Joel Gordon Hodgson was born on 20 February 1960, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin USA, and is a comedian, television actor and writer, perhaps best known for creating “Mystery Science Theater 3000”, a television comedy series, and starring in it as Joel Robinson.
So just how rich is Joel Hodgson? According to sources, Hodgson’s net worth reaches $1.5 million, as of mid-2017, amassed through his involvement in the entertainment industry which really began in the late 1970s.
Joel Hodgson Net Worth $1.5 million
Hodgson grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he attended Ashwaubenon High School, and after matriculating, he relocated to Minneapolis, enrolling at Bethel University, where he studied Theatre and Mass Media, and majored in Speech Communication.
He began his career in the entertainment world during his teenage years, as a magician and ventriloquist, performing for various local events. During his college days, he decided to become a stand-up comedian, and started performing on campus, and in coffee houses and comedy clubs.
In 1982 he moved to Los Angeles, and began to perform at places such as Comedy Store, Hollywood Magic Castle and Comedy Magic Club, while also doing traveling stand-up. It was in one of these clubs that he was discovered by Barry Sand, the producer of the popular “Late Night with David Letterman” show. This enabled him to appear on the show several months later, and to start landing other TV appearances as well, such as in several HBO and Showtime comedy specials, and then on “Saturday Night Live”. His net worth began to grow.
In 1985, Hodgson stepped away from stand-up and returned to Minneapolis, taking up various jobs, such as building and selling sculptures, designing toys, ironing decals at a t-shirt factory and building props for comedy acts. He also taught a class called “Creative Stand-Up and Smartology”.
In 1987 he began performing stand-up again, making his official return to the profession the following year, introducing his prop comedy-style humor. His wealth grew larger.
Later that year, Hodgson created his own television comedy series called “Mystery Science Theater 3000″, with the help of local television producer Jim Mallon. The show, which was based on a group of robots watching and mocking B-movies, premiered on Minneapolis’ TV station KTMA, and after the first season received positive reviews, it was picked up by The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central, becoming one of the biggest cult favorites of the ’90s. It ran for seven seasons on the network, before being aired on The Sci-Fi Channel for three more seasons, until its cancellation in 1999. The show spawned a feature film of the same name in 1996.
“MST3K” achieved an astonishing popularity with worldwide audiences too, being listed as ‘one of the top 100 television shows of all time’ by Time.com., enabling Hodgson to gain a great level of fame. In addition to writing and building props for the show, he also starred in it as Joel Robinson. Aside from boosting his popularity, the success of his show also enabled Hodgson to earn a considerable net worth. Being somewhat uncomfortable with acting, he left it in mid-’90s, but became involved again in 2015, deciding to create a new season. The show was revived, running its eleventh season on Netflix in 2017. All contributed to his net worth.
After leaving “MST3K” ” back in the ’90s, Hodgson co-founded a small idea and product company in Los Angeles – Visual Story Tools. He has also served as creative lead for media at a technology company, Cannae located in Pennsylvania. His involvement in these companies has served as another source of Hodgson’s wealth.
As for his acting career, he has appeared in television series such as “Freaks and Geeks”, “The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd”, “Arrested Development”, “Other Space” and “Steven Universe”.
Hodgson’s writing credits include an HBO special written with Jerry Seinfeld, with whom he also appeared in the web show “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”. All added to his net worth.
Speaking about his private life, Hodgson has been married to Tiffany since 1996, otherwise little is known of Joel’s private life.
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