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Michael McKean Returns… Just Like Spinal Tap

September 11, 2025 / 01:00:47

This episode features guests Michael McKean and Dana Carvey discussing the upcoming film Spinal Tap 2, their experiences in show business, and various anecdotes from their careers.

Michael McKean shares stories about his time in Spinal Tap and the excitement surrounding the sequel. He reflects on the film's initial reception and how it gained popularity over time.

Carvey and McKean discuss their collaborations, including their work on Saturday Night Live and other projects. They reminisce about memorable moments and the creative process behind their performances.

The conversation touches on the influence of Spinal Tap on modern comedy and the importance of authenticity in humor. They also share personal stories about their experiences with famous musicians like Paul McCartney.

Throughout the episode, the chemistry between Carvey and McKean shines as they exchange jokes and insights, making for an entertaining and informative discussion.

TL;DR

Michael McKean and Dana Carvey discuss Spinal Tap 2, their careers, and humorous anecdotes from show business.

Video

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And then he started talking to me about what they had seen in the sky from just right here really late at night. You
00:00:05
know, when the the storefront windows go out, you can really see all the action up there. I thought, "God, I love you, Dan
00:00:11
Aworth." The first time I spoke with Howard Stern, I said, "You must know going in that I think all morning men on
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the radio should be killed." And he told him that. So, we we're good. I just
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spent the first part of the of the morning listening to Paul McCartney
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sing a song that I wrote. That's something that I never thought
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would happen to me. We got Michael McKon, uh Dana, who's a
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friend of mine. We did the movie Conets together. We did SNL together. He's done SNL. Yeah.
00:00:47
He's done one million things in show business. Uh he's part of a lot of the Christopher guest movies.
00:00:54
Uh namely Spinal Tap, which we are discussing the sequel coming out. Very
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exciting. Spinal Tap 2, which I'm excited to talk to him about that because I do think it's a great time to bring it out. It
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just the trailer I saw was super funny. So, he's a great storyteller and that's
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uh it's fun to have him. Yeah, he's great. We've had him once. We're having him again. You know what I
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thought was it would be a good title for a sequel. Dana. Yes. The end of the beginning.
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That's kind of funny. I thought sequel should be called It's one higher.
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Oh yeah. Two is more than one. 11. That's what he says in the movie, right? Yeah. It's one.
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We have our speakers. We We What do they do? They write it to 11. So higher. But it's still It could be 10 full
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blast. It's like a little math. He goes, "Oh, it's one higher. It's one higher. Why don't you make 10 the highest?"
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Uh, but it's one higher. This is in the trailer. It's one higher. You know, that's the best.
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Anyway, you'll crack up. Michael McKon has a lot to say. And uh, and here he is.
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Am I early boys? No way. I feel like I'm in a western and you
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just walked in saloon. Am I stranger? I know you stranger.
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H I've come Dry rides again. Destry with Audi
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Murphy, I think it was. Yeah. Uh yes, it was Jimmy Stewart first. And I'll tell you since you brought it up,
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the guy who created Yes. The guy who created Destry also created another famous character, Dr. Kildair.
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Really? Yes. His name was Max Brand. Not his real name. His real name was Felix
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Foust. It gets weirder. But he wrote he wrote Desk Reides again and a couple of
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more starring him and he created Dr. Kildair. I follow him on Tik Tok.
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This is the kind of the thing that I I didn't know about as a younger person like okay so Bob Od and Kirk are were
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doing a western writing the script and it comes out brilliant. It's so [ __ ] funny but it's really really out there.
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You know studio goes what? And uh I just thought I watch movies now
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and and directors talk about it obviously Quinton Tarantino like you would take Desire Rise again cuz I play
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an Irish guy who's all heard of the West and it's really fast with guns but super humble and I come to the town like this
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you know and John Loveitz is being he's hanging he's about to hang him and he's
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next to signs that he put up if if you if I don't clean up the town you can hang me you know he
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he so it was that kind it was Great. But I look at the nuts and bolts of a guy coming off the stage coach and everyone
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thinking he's kind of fay or whatever the word would be at the time and he's and he's lethal. Anyway, I don't know
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what his hand, but you're you're in a film. You make films. What don't you You write songs. You sing. Um, what?
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Can't shut me up. What can I What can I do? You mean at my age? What can't I do?
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Yeah. as an artist. Stray too far from the bathroom is the
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uh is the sad answer. You know, yeah,
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Michael used to ask aunt bladder. Have you met my aunt bladder? She's a she's a
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frisky one. She has a she needs a lot of attention. Abby or Labby, but I'm saying I tried to
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get I like that you switched her. Nice. Nice. So, so good to have you back. I'm gonna
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have you Michael might be our maybe second return guest. That's all.
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Second. Well, we had a slight delay last time we were with a different. So, now we have
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you just like this. We had a slight delay which was very frustrating because you
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would go, you know what? You know what I hate? And then your mouth would move and then you go, you see what I mean? And
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then we had to respond. Well, I just got off the line with uh three different uh
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people who were interviewing us and we were in character as our Spinal Tap guys. Oh. Oh.
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And so we had a little picture of this guy and watching him try and stretch 20
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minutes worth of questions into 45 minutes worth of questions because he had us for all that time. So we we got
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to watch him thinking about the next question and then realizing realizing he was frozen. That's
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Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, you guys, you're
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a refreshing change from a from a junket. Well, who gets a junket?
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That's We've been in the battle lines. I was in uh Spiny One. I don't know what the nickname is on.
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Uh I was in Spiny One as the mime waiter. And now, um Yes, you were. Yes, you were. And now
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you've been told this, but we're the trailer is really [ __ ] funny. I love
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Oh, good. Good. For two. Do you remember? Do you remember the character that you came in for
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the drummer? No, you came in to uh there was a character in the original version when
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we were first working on it called the Tap Head and he's just this guy who follows the band around.
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Oh. And he kept showing up and then we thought, he's a little overqualified to be that guy. we really
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need more of a found a found object. And then we we had the idea for the the mind
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thing and we let's get this guy. He's great. Now, you know who we did cast as the tap head
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was Eddie Diesen. Eddie Dies. Anybody remember Eddie Dezen
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from Greece? He may have been in Greece. Was he the good choice? He was the nerd in everything. He was
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the nerd. Was he the nerd from 1965 to Yeah. Yeah. And he also historically,
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here's here's an interesting point, probably not interesting at all. He was the earner of the $1 billionth dollar in
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residuals. Oh, he received the$1 billionth dollar
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of trivia of of payouts from residuals in motion pictures.
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And Michael, I think or how do they know? There's a bar called Residuals for
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the people at home. Uh in the valley, if you bring a check in for under a
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dollar, they put it on the wall. Free drink. Yeah. It's called Residuals. And it's in a little strip mall. I've
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been there many times. no matter how small it is. If you ever look at a uh
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you know your monthly expenses and and you know the debits and the credits and you see a buck 30
00:07:40
for for something you did it's kind of like all right kicking it man they're paying you know my account
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I used to get go you sure I'm the guest I'm the guest let me go um
00:07:53
so I I uh I get these checks from SNL like host Alec Baldwin host Tom Hanks
00:07:58
and they're probably three cents each. Yeah. But my accountant goes, "Can you just tell them to send you one check for a
00:08:05
dollar because we have to process every single one of them. We got to put in like 300 checks. Just tell them to round
00:08:13
it up to five bucks and call it one check." What were you What's your residual story? Well, it's it's it's just it's it's not
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that interesting. It's just I used to do the pyramid game show back in the 70s.
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And so every time in the beginning of the $20,000 pyramid or whichever amount pyramid,
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they would have some celebrity wins. So they'd have me or Billy Crystal or um
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you know uh Suzanne Summers, whoever it was, jumping up and down with the the civilian that they just won the big
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money with. Yeah. So they'd show three of those and I would get paid for those. I would get paid and it was again it was a 48 cents
00:08:52
a pop or something but it was sort of lovely. It was like it's not only I'm not only I'm not in that show. I'm in
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the part of the show where people are just getting their coffee and sitting down. Nobody
00:09:05
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. You know what's great is that it it shows you that SAG or the writer's guilt is working because someone's out
00:09:12
there chasing to make sure they give you what you're supposed to get with whatever deal you made which you don't
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even remember. I have a good one. Yeah. Go. So, they're doing a uh it's an animated
00:09:24
thing or it's dogs. I think it's actual dog and you're you do the voice. So, a
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famous actor. I won't say pretty famous. They didn't like the way he did his
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reading. So, they brought me in, but it was already his mouth was there. So, I
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had to match his rhythms and I kept saying, "This isn't going to work. This isn't going to work." So, they got
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someone else or whatever. But then somehow I got into getting checks
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and these are tens of thousands of Oh wow. dollar checks. That's excellent.
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And I said to my, you know, my people, I go, I'm getting these checks. And uh he
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said, uh, just put in a drawer. Don't tell anybody. I don't know how much I got, but it was
00:10:07
big. And people are going to think like, well, what was the name of the movie and who was the actor? But anyway, that's my
00:10:13
my residual story. I think I So when you down these stories, well, all three of our stories tepid,
00:10:20
but that's fine. We're getting warmed up. Yeah, I don't I don't have a better one.
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All right, Dana, you know, I'm always dragging around and up. I always got a 5hour energy on me. Mhm. I know that. Yeah, they they're
00:10:34
either in my sock, in the car, they're somewhere. You keep them everywhere. I give them a little slurp. I don't
00:10:39
really shoot the whole thing like some people do on an empty stomach. I think I eat a little bit,
00:10:45
couple sips, just like coffee. Just keep just keep something going there because chug it.
00:10:51
I don't I'm actually Yeah, I don't want that much energy at once. It's 5 hours, so I kind of, you know,
00:10:57
that's what most people do, but I sip it overall. Um there's a lot of different flavors. Yeah. There's one
00:11:03
called a confetti craze that tastes like a good birthday cake, which they're all
00:11:10
pretty good, but this tastes great. and buttery flavor here to let you be unapologetically
00:11:16
extra and unstoppably energized. Actually, big birthday energy wherever
00:11:21
you go. Uh the shot the shots are are reasonable. You don't have to chug a
00:11:27
full bottle or anything. You just run around with that big birthday energy. Yeah.
00:11:32
And uh you can plan your confetti party at www.5hour 5Hour Enenergy.com
00:11:39
or Amazon that's available now. You know what I mean? So you can get on 5Hour Energy. That's the
00:11:45
number five hour energy.com or Amazon. Unleash your big birthday party energy.
00:11:52
As much caffeine as 12 ounces of your fancy coffee, but zero sugar and zero
00:11:59
sugar crash. So yeah. And I'm not like a coffee guy, so this is kind of better for me. You're a
00:12:04
5hour energy confetti craze guy. 5hour energy confetti craze flavor is
00:12:10
available online. Head to www.5ourenergy.com or Amazon to order yours today.
00:12:19
What was the first time you knew you had u a million dollars? Yeah. What was the first year where you go I
00:12:25
think I have a million dollars? You know, you don't have to answer that. I just coming off. I've always I've always
00:12:33
uh I I don't really know. I don't really know. I mean, are you counting real estate? I don't know.
00:12:40
One actor until he got on Marvel, Paul Rdman. We were just asking him these kind of questions just for fun. And
00:12:47
he just basically said until Ant-Man, you know, he had his character parts. He
00:12:52
was doing well, but you know how the taxes and all the stuff and all these things that people take out of other places. Um, and so it was
00:13:01
surprising, but you you never know where it's going to come from. That's kind of a what? Put it this way. What was the
00:13:07
job that paid you way more than you thought you were going to get paid? Lenny. Well, that was
00:13:14
Lenny. Lenny and Squiggy. That was uh we started out I wasn't even in SAG.
00:13:19
David Lander and No, David Lander and I did those characters as part of the credibility gap. Harry Sheer and Richard
00:13:25
BB. Oh, that's how it started. Well, before Leverne and Shirley were invented,
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before that, David and I did those characters in college at Carnegie in Pittsburgh. Jesus.
00:13:36
Yeah. So, we and and nine years later, we did them on TV. So, it was a little different. And they
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wanted to pay us like it was not even a big deal. Uh they couldn't give they couldn't give me the part until they
00:13:49
auditioned at least one SAG actor. And I'm going to tell you who it was. Oh, good.
00:13:54
It was a guy Well, it was a guy who who knew he wasn't going to get the part. It was already No, we got this guy, but he
00:14:00
doesn't have a sad card. So, we're going to we have to audition somebody else. And would you do it? Timson.
00:14:06
Do we remember Tim Thomas? I remember. Of course. Yeah. Very very sweet guy. Big funny character. Yeah.
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Yeah. Yeah. And he had he had a little part on Happy Days or something right next door. So they auditioned him
00:14:20
knowing and he knew he knew no I'll read for it, you know, and it was him trying to do this guy, you know.
00:14:26
It it's it it's basically every audition I had because I just didn't get it.
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So I wish they told me ahead of time, you're just not going to get it because it's he walks out like this. At
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least he goes, here you go. I'll do you guys a favor. I'm do basically right. I for sure did a hundred in a row where
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I didn't get it. Oh yeah. Oh, easy. the early that's why when Spinal Tap oh you didn't get it and
00:14:49
then they go oh they want you in the movie you're going to be in a scene with Billy at that time of my life that was
00:14:55
like [ __ ] let's go to Sizzler's steakhouse honey
00:15:00
well the weirdest one was Howard Hesman his part didn't even exist 24 hours
00:15:06
before he shot it we had hired you know the scene Howard Hesman in in Spinal Tap they're in the
00:15:12
lobby and he's the manager of this rocker who never really speaks. Yeah. So, we had hired this rock and roll guy
00:15:19
and we while he was being fitted for wardrobe the day before, we realized the guy could barely [ __ ]
00:15:26
talk. He just not only couldn't act, he was just like kind of preverbal and scared shitless. So, Rob goes long
00:15:33
verbal. Yeah, exactly. And Rob Rob goes, "You know what we should do? We should get
00:15:39
him a manager. I'm going to call Howard Hesman." So we called Hesman, talked to him for about 10 minutes on the phone
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and Howard came in, [ __ ] aced it. Killed us. Just
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brilliant, man. Great adjusting while you go. Like those things happen. No one knows about it. I had to do that. Yeah.
00:15:57
Well, that was that whole movie and I'm I'm wondering about the style of this one. I assume it's the same. You've got Rob Reiner and that was the sense that
00:16:05
you guys I guess there was more than a there was an actual script. It wasn't
00:16:10
just bullet points and you'll improvise, but how much improvisation was there? Or
00:16:15
was it very specific, then the first one, and then this one? Uh, there were two written lines in the
00:16:22
first film. One answer my question live direct from hell spinal tap was
00:16:29
written. The guy at the very beginning and Patrick Patrick uh Mc MCN's toast.
00:16:38
And so say we oh tap into America that was written everything else was improvised. That's what I that's what I thought you
00:16:44
know that's what I you pitch that and they go there's a movie there build it around it.
00:16:50
We pitched us we pitched one where we said yeah we'll write the script and we tried for about a day and a half to
00:16:55
write the script and we said man this is not fun and it's not going to yield what we want. We want it to be like it's a
00:17:01
thing that's really happening. Mhm. So we said, "Well, let's just nice thick bible of who these guys are, who they've
00:17:08
been throughout the years, what their relationships are now, and then go." And we broke it down. We got a big map of
00:17:14
the US, and we we tagged the root the route of the tour with post-it notes and
00:17:21
wrote a lot of things on the back of um Grimbies, we called them, because they were postcards that had pictures of
00:17:27
Roger Grimby, the ABC newscaster, on them. Remember him? And she remember that we
00:17:33
used to trade them as kids, right? And uh so we wrote the whole movie on the back of these Grimbes and that was,
00:17:40
you know, some jokes, you know, some like maybe try this and and Oh, yeah. I'm sure you go, you have to
00:17:47
kind of beat it out and going, "No, no, now the beginning is too heavy. We're not We don't or just done in the editing
00:17:52
like you go get as much as we can everywhere and it's five hours or something." Then you got to start going, "What's important?"
00:17:58
You just feel it for comedy. And if you have guys that are extremely talented, sorry I had to say that, but it's might
00:18:04
be embarrassing, but it was just so popped so hard, you know, it just one
00:18:09
higher and all this stuff you all all you guys did. I Kevin Pollock and I did a cochney British or sort of a spinal
00:18:16
tab accent whenever for like couple years we actually played blackjack. We were playing Harris and we were up there
00:18:22
just, you know, doing a talk like that, you know, going, we're just possessed by that movie like
00:18:27
a lot of people. And so I was thrilled and I'll I'll let you talk after this
00:18:33
that there's a sequel now because it's the perfect time because all these other
00:18:38
bands are out there, Long in the Tooth. And so it like it wouldn't have been a
00:18:44
sequel in the 80s, wouldn't it? This is very funny. And that's why it really hit
00:18:49
me hard like, oh, this is what what who they are now is so funny. So anyway, talk to that.
00:18:54
You have you have to understand one other thing. When the film came out, you probably know this, it was not a huge
00:19:00
box office success. No. And it didn't really find its legs until it took off on home video
00:19:06
and people would talk about it like it was, oh, you got to see this weird [ __ ] comedy. And uh so we kind of we kind of picked
00:19:13
up a little steam that way. So, three or four years down the line, they started talking about doing a sequel,
00:19:19
and we said, "No, I think we told the tale. I think we we got it." We briefly talked about doing a a making
00:19:27
a film that purportedly had happened 20 years before in the 60s when they were
00:19:33
young pop stars and there was this piece of [ __ ] exploitation film built around them about the personas,
00:19:39
which was a funny idea, but we were all cresting 40 at that point. They say no, they don't they don't have the tech to
00:19:45
make us look any younger. So they do now. But um the other thing is timing
00:19:52
wise uh we did not have the rights to this material. We had to make phone
00:19:58
calls and make deals with people to go Final Tap to record as Final Tap
00:20:04
make personal appearances and you know in some make some foreign commercials.
00:20:10
So, um, which didn't amount to much. So, we had to make these deals. And so,
00:20:16
Harry Shearer, who has what we call Simpsons money,
00:20:21
yeah. He says, "Guys, I'll do I'll do the I'll do the stuff. We're going to sue him. We're going to get the rights
00:20:26
back." And we did. And we did. And then we said, "Well, now it's like the the dog who chases the car. He finally
00:20:33
catches what they do." Yeah. Now, what make a [ __ ] movie, I guess. So we, you know, we made this
00:20:40
film and it was kind of the reunion that the re the guys are dragged kicking and screaming to a to a reunion. They really
00:20:47
have no regard for one another. A lot of bad blood. And we thought maybe that would be the premise and do a big
00:20:54
show and um maybe get some guest stars in which we were very lucky that
00:21:00
area for sure. Yeah, it was fun. And also just minimal
00:21:07
script or outline and and just play being playful. Yeah.
00:21:13
Did you because three lines of this because Spinal Tap exists then you're doing Spinal Tap 2. What was the mindset
00:21:21
of that? Like let's go to where we go before now we're doing something different or was just instantly different because 40 year 40 years makes
00:21:28
it different, you know? Well, it's also we're the characters are now 40 years
00:21:34
down the road of having this hatchet job, which we assumed he only shot the
00:21:39
he only showed us with the bad [ __ ] He only showed us when things were going wrong. He only showed us when we
00:21:44
couldn't find the stage and all this stuff. What about the night we could find the stage? So, we we had a lot of
00:21:50
animosity and alleged lawsuits and everything. But then we're reunited with Marty Deberie. We make the best of a bad
00:21:57
bad situation and we just go ahead and make the film. I I I still to this day, I don't know,
00:22:05
uh if I'm at a theater or something and get tangled up or kind of lost, I said I always say I feel like I'm in Spinal
00:22:10
Tap. It is one of those things that is a real thing, but it was so funny the way you guys did it in the movie.
00:22:16
I play theaters. I think I'm in Kandahar. I'm like underneath and they go this was built a hundred years ago. I
00:22:21
go minimum and there's no they're like there's no working water. There's no elevators. We
00:22:28
just sort of wing it. You ask the guy, you go, "Excuse me." Cuz you don't. It's kind of passive
00:22:33
aggressive, but is there a way to get to the stage? Cuz I'm going on. Oh, you Oh,
00:22:38
you want to go on the stage? Oh, you go down, you know. Yeah. I hear my intro music. They're
00:22:43
like, "Oh, that's you go up these hundred steps." I'm always winded.
00:22:50
Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton actually had that experience together. They were playing at BB King's 75th birthday party
00:22:58
at the Apollo and they got lost beneath the stage and then Jeff said, "Yeah, at
00:23:04
one point we just looked at each other and went, we're in that [ __ ] movie."
00:23:11
So you guys just thought of that or was it based on something like that that happened to somebody? Uh, it just seemed funny. I don't
00:23:18
remember what the sources were. Those theaters are so close. It did show up. It did show up in a Tom Petty documentary
00:23:24
where they got it was this huge German entertainment complex and in Stogart or
00:23:31
someplace and they kept walking into tennis courts and stuff. But that happened after the movie but not but
00:23:37
before the movie came out. We had shot the film and then we saw the Tom Petty and oh we got that right.
00:23:43
Sometimes they say you don't want to go through the crowd, right? And I'm like, "Go before I go. I'd rather not." And
00:23:48
they go, "Okay, we can figure this out." And then they're they don't. So you're like in the kitchen, then
00:23:54
you're in the pantry, and then you're in the attic. And I'm like, "We're trying to get to the stage, right? I don't know what you guys are doing. I'm trying to I got a show in
00:24:00
about 3 minutes." So, and it makes you nervous because you're about to go on and you want to I have to think about my high quality
00:24:06
jokes. You know, they are high quality. You have highuch um good. Glad you went in that
00:24:13
direction. I changed it. Yeah, I went Michael and I spent a really nice chunk of time on
00:24:19
Coneheads. Yeah. But I tried to give him the measp. Um
00:24:25
Oh my god. Do you remember this story? I think I told you that I was I whispered to the uh PA,
00:24:31
don't tell anyone, but I think I have I do have a chickenpox. So, we're going to try to keep this kind of
00:24:38
He's like, oh, for sure. Boop alarms. So, clear the set and then um I only had
00:24:44
him like it was so weird. Anyway, we talked with Nick Croll yesterday. We
00:24:50
were talking about cone heads cuz they said you were coming on. We all start laughing about cone heads
00:24:55
and how many people were in how many celebrity cameos. It was pretty crazy. Yeah.
00:25:00
And and how uh we were kind of the bad guys in that.
00:25:05
But there it was pretty fun to do. It was kind of it was really fun to be a part of Dan Akroyd doing Cone Heads
00:25:11
again and all that stuff. So, do you remember the day that he lost his temper and tore his head off
00:25:18
because he had this second we he had some friends coming and they
00:25:24
got they tied him up the gate. Wouldn't let in wouldn't let the guys in. It was a couple of his biker pals as I
00:25:31
recall. So, he heard about this. God damn it.
00:25:36
God damn. He cursed curses so like a Canadian. It's God damn it.
00:25:42
And he reached up and he ripped the top of his head off and and I thought, man, if this Yeah. And it
00:25:47
was just this white foam rubber under there. Foam everywhere. Yeah. Scary. Yeah. And he popped off and
00:25:54
looking like that, he went out to the uh you know the the booth there, the guard gate, and he ripped the phone
00:26:01
off the wall. Yeah. He's pretty I'm making this up. He's big guy. Yeah.
00:26:06
And that solved everything. Mad. Yeah. And Dan doesn't get mad too. I mean, we did that whole movie. See it?
00:26:13
No. He's Canadian mellow sweetheart. You know, you know, you know the the the houses are haunted. You know, there's a
00:26:19
cult of spice. You know, he loves outer space and it's fun to be around a guy
00:26:24
that talent that talented and iconic and he really wants to talk about,
00:26:30
you know, the other things and haunted rooms and he's very passionate about it. But aliens are here already. Yeah.
00:26:37
Oh yeah. No. No. Oh, believe me. No, there is proof. There is proof. Uh his his brother his brother lived
00:26:44
right above the uh Mar Peter. Okay. Yeah, I think we went after
00:26:50
shooting one. Maybe you were with us. We went to watch Dine. Not Dline. What's the show? Night Night Line.
00:26:57
The ABC show. Whatever the in the early days. And so he said we're all going to go
00:27:02
look. We're going to watch Ted Cppel, but come on over to the house first. We'll go up on Peter's roof and maybe
00:27:08
we'll try some of this stuff that we got. It's a it's a it's some real buffalo weed, he called it. So, and it
00:27:15
was it was three toes and I was catatonic. But I do remember not being able to speak or move and he comes up
00:27:21
and uh Michael uh Ted Ted Cppel's on. So, we're going to go watch Ted CPP.
00:27:27
Would you like to come down with us? He was like afraid I was going to like levitate or something. And I said, "No,
00:27:33
I'm I'm good here. I'm good here." And then he started talking to me about what they had seen in the sky from just right
00:27:38
here really late at night. You know, when the the storefront windows go out, you can really see all the action up
00:27:44
there. I thought, "God, I love you, Dan Akroy. He's so great." He goes, "You see him every day. You saw him one at the Grove
00:27:49
today at Zara. They're here." You know, you go in the room and you know that it's haunted and you you don't want to be afraid because you know the
00:27:55
spirits are not giving off that vibe. Have you you know I I I don't think I've
00:28:01
ever thrown any costume off in a in a in a fit. Have you ever torn any Well, you
00:28:07
know, when you're on SNL, Lauren, I'm telling you, no.
00:28:12
No, I haven't. I was there. I was there for such a short period of time. Yeah. That it was really like I was kind of
00:28:19
breaking the job in just as I was handed the the walking papers, you know. So, I
00:28:24
did never quite sure whether I had any power or not. How many shows did you do?
00:28:30
26. Like a full a little bit. Was that a season and more? Mhm. It was a season. It was the last six of
00:28:37
the season before. Was Mark McKenna with you? Yeah. In the middle of the second
00:28:43
season. Yeah. Okay. One of the one of the nicest men in the world, right? Yeah.
00:28:48
Awesome guy. Awesome guy. Another Canadian. It must be something in the water. Canadian.
00:28:55
No, full disclosure. That's okay. My wife my wife's from Canada. Born in Canada. Well, my mine's from Texas, so
00:29:02
Oh, okay. Whoa. Whoa. What does that mean? I don't know.
00:29:07
Whatever that means. Yeah. It means nothing. It means she knows where knows where the good Mexican food
00:29:13
is in Houston. So, it's a big plus as far as I'm concerned. So, you got how do you how do you get
00:29:19
let go of uh SNL? What happens? Uh, you know what it was? They were just kind of
00:29:24
cleaning house. They kept you. We had a lot of people though. There was that was one of those years where like
00:29:30
22 people were involved. This is 945 kind of or 945. Yeah.
00:29:35
Um, and you know, uh, Farley was was leaving, Adam was leaving.
00:29:41
Oh, yeah. He decided to go. And I'll tell you this, I always say this. I followed the
00:29:48
very best impression of Clinton. Was Paul uh Phil Bill Phil Bill Phil
00:29:53
Bill Phil Bill Phil Bill Phil Bill Phil Bill Phil Bill Phil Bill Phil Bill Philman yeah film easily easily the best ever. I followed his with mine which was just sort of an
00:29:59
overweight Barney Barney Fe. It wasn't it wasn't a good
00:30:04
and I was followed by I was followed by Daryl who did the second best.
00:30:09
Daryl Daryl has an ear. So, you know, I I part of it was being hired to uh to
00:30:15
play your dad, David, who to be the older presence that they were going to
00:30:20
miss when Phil left. But, you know, Phil took a lot more with him than just one thing. He was remarkable.
00:30:26
You guys ever have things that pop up that you you sort of are somewhere in your mind of you feel had a weird
00:30:33
feeling about it? So, I had it with you when I was guest hosting. It's late in the show. I'm overwhelmed. I don't know
00:30:38
if it's between dress and air or the day of the show, but Lauren and you came in and you had a really good Howard Stern
00:30:44
and it was like saying I was interested in doing that and I was just too overwhelmed to say yes, but I felt
00:30:51
it felt strange to me when I think of it now because of you, my fondness for you and I and also that you were incredibly
00:30:59
famous when I was still a waiter basically. So, um on Leverne and Shirley. So anyway, do I don't know if
00:31:06
you remember that, you know, but I don't I never heard your Howard Stern, but I did Howard on the fifth show of the
00:31:13
first six that I did. Okay. And it went really went really well and Howard loved it and he you know I'd been
00:31:19
on his show a bunch of times before and I have a pretty good I had always had a pretty good relationship with him
00:31:25
because I told him the first time I spoke with Howard Stern, I said, "You must know going in that I think all
00:31:31
morning men on the radio should be killed." and hected, but I told him
00:31:36
that. So, we we're good. He would love that. Yeah, for sure. And he did he did love the impression,
00:31:42
which was nice. And I wasn't eager to jump right in with with more Howard Stern. I was I wanted to do a lot of
00:31:49
different stuff. Sure. you know, I had and uh you know, I had I think I pitched one other thing,
00:31:55
but I I didn't love the idea of anybody
00:32:00
kind of like it, if I remember anything about that moment, it's that it felt thrown in and
00:32:08
uh I think it was kind of a Hail Mary or last minute to fill some gaping or something or something.
00:32:15
I don't don't remember. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you had a good move which was I always remember a tiny thing
00:32:20
about Stern when he laughs you go. It was a different thing I hadn't heard. Yeah. And I was like, "Oh, that's
00:32:26
right." When you hear stuff like that and you I listen to him so much and I go, "Oh,
00:32:31
no one's done that. That's great." Yeah. It's hard. It's hard to find those little tiny hooks.
00:32:37
I'm I'm not a big impression guy. I did like five people on total on uh
00:32:42
you know but I did do the best George Will you know even though you're Dana
00:32:48
Dana George Will is excellent too. I remember hearing that uh you know I mean in recent times like
00:32:54
Kate McInnon which was very funny. I mean she would be doing somebody um
00:33:01
who was the mayor of New York during 911. Sorry Giuliani. Giuliani. And she would just
00:33:08
she'd play him like a Batman character like I'm Juliani and she so there was like true impressionism if you take it
00:33:14
almost like art or abstractionism like I'm not even going to attempt but I'm going to do something that feels like
00:33:21
this guy. And I always loved impressions that aren't super accurate, but have
00:33:26
something about them that's even better than the actual cuz now as you know, news flash, AI could do the greatest AI
00:33:34
is the greatest impressionist in the world if copying it's going to kill us all. And you also,
00:33:40
that's what I love about about uh Bill Hater's impressions is it's they're
00:33:45
always accurate enough to make you go, "Oh, [ __ ] he's nailed it." and you realize he's he's going to go a little
00:33:52
wide with it and it's going to stay as big as his Vincent Price or his uh Keith
00:33:57
Morrison. Keith Morrison. Fantastic. Because of that weird like devilish
00:34:04
smile like he was taking so much glee in it. So that Yeah, we we love Bill her. He's you know
00:34:10
he's at the beginning of SNL they would have Chvy Chase which some people remember in the old days did or they would he would
00:34:17
do Gerald Ford as himself. who just say I'm the president. I'd wear a suit here and and I think mix
00:34:25
aid was the same thing. So now it's so good those departments of making you look 99% like the person already.
00:34:32
Well, no one told no one suggested that Dan that uh Dan
00:34:37
shave his mustache. So he had Nixon with a mustache and you know and they couldn't talk him
00:34:45
out of out of the stash that was probably coming from like improv or something where you go
00:34:50
right went with the bike but like as an improv they just get up and go you're doing this and this and they go we don't need
00:34:56
all that yeah makeup well there's a reminder about I'm reading a book now by Jeffrey
00:35:01
and it's a re it's a a revamped version of a book he he wrote in 78 called
00:35:07
something wonderful right away which is the story of second city starting with
00:35:12
the compass players before starting with Biola Spolan you know really the early days where you were lucky to have a, you
00:35:19
know, a chair and a and a table. And um, you know, I I I think that that's what
00:35:25
you said is very true. Nobody's nobody's expecting us to look exactly like Nixon at this point. I'm doing my really funny
00:35:32
Nixon and it works. Yeah. And it works. And it's great because you didn't know they could do all this makeup and then suddenly just
00:35:38
over time it just evolves and it's very good. By the way, you did you did the Invisible Man with Chvy Chase. Is that
00:35:44
true? I did. Yeah. How was that? That's that was an that was right when was it during his full
00:35:49
heyday. He was a big star. Well, it was 92, I guess.
00:35:55
I don't remember when that came out. And it was uh it was John Carpenter who I really liked a lot. We had a lot of
00:36:01
fun because I was a big fan of um you know of his stuff. The Thing especially.
00:36:06
No, I was just gonna say Yeah, The Thing is maybe the best science fiction horror
00:36:12
film of all time in my opinion. Is that right? I would have no argument with that. But Wilfred Brimley, it was
00:36:17
first time I seen him just this brilliant presence and uh Kurt Russell and Dicky Mazer and uh all
00:36:25
these horrible dogs who would explode on us and stuff. It was just great. Yeah. And I told them Yeah.
00:36:31
Yeah. I I actually got into it. I said, "I'm going to tell you why that movie wasn't a hit." Because there's no girls
00:36:38
in it. Girls are not going to go see this movie unless there's a dame in trouble. Unless they have someone to
00:36:44
pull for. This is a bunch of [ __ ] bros who are getting their asses kicked from the inside by these horrible
00:36:51
creatures. There was no no woman in trouble. And he thought about it. He goes, "Nah, no, it's bullshit."
00:36:59
Well, you know what? You know what? Kind of a sister movie in some ways, different, but it was Alien during that
00:37:05
era. And they had Sigourney Weaver in her little panties at the end. Oh yeah.
00:37:11
Akila Akila to calm herself down. I just love that movie too, man.
00:37:17
Oh yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You like movies? Yeah, I do. I do.
00:37:24
I saw a good movie on the plane called Black Bag and it's Kate Blanchett.
00:37:29
Saw it. Sort of. Yeah. Yeah. And what one thing I really liked, it's
00:37:35
a very complicated spy thing with a lot of, you know, where's your loyalties and all this stuff and there's married
00:37:42
couples and there's couples who are seeing each other and and they're all involved in this. Some one of us is a is
00:37:48
a real shitag here and it's an hour and 33 minutes. We're here counselor.
00:37:55
We we can watch something else now or we can take a nap. It's great. Not every movie has to be
00:38:01
two and a half hours. Yeah, but they are very much they are. No, I didn't add in previews. Get lost.
00:38:08
I was in a 70inute movie called Master Disguise. Sort of a bizarre kids film that's a whole story behind. 70 minutes
00:38:16
was cut down and then you have 15 minutes of outtakes of the credit ro
00:38:22
and it was Jennifer Espazito's first really good role. Wow. And she was adorable that film.
00:38:28
Yeah, she's she's very likable. really like she just directed a film. She directed a film last year.
00:38:35
Didn't get much of a release, but it's it's not bad. It's It's really a pretty good click. I think she's How do movies get seen and released? I
00:38:42
mean, it's just it's hard to There's so much. I don't know. What What's What are you two Do you and your wife watch stuff
00:38:48
together like live streaming shows? Oh, yeah. That you like? Did you you know, what are the recent ones? I'm always looking
00:38:53
for something. Everyone likes Code of Code of Silence. Code of Silence on Brit Box. Very good. Very good.
00:39:01
Okay. I haven't seen that. Tell you anything about it. Fox. Yes.
00:39:06
No, it's good. It's good. What else do we like? Yeah. Well, we like neighbors. We like John
00:39:13
Ham's one was good on Apple. Like John Ham and Neighbors. Yeah. I thought I thought it was a great
00:39:19
use. Uh just like a perfect part for John, you know, he was great in it. Is
00:39:25
great in it. I started that Alien Earth, but I don't know. You have to be into alien. I know. I know. It seems
00:39:31
You don't have to have seen the first 14. Okay. Brit Box. I know. Brit Box.
00:39:37
What was the name of it again? Code something. Code of Silence. Code of Silence. Okay.
00:39:42
I'm going to go bag after this. A lot of great Yeah, Black Bag's excellent, too. Um, yeah.
00:39:47
Who was I got a question. Who was in Earth Girls or Easy? Was that Jim Carrey? Jim Carrey. Damon Way.
00:39:54
Damon Wayans. Yep. Jeff. They were the They were the three They were the three leads and they were
00:39:59
aliens. They were aliens who cleaned up their act. And uh Gina Gina Davis
00:40:06
Gina Dav the girl she was the girlfriend and Julie Brown was kind of the the uh
00:40:11
sidekick. Oh, and she wrote the film for herself. Yeah. No, no, not that's
00:40:18
uptown. I'm talking like brown hair. I know who I talking about. Yeah. Yeah. She did a very funny uh Madonna
00:40:25
parody. No, I remember. Medusa. Yeah, she was really great and is great.
00:40:30
Um, yeah, she wrote it. And the very sad the very sad Charlie Rocket was also in
00:40:36
it. Charlie Rocket. I'm not going to tell I'm not going to tell his sad story, but you can you can
00:40:42
find it. One of the best show business names you could ever if it was a real name. Charlie Rocket.
00:40:47
Charlie Rocket. And he was fired from SNL because
00:40:52
F-word, right? F-word on the air. Yeah. Huh. Uh, yeah.
00:40:58
I think it's been said since I would have I would have kept him. [Music]
00:41:03
I fought for him. One thing I I was just curious about to our basic theme of Spinal Tap 2 is how much you guys
00:41:12
interacted as friends or whatever or did concerts or charity events or, you know,
00:41:17
did gigs. How much was were you in touch with this brand over the years?
00:41:24
You commercials or what what were when were you what did you do during this
00:41:29
time period with Spinal Tap if anything? Yeah, we made well we did a Mighty Wind and
00:41:36
our characters from a Mighty Wind did a couple of drop in dates. Okay. Okay. I did see Mighty Mighty
00:41:42
Windight Wind again. And uh we were the spokesman for that and we went on the road in something we
00:41:49
called unwigged and unplugged where we played acoustic guitars mainly. And we
00:41:55
did songs from Spinal Tap, from Waiting for Guffman, from a Mighty Wind.
00:42:00
[ __ ] And various other sources. And it was really fun. It was a lot of fun. Waiting for We did that in '09.
00:42:07
Yeah. Those were all just brilliant. I mean, that's kind of an interesting because in direction like so now
00:42:14
Christopher Guess is in this, you know, documentary Spinal Tap again. Is is he
00:42:22
more in a directorial kind of feel or is he just one of the casts or who is actually directing it? Is it Rob Riner?
00:42:30
No, he he's the fake director. Who's the real D? Well, in Spinal Dab, it was Rob
00:42:36
directing the film. Chris's films, you notice there's we never see who's making the film,
00:42:42
right? Whereas in Spinal Dab, we meet Marty Deerby. We see him as a character. Yeah. Yeah. So Chris Chris is a fly on
00:42:48
the wall, you know, and his style has been picked up by oh, five out of 10 sitcoms on the air and
00:42:56
waiting to to to get on the air. It's a real easy way to shortcut. It's a
00:43:01
way to to shortcut your story. Yeah. Get your exposition out of the way by saying, "I thought he was lying to me,
00:43:08
but then you know, and you know, and stuff." So sometimes it works great. I really
00:43:13
like um St. Dennis Medical is new with Wend Wendy Wendy Coington on
00:43:20
it and uh Damon No, no, oh, sorry. Um, uh, David Allen Greer
00:43:26
is on it and he's amazing. He's become this this other presence. I
00:43:32
mean, he's such a wonderful actor and uh and he's become this really kind
00:43:38
of crusty old guy who's also got a kind of a heart of gold, but you really you
00:43:43
kind of they lean into both of them so hard it's it's kind of beautiful. I like that show very much. But some of
00:43:50
them it looks like and parks and wreck obviously works but when it really when it looks like and more and more you see this when it
00:43:57
looks like they're just taking shortcuts to tell the story you know then it's then it's what is the camera doing here.
00:44:03
Yeah. You know right they used to call them testimonials right that would be kind of
00:44:09
I don't know what the word confessionals confessionals I think Modern Family. Yeah. I mean, I
00:44:14
would get pitches of shows and it would always be like, "What if you did it docu style, whatever it's called?" And
00:44:20
you go, "Yeah." Yeah. Okay. And does it predate The Office? It Well, the original The Office
00:44:26
is a little different. Yeah. Ricky says that he did base the style of it on Spinal Tap. Um, but he but it's a
00:44:34
scripted show. Yeah. Yeah. He went about it differently because he wrote scripts. He
00:44:40
Yeah. Um, but he's uh I mean he he he perfected it. I resisted the
00:44:49
American Office even though I liked a lot of the people on it. I said it's not going to be like the and it's not like
00:44:55
the original. It's a David it's David Brandt is different than Michael. Uh and I've revisited the
00:45:03
English office lately and it's it's even more embarrassing than you remember. It's even more cringy
00:45:09
and sad and heartbreaking and yeah, and it's like the the Office was a was a
00:45:15
brighter show and it's hilarious, you know. I I I didn't follow it straight through, but I
00:45:21
dropped it. Every time I see an episode of the American Office makes me laugh. There's great people on
00:45:26
it. You're right. Writer. Yeah. Carell's character is, you know, I seinal just
00:45:32
that character and how wounded he is and how clueless he is and it was so in
00:45:37
Steve's wheelhouse. I mean, he just owned it. But it's very much the it's very much the American version of that guy.
00:45:44
Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's it's a different world and it's and the second season of the
00:45:50
British Office is the first season has been on. this guy's a little bit famous
00:45:56
and he's trying to get his job back. So, the second season is just crushing. It's
00:46:01
just false. And he's sort of a celebrity that nobody particularly likes
00:46:07
and it's just he keeps trying to exploit it and it's just oh god die. It's probably too rough for American TV.
00:46:13
It's probably like too sad for network TV. Yeah. Too much going on that is more like deep
00:46:19
dark comedy but not as sellable. But that's a good observation. Also on on BBC, it's okay if you if you
00:46:27
make 12 shows. It's okay if you walk away after 12 faulty towers. Even though
00:46:32
there it's a brilliant brilliant show, it's like no, we're done. And they say, okay. In America, you go, "What are you
00:46:38
talking about? We can out of this." You know, and sometimes it's not always the best
00:46:44
choice. It feels like a 12 episode show will do 90. There's a a little Boris Boris
00:46:50
Caroff with sometimes it's not the best choice.
00:46:57
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00:49:29
Dana, before we let this young man go, I do have to say Waiting for Government. We know we're not talking about enough,
00:49:34
but let's just We all know that. Unbelievable. And uh Parker was in a lot of your movies, right? She's in a lot of
00:49:40
those. So funny. And uh I'm glad Parker got discovered her for that.
00:49:46
Oh, it's great. And she's turning. She's such a wonderful actress. I don't know whether you saw the um oh it was about this god
00:49:55
it was a documentary and then they they did a a a multi-part
00:50:02
uh scripted show about this woman fell down the stairs or she was killed all
00:50:08
this stuff and she played this prosecutor I think and she was wonderful because she was
00:50:15
like man she's trying really hard this pro she's just is she not competent and
00:50:20
they were let in a little bit more in her life and she's a woman alone with a bottle at night and it's like she was
00:50:26
heartbreaking. I remember that. I can't remember the name of it. This I think it's called the stairway or
00:50:31
the stairs. Yeah. Stairs or something. Yeah. Yeah. I know. One one thing about I was not in I was not in uh waiting for
00:50:38
government but I I worked on some of the music. I wrote one of the songs with Chris. See I was gonna read some more movies you
00:50:44
weren't in if you got a second. Yeah, sure. I'll name drop Larry. Larry David was on on this podcast and uh just
00:50:52
talking about his method and the his show Curb and uh he said the main thing
00:50:58
he always looked for is that no one was trying to be funny and I think that the spinal tap obviously that in in all
00:51:05
those other movies there was just this no one was signaling that they're being
00:51:11
funny. I mean it it gave it that whatever you call it. It just made it pop and it made
00:51:17
it it made it way funnier, you know. Oh, good. Good. Uh John Cle had a line
00:51:24
about what farce is. What's a farce? He said, "Well, a farce is what happens to you on the worst day of your life. It
00:51:31
should be a terrible, terrible thing you're going through. Otherwise, it's not going to be funny.
00:51:36
The situation shapes it. All you can do is be the real guy and
00:51:41
do your best." So, yeah. you guys were just so flat straight. So, in this spinal tap, is
00:51:47
there anything you want people who are listening that to say about it um or you enjoy doing it or it's
00:51:55
Yeah, we really did. I would say that if you would just off of what we were talking about, Paul McCartney is really
00:52:01
good in this movie and he plays Paul McCartney, but he plays like a legit a
00:52:06
legit version of Paul with a kind of a kind of a hidden spiny
00:52:12
backbone and it's really pretty [ __ ] amazing. Elton's the same way, but he's, you
00:52:18
know, he's like a a parade coming down your street. It's a slightly different thing, but he's he's great and so dead
00:52:25
pan in the in the interview stuff that Rob does with him. Um, so, you know,
00:52:30
sometimes the person who's not exactly an actor is exactly the actor,
00:52:35
you know. Can I just I want it in my mind's eye like so Paul's here today and
00:52:41
and he comes on and wherever you're filming this and do you run it without cameras or do you just say or you do it
00:52:48
like Lar Gary Chandling used to do I'll say something like this you say how how
00:52:53
did that work with Paul? Well we we we kind of we just knew he
00:52:59
was going to do something in the show. He was very enthusiastic about it and we had a lot of Zoom conversations
00:53:04
about it, but we really didn't nail down what his his thing was going to be about.
00:53:10
But he came down to New Orleans and we, you know, we said, "Well, what if it's this thing that David St. Havens, my
00:53:16
guy, is pitching and the rest of the band really kind of hate it and he comes in, he comes in and he
00:53:23
sides with them. So then it becomes this kind of brristly moment, you know. Okay. Yeah. And so it works. But as as a
00:53:31
songwriter and as a guy who's been at this particular this particular [ __ ] project since 1980,
00:53:38
um I just spent the first part of the of
00:53:43
the morning listening to Paul McCartney sing a song that I wrote.
00:53:51
That's something that I never thought would happen to me. Oh wow. And it was like I I was just I
00:53:57
was it it almost made me go. But my character had to be more like, "Oh yeah, what can what else can you show me?" But
00:54:03
he's still David. David David is very enthusiastic about it. But then when things go south, they go south because
00:54:10
this guy's got a big ego and so does Paul. Love it. His is healthier than mine. Mine's full
00:54:15
of rot. His is full of good. It's funny that it's not even a bucket list thing because you would never even
00:54:21
think that would happen. I'm sure. No. No. But it was it was pretty remarkable. Yeah. I heard Paul on a podcast talking
00:54:27
about filming um have to you know we were down there you know and the guys
00:54:34
were there and I saw hey what's all this you know talking like that you know and they go we got it. I go is that it and
00:54:41
I'll see you later. Yeah. Sorry I wanted to sneak that in. I like doing Paul now.
00:54:47
Well Paul did Paul did the best thing for me. I just did Glengarry, Glenn Ross
00:54:52
on Broadway with Odin Kirk and Jared Kulk and Bill and Bill Burr.
00:54:57
Bill and it was like the it was the Marx Brothers version of Glengarry, Glenn Ross. It was very funny. Yeah,
00:55:03
it was a lot of fun. And Paul came to the show and so he comes downstairs to the
00:55:08
dressing rooms and uh so he comes walking in and we had just worked together, you know, eight months before
00:55:15
or whatever and he comes up in front of everybody. He comes up to me, gives me this big hug, and someone almost like an
00:55:22
offstage loop says, "Oh, you know each other." And Paul says, "Oh, yeah, we're
00:55:27
in movies together." Love it. In movies. Love it. That's a a
00:55:34
perfect Paul McCartney thing to say. And then he's He was already He was already going to heaven, but this guaranteed. Yeah.
00:55:40
Uh what's a better song? Uh And I Love Her, Let It Be, She's Leaving Home. I'm
00:55:47
just doing Paul melody songs, you know. Um, Martha, my dear is his greatest melody.
00:55:52
Wow. Yeah. Because it just keeps going. It's
00:55:58
a long melody loop. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's like a it's like a really elaborate show tune
00:56:04
in two and a half minutes. And it's it's just musically it's it's brilliant. But all those others pretty
00:56:10
damn pretty damn good. All those are fine, too. Oh, we like them. Well, this is my new house. The last
00:56:15
time I talked to you guys, I was I was in the magic uh uh crafts closet or my Rugrats closet as
00:56:23
I called it, which is where I went. Yes. Record Rugrats during the shutdown. So, um I was in there with a lot of
00:56:29
knitting. I I did have notes from the last time. I said, "Where was he?" So, now I know.
00:56:38
He went to a place with no Wi-Fi. He's like, "Where can I go?" So, is this your man? Is this is this
00:56:43
where all your stuff is? your guitars. Got my little keyboard here. Yeah, I do recording here and uh and I
00:56:51
hide out from the world and from the air conditioning apparently. I got to do something about that.
00:56:58
Uh all right. Well, I have David.
00:57:04
Thanks, Michael. So, David, we just we just wrapped up with uh the great Michael McKon and
00:57:11
Michael. Yeah, we were just saying like that's great. He had that great McCartney at the end.
00:57:18
We were sitting on that for a while. I love that story. How fun to have McCartney in your movie. I'd freak out.
00:57:23
It's fun because he's a musician as well. You know, he's in his little studio and he writes all these songs and
00:57:29
stuff and uh so that to kind of hang out with McCartney. I was I I I just, you know,
00:57:34
I'm such a freak and there and there's billions of me. I'm not unusual at all about the Beatles. And so that he tagged
00:57:41
Martha Martha my dear as the great Yeah. I was wondering what you thought of that because I know you have your
00:57:46
favorites. I don't know. I they they go round and round. You know, I I to me I was just
00:57:53
curious the idea of genius, you know, what is genius? And to me, it's sort of like something that shouldn't be able to
00:58:00
exist but exists. Mhm. I'm the same way with those Beatles songs. You go,
00:58:06
"This is my favorite for a while and then you go, "No, now I'm really into this one. Then I'm really into this one now."
00:58:12
And you don't appreciate one, then you go, "Oh [ __ ] now I I just heard it again." I kind of go back to the some of
00:58:18
the earlier Help, Hard Days Night, um, No Reply into, you know, just that when
00:58:24
they were I don't know, something about those. They're very They make me very happy. Yeah. And they're and they're just cool. But
00:58:29
anyway, he that guy is a great storyteller. That's great as a guest.
00:58:35
Michael. Michael a lot of fun. Uh, of course we talked about Conands again, of course.
00:58:42
And we talked about it with Nick Croll. Conan's getting a lot of play and uh, but he was great to talk about
00:58:47
everything. I did feel bad that I said waiting for Guffman. I thought he was in every single one of those from best show
00:58:55
to everything. So that caught me and I felt stupid. I think you got the gist. Well, that was
00:59:02
kind of nice to pack unpack the influence of Spinal Tap on all these other shows
00:59:09
that have people talk to camera and the way they shoot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't even put that together. Uh they I don't know if it's the first
00:59:16
time mock documentary or maybe there were some British ones, but I'm not sure. But in America that was sort of
00:59:23
this mock documentary. The way they shot it was new. Something new. Well, I hope everybody liked it and uh
00:59:29
we'll see you next time. See you next time on What's the name of the show again? I don't know really. I thought you knew.
00:59:35
Huh. Work in progress.
00:59:41
Hey guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us a
00:59:48
review, fivestar rating, and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend.
00:59:53
If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey
01:00:00
and executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro, and Greg Holtzman, Mattie Sprung Kaiser, and
01:00:06
Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet
01:00:14
Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogerty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa
01:00:23
Wester, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gainner, Shan Cherry, Kurt
01:00:29
Courtourtney, and Lauren Vieiraa. Reach out with us any questions to be asked and answered on the show. You can email
01:00:35
us at fly onthealla.com. That's audacy.com.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Best performance
  • 70
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  • 65
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  • 60
    Most iconic

Episode Highlights

  • Paul McCartney's Song
    Listening to Paul McCartney sing a song I wrote was surreal and unforgettable.
    “I spent the first part of the morning listening to Paul McCartney sing a song that I wrote.”
    @ 00m 25s
    September 11, 2025
  • Spinal Tap Sequel Excitement
    Discussing the upcoming Spinal Tap sequel brings back hilarious memories and high expectations.
    “Spinal Tap 2, which I'm excited to talk to him about that because I do think it's a great time to bring it out.”
    @ 01m 00s
    September 11, 2025
  • 5-Hour Energy Confetti Craze
    Discover the unique flavors of 5-Hour Energy, including the birthday cake-inspired confetti craze.
    “There's one called a confetti craze that tastes like a good birthday cake.”
    @ 11m 03s
    September 11, 2025
  • Dan Akroyd's Iconic Moments
    Dan Akroyd shares hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from Coneheads and his unique experiences.
    “God damn it. He cursed curses so like a Canadian.”
    @ 25m 36s
    September 11, 2025
  • The Challenge of Impressions
    Discussing the art of impressions, they reflect on the evolution of comedic styles.
    “AI could do the greatest impressions in the world if copying.”
    @ 33m 34s
    September 11, 2025
  • The Essence of Farce
    John Cleese defines farce in a poignant way, highlighting its roots in real-life struggles.
    “A farce is what happens to you on the worst day of your life.”
    @ 51m 24s
    September 11, 2025
  • The Magic of Collaboration
    A heartfelt moment as a songwriter reflects on hearing Paul McCartney sing his song.
    “I just spent the first part of the morning listening to Paul McCartney sing a song that I wrote.”
    @ 53m 38s
    September 11, 2025
  • Paul McCartney's Surprise Visit
    Paul McCartney surprises the team with a visit after their collaboration.
    “He comes up to me, gives me this big hug.”
    @ 55m 08s
    September 11, 2025

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Paul McCartney00:25
  • Spinal Tap 201:00
  • Coneheads Memories24:50
  • Film Discussions37:24
  • Gambling Talk46:57
  • Football Season47:14
  • Acting Praise49:46
  • Musical Collaboration53:38

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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