J. Elvis Weinstein

Born 1971-05-21 · Hennepin County, Minnesota, USA

Joshua Stuart Weinstein began his stand-up comedy career at age 15 in Mpls. Minnesota. At 17, he was one of the founding writer/performers of the cult sci-fi comedy TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) as the original voice/puppeteer of robots Tom Servo and Gypsy, and the role of Dr. Lawrence Erhardt. He adopted the name "J. Elvis Weinstein" to avoid confusion with another writer named Josh Weinstein (known for his work on The Simpsons). Since moving to Los Angeles, he has worked as a writer/producer on a wide range of network TV comedy, including Freaks and Geeks, Malcolm and Eddie, Dead Last, and My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star. He was also the Head Writer on America's Funniest Home Videos and Later with Greg Kinnear. In 2008 he reunited with his MST3K co-stars to form Cinematic Titanic, which toured U.S. Theaters as a live show and produced 12 DVDs, now available as a box set. Weinstein has written and directed three films – two feature documentaries (I Need You to Kill and Michael Des Barres: Who Do You Want Me to Be?) and a comedy short (The Mediocre Samaritan). As a performer, he continues to perform stand-up, co-hosts the podcast Thought Spiral with comedian Andy Kindler, and recently co-starred in the feature film The Fiddling Horse.