This Bizarro MTV Short Film Was Turned Into The Network's First Movie

MTV was best known for its music videos, of course, but credit should be given for its initiative in promoting and exhibiting short films. In between its Missing Persons videos and "Weird Al" Yankovic videos, the channel would present the (often strange) art of rising filmmakers and animators, just to add some variety to its 24-hour programming. It wasn't uncommon to turn on MTV in 1991 and see full-bore live-action short and bizarro animated bumpers in between blocks of music videos. Many new artists found their toehold within the cracks. Eventually, MTV launched "Liquid Television" as a showcase for its animated ventures, with its live-action shorts remaining randomly scattered throughout.

John Payson's live-action short film "Joe's Apt." first debuted on MTV in 1992, and it caught everyone's eye, mostly because it was kinda gross. In the short, Mark Rosenthal played Joe, an average dude living in a filthy New York apartment that he shares with thousands of talking, singing cockroaches. At the start of the film, he warns his "roommates" that he has a date coming over that night, so he needs them to stay hidden. He puts a steak under the rug as an offering. The roaches, being Joe's friends, unilaterally decide that they will, instead, help Joe be amorous. When Joe's date (Arija Bareikis) comes over, the roaches subtly push around snacks and furniture to make her comfortable, all of them watching from the walls and light fixtures. Sadly, when Joe leans in for a kiss, the roaches get excited and spill out of the lights, right onto his date. Covered with bugs, she screams and flees in horror. Joe sighs in regret. Maybe next time, Joe, the roaches promise.

MTV was so impressed with "Joe's Apt.," that it approached Payson about developing a feature film version for them. MTV hadn't made any theatrically released feature films yet, but it wanted to. As a result, "Joe's Apartment" became MTV's first-ever full-length movie when it hit theaters in 1996.

The "Joe's Apartment" feature was a very strange, very ambitious beast. The film merely expanded on the short, even nestling the events of the original short in the middle. This time, Joe, as played by Jerry O'Connell, is a recent transplant to New York who has trouble finding an affordable place to live. When an old woman dies on the street in front of him, a scuzzy friend named Walter S*** (Jim Turner) encourages Joe to say she's his mom so he may inherit her rent-controlled flat. Naturally, thousands of Brooklyn-accented cockroaches live there as well. Can Joe live with a bunch of talking, singing roaches and also romance his would-be girlfriend Lily (Megan Ward)? Also, can he — and the roaches — fend off the aggression of a vicious senator (Robert Vaughn) who wants to raze the apartment?

The cockroaches were visually realized with some puppetry, but mostly with state-of-the-art CGI provided by Blue Sky, making its feature debut. The animation is so detailed as to put one off their lunch; audiences could make out each revolting scratch in the bugs' exoskeletons. The roaches, like in the short, operate as a well-organized mass, as evidenced by the fact that they sing a cappella (only pitched up, like the Chipmunks). The cockroach's singing voices were provided by the celebrated pop vocal group Rockapella, with their songs spanning genres from country ("Kitty Cat Rodeo") to funk ("Funky Towel") to barbershop ("Garbage in the Moonlight") to gospel ("The Healer Touched My Feeler"). The lead cockroaches, Ralph and Rodney Roach, were voiced by Billy West of "Futurama" fame and Reginald Hudlin, respectively. Other roaches were played by B.D. Wong, Tim Blake Nelson, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Dave Chappelle (back before we knew how awful he was).

The animation on the cockroaches is likely why "Joe's Apartment" cost so much to make. The budget was only $13 million (about $27 million in 2025 dollars), but that was still a sizable risk for a first-time studio putting out a gross, bug-based comedy. The film's tagline was "Sex, Bugs, and Rock 'n' Roll." John Payson also gathered up multiple outsider figures to appear in his movie. Cult luminary Paul Bartel has a cameo in "Joe's Apartment," as does underground filmmaker Nick Zedd (director of "They Eat Scum" and "Geek Maggot Bingo"). There's even a slumlord thug played by Don Ho (!), along with small roles for Moby and Sandra Denton, who's better known as Pepa (of Salt-N-Pepa).

"Joe's Apartment" is delightful, by the way. A lot of time, energy, and finance went into this oddball film about gross, singing cockroaches, and it feels like someone was getting away with something. This was an underground movie that somehow tricked a mainstream studio into giving them $13 million. It's weird that "Joe's Apartment" should look as slick as it does, as it feels like a lot of grimy filth is just underneath its professional sheen, waiting to bubble to the surface. The scatological humor is highlighted a lot. It's a cult movie in studio clothing.

Perhaps MTV overestimated the popularity of its short, though, as the "Joe's Apartment" movie (toilet) tanked at the box office, only earning $4.6 million. It was also derided by critics for being as disgusting as it was and only holds a 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Weirdly, for 1996, there was no hit soundtrack record (which, one might think, would have been a mandate for an MTV movie).

MTV recovered at the box office later that year with the release of "Beavis and Butt-head Do America," so it saved face a little bit. Payson, meanwhile, moved on to directing TV shows like "Arli$$" and "The PJs" (which had a hidden crossover with "Futurama," funnily enough). He also kept his outsider imprimatur by directing a music video for the Residents in 2001.