The Mad Scientists will in St. Louis for 2 live shows Saturday

The Mad Scientists from “Mystery Science Theater 3000” are continuing their quest for world domination, one bad B-movie at a time.

Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu, MST3K writers who played TV's Frank and Dr. Clayton Forrester, aka "The Mads," on the cult TV comedy classic, will appear live on Saturday, Dec. 12, for two shows, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., at the Ivory Theatre in St. Louis.

They won’t announce the titles of the two movies they will riff on — making fun of what’s on screen — until then. But Beaulieu has disclosed a few details.

“They’re made in the 1950s, they are set in space, and they’re bad,” he said during a phone interview from his home in Minneapolis.

If you enjoyed watching the Peabody Award-winning series, declared one of the 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time by Time magazine in 2007, you can expect that same style of comedy.

“I really love these movies. You can sit in a theater and watch them with your friends, and talk about how horrible they are,” he said. “To hear people laugh at the same time is invigorating.”

Their fans have given the show and its cast a longer life after the TV program was cancelled in 1999. Six years ago, the pair were a part of creator Joel Hodgson’s touring stage show, “Cinematic Titanic.” Today, they tour together, humorously commenting on some of the worst movies ever made.

“The fans are instrumental in bringing us to their cities,” he said. “Cinematic Titanic ended a year-and-a-half ago, and the gigs just kept on coming. It’s completely fan-driven, wherever we go. The fans are so supportive, and they find us places to play.”

Beaulieu was part of the original team who helped Hodgson, a stand-up comedian and fellow Minnesotan, launch the show on a local Minneapolis TV station, KTMA, in 1988. They selected movies like ‘The Green Slime” and “Invaders from the Deep,” and with a Shadowrama silhouette on screen, Joel and robots Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot and Gypsy mocked the schlock they were forced to watch, in orbit on the Satellite of Love, by the Mads. He also did the voice of the puppet character Crow T. Robot.

The show soon caught on, with Comedy Central creating room for it in 1989, and it became one of the fledgling network’s signature series. After cancellation in 1997, it moved to the Sci-Fi Channel until its final season in 1999.

However, attempts to re-launch are underway, with Hodgson spearheading a Kickstarter campaign that ends Saturday. But Conniff and Beaulieu won’t be associated with the new show.

“I knew Joel from being part of the stand-up comics here. We had no real money. The station was a scruffy little UHF one that you had to have a round antenna to watch, and it just jelled. It was presented to Comedy Central and they were hungry for content. It was great. At the height, we were on 24 hours a week. It was on late at night, and a lot of the audience was coming off shifts. It appealed to the hospitality industry and other night owls,” Beaulieu said.

“The fact that anyone was ever watching it was a surprise. We were isolated in Minnesota, and Comedy Central left us alone. The press was pretty good,” he said.

Besides offering witty analysis of the hall-of-fame caliber awful movies, the pair mingle with fans before and after the program. “We talk, sign stuff, and we’ll have a poster unique to the event that will be for sale.”

Talking to the fans is a very important component to the live shows, and their livelihood in general.

“We really value our audience. We feel everyone is a VIP already, so we allow everyone to walk up to us and talk to us,” he said. “We have so much fun, sometimes we forget it’s a ‘show.’”

Beaulieu grew up on the old ‘Godzilla” and “Hercules” movies and going to the drive-in with family and friends.

“I have such affection for the movies I grew up watching,” he said.

He continues to be involved in comedy projects. His friend, Paul Feig, the director of ‘Bridesmaids” and “Spy,” who had recruited him for the legendary “Freaks and Geeks” years ago, cast him as A.R.T., a robot, in a series called “Other Space” on Yahoo TV.

“Basically, it’s ‘The Office’ in space. We made eight episodes. Hopefully it can come back for a second season,” she said.

Conniff, a career comedy writer and performer, joined the MST3K staff after the show was on Comedy Central. He was a writer-producer on “The Drew Carey Show,” “The New Tom Green Show” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”

Now living in Manhattan, Conniff hosts the Sirius XM Radio show ‘Tell Me Everything” weekdays between 2 and 5 p.m.

The rest of the “Midwest Mafia,” as Beaulieu refers to the old gang, has either returned to their roots or moved to another place outside of L.A. But the tight-knit group continues to keep in touch on projects. Some will be at Sketch Fest in San Francisco in January.

When they team up, sparks fly and wackiness ensues.

While the movies used are primarily from the 1950s through 1970s, there are others more contemporary that they check out, too.

“We still haven’t exploited all the bad movies,” he said.

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 2:33 PM with the headline "The Mad Scientists will in St. Louis for 2 live shows Saturday."