Michael John Nelson (born October 11, 1964) is an American comedian and writer, most known for his work on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's original eleven-year run, and spent half of that time as the on-air host, also named Mike Nelson. In addition to writing books, Nelson is currently part of the online movie riffing site RiffTrax, and was previously part of the straight-to-DVD Film Crew with fellow MST3K alumni, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy.

Early life

Michael John Nelson was born in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles, Illinois. His ancestry is Danish, German, and Irish. He lived in Geneva, Illinois, until the age of twelve, when his family moved to north-western Wisconsin. He studied theatre and music at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls, but he left before graduating and moved to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area.

One of the projects put together by Nelson and Legend Films was RiffTrax, a website offering the purchase of downloadable audio commentaries once again costarring two former MST3K cast members Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. The first commentary made available through the service was for Road House. In a September 2006 interview, Nelson said he felt that Rifftrax may be the closest thing to a reunion of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 team. In 2016, additional MST3K alumni, Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl, and Bridget Jones Nelson all appeared for a live reunion at the State Theatre in Minneapolis with Nelson, Murphy and Corbett. They were also joined by the newest host, Jonah Ray.

Voice work

In 2013, Nelson agreed to do voiceover work for Armikrog. Nelson voices the lead character, Tommynaut.

Podcasts

In 2016, Nelson and David Berge started the podcast Like Trees Walking. They look at life and faith from a Christian perspective, with a lightly humorous, offbeat approach.

Since 2017, he has created, with Conor Lastowka, the podcast 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back, which analyses books of contested quality.

Personal life

Nelson has described the role of Christianity in his family as "the very centerpiece of our lives. We're heavily involved in our church, my wife works with youth groups and churches as her profession, and almost every career and life decision I make depends upon it." He studies Christian apologetics and cites William Lane Craig and C.S. Lewis as influences.

Nelson has suffered from chronic debilitating headaches for most of his adult life; he wrote a short piece about his experience for the New York Times in 2007.

See also

  • Timmy Big Hands

References

  • LAist.com Interview with Michael J. Nelson
  • Mike Nelson interviewed on "The Joe Cook Program" 9/24/06
  • Michael Nelson Reddit Questionnaire (March 22, 2011)
  • RiffTrax profile