Now, over the years fans have come to know that you, Kevin, Bill and all the others at Mystery Science Theater have your fair share of fixations, if you will. You know, the blog is pretty obsessed with bacon, Schnappi and speakers. Any current obsessions we're unaware of as of yet?
Well, I think I've confessed before my obsession with roasting my own coffee, and making the best coffee known to man. And I believe that I do that, and I will challenge anyone on the blog and forum to make a better coffee than me. So that's one. I maintain that on a daily basis.

Other than that, there's nothing too new. There's a couple of things on the forum that I want to settle, and we are going to have a "Rifftrax Eats the World's Hottest Pepper" video thing. And we ask any forum members to submit their video as well, but it should happen soon. We're having a little trouble getting a hold of the world's hottest pepper. They only sell plants and seeds. So we might have to actually grow our own hot pepper, but that obsession will be covered and then buried hopefully after that.

The Rifftrax Greenhouse could be a nice side gig for you guys.
That's not bad. You know, I have little glass windows in my office, I might just seal it off to get it really hot and moist in here, and then I can work in a loincloth.

You have riffed with your lovely wife Bridget several times now. Do you see the two of you riffing again in the future?
Yes, I think so. You know, her schedule is tight, and we keep talking about the perfect movie to come out and as of yet, there's been nothing new that's sparked it. But I think she'll be back. Maybe we'll do some sort of all-star riffing thing sometime too, and get a lot of people involved.

Is there any question that you get that you're absolutely sick of being asked, that you're asked every single time people interview you?
No, not really. It used to be, and this was a question we got from a lot of critics, was, "Why did you do x movie? I like that movie." And it's a hard one to answer. I've always been mystified as to why people get offended when movies they like, other people don't like. I mean I sort of understand the instinct there, but some people get angry, and I've been confronted by critics who just say, "That was a great movie," and you just have to put your hands in the air and go, "Okay, fine, enjoy it." So that's the one that I've gotten quite a lot.

Can you watch a movie at home in your personal life without dissecting it, or do you find yourself riffing on movies all the time?
Mostly, yes, the latter is true. I can watch them in silence, but when you develop a sharp critical eye, and most people do, I'm not saying that I have some special talent in that area, it's just that comedians tend to be by nature, you are taking pop culture and you're just wailing on it all the time. And so when you're watching a movie, it's the same instincts and everything are there, so it is tough, and I think people think that I'm a crank because I don't like a lot of movies, but that's because it's your job, and you get that way. A mechanic sees enough crappy cars and when he sees them on the road he's probably like "I hate that" so it's probably that same thing. But I like a lot of movies, it's just when people ask me the question, "What do you like?" it's kind of hard to come up with it because I'm more focused on criticizing things. So my long answer is, I can do it, but it is difficult to switch that off.

This could be quite a tough question because we're covering a lot of ground, but in your opinion, what is the most ridiculous movie moment you've ever seen? One that you've riffed, or one that you haven't.
Well, just what came to mind, there are thousands obviously that contend for this, but there's a moment in the movie - now I'm probably going to drop this, was it called Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman? The monkey-disease movie. There's a really unbelievably stupid moment, that I haven't seen it again, but I remember laughing and rewinding it many times, it's like Dustin Hoffman secretly gives away the location of something, and gives something away, and Donald Sutherland the evil guy turns to him and goes, "What are you doing!? Are you dumb or somethin'?" And I just couldn't believe that that line was allowed to be written into the script and then read that way. I'll have to go back and watch it, but that moment came to mind as one of those moments were I just rewound and went, "Good lord." It was a very, very, very forgettable movie, and that's why that bit of stupidity was overlooked. I'd like to resurrect it. Maybe I'll look on YouTube and try to find it and put it on the forum.

Are there any new Rifftrax related projects you can tell us about? Anything not totally top secret?
That's the problem, everything is so top secret. But there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes, I'm trying to think if there's anything I can reveal, which I always feel so stupid, because this is not the Manhattan Project, and yet still you like to keep stuff a surprise. There's little projects that are behind the scenes, they're maybe a little longer term. There's so much tech stuff behind the scenes, and that's a bottle-neck, too. There's the writing, and then just the tech stuff, it gets frustrating, like the web things that you want now and the web guys go, "That's six months away." That's my obscure answer to that question.

What would you be doing for a living if you'd never gone into the entertainment industry?
I remember the best answer I ever heard, if I may take it, it was when Paul Newman was asked what he wouldn't want to do as a job and he said be a greeter of some sort. I would agree with him, I would not like to be a greeter. But I wouldn't mind, I've done it before, I would like to be one of those guys that fills potholes. Working outside, and you get a killer tan, and be one of those kind of skinny guys who's got a dirty rag stuffed in his back pocket, working with a bunch of other guys. And there's a couple of beers after the shift, 'cause that's what you need to do. Your life is very simple, yet you're doing a public service.

Once and for all, the fans must know, will you ever riff Red Dawn?
I'm gonna not take the weasel's way out. I'm gonna say yes. I screened it about a month and a half ago I think, and yes, so the answer's yes.

My secret shame was I had never seen it before, I don't know how I'd managed to avoid it, but it's awesome. And I'd never seen Dirty Dancing. I watched that with Bridget a couple weeks ago. That is coming too. Nobody puts that movie in a corner.

Interviewed by Courtney Enlow, May 2008. For more Mike Nelson, visit Rifftrax.com.