Michael John Nelson was born October 11, 1964 in St. Charles, Illinois. He is an American comedian and writer who lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Michael J Nelson was the head writer of the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 for the show's 11-year run, and spent season 5 through 10 of that time being the show's on-air host, Mike Nelson after the original host Joel Hodgson. After the show ended, Nelson had primarily worked on writing a publishing books.