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Speaker 1: Hi there here say listeners, ed helms here. I wanted

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Speaker 1: to add this short prologue to the episode because I

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Speaker 1: want to acknowledge a difficult situation. Since recording this conversation

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Speaker 1: with Rob Reiner and Michael McKeon just a couple of

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Speaker 1: weeks ago, Rob and his wife Michelle have passed away

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Speaker 1: under very sudden and very tragic circumstances. I want to

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Speaker 1: extend my deepest, heartfelt condolences to their family and all

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Speaker 1: of those who loved them or were lucky enough to

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Speaker 1: be loved by them. Rob meant so much to so

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Speaker 1: many people, and I count myself among them. He was

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Speaker 1: a hero of mine, and I don't mean that in

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Speaker 1: an abstract way, but in a very real and literal way,

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Speaker 1: in the way that certain artists shape you and sometimes

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Speaker 1: even before you realize it's happening.

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Speaker 2: Many of his classic movies.

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Speaker 1: Emerged just as I was coming of age through the eighties.

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Speaker 1: This is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry met Sally, Misery,

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Speaker 1: and perhaps most of all, stand by Me. These movies

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Speaker 1: they didn't just entertain me. They helped form my storytelling

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Speaker 1: and comedy identity, my sense of flow and tone, my

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Speaker 1: love of difficult but redeemable characters. Rob Reiner taught me

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Speaker 1: that hard laughs and deep humanity can sit right next

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Speaker 1: to one another, and they very often should. But he

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Speaker 1: wasn't just a creative inspiration. He was also a human inspiration.

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Speaker 1: He was the kind of person you both wanted to

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Speaker 1: be and wanted to be around. He was warm and generous,

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Speaker 1: gregarious and curious, a legendary conversationalist, and also deeply engaged

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Speaker 1: in social issues. He cared about making the world a

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Speaker 1: better place, about cultural values, democracy and political integrity. Rob

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Speaker 1: had a conscience, and he put it to work. Listening

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Speaker 1: back to this conversation, now, what really jumps out.

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Speaker 2: At me is how much fun he's having.

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Speaker 1: He's engaged, playful, generous with his insights, and clearly still

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Speaker 1: delighted by the work even after a lifetime of extraordinary achievement.

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Speaker 1: I'm incredibly grateful that I had this time with him,

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Speaker 1: and I'm honored to share this conversation with you.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: This episode is, in our own small way, a celebration

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Speaker 1: of Rob Reiner. He will be profoundly missed, but his voice,

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Speaker 1: his humor, and his spirit will always be with us,

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Speaker 1: and that is quite a gift. I hope you enjoy

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Speaker 1: the episode. Welcome to Earsay, the iHeart and Audible Audio

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Speaker 1: Book Club. I'm Ed Helms and I am the host

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Speaker 1: of another podcast called Snaffo and with Me is the

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Speaker 1: host of yet another podcast. Here we go again, my

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Speaker 1: dear buddy cal Pen.

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Speaker 3: Hello, sir, how are you servain? I'm great, I'm great,

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Speaker 3: You are great?

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Speaker 1: Can I just say cal Pen is great? Everybody?

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Speaker 3: Come on, what a nice thing to say.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you're freaking funny and delightful and incredibly smart

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Speaker 1: and insightful. And that's that's a killer combination of traits.

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Speaker 3: I'm glad I don't have these traits at age eleven. Again,

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Speaker 3: they were not helpful as an eleven year old, but

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Speaker 3: I do enjoy them as an adult.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's not uncommon. A precocious child is actually

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Speaker 1: a very charming adults. But man, man, are they annoying.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry to have dug up that trauma. All right,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna name some names here. I want you to

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Speaker 1: tell me what these names have in common? Are you ready?

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Speaker 2: Yep?

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Speaker 1: Eric Stumpy, Joe Child, Peter James Bond, Mick Shrimpton, Richard Rick, Shrimpton,

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Speaker 1: Joe Mama Besser and Scott Skippy Scuffleton.

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Speaker 3: More than half sound familiar, and I honestly cannot place it.

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Speaker 1: Okay, these are all drummers from the band Spinal Tap,

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Speaker 1: who all met their very untimely demise. In the Spinal

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Speaker 1: Tap lore there was a bizarre gardening accident. There was

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Speaker 1: I believe some one of them spontaneously combusted, rather dramatic.

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Speaker 1: This is Spinal Tap is, of course, the pioneering nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty four mockumentary created by Rob Reiner and starring Reiner

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Speaker 1: along with Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKeon. It

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Speaker 1: spoofs the over the top world of rock and roll

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Speaker 1: and heavy metal in the seventies and eighties, and it

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Speaker 1: also spoofs the documentaries that venerate these rock stars. Kl

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Speaker 1: do you remember watching Spinal Tap a very very long

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Speaker 1: time ago? And I should also note it was like

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Speaker 1: one of those two am in college kind of things. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: kind of viewerships of course, huge Chris Guest Rob Reiner fan.

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Speaker 1: But it has been a while.

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Speaker 3: I need to revisit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to say, Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest

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Speaker 1: and all these guys. They live in a very special

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Speaker 1: comedy universe, and it's so fun to learn about all

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Speaker 1: of their history together and how their lives kind of

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Speaker 1: interweave and overlap. And then of course Spinal Tap is

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Speaker 1: its own ecosystem, like they've created an entire mythology around

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Speaker 1: this totally fake band, and it is just beyond hilarious,

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Speaker 1: and I have to say it's very much a part

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Speaker 1: of my own comedy development. Listeners, if you haven't seen

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Speaker 1: the original nineteen eighty four movie, you should definitely just

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Speaker 1: stop right now and go see it. It is so

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Speaker 1: damn and hilarious. But as a refresher, Rob Reiner plays

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Speaker 1: Marty de Berghie, a documentary filmmaker who follows the fictional

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Speaker 1: band Spinal Tap. Portrayed by Christopher Guest, Michael McKeon and

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Speaker 1: Harry Shearer. Marty follows Spinal Tap and what I would

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Speaker 1: call a series of escalating mishaps. It's definitely a cult movie,

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Speaker 1: but one that has left a huge mark on pop culture,

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Speaker 1: not the least of which is the Christopher guest line

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Speaker 1: These go Out to eleven, a version of which made

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Speaker 1: it into the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and two.

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Speaker 3: That's an accomplishment right there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, it's pretty cool if you can like

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Speaker 1: affect the codified language. I also have to say this

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Speaker 1: movie is widely considered the original mainstream mockumentary, and that

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Speaker 1: of course spawned a vast ecosystem of great movies and television,

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Speaker 1: including all of Christopher Guests subsequent movies like Best in

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Speaker 1: Show and Waiting for Guffman and so many other great ones,

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Speaker 1: and then of course the show I worked on, The

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Speaker 1: Office That was a mockumidating, right. I fe like The

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Speaker 1: Office and Parks and Rec and all these great mockumentary

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Speaker 1: shows are descendants of Spinal Tap in a way.

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Speaker 3: That must have been awesome. Then to have loved Spinal

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Speaker 3: Tap so much and then get to work on The

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Speaker 3: Office in I don't know if saying in the style

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Speaker 3: of is even correct, but like, that's so cool.

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Speaker 1: It was The Office was a dream in so many,

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Speaker 1: so many ways, which is a whole conversation for another day.

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Speaker 1: But today we're talking about the new audio book A

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Speaker 1: Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever, the Story of Spinal Tap.

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Speaker 1: It's written by Rob Reiner with Christopher Guest, Harry Sheer

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Speaker 1: and Michael McKeon and voiced by Rob Reiner, although they

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Speaker 1: all appear in the audio book as well. It's a

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Speaker 1: history of how the movie and the band came together,

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Speaker 1: the film Unexpected Afterlife, and how forty years later everyone

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Speaker 1: got the band back together for the sequel, which is

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Speaker 1: out now. It's called Spinal Tap two. The end continues,

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Speaker 1: I mean, come on, is that not the best title ever?

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Speaker 2: It's great.

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Speaker 1: The audiobook also includes an in universe oral history featuring

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Speaker 1: all the actors as their respective characters. It's called Smell

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Speaker 1: the Book for the uninitiated. That's a bit of wordplay

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Speaker 1: on one of Spinal TAP's albums from within the movie,

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Speaker 1: called Smell the Glove, and what that means God only knows.

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Speaker 1: But this is an absolutely ridiculous and delightful and wonderful

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Speaker 1: component of the audiobook, and it features all of the

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Speaker 1: main players just doing their over the top stick cal

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Speaker 1: I'm super excited for this one. I get to talk

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Speaker 1: to not one, but two of the core people who

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Speaker 1: made Spinal Tap, and this audiobook happen incredible.

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Speaker 3: I am jealous. So I'm just going to get out

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Speaker 3: of here and we'll talk again after the interview's over.

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Speaker 1: All right, I'll see you later. Now here to get

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Speaker 1: into a fine line between stupid and clever. The story

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Speaker 1: of Spinal Tap is the audiobooks author and voice Spinal Tap,

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Speaker 1: creator and director and co star director of stand By Me,

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Speaker 1: When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, and so many

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Speaker 1: more great movies. Rob Reiner also joining the show. One

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Speaker 1: of the great comedic actors of all time. He is,

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Speaker 1: of course, in the movie Spinal Tap, as well as

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Speaker 1: Spinal Tap.

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Speaker 2: The end continues.

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Speaker 1: He's incredible in the great show Better Call Saul. He's

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Speaker 1: in other movies like Best in Show, and just an

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Speaker 1: overwhelming resume of tremendous comedy over so many decades. Rob

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Speaker 1: Reiner and Michael McKeon, welcome to ear say, it is

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Speaker 1: truly such a pleasure to have you join our audio

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Speaker 1: book club today.

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Speaker 2: It's a pleasure to be here. Ed nice to be giant.

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Speaker 1: Well, of course, Uh, you are part of the incredible

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Speaker 1: team behind Spinal Tap. Rob, you directed that legendary movie. Michael,

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Speaker 1: you are part of the band. This is such a

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Speaker 1: thrill for me because that movie means so much to me.

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Speaker 1: I remember it came out in nineteen eighty four. I

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Speaker 1: was ten years old. I was not aware of it then,

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Speaker 1: but very soon after when it landed at Blockbuster Video,

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Speaker 1: I was like, I'd been hearing about this from the

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Speaker 1: older kids at school, and like, this is a thing

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Speaker 1: I had to and I got it. I forced my

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Speaker 1: dad to rent it for me, and he was like,

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Speaker 1: what the hell is this? He was looking at the

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Speaker 1: hard rock picture on the front, and he's like, what what? Okay, fine,

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Speaker 1: and we get home, we start watching it, and I'll

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Speaker 1: be honest, as like a twelve year old at that time,

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Speaker 1: I don't think I got half of it.

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Speaker 4: I got half of it. Yeah, you got exactly half

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Speaker 4: of it, and we know which half.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, But my dad was howling, he was yeah, And

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Speaker 1: I realized, like, this is important, this is something I

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Speaker 1: have to lad down to, and so of course I

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Speaker 1: just rewatched it over the years, and it's become very

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Speaker 1: much a part of my comedy. DNA truly, and I

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Speaker 1: want to thank you for that.

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Speaker 2: Dannata, our pleasure. You're totally welcome.

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Speaker 1: Do either of you have a favorite scene from the movie.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's an impossible question, but do you does

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Speaker 1: something jump out?

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Speaker 2: I used to say.

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Speaker 4: That my favorite thing because I had nothing to do

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Speaker 4: with it, and it's brilliant. It's about a minute and

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Speaker 4: a half, maybe two minutes. Rob could Robbie tell me

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Speaker 4: of Chris just soloing on the stage with you know,

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Speaker 4: with all the feedback, and then the violin, and.

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Speaker 2: My favorite moment in that moment is he picks up

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Speaker 2: the violin and uses it again, you know, but then

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Speaker 2: at one moment he just tools a little the peg. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: just tunes a peg a little bit too to get

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Speaker 2: it just right. It's it.

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Speaker 4: It's great pantomime, noisy pantomime. I guess you'd call it.

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Speaker 2: It's fabulous. Well, my favorite, my favorite scene, and it's

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Speaker 2: become the title of the book that we that we

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Speaker 2: put out called a fine Line between Stupid and Clever,

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Speaker 2: And my favorite line in the movie is a fine

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Speaker 2: line between stupid and clever. And it's a scene where

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Speaker 2: Spinal Tap is their gig has just been canceled, and

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Speaker 2: they were sitting in the hotel and the lobby there,

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Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, this very big famous rock musician,

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Speaker 2: Duke Fame, walks in and they say hello, and he's

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Speaker 2: a big shot and he's got a manager played by

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Speaker 2: Howard Hessman, and Howard says, listen, I wish I could

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Speaker 2: talk to you guys, but I have to go in

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Speaker 2: the lobby and wait for the limo. I don't have

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Speaker 2: time to talk. I love that. And then he leaves,

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Speaker 2: and then everybody says, what a wanker that Duke Fam.

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Speaker 2: He's a wanker. There we used to he used to

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Speaker 2: open for us. He people booh with. He was terrible.

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Speaker 2: And then the manager says, I don't understand Dupe Fame's

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Speaker 2: got it because they had an album that they couldn't

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Speaker 2: release called Smell the Glove, which had a sexist cover

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Speaker 2: and they couldn't release it. And he says, well, I

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Speaker 2: understand dupe Fame. He has an album cover where he's

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Speaker 2: naked and there's all these women that are whipping him

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Speaker 2: and something. And then Tony Hendrew plays the matter says, well,

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Speaker 2: you don't understand the difference is he's the victim. See

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Speaker 2: in your album, she's the victim because she's on all

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Speaker 2: fours and she's being made to sniff a glove. And

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Speaker 2: then the guys are like they're puzzled. Here's oh, I

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Speaker 2: see what they did. There's a twist they turned around

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Speaker 2: and one guy says, yeah, there's a fine line between stupid,

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Speaker 2: and then Harry says and clever. And I love that

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Speaker 2: and to me, that's the essence of spinal top, fine

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Speaker 2: line between stupid and clever. I think you're right.

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Speaker 4: And it's also something that happened on the moment. It

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Speaker 4: happened conversational. I mean, the entire film is improvised, but

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Speaker 4: it was one of those things we were all kind

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Speaker 4: of thinking on this same track and it just kind

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Speaker 4: of spilled out, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's interesting because we shot the film with

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Speaker 2: one camera. We shot maybe a scene two or three times.

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Speaker 2: And it because, like Michael says, it's improvised. You don't

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Speaker 2: know what's gonna come out on what's you know, it's

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Speaker 2: not going to be matched. It's not going to write

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Speaker 2: like a script when you say the same things, so

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Speaker 2: different things would come out. And in that case, the punchline,

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Speaker 2: which is Harry saying and clever is off camera. Now

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Speaker 2: you normally would you know, you'd focus on that, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you pick it up. But we found this in the

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Speaker 2: cutting room and I said, well that works in the

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Speaker 2: tracks and so and it works. The joke works even

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Speaker 2: though the Punchline's not on camera.

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Speaker 1: It's the title of this book and audiobook, And I

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Speaker 1: think you're right. It captures not only what's so fun

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Speaker 1: about the spirit of the movie, but also to me,

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Speaker 1: what you have done as the creators of Spinal Tap

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Speaker 1: is to create these characters that are so oh.

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Speaker 2: Beautifully stupid, thank you.

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Speaker 1: They're right at this sort of like nexus of confidence,

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Speaker 1: obliviousness and stupidity. But to execute that and to improvise

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Speaker 1: that with such precision and consistency takes a profound cleverness.

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Speaker 4: Well, we had our work cut out for us, because

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Speaker 4: the people we were doing, the people we were embodying,

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Speaker 4: take themselves very very seriously, of course, and if you

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Speaker 4: do that, if you're on the level, that's where the

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Speaker 4: funny comes from. Because there's something about the audacity of

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Speaker 4: someone who's got a very dim bulb up here telling

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Speaker 4: everyone else what's what, and also their philosophies of life

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Speaker 4: and how deep and profound they are. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, what's wonderful is we have, you know, these great

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Speaker 2: albums where you know, rock and roll creation and all

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Speaker 2: these very high falutin ideas about these guys thinking about

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Speaker 2: how they've really got a grasp of the way the

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Speaker 2: world works and the universe works. And to be honest,

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Speaker 2: you know, there were a lot of heavy metal rock

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Speaker 2: musicians that were very upset with us because they did

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Speaker 2: take themselves seriously and they're making fun of us. You know,

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Speaker 2: that's not right. You know, we really do make great

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Speaker 2: music and all this stuff, and they do make great music,

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Speaker 2: but it's not as high fallutine as they think it is.

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Speaker 1: Isn't that the sort of highest compliment though? Doesn't that

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Speaker 1: mean that you've really punched the button if they're feeling

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Speaker 1: a little agitated at the parody of self importance?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, And a lot of them over

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Speaker 2: time got to really dig it. Sure. I mean they

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Speaker 2: accepted it and they said, oh, this is really cool

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Speaker 2: and they love the fact that we were making fun,

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Speaker 2: ye know, sincere Form of Flattery and all that.

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Speaker 1: So I had heard that. I've read about some of

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Speaker 1: the blowback at the time from people like Ozzy Osbourne

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Speaker 1: and Steven Tyler. How real was that? I mean, did

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Speaker 1: they hold grudge for years? Was this something that affected

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Speaker 1: your lives?

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Speaker 4: Well, here's the thing. Blowback used to be a different

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Speaker 4: sized animal than it is now. We encountered Steven Tyler

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Speaker 4: and this was his thing. It was like too close,

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Speaker 4: too close, and he would smile a little bit, but

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Speaker 4: mainly it was like this hurts.

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Speaker 2: It's so close.

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Speaker 4: Yes, and we heard that Ozzie isn't didn't like it,

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Speaker 4: but it was the same thing. It was like I

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Speaker 4: felt uncomfortable, yeah, because I felt spied on. But that

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Speaker 4: came down as they didn't like it, right, and it's

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Speaker 4: like nonsense. I met Ozzie years later and he was

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Speaker 4: adored the movie and he was great about it. But

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Speaker 4: now it's like somebody says anything and you'll get thirty

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Speaker 4: thousand people.

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Speaker 2: Said did you hear that?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So it's a different world. I mean, the

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Speaker 2: same thing happened with actual Rose and then Slash basically

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Speaker 2: said to him, Oh, it's funny they're making it, and

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Speaker 2: then Axl Rose, Oh yeah, I see, I get what

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Speaker 2: they're doing. And same thing. When I first met Sting,

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Speaker 2: he was just you know, hitting with the police and everything,

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Speaker 2: and he said, a listen, I watched this movie over

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Speaker 2: and over. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know. I mean so that was like, you know,

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Speaker 2: a great compliment.

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Speaker 1: The movie is affectionate and this is what I think

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Speaker 1: elevates certain comedy from other comedy. You're not really punching down.

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Speaker 1: There's a genuine affection for these characters, as oblivious as

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Speaker 1: they are and as self important as they are, and

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Speaker 1: you're sort of having fun with their hubris. But I

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Speaker 1: never felt like there was ridicule baked in there.

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Speaker 2: And we we're the first generation that grew up on

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Speaker 2: rock and rolls right in the fifties, and we love

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Speaker 2: rock and rolls. Of course, we all grew up with that,

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Speaker 2: so you know, it was a love of the music

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Speaker 2: and also could find what's funny about it too, exactly,

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Speaker 2: So you know, you try to mix those things.

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Speaker 4: So when you're sixteen, your favorite band is printed on

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Speaker 4: your forehead.

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Speaker 2: And it's like it's who you.

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Speaker 1: Are, and every article of clothing that you wear, that's right,

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Speaker 1: that's right, and it's all about that.

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Speaker 4: And it's like you look at yourself, what a stupid

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Speaker 4: kid I was? And boy I was happy. Yeah, I

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Speaker 4: love the music. So I was been listening to the

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Speaker 4: Kinks a lot lately. That's kind of my pet third band.

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Speaker 4: You know, everybody loved the Beatles, everybody loved the Who

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Speaker 4: and the Stones and all that but the Kinks were

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Speaker 4: always like so.

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Speaker 2: On the money to me.

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Speaker 4: And I know I wasn't an English guy, you know

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Speaker 4: from Muswell Hill.

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Speaker 2: I was this American kid.

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Speaker 4: But there's something about those days which when you're sixteen,

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Speaker 4: that's what you do. You take on that coloration, you know,

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Speaker 4: and it stays with or it stays with me. I

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Speaker 4: showed no signs of growing up.

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Speaker 2: Amen.

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Speaker 4: But I just bought A King's album about a week ago,

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Speaker 4: so you know, there you go.

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Speaker 2: You know, one time I was at this party once

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Speaker 2: for Nick Polgie was his birthday, ninetieth birthday party. And

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Speaker 2: his stepson, Max is a musician. He's a guitarist. Now

356
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Speaker 2: he plays with Taylor Swift, but he was with Kesha.

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Speaker 2: He's played with a lot of different bands. Nick says

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Speaker 2: to me, you know, he's got a spinal tap tattoo

359
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Speaker 2: on his back. No, really, get out of here. I

360
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Speaker 2: go over to him and I said, Max, Nick told

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Speaker 2: me that you have a spiral tattooth. He takes down

362
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Speaker 2: his shirt and in the back he has the cover

363
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Speaker 2: of Shark Sandwich tattooed to his back, which is the

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Speaker 2: sandwich with a little fin coming out of the Wow. Yeah.

365
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Speaker 2: So yeah, So you talk about having your favorite band

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Speaker 2: tattooed to your forehead. He literally had a tattoo.

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Speaker 1: All right, I want to talk a little bit about

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Speaker 1: the creative process. The audiobook details Schnedling tell us what

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Speaker 1: exactly that is and the role it plays in the

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Speaker 1: sort of writing and execution or even in the origin

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Speaker 1: of the movie.

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Speaker 2: That's a term that Chris guessed first throughout long time ago.

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Speaker 2: He referred to the back and forth of improvisation as

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Speaker 2: you're snadling with each other. You just kind of riffing,

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Speaker 2: riffing with each other.

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Speaker 1: You know where that where that what that word means

377
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Speaker 1: exactly or where it can It's a made up word,

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Speaker 1: just a made up word.

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Speaker 2: Okay, here's a great story. You got you like this.

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Speaker 2: So we've been trying there's a guy in prison in

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Speaker 2: in that's not the funny part, not so far, not

382
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Speaker 2: so far. But there's a guy in prison in Texas.

383
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Speaker 2: His name is Nan and Williams. And this guy has

384
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Speaker 2: been in we've been trying to get out for a

385
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Speaker 2: long time. He's a great guy. He's in there for

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Speaker 2: crime he didn't commit. He's got three master's degrees, he's

387
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Speaker 2: written books, he teaches all these young inmates, and he

388
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,160
Speaker 2: asked me, he said, you know, I send me a book,

389
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Speaker 2: send me one of the books, you know, fine line

390
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Speaker 2: between stupid. So I sent him the book. We talked

391
00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,160
Speaker 2: about it and he read some You know, these kids,

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Speaker 2: they don't know who's spiled happens. They don't know who

393
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Speaker 2: I am, they don't know any of it, but they're

394
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Speaker 2: listening to it and they picked up on schnadling. Says, hey,

395
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,120
Speaker 2: what's that We stopped, and they start, we gotta start

396
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,960
Speaker 2: snadling with each other. So you got these prisoners down

397
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,520
Speaker 2: and down in Houston snadling. I love it. That's awesome.

398
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Speaker 1: That's therapeutic for sure.

399
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Speaker 2: Oh man, that's fantastic. Yeah.

400
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:04,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, So schnadling is essentially improvisation. There's an anecdote in

401
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:08,119
Speaker 1: the audiobook about a video shoot that you guys are doing,

402
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 1: and the schnadaling sort of starts during a.

403
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Speaker 2: Like an over shot.

404
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,080
Speaker 1: There all everybody's lying on the floor.

405
00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were doing a takeoff of our debut. Yeah,

406
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,280
Speaker 2: this was a takeoff of Midnight Special was part of

407
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,160
Speaker 2: a TV show that had a satire of all kinds

408
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 2: of different things on television. You know, we had sitcoms

409
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 2: and telethons and commercials, and one of the things we

410
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,120
Speaker 2: did was this midnight special. I came out as Wolfman

411
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 2: Jack and I introduced for the first time Spinal Tap,

412
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Speaker 2: England's loudest band, and they came out and they played

413
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 2: a song called rock and Roll nutt or pore of

414
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 2: it was live and part of it was kind of

415
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:51,920
Speaker 2: an MTV video, like cheezy video, yeah, really cheap. And

416
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Speaker 2: there was one part where they had this, I guess

417
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 2: a foger or a smoke, a b smoke or something,

418
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 2: and it kept leaking hot oil on them. Yeah, and

419
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,159
Speaker 2: we had them on the floor. We were trying to

420
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,120
Speaker 2: do like a Buzzby Berkeley kind of thing with the

421
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Speaker 2: legs going, you know, right.

422
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: But you're getting like a medieval torture, the torture yeah,

423
00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 1: h yeah, yeah, of some sort.

424
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Speaker 2: But they started, you know, they started making fun and

425
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:18,960
Speaker 2: they started, you know, schnadling, they started doing stick and

426
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,560
Speaker 2: those characters. And then we said, Jesus, these guys, we

427
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 2: should find something else for them to do, not just

428
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Speaker 2: lie on the floor and get hot oil board on them.

429
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Speaker 4: Although although that's all that's a conversation. Another conversation that's fabulous.

430
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,399
Speaker 1: Now, when you guys are schneedling, especially while the camera

431
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:41,120
Speaker 1: is rolling, are you breaking a lot? Are there any

432
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 1: bad laughers in your group?

433
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,960
Speaker 4: Well, there were a few scenes that ended slightly early,

434
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,359
Speaker 4: and Paul Benedict, who was one of the great guys ever,

435
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,679
Speaker 4: who plays the hotel clerk, and he gets into a

436
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:59,240
Speaker 4: contractant with Tony who's making cracks about his sexuality and everything.

437
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:01,720
Speaker 4: And it's like Paul comes in for a day and

438
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,280
Speaker 4: just lays all of us out. He's so brilliant, so funny.

439
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 4: Tony Hendris, the manager, is always carrying around this cricket bat,

440
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:10,879
Speaker 4: so he puts the cricket bat up on the counter

441
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 4: while he's talking to the guy get these rooms straightened out,

442
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,800
Speaker 4: and Paul, the hotel clerk, just points to the bat

443
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 4: and he goes, well, you can't take that to your room,

444
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:29,359
Speaker 4: and Tony goes, innocently enough, why not, And Paul said, well,

445
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:34,600
Speaker 4: it's enormous, that's all there was to it.

446
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,160
Speaker 2: It makes no sense, no, but the little story that

447
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,879
Speaker 2: we told ourselves in our heads at that moment started

448
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,199
Speaker 2: laughing before he even got the rest of the word out.

449
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:46,320
Speaker 4: And there's no reason why that's so brilliantly funny, but

450
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,359
Speaker 4: it was. And Fred Willard also had away. He was

451
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,399
Speaker 4: one of the best improvisers. And you can see in

452
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 4: this one scene where he's telling him about the gig

453
00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,159
Speaker 4: they're going to play on the Army base, and you

454
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:03,399
Speaker 4: can see Chris Guest kind of ducking behind somebody because

455
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 4: he's starting to go and you just want to rule

456
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 4: the take. And there was one that I actually went

457
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 4: and that was Chris totally surprised me. He's playing a piano,

458
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:17,879
Speaker 4: very quiet, kind of classical piece, and I go, that's interesting,

459
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:20,919
Speaker 4: you know, that's something very different from what you normally play.

460
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 4: He says, well, it's you know, it's a classic comedy

461
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:28,960
Speaker 4: Mozart and Bacchus called mock piece. It's in D D minor,

462
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:30,960
Speaker 4: which I think is the saddest of all keys, and

463
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 4: it's just simple lines intertwined. And I said, well, what

464
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:34,919
Speaker 4: do you call this?

465
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 2: He says, lick my love pump, and I went, I went,

466
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 2: we had to do that all scene over and see. Yeah. Yeah.

467
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,960
Speaker 1: I was notorious on the office for ruining takes, for laughing,

468
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,000
Speaker 1: and there were, like you described, Chris, there's a scene

469
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:55,720
Speaker 1: in a Christmas episode where Steve Krell is being so

470
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,040
Speaker 1: funny that I have to duck behind a plant, and

471
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 1: I'm behind the plant for the majority of the scene.

472
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 2: But it's part of what's.

473
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,480
Speaker 1: So fun and frustrating about improvisation, right, is that the

474
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,440
Speaker 1: best stuff can get ruined so easily.

475
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean that's how things happen in a

476
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,919
Speaker 4: good improvisational company. And there are a few, and there

477
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,920
Speaker 4: have been many over the years. The mistake you can

478
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 4: make is to look for that punchline instead of living

479
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 4: in the scene. Yes, because that's amen some of the

480
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:29,160
Speaker 4: Peter Bonders is one of the best improvisers I ever saw,

481
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,720
Speaker 4: and I never saw him crack a joke or anything

482
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:36,199
Speaker 4: like it. He just existed in the scene. Anything he

483
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 4: was doing was completely absurd. But he took it dead

484
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 4: seriously and he was hilarious and he would never break

485
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:43,639
Speaker 4: in a million years.

486
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:46,679
Speaker 1: That is the secret. Yeah, just to take take it

487
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,919
Speaker 1: all dead seriously, take it all bitch, and not chase

488
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 1: the not chase the punchlines. There are a lot of

489
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 1: scenes that feel in the movie completely improvised, Like.

490
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:02,960
Speaker 2: They're all improvised. Every all the dialogue is improvised completely.

491
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:06,400
Speaker 1: I guess that's my question. Like there's the talking about

492
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: the drummers that have died, and Chris breaks in that,

493
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 1: by the way, on the vomit line, yes, which I think,

494
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 1: which he says, and he starts to chuckle, but he

495
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 1: saves it. Yeah, and he keeps it in character more

496
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 1: or less right, just enough, But.

497
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 2: I love it.

498
00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: It's just a little glimpse under the veil. But then

499
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,160
Speaker 1: there are scenes like the legendary amp that goes to eleven,

500
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 1: which clearly was prep.

501
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,159
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, well, yeah, we had the we had the prop.

502
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 2: We knew that we were going to have an AMP

503
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 2: that went to eleven, but we didn't know how we

504
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,680
Speaker 2: were going to get to it, or how it was going.

505
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 4: To be revealed, or what we were or how you

506
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,280
Speaker 4: feature something this big, yeah in a movie that's a documentary,

507
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 4: or what.

508
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,560
Speaker 2: We were going to say about it. And my favorite

509
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:53,960
Speaker 2: moment in there is Chris is showing me around all

510
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,440
Speaker 2: the different guitars and then he shows me this amp

511
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,679
Speaker 2: that goes up to eleven and I said, well, I

512
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:00,159
Speaker 2: don't see why do you have it to go well?

513
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,200
Speaker 2: He said, well it's one louder, isn't it. I said, well, yeah,

514
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 2: but I mean couldn't you make the top number be

515
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,879
Speaker 2: ten and just make that a little louder? And he

516
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 2: had no answer for that. I hit him with something

517
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 2: that I basically painted him into a corner. He made

518
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 2: a long, long pause and he goes, well, this goes

519
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,160
Speaker 2: to eleven. Yeah, he had no answer for.

520
00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: The honesty of his performance in that moment is so perfect.

521
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 4: There's another little tiny moment that Chris does. It's when

522
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 4: we're in the airport and Janine has taken over the

523
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 4: management of the band and she's laying out all this

524
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 4: shit about you know, astrology is telling us to go

525
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 4: to this city and not this one. She's rearranging everything

526
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 4: and Chris, who was wearing a cowboy hat for the

527
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 4: only moment in the film he's wearing that, She says,

528
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,120
Speaker 4: have you got this? And he just, without even really

529
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 4: looking at her, he kind of tilts his head and

530
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 4: holds up the same thing she's reading it from and.

531
00:28:58,040 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 2: Then puts it down.

532
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 4: And think about that moment that just says everything, how

533
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 4: about you go to hell, but without actually saying it,

534
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 4: and don't worry about me, I'm out of here anyway.

535
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:09,680
Speaker 2: It's great.

536
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,000
Speaker 1: Laden that's fabulous. There's one moment, I have to know

537
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 1: if it was improvised. And it's the fabulous scene with

538
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: Bruno Kirby as the limo driver, and I know that

539
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:24,120
Speaker 1: what you shot was actually much longer than what made

540
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:28,239
Speaker 1: the movie. But the bit where he starts to go

541
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:34,160
Speaker 1: off on Frank Sinatra and the window between the limo

542
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 1: driver cab and the passenger section just slowly rises.

543
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:40,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that was one of you guys just

544
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 2: did that or something. No.

545
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 4: I think going into the scene we said, when he

546
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 4: starts going on about stuff, just shut.

547
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 2: Him out of the world. Yeah, but we didn't know where.

548
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:55,280
Speaker 1: So funny, it's just so funny, and Bruno Kirby's reaction

549
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 1: was perfect.

550
00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's an outtake of scene where we get his

551
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 4: character really high and he winds up singing my way

552
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,720
Speaker 4: into a chunk of pizza and in his underwear, in

553
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 4: his underwear, and then he passes out. He nearly killed him.

554
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:15,840
Speaker 4: So missed the desk by like this much in the

555
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 4: hotel room. Wow, but it was awfully funny. But it

556
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 4: was just, oh, if we go there, we'll be there

557
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 4: for ten minutes.

558
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had some great stuff that wound up. As

559
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,440
Speaker 2: they say on the cutting room floor. My favorite thing

560
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 2: was and it's it just it was a great joke,

561
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 2: great stuff, but it just took too long to unfold.

562
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,479
Speaker 2: There was a band that opened for Spinal Tap at

563
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 2: one point called The Dose, which was kind of a

564
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 2: punk band, and the lead singer was Sherry Currey from

565
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 2: from the Runaways. And you see then Nigel and her

566
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 2: are kind of noodling a little bit, and the next

567
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 2: scene Nigel has a herpie sore on his lip and

568
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 2: we don't make much of it. The next thing you

569
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 2: see David, you know, played by Michael, and he's also

570
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,959
Speaker 2: making out with her, and the next and Viv and

571
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 2: the next scene herpee story. It makes it way all

572
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,200
Speaker 2: the way around. And then there's a band meeting where

573
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 2: five of them are sitting around deciding they're gonna vote

574
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 2: whether or not they're going to keep The Dose on

575
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 2: the tour. And before there's four guys with herpee stories.

576
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 2: They saying, I think we should draw I think so,

577
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:21,280
Speaker 2: and the drummers.

578
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 4: The only guy without a herpe story, he says, I

579
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 4: think they're gonna think them.

580
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,720
Speaker 2: But it just took so long, and the only remnant,

581
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 2: the only thing left is there's a scene where you

582
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 2: see Nigel and David, they both have herpe st. We

583
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 2: never explain it, no, and it gets a laugh for

584
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 2: some reason. I don't know. I never know to this

585
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 2: day why I got that laugh.

586
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 4: For one reason, there's this little undercurrent about how close

587
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 4: Sneigel and David really are and always.

588
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 2: Have been, you know. Uh, and it's God. So you're

589
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,000
Speaker 2: saying it's a gay thing, that's what you're saying.

590
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 4: I'm saying it's it's a gray area. It's a gay area.

591
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:04,240
Speaker 4: But Richard Curtis, the wonderful screenwriter and director, I've met him,

592
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 4: and he said, you know, Spinal TAP's my favorite romantic comedy.

593
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 4: He says, it's got it's got the same structure. It's

594
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 4: you guys belong together, and you know, everything else in

595
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,760
Speaker 4: the world is kind of a distraction because you're looking

596
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,640
Speaker 4: for that moment when you were two little assholes on

597
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,880
Speaker 4: the street corner playing skiffle music, you know, and so it.

598
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:29,360
Speaker 2: Was like, Okay. Ricky Gervay said the same exact thing

599
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 2: when I interviewed him. He said, it's a romantic comedy.

600
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 2: I love that. I hadn't thought of that.

601
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 1: So Spinal Tap is obviously a parody band. The songs

602
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 1: are insanely funny, but they're not exactly a joke themselves.

603
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: Let's let's listen to a clip.

604
00:32:55,560 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 5: Okay, So the songs are hilarious, but they're also objectively

605
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 5: great songs.

606
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 2: That was the goal. The goal was the humor would

607
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 2: come out in the lyrics, never in the music. They're

608
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,600
Speaker 2: all great musicians, they all take it seriously, and the

609
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,480
Speaker 2: music is good, like you say, so, we never wanted

610
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 2: the music to be the thing that got the laughs.

611
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 2: It was always the lyrics.

612
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 1: I'm just curious how you arrived at that. I remember

613
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 1: a debate we had on the Office. My character was

614
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaker 1: in a production of Sweeney Todd in the World of

615
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: the Office, and there was a debate in pre production

616
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,480
Speaker 1: at Scranton Community Theater do we want these actors to

617
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:47,719
Speaker 1: be bad and for it to sort of be silly?

618
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 1: And I felt very passionately that even community theater actors

619
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 1: are oftentimes extremely talented and they're extremely committed, and that

620
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:03,960
Speaker 1: that isn't what's funny about the scene.

621
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 2: It's it's a very tricky line to walk because they

622
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 2: can't be sensational actors, sure, but they can be adequate, proficient.

623
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,040
Speaker 2: I mean you're not.

624
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 1: Finding humor in how bad they are.

625
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:19,880
Speaker 2: No, but Chris Guess made this thing about community theatical

626
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 2: waiting for Guffman, of course, and it's kind of perfect

627
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 2: because they're, you know, they're doing their thing. But it's

628
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 2: just like the line that we have to tread with

629
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 2: Spinal Tap. We love what they do, but we also

630
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:33,440
Speaker 2: can make fun of it.

631
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:38,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have the book and the audiobook, and obviously

632
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:42,160
Speaker 1: this podcast is about the audiobook. Both the book and

633
00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:47,279
Speaker 1: the audiobook contain this fabulous kind of little surprise at

634
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,360
Speaker 1: the end Smell the book, which is the oral history

635
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:55,440
Speaker 1: of Spinal Tap, where you guys basically just live inside

636
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 1: the mythology and make up new memories.

637
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,040
Speaker 2: As you go, and it's wild.

638
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 1: After all these years, it just it feels like all

639
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:08,360
Speaker 1: these fake stories have just taken on the weight of

640
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:10,480
Speaker 1: actual rock and roll cannon.

641
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,720
Speaker 2: Before we started the first film, we had a bible.

642
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,319
Speaker 2: I mean, we knew who these characters were, because when

643
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 2: you're improvising, especially David and Nigel, if they were kids

644
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:25,440
Speaker 2: together from Squatney, they have to have shared experiences and

645
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:29,279
Speaker 2: so we improvised. But we also have the background of

646
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 2: knowing who left the band, who joined the band, we

647
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:34,919
Speaker 2: knew all those things. Yeah, so we could we could

648
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,399
Speaker 2: riff off of that rather than just have to make

649
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 2: all that up. Right.

650
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 4: We did do a little cramming right before we did

651
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,600
Speaker 4: the interviews for the book, where we said, let's go

652
00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,040
Speaker 4: over this again. Okay, yeah, are we going to get

653
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,759
Speaker 4: to lesson Mary Chiswick or whatever? You know, there are

654
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:51,880
Speaker 4: three dozen names we can pick up, you know, we

655
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:56,120
Speaker 4: can throw in of course, and we all shared this history.

656
00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:58,040
Speaker 4: We weren't going to get to it all, but it's

657
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,720
Speaker 4: nice to have it there. Yeah, like a Giddyon Bible

658
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:02,359
Speaker 4: pretty much.

659
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:07,600
Speaker 1: Sure, when you're in those sort of schnadling moments, do

660
00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 1: you find yourself in a flow state?

661
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 2: Ever?

662
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,359
Speaker 1: Do you ever find that? It just you feel like, oh,

663
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:14,160
Speaker 1: this is definitely gonna make the final cut.

664
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 2: This is the I never know. I never know what's

665
00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 2: going to make the final club. All I know is

666
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 2: just stay in the moment. Stay in the moment, because

667
00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:29,600
Speaker 2: I'm working with brilliant minds and brilliant comedians and brilliant improvisers,

668
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 2: and something's gonna come out and I don't know what

669
00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:33,799
Speaker 2: it's gonna be. I never know.

670
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:37,800
Speaker 1: So it's been forty years since the original Spinal Tap

671
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,520
Speaker 1: forty one actually forty one now yeah, or.

672
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 2: Is the spinal theft people would call the golden anniversary.

673
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,760
Speaker 1: So finally with the film sequel out now Spinal Tap two,

674
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 1: The End Continues, which is just one of the greatest

675
00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:02,600
Speaker 1: comedy movie titles of all time. I'm wondering, after such

676
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,800
Speaker 1: a definitive first film, talk about some of the challenges

677
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 1: and opportunities that presented themselves in revisiting these characters. Was

678
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:13,440
Speaker 1: it truly effortless kind of slipping back into.

679
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:15,759
Speaker 2: This, Well? Did it take a lot? The effortless part

680
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,760
Speaker 2: was the way we interacted with each other that always

681
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,279
Speaker 2: is there. We always had fun with that. But the

682
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:25,719
Speaker 2: idea of doing a sequel to something that we all said, no,

683
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:29,719
Speaker 2: we've done it, let it be. It's a high bar,

684
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 2: you know, it's a really high bar, and we're old.

685
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,920
Speaker 2: But as we talked, something came out of it that

686
00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,800
Speaker 2: was very real, which is, first of all, the guys

687
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,000
Speaker 2: hadn't played together in fifteen years, so we said, well,

688
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:46,200
Speaker 2: what's that about? Is there bad blood? Are they not talking?

689
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 2: What's going on? And then the idea of older people

690
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 2: still touring or still performing that was out there. Paul

691
00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 2: McCartney was in the movie. He's still performing. You see

692
00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:02,319
Speaker 2: the stones, you see so who is out there doing it?

693
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,000
Speaker 2: And the Eagles and Oasis back together, So that's a

694
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 2: real thing. And then we had to think, well, what's

695
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,920
Speaker 2: the reason why weren't they talking and what's the reason

696
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,200
Speaker 2: that throws them back together. Once we had that, we said, okay,

697
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,319
Speaker 2: it's a story that could stand on its own. You

698
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 2: don't have to have seen the first one. Obviously better

699
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,400
Speaker 2: if you have, you'll get some of the references. But

700
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,440
Speaker 2: if you haven't. And we had screenings where half the

701
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 2: people had never seen the first one and they they

702
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,040
Speaker 2: went with this, they thought this was great.

703
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, well huge, congrats on just the universe that you've

704
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:40,000
Speaker 1: created and now expanded on even further with Spinal Tap two.

705
00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:44,160
Speaker 1: It's it is a hell of a treat and I

706
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:47,359
Speaker 1: hope you make maybe at least three or four more.

707
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:50,880
Speaker 2: Do you have it in here's the thing and we

708
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 2: can tell you because it's not a secret. No, well,

709
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 2: it's been released to the press that after we finished

710
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:04,680
Speaker 2: Spy Tap Too, The end continues. We were approached by

711
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:11,439
Speaker 2: the Heritage Foundation in England to do a concert at Stonehenge,

712
00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:15,120
Speaker 2: at the actual Stonehenge, Oh my god. And so it

713
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 2: was an impossible thing not to say yes to. And

714
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:23,040
Speaker 2: we got together. We went over to England and did

715
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 2: a concert in front of in front of this Stonehenge

716
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 2: and you know this. Eric Clapton came on and performed,

717
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:34,200
Speaker 2: and Shanaiah Twain came on. And my favorite thing, bel though,

718
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:38,759
Speaker 2: was Josh Grobin sings a Bitch School And it's worth

719
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 2: the price of admission.

720
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it's pretty amazing. Yeah yeah, will that be

721
00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:46,719
Speaker 4: that'll come out next year? That'll be visible next year?

722
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:47,680
Speaker 1: Oh fantastic.

723
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:52,320
Speaker 2: Yeah. And that one's called it's called Spinal Tap at Stonehenge,

724
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:58,440
Speaker 2: the final finale per But don't give away the ending,

725
00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,400
Speaker 2: rob No, I'm not, I won't do that.

726
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,720
Speaker 1: Isn't redundancy always funny?

727
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:05,720
Speaker 2: Listen.

728
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:08,560
Speaker 4: We wrote a song called tonight I'm gonna rocket tonight.

729
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:11,319
Speaker 4: How do you think we feel about that?

730
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:12,399
Speaker 2: Yeah? There it is.

731
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:15,600
Speaker 1: Okay, we're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be

732
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:16,360
Speaker 1: right back.

733
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:24,839
Speaker 2: All right.

734
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:27,280
Speaker 1: We're gonna jump into a section of the interview called

735
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:31,839
Speaker 1: plot twist, where I'm just gonna just fire.

736
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:32,920
Speaker 2: At you some questions.

737
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:38,680
Speaker 1: All right, Spidal tabs infamous custom Amps famously went one

738
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,719
Speaker 1: louder to eleven. What in your lives have you turned

739
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:43,440
Speaker 1: up to eleven?

740
00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:49,360
Speaker 4: That's a good question. Milee's your time. It's approaching one

741
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:52,040
Speaker 4: hundred percent, and I'm delighted.

742
00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:53,920
Speaker 1: You've turned it down to eleven.

743
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:57,520
Speaker 4: No, no, no, I just listened. Rob and I are

744
00:40:57,560 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 4: the same age. We've all been doing a lot of

745
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:03,200
Speaker 4: things for a long time, and it's like really appreciating that.

746
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:06,839
Speaker 4: It sounds very corny, very hallmark, but I really do

747
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 4: think that me not doing much of anything on a

748
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:12,520
Speaker 4: really nice day is.

749
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 1: Better than anything that's fabulous.

750
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:19,040
Speaker 2: Listen. I'm probably of the four of us, I would

751
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:23,040
Speaker 2: say the most driven. I'm crazy driven, and in my mind,

752
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:26,280
Speaker 2: I haven't gotten the eleven yet. I mean as close

753
00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:28,320
Speaker 2: as I ever got with you. Know it's a cliche,

754
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 2: but you're the birth of your children. I mean that

755
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:33,160
Speaker 2: is like, ooh, that can't get doesn't get any better.

756
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 2: But in terms of my work and stuff, I still

757
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 2: feel like there's an eleven out there somewhere.

758
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:39,360
Speaker 1: Amazing.

759
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:40,480
Speaker 2: Oh I love that.

760
00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:45,319
Speaker 1: Two very different answers, Yes, all right. The band had

761
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,840
Speaker 1: numerous spinal tap moments, like getting lost backstage or the

762
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:54,400
Speaker 1: monumental Stone Hinge prop being extremely tiny. Have you experienced

763
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:57,240
Speaker 1: a moment in your professional or personal life that felt

764
00:41:57,239 --> 00:41:58,880
Speaker 1: like a true spinal tap moment?

765
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:03,120
Speaker 4: Eighteen eighty four, when the film came out, we played

766
00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 4: a handful of cities, and some of them, the New York,

767
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 4: LA Chicago, and Boston were really well attended. Boston was huge,

768
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:15,759
Speaker 4: but the film played for a year in Boston. It

769
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:18,279
Speaker 4: became like this is what we when we go to

770
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 4: the movies, this is what we do. So we were

771
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:22,839
Speaker 4: really kind of hot. And we played it a place

772
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 4: called the Channel Club. And I've had this corroborated by

773
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:28,880
Speaker 4: people who were there, said, man, I was there the.

774
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 2: Night you played, and it did.

775
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:33,439
Speaker 4: It really rain on the stage? And yeah it did.

776
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:37,440
Speaker 4: It was this terrible storm outside and the stage was

777
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:41,680
Speaker 4: drenched and we're there with electric instruments and I'm wearing

778
00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:45,080
Speaker 4: boxing shoes, wearing boxing shoes which have this little kind

779
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:51,239
Speaker 4: of you know, just the thickness of Barbara Walter's skin. Yeah,

780
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:53,799
Speaker 4: and it was like, well, if we go here, at

781
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,040
Speaker 4: least we were a hit in this town, you know.

782
00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 4: But it really was it was like and Chris and

783
00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:00,319
Speaker 4: I are looking at each other, going good bye.

784
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:04,640
Speaker 1: Maybe wait, so this is your spinal tap moment in

785
00:43:04,719 --> 00:43:07,000
Speaker 1: your life? Is also an actual spinal tap?

786
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean we've I've had little things.

787
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 4: Uh, you know when we did all the way with

788
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:15,080
Speaker 4: this play that I did in New York, what we

789
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:16,759
Speaker 4: did in Cambridge.

790
00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:19,040
Speaker 2: First, by the way, I loved that play.

791
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:21,120
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you, thank you, ye that was great, and

792
00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:26,760
Speaker 4: Bryan Cranston played LBJ. The first scene is he's having

793
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,480
Speaker 4: this vision about what what I'm no, I'm the president.

794
00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:32,640
Speaker 4: All of a sudden, Jfksman killed, I'm the president.

795
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:33,600
Speaker 2: What am I going to do? How am I to

796
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:33,880
Speaker 2: do this?

797
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,239
Speaker 4: And then his desk rises out of the floor and

798
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:40,680
Speaker 4: he goes behind his desk and begins the scene proper

799
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:45,040
Speaker 4: with other people. Well, opening night, it got halfway up

800
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:48,160
Speaker 4: it's stone in and so they said, well, maybe we're

801
00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:51,000
Speaker 4: going to reboots. So everybody's standing on the stage and

802
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 4: they lower it again and bring it up again, and

803
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:58,040
Speaker 4: then it just breaks and he goes, Gugu no yeah,

804
00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:00,520
Speaker 4: And so then it's like dealing with that, but those

805
00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:04,880
Speaker 4: are in the moments they're happening. It's horrible stuff, but

806
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:07,799
Speaker 4: you know what, tomorrow and I will come back and

807
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,000
Speaker 4: try it again, you know, that's all you can do.

808
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 2: Amen. Well for me, I mean, I've had a million

809
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,080
Speaker 2: of those kind of things on stage where stuff goes wrong,

810
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:18,719
Speaker 2: but one that just popped in my head. I was

811
00:44:18,719 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 2: in the Summer Theater in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Albert Brooks

812
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:25,040
Speaker 2: was in the company with me. We were doing a

813
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:28,280
Speaker 2: production of Mary Mary, you know, which is a comedy,

814
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 2: and we're eighteen years old. We're playing people in their

815
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:33,560
Speaker 2: forties with the corn starch and the hair and all

816
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:37,719
Speaker 2: this stuff. And you know, they had shows once a week.

817
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:39,840
Speaker 2: You know, they turned the show over every week. So

818
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:41,840
Speaker 2: you do a show for a week, you take the

819
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,120
Speaker 2: set down, put the other set back up. And they

820
00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:49,440
Speaker 2: didn't get the set quite ready for the first performance

821
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,120
Speaker 2: of Mary Mary. And Albert and I are on stage

822
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:54,760
Speaker 2: and we're doing, you know, back and forth, back and forth,

823
00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:58,880
Speaker 2: and then he goes to make an exit and there

824
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,799
Speaker 2: was supposed to be some sque eight stairs, and he

825
00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:06,200
Speaker 2: just he just went off the edge and gone in. In

826
00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:08,440
Speaker 2: other words, I opened the door, he walked out the

827
00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:12,600
Speaker 2: door and just disappeared. Oh no, And then he comes back.

828
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:16,360
Speaker 2: He comes back in. His head was just on the

829
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:20,040
Speaker 2: floor above the thing and he and he goes bye

830
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:23,600
Speaker 2: bye like this, and he had a wife. So yeah,

831
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:26,000
Speaker 2: those those kind of things happen. I love the best,

832
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:27,879
Speaker 2: all right.

833
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:31,239
Speaker 1: One of my favorite little tidbits in the audio book

834
00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:35,200
Speaker 1: describes how the creative team used Grimsby card h yes,

835
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:39,799
Speaker 1: which were cards with the stern news anchor Roger Grimsby's

836
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: headshot on one side.

837
00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:44,960
Speaker 2: Yes, Harry Shearer was going with a woman who worked

838
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:47,960
Speaker 2: at ABC News at the time, and Roger Grimson was

839
00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:50,719
Speaker 2: a broadcaster. He was on camera and they had a

840
00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:53,840
Speaker 2: whole stack of like promotional cards where they had picture

841
00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:56,799
Speaker 2: Roger Grimsby on the front and was empty on the back.

842
00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:59,560
Speaker 2: We used these cards. We had a big bulletin board

843
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:02,080
Speaker 2: and anytime we have a scene that we thought, well

844
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:04,440
Speaker 2: this could work, we put it up on the pulling

845
00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:07,440
Speaker 2: board and it got to be where if we had

846
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:10,239
Speaker 2: an idea and we thought maybe it was good or

847
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:13,120
Speaker 2: should it be in the movie or not, we would

848
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 2: say does this merit a Grimsby? In other words, should

849
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 2: we commit this to a Grimsby? And so if it did,

850
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:21,960
Speaker 2: if it got on the board, it was a Grimsey.

851
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:26,520
Speaker 2: When we did the sequel, Michael goes, where did you

852
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 2: get those pictures, Michael, you.

853
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 4: Got I just grabbed it off the internet. He got

854
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:32,920
Speaker 4: off the internet. There was a picture ros A Grimsey

855
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:37,160
Speaker 4: and the had a whole stack of so we could,

856
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:38,880
Speaker 4: you know, keep the tradition alized.

857
00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:42,319
Speaker 1: Oh that's fabulous. I feel like somebody needs to sell

858
00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:44,360
Speaker 1: Grimsby cards to screenwriters.

859
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:47,879
Speaker 2: Oh my god, the money will come rolling in. Yeah,

860
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:49,680
Speaker 2: I mean, what a million dollar idea.

861
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:53,160
Speaker 1: Oh guy, this is our next adventure, this is our

862
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:56,960
Speaker 1: next step. Here we go all right, Well, you know

863
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:01,200
Speaker 1: it's it is such a fun, clever creative technique. Do

864
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:04,640
Speaker 1: you have either of you have an unexpected or unusual

865
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:07,160
Speaker 1: method in your own creative process.

866
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:09,799
Speaker 2: God, I don't know. I wouldn't even know how to

867
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,720
Speaker 2: begin to describe where things come from.

868
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:15,799
Speaker 4: I just have to keep remembering to breathe, you know,

869
00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:18,600
Speaker 4: because sometimes if you're kind of waiting for something to happen,

870
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:21,399
Speaker 4: you kind of lose the reality because a real person

871
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:24,480
Speaker 4: is going to be breathing. I've just sometimes I got

872
00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:28,560
Speaker 4: to remind myself okay, and it just helps you stay

873
00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:30,840
Speaker 4: with them. I don't know, I don't have any other style.

874
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:32,560
Speaker 1: That's a hell of a good answer.

875
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:35,920
Speaker 4: I've always liked making these guys laugh and and they

876
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:37,279
Speaker 4: they know I'm a soft.

877
00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:39,359
Speaker 2: Touch when it and he does all the time. I mean,

878
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:42,560
Speaker 2: that's the thing about Michael and his brain. Will you know,

879
00:47:42,680 --> 00:47:45,360
Speaker 2: all three of them, their brains work in different ways,

880
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:50,720
Speaker 2: but very fast, and they come at comedy in different ways,

881
00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,000
Speaker 2: and you just never know how it's going to work.

882
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:56,200
Speaker 2: I'm you know, I'm George Burns, I'm you know, I'm

883
00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:58,440
Speaker 2: my dad to mel Brooks. I tried to you know,

884
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:01,799
Speaker 2: I'm the straight guy hopefully get the best out of them.

885
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,000
Speaker 2: And it's pretty easy when you're working with them. I'm

886
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:08,080
Speaker 2: telling you it's pretty easy. They come prepared to get

887
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 2: goodwood on the ball every time.

888
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:15,239
Speaker 1: Amen. You guys have incredible chemistry. And it is so

889
00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:19,360
Speaker 1: fun to see it still, just to see those sparks

890
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,759
Speaker 1: flying forty years later. It's it's just as alive as

891
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:26,520
Speaker 1: it ever was. It's it's so so great.

892
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:27,080
Speaker 2: Now.

893
00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:31,880
Speaker 1: Last question, what are you listening to or reading right now?

894
00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:34,319
Speaker 1: And and or what's next on your list?

895
00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:37,920
Speaker 4: I'm reading the new Mark Twain autobiography, which is just

896
00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:39,640
Speaker 4: thick and amazing.

897
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:42,439
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, the new He just put out a new one.

898
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 4: No, no, not the new and it's not an autobiography.

899
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:49,879
Speaker 4: It's Ron Chernow's biography. Oh oh fabulous, and it is. It's

900
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:53,839
Speaker 4: it's amazing. And what am I listening to? I'm listening

901
00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:57,960
Speaker 4: to a couple of things. I got a book called Consciousness.

902
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:01,040
Speaker 4: What is Consciousness? So this is fascinating and so I

903
00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:02,600
Speaker 4: listened to it at night. It puts me right to

904
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:04,600
Speaker 4: sleep bad.

905
00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 1: I can tell.

906
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:07,960
Speaker 2: It's a really good book. But I lose consciousness. It

907
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:09,760
Speaker 2: should be called unconsciousness.

908
00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:14,720
Speaker 4: Unconsciousness, yes, yeah, but it's a cool book. And yeah,

909
00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:17,080
Speaker 4: I listened to I listened to a lot of different

910
00:49:17,160 --> 00:49:19,799
Speaker 4: kinds of things. I'll tell you my favorite guy. There's

911
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:23,839
Speaker 4: a guy named Bill Homewood, like home h O M E.

912
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:30,160
Speaker 4: Wood Homewood, British guy. And he did a fifty two

913
00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:35,040
Speaker 4: hour unabridged reading of the counter Monte Cristo. It's one

914
00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:37,360
Speaker 4: of the greatest things I've ever heard.

915
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:38,239
Speaker 2: It was.

916
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,200
Speaker 4: It's like, I can't wait to get in the car

917
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:42,400
Speaker 4: and just drive nowhere just so I can listen to

918
00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:44,000
Speaker 4: this and do nothing but this.

919
00:49:44,239 --> 00:49:44,840
Speaker 2: He's brilliant.

920
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:48,120
Speaker 4: He also did The Three Musketeers and Tom Jones and

921
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:49,400
Speaker 4: a couple of other things like that.

922
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:52,920
Speaker 1: Wait, how long did that take you to listen to fifty.

923
00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:56,040
Speaker 2: Two hours Michael. Do you listen to books more than

924
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:58,520
Speaker 2: you read them, or do you read more than you listen.

925
00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:01,239
Speaker 4: I'm starting to listen more than I read, but I

926
00:50:01,239 --> 00:50:03,600
Speaker 4: still love to just park myself with a book. But

927
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:05,520
Speaker 4: at night, you know, if I'm kind of trying to

928
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:08,319
Speaker 4: chill out, I'll plug into something like that. And there's

929
00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 4: a woman named Shanade Dixon who does most of Dickens

930
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:17,800
Speaker 4: and it's amazing Shaned Dickens, you should call her so amazing.

931
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:21,799
Speaker 4: And Maria Marghleys also does a great there's a lot

932
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:22,800
Speaker 4: of great Dickson stuff.

933
00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:26,720
Speaker 2: You know. I love blues music, I love country music,

934
00:50:26,760 --> 00:50:31,040
Speaker 2: I love bluegrass. I like to watch Instagram and what

935
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:34,640
Speaker 2: I like about it because I'm old. They you know,

936
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:38,080
Speaker 2: in TikTok, they'll give you two seconds, they'll give you

937
00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:42,320
Speaker 2: a full performance of somebody. So if like Billy Strings

938
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,759
Speaker 2: comes on, I'm like, oh good, I can hear a

939
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:51,560
Speaker 2: whole Billy Strings number. Or if it's Linda Ronstat harmonizing

940
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:55,680
Speaker 2: with Dolly Parton and Emulou Harris, you know, I'll listen

941
00:50:55,719 --> 00:50:58,399
Speaker 2: to all that or Christable whoever it is, and I

942
00:50:58,440 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 2: love I will just listen to those kinds of things.

943
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:05,319
Speaker 2: That's what I love listening to. And any blues guitars

944
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:06,560
Speaker 2: go from one.

945
00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:10,439
Speaker 1: To the other amazing. Yeah, we're in the same sort

946
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:12,399
Speaker 1: of musical loops there.

947
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:13,080
Speaker 2: I love it.

948
00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:18,799
Speaker 1: Any audio books or books, well books Right now, you see,

949
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:22,800
Speaker 1: I'm in the midst of finishing up a book based

950
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:26,600
Speaker 1: on this podcast that I did last year about the

951
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:29,600
Speaker 1: jeffk assassinations called Who Killed jeffk We.

952
00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:35,239
Speaker 2: Did it on iHeartRadio with so with Solo Dad O'Brien. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

953
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:38,680
Speaker 2: and it got like ten million downloads and people like this.

954
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:42,080
Speaker 2: So Simon and Schuster asked us if we would write

955
00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:45,080
Speaker 2: a book, so we started working on it, the two

956
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:47,040
Speaker 2: guys that I work with on the podcast. So I've

957
00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:49,839
Speaker 2: been writing on that. So I still I'm reading. There's

958
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,360
Speaker 2: a book that came out about what happened to Darthy

959
00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:55,560
Speaker 2: cle Gallen, and so I just keep reading more and

960
00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:58,160
Speaker 2: more stuff about that. Right now, I'm kind of still

961
00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:00,000
Speaker 2: immersed in that world.

962
00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:04,479
Speaker 1: Wow, that's a good one. That's a juicy one. Well,

963
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:09,440
Speaker 1: Rob Reiner, Michael McKeon, it was truly excellent having you

964
00:52:09,560 --> 00:52:12,440
Speaker 1: on Earsay. Thank you so much for coming on.

965
00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:15,200
Speaker 2: Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you, Ed, thanks for

966
00:52:15,239 --> 00:52:17,759
Speaker 2: having us on. Yeah, absolutely anytime.

967
00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:20,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wish we could. Wish we'd just be hanging

968
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:22,440
Speaker 1: out having a beer right now.

969
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:25,319
Speaker 4: We're allowed to you. I'm going to continue hanging out.

970
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:27,160
Speaker 4: You just might not be there.

971
00:52:29,160 --> 00:52:31,560
Speaker 1: You'll just keep talking into your microphone for the next

972
00:52:31,640 --> 00:52:32,440
Speaker 1: forty five minutes.

973
00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:36,040
Speaker 2: Well, truly a pleasure, guys, Thanks a lot, Thanks a lot.

974
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:42,080
Speaker 3: Well, that was awesome.

975
00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:43,759
Speaker 2: This was like such a.

976
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:47,080
Speaker 1: Dream for me to just pick their brains and hear

977
00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:51,800
Speaker 1: so many of the stories. As a person that works

978
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:54,360
Speaker 1: in comedy, I just love to hear how other people's

979
00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:58,280
Speaker 1: brains work, Yeah, and like and how their process works,

980
00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:02,239
Speaker 1: and especially material that I've appreciated so deeply for so

981
00:53:02,280 --> 00:53:05,640
Speaker 1: many years. Just to get under the hood and just

982
00:53:05,719 --> 00:53:09,520
Speaker 1: see how that sausage is made. It's really a privilege.

983
00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:10,800
Speaker 3: Especially when it makes you laugh.

984
00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:11,640
Speaker 2: Yeah.

985
00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:14,440
Speaker 3: I just find such joy in being able to go

986
00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:19,520
Speaker 3: into the brains of other weirdos in the best way possible.

987
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:20,160
Speaker 1: As a weirdo.

988
00:53:20,400 --> 00:53:21,040
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly.

989
00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:24,480
Speaker 1: It's fun to learn about other weirdos totally, and you

990
00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:27,000
Speaker 1: and I are very proud to be Weirdoh. Yes, of course,

991
00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:30,160
Speaker 1: it's a badge of honor. All right, well you can

992
00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:32,800
Speaker 1: find the new audio book A fine line between stupid

993
00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:38,640
Speaker 1: and clever, the story of Spinal Tap at Audible. Thank

994
00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:41,400
Speaker 1: you for tuning into this episode of Earsay, the Audible

995
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:43,480
Speaker 1: and iHeart Audio Book Club.

996
00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:49,400
Speaker 3: On the next episode, we're diving into a supernatural romance

997
00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:53,680
Speaker 3: co authored by Nicholas Sparks and m Night Shamalan. There's

998
00:53:53,719 --> 00:53:56,840
Speaker 3: a haunted house, a ghost love story, a mystery that

999
00:53:56,960 --> 00:53:58,360
Speaker 3: must be solved. You don't want to miss this.

1000
00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:00,800
Speaker 1: Yeah that sounds quite saucy.

1001
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:02,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, extremely Yeah.

1002
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:04,480
Speaker 1: Well we'll see you then and if you had fun

1003
00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:11,840
Speaker 1: with us today, consider following the show wherever you listen. Hearsay,

1004
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:14,800
Speaker 1: the Audible and iHeart Audio Book Club is a production

1005
00:54:14,880 --> 00:54:16,600
Speaker 1: of Iheart's Ruby Studio.

1006
00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:18,520
Speaker 2: We're your hosts.

1007
00:54:18,239 --> 00:54:22,960
Speaker 3: Ed Helms and Kelpenn. Our executive producer is Matt Schultz,

1008
00:54:23,120 --> 00:54:26,360
Speaker 3: with theme music and post production by Marcus Bagala.

1009
00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:30,279
Speaker 1: For Ruby Studio. Our managing EP is Matt Romano, our

1010
00:54:30,320 --> 00:54:34,520
Speaker 1: EP of post production is Matt Stillo. Our production coordinator

1011
00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:36,239
Speaker 1: is Abby Aguilar.

1012
00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:38,440
Speaker 3: And of course a big thank you to our friends

1013
00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:41,040
Speaker 3: at Audible. Don't forget you can listen to what we're

1014
00:54:41,080 --> 00:54:44,400
Speaker 3: listening to on the Audible app or at audible dot com.

1015
00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:46,920
Speaker 3: Sign up for a free thirty day Audible trial, and

1016
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:51,080
Speaker 3: your first audiobook is free. Visit audible dot com slash

1017
00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:51,880
Speaker 3: ar say.

1018
00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:54,520
Speaker 1: Until next time, Thanks for listening.

1019
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:00,319
Speaker 2: Foo,