[1] From 2007 to 2013, Hodgson was part of the "movie riffing" project Cinematic Titanic with several of his fellow MST3K alumni, performing live and producing content for DVDs and direct download.

Hodgson cites a Theatre of the Absurd class at Bethel taught by Dr. David Horn for helping him crystallize the meaning of his comedy.

At the Comedy & Magic Club, Hodgson was spotted by Late Night with David Letterman producer Barry Sand and three months later, at age 22, had his network television debut.

Hodgson also was a featured performer on HBO's "Eighth Annual Young Comedians Special", hosted by John Candy, along with Bill Maher, Paula Poundstone, and the Amazing Johnathan.

His departure allowed the show to continue and gave him the opportunity to focus on his preferred creation and production work rather than on performing, which he did only reluctantly.

They created a special for an interactive sketch comedy program called The TV Wheel for HBO, which Joel produced and hosted.

Over the years, Hodgson and his brother Jim maintained a side project that utilized the repurposing of movie footage with digital effects; codenamed "jollyfilter.

[18] In 1999, Hodgson played a recurring role as a disco-loving clothing store salesman and DJ on the television show Freaks and Geeks.

[20] In 2007, he portrayed Blackbeard the pirate in two episodes of The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd and recently joined fellow MST3K alum Frank Conniff's monthly comedy revue Cartoon Dump, helming his self-created puppet "Dumpster Diver Dan.

"[citation needed] He has since starred in the science fiction computer game Darkstar: The Interactive Movie as Scythe Commander Kane Cooper.

[22] In 2013, he reprised his role as Joel Robinson for a brief cameo appearance in two episodes of the fourth season of Arrested Development, along with Trace Beaulieu as Crow.

Fellow Mystery Science Theater 3000 alum Trace Beaulieu also appears as Zalien's robot pal Art, an homage to MST3K.

[25] On October 30, 2007, Hodgson announced he was starting a new show with the same "riffing on bad movies" premise as MST3K called Cinematic Titanic, together with former MST3K cast and crew members Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl.

[26] In 2012, he began touring a one-man show detailing his life and career through slides, video, and live interaction titled Riffing Myself.

The Kickstarter closed with over $6.3 million in funding (including "add-on rewards" offered through a separate site), allowing Hodgson to plan to produce fourteen new episodes.

On April 7, 2021, Hodgson launched a second Kickstarter campaign to make another revival of the series, intended for a new service called the Gizmoplex, with a possibility that he would host two episodes.