RiffTrax is an American company that produces scripted humorous commentary tracks which are synced to feature films, education shorts (mostly public domain), and television episodes. With the talents of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) cast members and writers, RiffTrax also produces several live shows each year which are broadcast to movie theaters. The style of commentating originated from MST3K, their earlier television series, in which they would similarly mock (or "riff") films aloud while watching them. As of September 2023, RiffTrax has riffed 522 feature films, 462 short films, and 16 TV episodes.
The first releases originally featured Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett, through audio-only tracks intended to be played in unison with unaltered VHS and DVD copies of these programs. After the introduction of already-synced VHS and DVD material, added to the riffers were Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Jones Nelson, who also wrote and performed for the MST3K series. Guest riffers have also added commentaries, including parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic, comedians Paul F. Tompkins, Cole Stratton and Janet Varney, and actors Joel McHale, Fred Willard, and Neil Patrick Harris, among others.
RiffTrax products are sold in downloadable media online and delivered by app, streaming video, and DRM-free download. It is also featured on Pluto TV, Twitch, Xumo, Tubi and a channel on Samsung TV.
History
Following the cancellation of MST3K, Nelson, Murphy and Corbett attempted to bring the riffing concept to a podcast series known as The Film Crew. During this time, Rhino Entertainment collaborated to produce four riffed films on DVD: Hollywood After Dark, Killers from Space, The Wild Women of Wongo, and The Giant of Marathon.
After the association with Rhino Entertainment and Shout Factory (who distributed The Film Crew DVDs) ended, Nelson and Legend Films started RiffTrax in 2007 based in San Diego. In 2012, RiffTrax was purchased from Legend by Nelson, Murphy, Corbett, and RiffTrax CEO David G. Martin.
The movies chosen for Mystery Science Theater 3000 were predominantly low-budget B-movies because the show itself was low budget and producers could only afford films in the public domain or otherwise cheap licenses. Nelson had researched bringing about directly releasing DVDs of films with the commentaries included, then realized this initial idea was not feasible since he would be "sued out of existence." The best way to distribute the commentaries would be to sell them independently of the films, avoiding rights issues. There would be no legal or monetary restrictions to prevent RiffTrax from producing them, though viewers would have to play their own physical copies of the films at the same time.
The company originally produced audio-only tracks which were intended to be played in unison with unaltered VHS and DVD copies of these programs. The early RiffTrax were almost all solo efforts on Nelson's part, but it soon became apparent that there was a strong demand for them. Nelson was quickly able to recruit more riffers for the project. Most official RiffTrax (not counting fan-made iRiffs and the spin-off RiffTrax Presents series) have a stable cast of Nelson, Murphy and Corbett, identical to The Film Crew and the three SciFi Channel seasons of MST3K. Guest riffers vary often; other MST3K alumni have been featured, such as Pehl and Jones Nelson, in addition to Internet personalities Richard Kyanka (of Something Awful fame), Josh Fruhlinger (writer of The Comics Curmudgeon) and Chad Vader, as well as actors Harris, Willard, and McHale, and parodist Yankovic. Nelson has said that he would like to bring in other guests.
The enthusiasm of guest riffers for the project led to the establishment of RiffTrax Presents, a series of tracks exclusively hosted by guest riffers. The success of the guest format is such that "Three Riffer Editions" of some films previously solo riffed by Nelson have been re-produced for VOD services. These feature new riffs by the present lineup, with Nelson having ceased producing solo riffs in 2007.
Most recent works created by RiffTrax are crafted by a small team of writers; longer works are divided into 20- to 30-minute sections for each writer to rewatch and develop riffs for before assembling the entire work.