In this episode of The Autistic Culture Podcast, Thanksgiving can be a challenging time for autistic people—our sense of justice may be triggered by the holiday’s problematic origins, and masking through long family gatherings can be exhausting. In this episode, Matt and Angela share their autistic take on navigating the holiday and celebrate a beloved Turkey Day tradition: Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

🎧 What You’ll Learn

• How the original Turkey Day marathons on Comedy Central cemented MST3K as a Thanksgiving tradition.
• The show’s winding journey across networks, Kickstarter campaigns, and media platforms.
• How MST3K’s bottom-up processing style of humour is especially appealing to autistic viewers.
• Why the concept of found family, central to MST3K, resonates deeply with autistic folks.
• How interactive TV and niche traditions can provide a sense of community—whether you’re with friends or celebrating solo.
• Parallels between MST3K’s independent production model and the autistic experience of “traumatic independence.”

Related Episodes:

Community is Autistic

Dinosaur is Autistic

Poetry is Autistic

Resources:

https://www.gizmoplex.com/browse

https://shoutfactory.com/collections/mystery-science-theater-3000

https://www.twitch.tv/mst3k

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