Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and its various offshoots, such as Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic, have been making fun of movies for over thirty years. In the process, they captured the spirit of what had been a beloved pastime for generations of wags, wiseacres, and smartalecks, and inspired countless more. The Worst We Can Find looks at how “riffing” of films came about, the history of the shows, and why what could be an annoying habit in the theater has become a long-lasting franchise in entertainment over the years.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 first aired on a small television station in St. Paul, Minnesota. In a twist on programs of the past where movie hosts introduced films on local television channels, MST3K would liberate not very good or horribly bad films through humor with the help of a handful of writers, puppeteers, and performers who never could let a chance to make fun of what was happening on the screen get away from them.

Dale Sherman covers where creative heckling came from in the years before the program, through the way MST3K and its progeny—including Rifftrax, Cinematic Titanic, and The Mads Are Back, have redirected the art of riffing into a style that manages to be both affectionate and cutting.