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Kevin Murphy (actor)

 
Kevin Murphy (actor)

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Kevin Murphy (actor)



 
 
Kevin Wagner Murphy (born November 3, 1956 in River Forest, Illinois
River Forest, Illinois

River Forest is an affluent suburbs village in Cook County, Illinois, Illinois, United States. Two universities make their home in River Forest, Dominican University of Illinois and Concordia University Chicago....
) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 best known as the voice and puppeteer
Puppeteer

A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object ? a puppet? in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience....
 of Tom Servo
Tom Servo

Tom Servo is a fictional character from the United States science fiction comedy television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Tom is one of two wise-cracking, robotic main characters of the show, built by Joel Robinson to act as a companion and help stave off space madness as Joel was forced to watch low-quality films....
 on the Peabody Award
Peabody Award

The George Foster Peabody Awards, better known as simply the Peabody Awards, are annual, international awards for excellence in radio and television broadcasting....
-winning comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 series Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an United States cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains that ran from 1988 in television to 1999 in television....
.

MST3K era
For eleven years he was a writer for MST3K; for nine of those years, Murphy voiced and operated the robot Tom Servo
Tom Servo

Tom Servo is a fictional character from the United States science fiction comedy television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Tom is one of two wise-cracking, robotic main characters of the show, built by Joel Robinson to act as a companion and help stave off space madness as Joel was forced to watch low-quality films....
, replacing original cast member J. Elvis Weinstein
J. Elvis Weinstein

Josh "J. Elvis" Weinstein is an United States writer and performer, best known for his roles as Dr. Laurence Erhardt and the original puppeteer/voice for Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater 3000....
. After taking over the role of Servo, an anonymous person sent him a six-foot long banner that read "I HATE TOM SERVO'S NEW VOICE." Flattered by the enormous amount of effort taken to heckle him, Murphy hung the banner in his office for over a year.






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Kevin Wagner Murphy (born November 3, 1956 in River Forest, Illinois
River Forest, Illinois

River Forest is an affluent suburbs village in Cook County, Illinois, Illinois, United States. Two universities make their home in River Forest, Dominican University of Illinois and Concordia University Chicago....
) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 best known as the voice and puppeteer
Puppeteer

A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object ? a puppet? in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience....
 of Tom Servo
Tom Servo

Tom Servo is a fictional character from the United States science fiction comedy television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Tom is one of two wise-cracking, robotic main characters of the show, built by Joel Robinson to act as a companion and help stave off space madness as Joel was forced to watch low-quality films....
 on the Peabody Award
Peabody Award

The George Foster Peabody Awards, better known as simply the Peabody Awards, are annual, international awards for excellence in radio and television broadcasting....
-winning comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 series Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an United States cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains that ran from 1988 in television to 1999 in television....
.

Biography


MST3K era


For eleven years he was a writer for MST3K; for nine of those years, Murphy voiced and operated the robot Tom Servo
Tom Servo

Tom Servo is a fictional character from the United States science fiction comedy television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Tom is one of two wise-cracking, robotic main characters of the show, built by Joel Robinson to act as a companion and help stave off space madness as Joel was forced to watch low-quality films....
, replacing original cast member J. Elvis Weinstein
J. Elvis Weinstein

Josh "J. Elvis" Weinstein is an United States writer and performer, best known for his roles as Dr. Laurence Erhardt and the original puppeteer/voice for Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater 3000....
. After taking over the role of Servo, an anonymous person sent him a six-foot long banner that read "I HATE TOM SERVO'S NEW VOICE." Flattered by the enormous amount of effort taken to heckle him, Murphy hung the banner in his office for over a year. During the final three years of the series he additionally portrayed Professor Bobo
Professor Bobo

Professor Bobo is a fictional character who appeared in the final three seasons of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a comedy television series that mocks B-movies....
, an English-speaking mountain gorilla
Mountain Gorilla

The Mountain Gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla. There are two groups. One is found in the Virunga Mountains of Central Africa, within 4 national parks: Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes National Park, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga National Park and Kahuzi-Bi?ga National Park, in t...
 in the style of Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (1968 film)

Planet of the Apes is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner loosely based on the novel Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle....
.

After the end of MST3K, Murphy spent the year 2001 going to a different movie every day and wrote a book about this experience, entitled A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey
A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey

A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey is a book written by Kevin Murphy about his experiences of seeing a movie each day, for the entire year of 2001....
. During his year at the movies, Murphy samples theatres from small-town boxes to urban megaplexes, attempts (and rejects) a theatre-food diet
Dieting

File:Feet on scale.jpgDieting is the practice of Eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases the goal is weight loss in those who are overweight or obese, but some athletes aspire to gain weight and diets can also be used to maintain a stable body weight....
, suffers a kidney stone
Kidney stone

Kidney stones, also called renal Calculus , are solid concretions of dissolved dietary mineral in urine; calculi typically form inside the kidneys or bladder....
, visits both the Sundance
Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Utah, in the United States. It is the largest Independent film cinema festival in the U.S....
 and Cannes
Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals alongside Venice Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival....
 film festival
Film festival

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality....
s, sneaks Thanksgiving dinner
Thanksgiving dinner

The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States, and Canada is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted domesticated turkey....
 into a showing of Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc.

Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 computer animated comedy film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar. The film was released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on November 2, 2001, in Australia on December 26, 2001, and in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2002....
, and records all of these experiences, both good and bad. His feat — viewing 360+ films on four continents — was mentioned in Ripley's Believe It or Not.

Murphy holds a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Directing for the Stage and Screen, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Murphy lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul
Minneapolis-St. Paul

Minneapolis-Saint Paul is the most populous List of United States urban areas in the state of Minnesota, United States, and is composed of 186 cities and townships....
 area with his wife, Jane.

RiffTrax era


Starting in 2006, Murphy has joined Michael J. Nelson
Michael J. Nelson

Michael John Nelson is an United States comedian and writer, most famous for his work on the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 ....
 on many audio commentaries for Nelson's RiffTrax
RiffTrax

RiffTrax are downloadable audio commentary featuring comedian Michael J. Nelson heckle films in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a TV show in which Nelson was the head writer and, later, host....
 service. He is notably absent from Joel Hodgson's
Joel Hodgson

Joel Gordon Hodgson is an American writer, comedian and television actor. He is best known for creating Mystery Science Theater 3000 and starring in it as the character Joel Robinson....
 Cinematic Titanic
Cinematic Titanic

Cinematic Titanic is a project by Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator and original host, Joel Hodgson.The project involves "MSTing" B-movies, in a manner similar to that of MST3K....
 series, which includes most of the original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000. During a 2008 interview, Hodgson was asked if Murphy harbored any sort of animosity towards him or the Cinematic Titanic members; he responded: "I can't really speak for him. We saw him at ComicCon, and we did the Mystery Science Theater 20th anniversary panel, and he seemed totally happy to be there, willing to be there, but he's doing RiffTrax."

See also

  • Mystery Science Theater 3000
    Mystery Science Theater 3000

    Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an United States cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains that ran from 1988 in television to 1999 in television....
  • Timmy Big Hands
    Timmy Big Hands

    Timmy Big Hands was a humor webzine. Created in 2000 by the former cast and crew of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the site garnered much critical acclaim and accolades, but eventually was retired....
  • The Film Crew
    The Film Crew

    The Film Crew were a comedic team similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000, comprising former MST3K cast members Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy ....
  • RiffTrax
    RiffTrax

    RiffTrax are downloadable audio commentary featuring comedian Michael J. Nelson heckle films in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a TV show in which Nelson was the head writer and, later, host....


External links