Dumb question but what's the difference between MST3K and RiffTrax? I know MST3K had a Netflix series a while back; are Joel and Mike close on both projects or did it split at one point? I doubt that since the bots were also on the Netflix show.
this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026
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Rifftrax is a legally distinct different product produced years after MST3K ended. Their product was selling you audio tracks of their riffs/jokes that you then played synced up with a dvd. They also put out videos for some movies, especially shorts, where they could legally distribute the original video too. So they rarely, if ever licensed movies for Rifftrax. But for MST3K they always licensed the movies.
In recent years, Rifftrax has gotten more licenses in order and they started putting their content on YouTube free. But again, only stuff that is public domain or stuff they could license.
Also, Rifftrax was always audio only. No puppets, no interstitial segments, no silhouettes at the bottom of the screen like in MST3K.
This new project involves getting new movies, lots of the old production people, the puppets, a set, etc. together to make a few new proper MST3K episodes.
Joel was not involved with Rifftrax afaik. He ws involved in something called cinematic titanic. That was much closer to MST3K in style and production (they had silhouettes). I get the impression Rifftrax was the more successful venture.
The Netflix stuff was associated with Joel too. Not Mike.
I don’t really know all the Joel / Mike stuff and where and why different groups of people associated with MST3K went in their own directions doing similar MST3K style projects post season 10 of MST3K. It seems like everyone involved in the original show never really moved on to anything else in some ways. But I’m probally being rude and ignorant saying that. Rifftrax, Cinematic Titanic, the Netflix MST3K continuation, and now the Rifftrax MST3K continuation are all basically the same riffing thing.
RiffTrax is Mike Nelson's unofficial spinoff that releases audio tracks that replace the official audio with jokes, so they can riff on anything and not just movies they can get the rights to. Joel did a similar thing with Cinematic Titanic, though he focused on B movies. Both projects have pulled in people from MST3K, Joel's been part of some of the RiffTrax live events, and they've all done reunions and stuff together, so it's always been kind of the same crowd doing similar things under various banners.
As far as I could ever tell MST3K is a "broadcast" show and Rifftrax is a "streaming" show (or maybe digital only would be more accurate).
A lot of Rifftrax is audio only and you supply the video so they don't have to spend money on licensing which might be the true difference.
Didn't they already do this like a decade ago?