheimers , do n't you ? [ Everyone laughs. ] . Conniff : I do , actually , it 's painful . Hodgson : I 'm grappling with Weisenheimer 's disease . Pehl : We 're having a walk for you . Weinstein : But we were lucky enough , when we started `` Mystery Science Theater '' to have a UHF station that sort of gave us free reign . So we had a little laboratory to create this art form , if you will . Hodgson : Back then we did 20 shows , and we just improvised . It was unheard of back then to make a show where you just kind of talk over a movie . Prior to that there had been people who re-synched , added sound , redone the dialogue on movies , but this was really different so it grew very organically . By the end of it we kind of had it figured out . If we did n't have that , I ca n't imagine just walking in and trying to pitch this idea to anybody . Conniff : And we had 20 shows that we could edit down to a four-minute sizzle reel that we could show them . Hodgson : We had a thousand people in a fan club , so we had this kind of packet that we could lay down when we went to the Comedy Channel . And we said , `` Hey , this is happening , '' and they just happened to need content . So it was just 'cause it was the beginning of basic cable and they needed to fill time more than anything . Conniff : Sad but true . Hodgson : It worked for us . CNN : What 's the difference between a geek and a nerd ? Weinstein : Geeks will talk to us , nerds find us too weird . Hodgson : To me , for geeks there 's an extra level of involvement for whatever it is they 're focused on . A geek kind of implies a specificity of interest for whatever it is they 're geeking out about . Beaulieu : Geek is more intense than nerd . Conniff : I think a nerd gets beat up , and a geek gets beat up and then goes and watches an episode of `` Buffy the Vampire Slayer . '' Weinstein : Yeah , and starts a software company .
Cinematic Titanic take their wisecracking brand of movie-heckling humor on the road . Dragon*Con is a good fit , because of the individuality fostered at the convention . Coming up next : `` Watch Out for Snakes '' in which people are ravaged .