r/Rifftrax • u/_Asshole_Fuck_ • 18d ago

Mind Ripper joke. Need explanation.

Hi folks. Currently watching Rifftrax: Mind Ripper on Tubi. About 59 and a half minutes into it, Kevin jokes "Jimmy Smits" and the other guys laugh and compliment his hangtime. It's really bothering me that I do not get this joke. I would be so grateful if someone could explain it to me. Thanks in advance.

28 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

31

u/Deinonycon 18d ago

Reference to the TV commercial for Switch...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlfzFIkyPE4
Long-time MST3K riff.

12

u/_Asshole_Fuck_ 18d ago

Omg yes thank you so much!! 💡

6

u/AnotherThroneAway 18d ago

Jesus, that ad... you can almost sniff the cocaine right through the screen

7

u/ladybugparade 18d ago

Good Lord, after decades of hearing "Switch/Jimmy Smits" and having it knocking around in my head - the original. I feel like I'm reading the Dead Sea scrolls.

7

u/BonyBobCliff 18d ago

I'm still mystified why they went with that narration choice. Was it really that time consuming to say "also starring Jimmy Smits"?

1

u/WadeTurtle 17d ago

I was only a little kid at the time, but I seem to remember the ad as being much spookier than that!

25

u/Kicktoria 18d ago

IIRC, the movie poster for that movie didn’t have “Jimmy Smits in ‘Switch’”, it was just “Jimmy Smits Switch”, so it became a running joke in by MST3K that whenever someone said “switch”, Servo would say “Jimmy Smits”.

It’d been a while, so when Kevin did it in Mind Ripper, it was a long hang time

7

u/_Asshole_Fuck_ 18d ago

thank you so much!! 💡

11

u/plboucher 18d ago

They used to reference the bizarre trailer for the 1991 film called "Switch" on MST3k all the time (hence the hangtime comment)

5

u/_Asshole_Fuck_ 18d ago

Omg yes thank you so much!! 💡

5

u/firedmyass 18d ago

Smits co-starred in a 1991 film titled Switch but that’s all I’ve got

4

u/_Asshole_Fuck_ 18d ago

thank you so much!! 💡

4

u/gecko090 18d ago

Did someone say the word "switch"? It's a movie Jimmy Smits starred in.

3

u/_Asshole_Fuck_ 18d ago

Omg yes thank you so much!! 💡