Joshua Stuart Weinstein began his stand-up comedy career at age 15 in Mpls. Minnesota. At 17, he was one of the founding writer/performers of the cult sci-fi comedy TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) as the original voice/puppeteer of robots Tom Servo and Gypsy, and the role of Dr. Lawrence Erhardt. He adopted the name "J. Elvis Weinstein" to avoid confusion with another writer named Josh Weinstein (known for his work on The Simpsons).