Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Hampton Yount Talks Being Crow

Mystery Science Theater 3000 has been a part of the pop culture zeitgeist for decades now, first debuting in 1988 and eventually becoming a runaway success wherein it was saved from cancellation a number of times and has spawned over two hundred episodes. With the surreal series recently returning for its thirteenth season thanks in part to Gizmoplex’s wildly successful fund-raising campaign, we here at Comicbook.com had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the latest iteration of the wise-cracking robot known as Crow, Hampton Yount, to pick his brain on the newest season and his legacy as a member of the Satellite of Love.

Hampton got his start in the world of entertainment through stand-up comedy, leveraging his skills into a half-hour special on Comedy Central, a producer role on MTV’s Ridiculousness, and being featured on countless popular podcasts. Taking on the role of Crow has been a dream come true for the stand-up comic, with Yount going into more detail about how it feels to actually become an icon of his childhood:

“It feels like wearing Bart Simpson’s skin and walking around. You love this character as a child and so it does feel weird, but this also feels like the job that I’ve been preparing for my entire life. It feels really appropriate at times because I’m this exact character, this nihilistic. It starts to track.” 

Hampton Yount is the latest Crow in a line of actors that brought the hilarious puppet to life, following the likes of Trace Beaulieu as the first iteration of the robot and Bill Corbett who portrayed the robot from seasons eight to ten and continues to riff as a member of Rifftrax. Keeping this in mind, Hampton went into detail about his portrayal and how it differs from what’s come before: 

“It’s fun as it takes a lot of the pressure off. If anything I get to just be myself, whatever they like with that, I can keep. One thing about my Crow is that he has way more movement to him now, and I roll with it and try to incorporate it. He moves a little bit more and it gives me more range.”

The man who is Crow also was surprisingly shocked to find that there were movies this season that he actually enjoyed watching, going into detail regarding the unlikely movies that put a smile on his face: 

“There were actually a few movies that I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed the movie, The Mask, this season, which isn’t the Jim Carrey movie or the Cher movie. It’s neither Mask, it is a less good version of those. The movie that I really enjoyed this season is Santo And The Treasure of Dracula because it’s already an established universe. They don’t tell you who Santo is but he’s a fully-formed character. That feels like what the Marvel franchise is trying to get to. No more having to see Batman’s parents die or Uncle Ben die!” 

Hampton is set to perform this Friday, May 14th, at the Siren Theater in Portland, Oregon and tickets can be bought here if you want to see the man behind Crow live. You can also hear Hampton’s thoughts on all things comic books with his current podcast, Doom Island. You can also follow him on Twitter @HamptonYount.

Mystery Science Theater 3000’s thirteenth season will consist of thirteen episodes and twelve shorts, and can currently be accessed on the series’ official website, with three episodes having already been released. Gizmoplex will release brand-new MST3K content every two weeks until this current season wraps.