Jack Black celebrates the masters of musical comedy in this week’s Guest DJ set -- from the fearless creativity of Fred Armisen, to the hilarity of Craig Robinson and the duo Heidecker and Wood, who he dubs the ”David Lynch of comedy ”. Jack’s band Tenacious D is presenting the comedy and music event Festival Supreme at the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday, October 19.
For More: http://lineup.festivalsupreme.com/
Track List:
1. Bed Intruder - The Gregory Brothers
2. Dream of the 90s - Fred Armisen (Portlandia)
3. Cross Country Skiing - Heidecker & Wood
4. Take Yo Panties Off - Snoop Dog & Craig Robinson
5. Sex with Ducks - Garfunkel and Oates
Transcript:
Jason Bentley: Hi, this is Jason Bentley from KCRW and I'm here with actor Jack Black, he is our guest DJ this week. Hello Jack.
Jack Black: How do you do!
Bentley: Good! Well, thank you for joining us. The task at hand is to select songs as our guest DJ, so why don't we just set it off from the top. What do you have for us?
Black: Well, we're gonna kick this thing off with The Gregory Brothers, an incredible group of kids who make songs out of news events. They songify the news, is what they call it.
This song is called Bed Intruder. You may remember this character on the news talking about an intruder that was roaming around the town. A little vigilante justice he was talking about.
Song: The Gregory Brothers - "Bed Intruder"
Black: The first time I heard the Gregory brothers was Double Rainbow. Which was an incredible thing that was on YouTube that was just a guy who saw a gorgeous rainbow and was videotaping the rainbow and it moved him to tears and people thought it was hilarious. But they took this already incredibly funny video and turned it into sort of a masterpiece.
Bentley: Jack Black is our guest DJ on KCRW.com. Okay what do we have up next?
Black: Up next we have one of my favorite artists of all time, Fred Armisen.
A lot of people know him from Saturday Night Live and you may not know what an incredible musician he is, and that he actually came from the music scene in the 90’s. So I knew he had all kinds of musical chops. And then when I saw his show, Portlandia, that incredible song at the beginning, "Dream of the 90’s", was a revelation.
The thing I love about Fred is that he is fearless in his creativity.
You ever see this sketch that he did on Saturday Night Live where he comes on the news with Kristen Wiig and they say, "yes we've prepared a song". But their hair is a little tussled, and it's clear that they really haven't prepared. And they start to sing the song they "prepared". And it's obvious that he's just improvising, completely. And Kristen Wiig is sort of just following along with his improvisation.
To go on live television in front of an audience of, you know, millions, with nothing prepared. You know he didn't have anything scripted, he's just going off the top of his head. You know, I just marvel at his creativity and courage.
Song: Fred Armisen -- "Dream of the 90’s"
Bentley: That was Fred Armisen and "Dream of the Ninties." What do we have next up Jack?
Black: Up next we got “Cross Country Skiing” by Heidecker and Wood. If you're not familiar with that band you may know him better as Tim from Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job from Adult Swim.
These guys are like the David Lynch of comedy, I like to call them.
They are surrealists, and specialize in the comedy of the absurd. It's kind of hallucinatory in nature some times. And they're groundbreaking. I don't like to throw that word around, but you know, the big G, the genius comes to mind when you see them.
Bentley: Wow
Black: You just go, ‘where did you go in your mind? Maybe there is something wrong with your brain that you're able to go to these places that are so unexpected.’
Song: Heidecker and Wood -- "Cross Country Skiing"
Black: This song sounds so serious and real, and it wasn't until the 3rd time listening to it that I realized the real genius. It sounds like Simon and Garfunkel.
Bentley: Yeah?
Black: And there's an audience reaction at the beginning when they start to recognize the song, they all applaud, although clearly these guys have never performed in front of an audience before.
Bentley: That was Heidecker and Wood with “Cross Country Skiing” as selected by Jack
Black. He's our guest DJ this week. Alright Jack, I see you've got a good one coming up here.
Black: Yeah, Snoop Dogg and Craig Robinson. And this jam you may have seen in his recent movie, “This is The End”.
"Take Yo Panties Off" It's a real gem of a jam.
Song: Snoop Dog and Craig Robinson - "Take Yo Panties Off"
Black: Craig Robinson is a guy that I have been tracking for many years. I first saw him at a little club called Largo on Fairfax over 10 years ago. And he was performing with another great comedian Jerry Minor. And they were in kind of a fake band. And the song that they were playing was all about how his woman was being unfaithful to him and he knew it, he had the proof, because he had the phone number of this guy that he found in her purse. And he was gonna call this number (Jack sings) and get to the bottom of it. Then he calls this number and the drummer, who was Craig Robinson, his phone starts to ring, and he picks up the phone and clearly he's been sleeping with the lead singer’s girlfriend.
So I knew that he had hilarious music in him and, since then, Tenacious D, my band, has performed with Craig Robinson and the Nasty Delicious, his band. And we have always had an amazing time working with him, he's one of the masters of the genre.
Bentley: That was Snoop Dogg with Craig Robinson as chosen by Jack Black, he's our guest DJ. So we're here at the final selection for your session today. What do you have for us?
Black: Last but not least, Garfunkel and Oates. I like to call them the female Tenacious D but they're a little smarter than us, and maybe a little subtler, so they're probably more like the female Flight of the Concords, if we're being honest. But I love them nonetheless. I've actually never seen them live. I've only heard them on their records, and they are great. And this song "Sex with Ducks" is a little bit of a social commentary, little bit of a political jam, dealing with gay and lesbian marriage and equal rights. And it's great when someone brilliant can take a serious subject and make a funny song out of it, and deal with the politics in a not heavy handed way, you know what I mean? And I love the way Garfunkel and Oates attacks it and it's just really funny.
"Sex with Ducks" by Garfunkel and Oates
Bentley: Pretty much all of the comedians who have come for the Guest DJ Project have chosen extremely depressing material. You are the first to pick things that are upbeat. Why do you think that is?
Black: Well, you know, the truth is I lean towards the depressing jams too. I guess it's that old cliché of the crying clown. We have to plumb the depths to find the truth behind the comedy. All comedy comes from some sort of pain or anguish or rage.
Bentley: That was Garfunkel and Oats as chosen by Jack Black, star of stage and screen, Jack it is always a pleasure.
Black: Thank you.