The limo driver "Are you reading "Yes I can," by Sammy Davis Jr?" is Bruno Kirby, known from other comedy films such as City Slickers and Good Morning Vietnam.
Rob Reiner got his start as part of cast on All in the Family. One of the best, most popular (and still relevant) sitcoms of the 1970s. And his dad is Carl Reiner (just passed recently), best friend and collaborator of Mel Brooks.. and was American Comedy Royalty.
I'm old enough to have watched later seasons of All in the Family when they first aired (too little to understand most of it) and I've been watching Rob Reiner and his movies all my life and it's literally just this moment, reading this comment, that it really clicked that Meathead was Rob Reiner. Now that I think about it, of course it is, but even watching recent reruns I don't think it ever occurred to me. My mind is blown. What a brilliant show that was.
Before All In The Family, he was a staff writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (worked with Steve Martin) and had bit parts in the films, "Where's Poppa?" (directed by Carl Reiner) and "Halls Of Anger".
On the deluxe DVD version, there's a commentary done by the guys in character. It's almost as funny as the movie itself. These guys are masters at improv comedy...and very talented musicians and song writers, as well. My all-time favorite movie.
You are going to have a good time with this. If this film comes with a "commentary", you may want to watch again, because these guys revisit their roles in the "commentary". It's a scream.
My favourite mocumentaries are What we do in the Shadows, Borat, Popstars: Never Stop never Stopping. I highly recommend What we do in the Shadows first ....it goes up to 11 😁
Most musicians love this film because they've had a lot of similar experiences in real life such as getting lost backstage, infighting, company execs, crooked managers, the grind of touring, the mono, etc. Michael McKean has been in a lot of things, IMDB lists 239 credits. He was the band leader on the Jiminy Glick TV show, voice-over work, tons of TV and movies.
"A blues-jazz festival on ... the Isle of Lucy." Talk about a double meaning--1) the Isle of Wight was the site of a famous rock festival in Britain in the late 1960s; 2) say "Isle of Lucy" out loud. Absolutely brilliant improv from Michael McKean.
TISP is a masterpiece. Every time I recommend to someone. They are usually hesitant, but all report back to me that it was one of the funniest things they've ever seen.
Love this movie and I can't imagine how many times I've watched it. Friend of mine lives on Stone Henge Court and the song gets stuck in my head every trip.
You're actually one of the few that gets it!!! So many people and reactors talk about how these jokes aren't ok in today's woke world but that's the whole point of the joke! They aren't trying to normalize that type of behavior, they're making fun of it! Why don't people get that about movies from this period or any period of movies really?
A few fun facts about this film: 1. I believe this is where the term 'rockumentary' originated. I could be wrong, but it was certainly the first time I'd ever heard it. I think this was also the first 'mockumentary.' 2. McKean, Guest, Shearer et al actually wrote the songs and performed their parts. They were mostly musicians before this. Chris Guest was a part of the Woodstock parody stage show "National Lampoon Lemmings" in 1973, where he did impressions of James Taylor and other famous musicians. 3. The script was created through sessions where the actors improvised material to fit the characters. There's a lot of talent here! 4. Tony Hendra, who plays manager Ian, was an early staff member and writer on National Lampoon Magazine. 5. "I almost wish this band was real." They are close enough! This film was so popular, they actually toured as Spinal Tap and made a couple of albums. You can actually buy Spinal Tap records.
The first time I saw this was in 1988. I had never seen a mockumentary, so I had no clue what I was watching at first, but I knew it was not a real band because it had Michael McKean, who I had watched all my life on Laverne & Shirley. I love that the actors actually did the music themselves, which helped to make it feel more real.
Great comments, better than most reactors. You really dug in to why it's such a great film. If you want to see more of these guys, the same core crew takes aim at a couple of other genres in "A Mighty Wind" for the folk music scene of the 1960s, and "Best in Show" for the world of dog show enthusiasts. They are comic geniuses. The music in "A Mighty Wind" is fantastic as well.
This movie was adlibbed. They shot hours of stuff and cut it down to the best stuff. The DVD has like an hour of unused scenes. The DVD also has commentary with the actors in character as the band. Tony Hendra, the manager, passed away last March. The soundtrack album for the movie was an all black cover. I saw Spinal Tap in concert and the stone hedge prop was too big for the stage. They recorded a couple albums for real, even though they are all actors, they also play music.
I'm so glad you're paying attention to the dialog, because that is 90% of the film. That and subtle sight gags. BTW as a sometimes touring professional, all these things have happened in some form. Also watch all the outtakes, it's a whole other movie, roughly 2 more hours! Look for all the well known cameos. You need to check out Best of Show and A Mighty Wind.
This is one of my all time favorites for sure. My ex fiancee and I actually recreated the Smell the Glove cover in a photo shoot for an old friend's college art project. Good fun.
They made a second movie (sort of.) It's called Return of Spinal Tap. It's a full concert film, which has a few behind the scenes parts and interviews. Then, there was A Mighty Wind. A mockumentary about folk bands. Just see it. The three main guys from Spinal Tap play one of the bands. It's amazing.
One of my favourite comedies of all time. You may think you don't know any of the actors but you will almost certainly have seen or heard them before (e.g. The Simpsons, Friends, The Princess Bride, Godzilla (1998) etc). I think you missed it but the drummer exploded just before we saw his replacement in Japan. The actors were allegedly embarrassed by their British accents (they are American) but, speaking as a Brit, I think they actually did ok.
@@oaf-77 "Lenny and the Squigtones" played for real on American Bandstand in about 1979, years before this movie, and their guitar player was......Christopher Guest. When Dick Clark went around the band asking people's names, Christopher Guest put on a fake British accent and said his name was Nigel Tufnel and he was from from England. It appeared to be made up on the spot, the birth of Spinal Tap. There is a clip of it on TH-cam. th-cam.com/video/Pt8YzwJ08pk/w-d-xo.html
Fran's scene where she mentions the white album when talking about how the album cover design doesn't really matter was done as an ad-lib scene. She didn't know the intended album cover for later in the film was going to be pure black. So it was the perfect argument. They took the footage from the first take, knowing they couldn't write a better scene.
What made this work so well was that the actors actually wrote the songs, played the instruments, and improvised the majority of the dialogue... Method acting turned up to eleven!
The entire film was improvised. They basically made a detailed history of the band, which the actors studied, so they were all on the same page, but none of the dialog was scripted. It was totally improvised. When this movie came out, most people thought they were a real band, they toured as a real band, they went on late night talk shows as Spinal Tap, as the characters they play in the film. Even though Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins) was a well known actor from the show Lavern and Shirley, everyone was fooled into thinking they were a real band. I'm surprised you didn't recognize Christopher Guest (Nigel) from The Princess Bride, he played Count Rugen. In the 80's when pop music bands got together and formed Band Aid to make albums to feed starving children, We Are The World, Do They Know It's Christmas, they did not include any hard rock/heavy metal bands. So the metal bands got together and formed Hearing Aid ( a pun on Band Aid, but it's hearing aid because rock music is so loud). All the biggest metal bands from the 80's were involved, Motely Crue, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, Dio, Dokken, Iron Maiden and so on.... and also Spinal Tap! Actually Michael McKean has a very long history of improv even before his Lavern and Shirley days. In fact he and his improv partner, David Lander, created the characters of Lenny and Squiggy before Lavern and Shirley was ever a show. The producers of Lavern and Shirley liked the act so much that they wrote them into the show. And even when the show was at it's height of popularity, Michael McKean and David Lander would go on talk shows as Lenny and Squiggy. They had the audience fooled into thinking they were really Lenny and Squiggy, not Michael McKean and David Lander. They would claim that the names Michael McKean and David Lander were their agents, and they had to use those names in the credits of Lavern and Shirley because they couldnt use their "real" names of Lenny and Squiggy because of some actors guild rules.
A similar concept was created in the UK in 1983. A low budget comedy-variety troupe known as the Comic Strip created a mockumentary about a weekend-warrior style heavy metal band known as "Bad News". The cast was well known to UK TV viewers. As a novelty, the fictitious band was invited to play at a legit rock music festival. Knowing full well they would be booed off they still did it anyway. A couple more mockumentaries were made about Bad News during the 80s, thanks in part to the Spinal Tap popularity, but the Bad News shows were always going to be the poorer cousin.
I was so happy when I saw you were reacting to this. One of my favorite comedies. Thanks for the reaction and the amazing insights, as always. Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman are must see mockumentaries with the same cast. Would love to see you react to those as well.
Spinal Tap has several albums and have toured more than once with Mick Fleetwood on drums. Fortunately, he hasn't died yet. All music in the film was written and played by the actors.
Hello Cleveland!!!! To my knowledge this is the first mockumentary or the first famouss mockumentary. Without this there is no Office, 30 Rock, or Parks and Recs. Christopher Guest has a few mockumentaries which are decent e.g. Best in Show. Harry Shearer did lots of work on The Simpsons if youve watched. Great reaction dude
Harry Shearer provides voices for Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, formerly Dr. Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Otto Mann, Rainier Wolfcastle, Scratchy, Kang, Dr. Marvin Monroe, and Judge Snyder, among others
The mime was billy crystal , fran drescher, was at the party , I really like your analysis to your reviews .. been subbed for awhile and enjoy your style
There's an (imo also very funny) mockumentary for the rap genre, "Fear of A Black Hat" (1993). Revels in being an homage to this, so worth checking out.
There is an earlier mockumentary called The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash by Eric Idle from Monty Python which is a spoof on The Beatles. It's hilarious as well.
I am not sure where to start with you on this one. LOL... There are very few scenes that don't have a cameo by someone you should know... In my opinion. It would take more time than I care to list it.... lol Glad you watched it. Great job as usual.
The film hilariously references many iconic British rock bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Queen. The actress who played Jeanine (June Chadwick) looks quite a lot like Sherrie Swafford, who was the girlfriend of American singer Steve Perry from the band Journey. Their breakup was featured in Perry's megahit song "Oh Sherrie".
"The Rutles" aka "All You Need Is Cash" A pretty obscure but brilliant mockumentary of The Beatles created by Monty Python's Eric Idle (and many others). Easily on par with Spinal Tap, and definitely an influence (though much less well known sadly).
There's an earlier mockumentary made in 1978 about a rock group called 'The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash' about the pre-fab four The Rutles. It's a very accurate parody of The Beatles written by and starring Monty Python's Eric Idle. It also stars Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Michael Palin and others. It's a tv-movie so maybe it doesn't qualify for your channel, but I highly recommend you to watch it as it is well made and has lots of uncanny original Beatle-pastiche songs written by Neil Innes who also plays Ron Nasty (the comedy equivalent to John Lennon) in the film.
Addressing your wish for a longer version, the 2-DVD Special Edition has over an hour of scenes that were cut from the film. Also, the commentary track is the guys, in character, watching their own documentary and complaining about how Marty DiBergi messed things up. Well worth the few bucks it costs, unless the content can be found elsewhere, I'm not sure.
The mocumentary style was not just a stylistic choice, but functional as well. Because this was so heavily improvised, it allowed the cast and crew to adjust on the fly and try different takes. It worked well enough that Christopher Guest and the rest of the core cast have continued to use the approach in their subsequent movies, like Best in Show.
As to the outrageous demands some rock bands used to make, Van Halen was often held up as the worst; the demands varied but the "no brown m&ms!!!" demand was usually cited as the most outrageous. But...arena bands and club bands have to provide a lengthy contract to their venues owners/managers a few weeks ahead of the performance date. It usually contained an awful lot about the lighting system for the light show AND safety precautions the band expected the venue to take. Van Halen would put their outrageous demand two-thirds into the contract, usually surrounded by electrical jargon. That way if the band showed up and did NOT find their 'ridiculous' demand met, they would refuse to play, rightfully assuming that safety guidelines for light shows had not been followed either. They would figure that the contract had only been skimmed or not read at all, and this would this put them in liability for any accidents, fires, or deaths. It was damned clever of them, and it clearly showed whether or not it was safe to play there, for themselves AND their fans. And as far as improvisation goes, the movie was improvised up to a point. The structure of the film WAS written, and cast members improved their lines as long as each scene went from A to B. All of Christopher Guest's fake docs worked that way. BEST IN SHOW is said to be the best, but I haven't seen it. It's a mockumentary about dog shows if not THE big dog show - Westchester? Westminster?
The Japan thing is actually a music industry in-joke based on reality. Many bands in the modern rock era found newfound success touring Japan after falling out of favor in the west, as Japan eats up many aspect of U.S. pop culture, so the expression is used, e.g., “They’re not well-known in the U.S., but they’re big in Japan.” The expression also has been used in song and album titles over the years.
I think "The Rutles" was the first mockumentary; but Norman Gunston deserves a lot of credit as a 'mock reporter'. As an Australian, before Spinal Tap or Ali G - it's even easier to misunderstand what was going on. Seeking a genuine laugh? Search out Norman Gunston.
Before I even get started watching your reaction, Shan, let me just say, this ought to be a film for many repeated viewings. It's largely improvised (therefore a wonder of film making) and there's something new every time, even after decades. The story of the making of this film is almost as compelling as the film itself. Also, Woody Allen is way problematic, but if you're looking for early Mockumentaries, check out "Zelig."
For the funniest mockumentary I recommend "Best in show" from 2000, it is seriously funnier than Spinal Tap (that I also love) but doesnt hold the quality of the documentary genre as good. You also have The Rutles (the original Spinal Tap) and Punishment Park (not funny at all but one of the best in the genre) from the 70's, and of course there is Forgotten Silver, the best mockumentary ever made...
Love this movie in that it's only a sleight exaggeration of reality. Somewhere on TH-cam is a video of Todd Rundgren doing a shoulder roll from the top of a pyramid while the sphynx eyes shoot multicolored lasers. He was playing a glass guitar shaped like an ankh This was during the RA tour, I was at the show.
If you're in the mood for another rock & roll mocumentary after this, check out "The Rutles: All You Need is Cash" from 1978. Somewhat on the shorter side but totally worth it.
mime is money.....line delivered by none other than billy crystal.... and fran drescher as the party host... this film is a who's who of actors...billy would of course, go on to star with meg ryan in "when harry met sally"... huge hit..
Watch it with the DVD commentary if you can. The actors do whole thing in character. It’s almost like watching an entirely different movie that is just as funny.
This film is so cool. But it immediately makes me think of Still Crazy with Bill Nighy, Timothy Spall, Stephen Rea and Billy Connelly. It has comedic elements but some more somber elements as well. It's about a fictional 70s band who had a tragic breakup 20 years earlier, but is trying put together a reunion concert. Some actually decent music interspersed with band members bickering and lots of background and some good character development. You could do far far worse than watching Still Crazy.
Time to watch the whole gang again in ‘Best in Show’ and ‘A Mighty Wind’
A mighty wind absolutely kills me. One of my favorite movies of all time.
Best In Show is awesome. One thing, I'm kinda familiar with dog shows so that might influence my opinion.
Definitely need to watch both of these sooner rather than later.
We have watched Best in Show so many times. My favorite of this genre.
Best to leave him on a high. Those two don't hold a candle to This is Spinal Tap and ruins the mystique of these great performaers
This movie is a massive hit in the UK. Most Brits report being shocked that the actors are all American because the accents are so on point.
The best is the DVD commentary where "the band" does the whole thing in character.
Sting contacted them to say how much he loved the movie. He told them he didn't know whether to laugh or cry because it was all so true.
The limo driver "Are you reading "Yes I can," by Sammy Davis Jr?" is Bruno Kirby, known from other comedy films such as City Slickers and Good Morning Vietnam.
Was also in The Godfather Part II and When Harry Met Sally.
And Young clemenza in goth father 2
Rob Reiner got his start as part of cast on All in the Family. One of the best, most popular (and still relevant) sitcoms of the 1970s. And his dad is Carl Reiner (just passed recently), best friend and collaborator of Mel Brooks.. and was American Comedy Royalty.
You say Rob Reiner but all I hear is 'meathead'
The 2,000 Year Old Man!😆
I'm old enough to have watched later seasons of All in the Family when they first aired (too little to understand most of it) and I've been watching Rob Reiner and his movies all my life and it's literally just this moment, reading this comment, that it really clicked that Meathead was Rob Reiner. Now that I think about it, of course it is, but even watching recent reruns I don't think it ever occurred to me. My mind is blown. What a brilliant show that was.
Before All In The Family, he was a staff writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (worked with Steve Martin) and had bit parts in the films, "Where's Poppa?" (directed by Carl Reiner) and "Halls Of Anger".
You would recognize Christopher Guest from this movie.
He was Count Rugen in The Princess Bride. The six fingered man that killed Inigo's father.
Billy Crystal was in both films too.
@@1nelsondj Crystal was the mime.
Nobody recognizes Christopher Guest. He looks completely different in every movie.
@@creech54 And Dana Carvey was the other mime.
@@reesebn38 Thanks! I didn't recognize him.
"There won't be a dry seat in the house" (as opposed to a dry eye) just a fabulous line from a great movie.
OMG he is reviewing Spinal Tap, that is something I must watch. Let me just load a bowl and get my coffee and enjoy.
"'There's a fine line between stupid and clever,' and they're walking it." Best one-sentence review of this genius movie I've ever heard. Kudos.
Christopher Guest (Nigel) went on to make a bunch of brilliant mockumentaries. You'd love them.
Try Best in Show first.
Best in show is probably his best.
On the deluxe DVD version, there's a commentary done by the guys in character. It's almost as funny as the movie itself. These guys are masters at improv comedy...and very talented musicians and song writers, as well. My all-time favorite movie.
BEST IN SHOW and A MIGHTY WIND are favorites-the others that this ensemble have done are good as well
You are going to have a good time with this. If this film comes with a "commentary", you may want to watch again, because these guys revisit their roles in the "commentary". It's a scream.
They also shot so much improvised material that there is another approx. 90mins of unused material on the DVD
My favourite mocumentaries are What we do in the Shadows, Borat, Popstars: Never Stop never Stopping. I highly recommend What we do in the Shadows first ....it goes up to 11 😁
Popstar is extremely underrated. So so funny
Man it's been so long since I've seen this it's crazy to see some of the cameo's....Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati made an appearance.
RIP, Howard Hessman.
Most musicians love this film because they've had a lot of similar experiences in real life such as getting lost backstage, infighting, company execs, crooked managers, the grind of touring, the mono, etc.
Michael McKean has been in a lot of things, IMDB lists 239 credits. He was the band leader on the Jiminy Glick TV show, voice-over work, tons of TV and movies.
"A blues-jazz festival on ... the Isle of Lucy." Talk about a double meaning--1) the Isle of Wight was the site of a famous rock festival in Britain in the late 1960s; 2) say "Isle of Lucy" out loud. Absolutely brilliant improv from Michael McKean.
TISP is a masterpiece. Every time I recommend to someone. They are usually hesitant, but all report back to me that it was one of the funniest things they've ever seen.
Others have said it, but the DVD commentary is awesome. I saw the commentary on you tube and you can listen to it while you play the movie.
Love this movie and I can't imagine how many times I've watched it. Friend of mine lives on Stone Henge Court and the song gets stuck in my head every trip.
You're actually one of the few that gets it!!! So many people and reactors talk about how these jokes aren't ok in today's woke world but that's the whole point of the joke! They aren't trying to normalize that type of behavior, they're making fun of it! Why don't people get that about movies from this period or any period of movies really?
A few fun facts about this film:
1. I believe this is where the term 'rockumentary' originated. I could be wrong, but it was certainly the first time I'd ever heard it. I think this was also the first 'mockumentary.'
2. McKean, Guest, Shearer et al actually wrote the songs and performed their parts. They were mostly musicians before this. Chris Guest was a part of the Woodstock parody stage show "National Lampoon Lemmings" in 1973, where he did impressions of James Taylor and other famous musicians.
3. The script was created through sessions where the actors improvised material to fit the characters. There's a lot of talent here!
4. Tony Hendra, who plays manager Ian, was an early staff member and writer on National Lampoon Magazine.
5. "I almost wish this band was real." They are close enough! This film was so popular, they actually toured as Spinal Tap and made a couple of albums. You can actually buy Spinal Tap records.
"Did the drummer explode again? Oh, the movie is ending, ok.." had me crying laughing, sir :-)
The first time I saw this was in 1988. I had never seen a mockumentary, so I had no clue what I was watching at first, but I knew it was not a real band because it had Michael McKean, who I had watched all my life on Laverne & Shirley. I love that the actors actually did the music themselves, which helped to make it feel more real.
Great comments, better than most reactors. You really dug in to why it's such a great film. If you want to see more of these guys, the same core crew takes aim at a couple of other genres in "A Mighty Wind" for the folk music scene of the 1960s, and "Best in Show" for the world of dog show enthusiasts. They are comic geniuses. The music in "A Mighty Wind" is fantastic as well.
This movie was adlibbed. They shot hours of stuff and cut it down to the best stuff. The DVD has like an hour of unused scenes. The DVD also has commentary with the actors in character as the band.
Tony Hendra, the manager, passed away last March.
The soundtrack album for the movie was an all black cover.
I saw Spinal Tap in concert and the stone hedge prop was too big for the stage. They recorded a couple albums for real, even though they are all actors, they also play music.
Shan turns it up to 11.
I'm so glad you're paying attention to the dialog, because that is 90% of the film. That and subtle sight gags. BTW as a sometimes touring professional, all these things have happened in some form. Also watch all the outtakes, it's a whole other movie, roughly 2 more hours! Look for all the well known cameos. You need to check out Best of Show and A Mighty Wind.
Whooo one of my favorite reactors watching one of my favorite movies!!!
If you look closely, in the Princess Bride, you will see that baseball cap hanging in the kid's Room when grandpa is reading the story
The aphorism transmogrified upon insertion in the lexicon into "There's a fine line between clever and stupid."
This is one of my all time favorites for sure. My ex fiancee and I actually recreated the Smell the Glove cover in a photo shoot for an old friend's college art project. Good fun.
They made a second movie (sort of.) It's called Return of Spinal Tap. It's a full concert film, which has a few behind the scenes parts and interviews.
Then, there was A Mighty Wind. A mockumentary about folk bands. Just see it. The three main guys from Spinal Tap play one of the bands. It's amazing.
One of my favourite comedies of all time. You may think you don't know any of the actors but you will almost certainly have seen or heard them before (e.g. The Simpsons, Friends, The Princess Bride, Godzilla (1998) etc).
I think you missed it but the drummer exploded just before we saw his replacement in Japan.
The actors were allegedly embarrassed by their British accents (they are American) but, speaking as a Brit, I think they actually did ok.
Hilarious movie! That scene with the Stonehenge gets me every time I end up rolling with laughter.
Michael McKean played Lenny (as in "Lenny and Squiggy") on "Laverne and Shirley."
They had an album ‘Lenny and the Squigtones’ their song ‘Night after Night’ is hilarious
@@oaf-77 "Lenny and the Squigtones" played for real on American Bandstand in about 1979, years before this movie, and their guitar player was......Christopher Guest. When Dick Clark went around the band asking people's names, Christopher Guest put on a fake British accent and said his name was Nigel Tufnel and he was from from England. It appeared to be made up on the spot, the birth of Spinal Tap. There is a clip of it on TH-cam. th-cam.com/video/Pt8YzwJ08pk/w-d-xo.html
"I almost wish this band was real"
Have I got some news for you :)
I saw them in concert in Philly in 1992. They were touring to promote their new LP “Break Like The Wind”.
Fran's scene where she mentions the white album when talking about how the album cover design doesn't really matter was done as an ad-lib scene. She didn't know the intended album cover for later in the film was going to be pure black. So it was the perfect argument. They took the footage from the first take, knowing they couldn't write a better scene.
What made this work so well was that the actors actually wrote the songs, played the instruments, and improvised the majority of the dialogue... Method acting turned up to eleven!
Oh, and if you want more "shenanigans", there are about 90 minutes of outtakes on the DVD.
Great reaction man! this was mostly improvised. Classic!
The entire film was improvised. They basically made a detailed history of the band, which the actors studied, so they were all on the same page, but none of the dialog was scripted. It was totally improvised. When this movie came out, most people thought they were a real band, they toured as a real band, they went on late night talk shows as Spinal Tap, as the characters they play in the film. Even though Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins) was a well known actor from the show Lavern and Shirley, everyone was fooled into thinking they were a real band. I'm surprised you didn't recognize Christopher Guest (Nigel) from The Princess Bride, he played Count Rugen. In the 80's when pop music bands got together and formed Band Aid to make albums to feed starving children, We Are The World, Do They Know It's Christmas, they did not include any hard rock/heavy metal bands. So the metal bands got together and formed Hearing Aid ( a pun on Band Aid, but it's hearing aid because rock music is so loud). All the biggest metal bands from the 80's were involved, Motely Crue, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, Dio, Dokken, Iron Maiden and so on.... and also Spinal Tap!
Actually Michael McKean has a very long history of improv even before his Lavern and Shirley days. In fact he and his improv partner, David Lander, created the characters of Lenny and Squiggy before Lavern and Shirley was ever a show. The producers of Lavern and Shirley liked the act so much that they wrote them into the show. And even when the show was at it's height of popularity, Michael McKean and David Lander would go on talk shows as Lenny and Squiggy. They had the audience fooled into thinking they were really Lenny and Squiggy, not Michael McKean and David Lander. They would claim that the names Michael McKean and David Lander were their agents, and they had to use those names in the credits of Lavern and Shirley because they couldnt use their "real" names of Lenny and Squiggy because of some actors guild rules.
A similar concept was created in the UK in 1983. A low budget comedy-variety troupe known as the Comic Strip created a mockumentary about a weekend-warrior style heavy metal band known as "Bad News". The cast was well known to UK TV viewers. As a novelty, the fictitious band was invited to play at a legit rock music festival. Knowing full well they would be booed off they still did it anyway. A couple more mockumentaries were made about Bad News during the 80s, thanks in part to the Spinal Tap popularity, but the Bad News shows were always going to be the poorer cousin.
I was so happy when I saw you were reacting to this. One of my favorite comedies. Thanks for the reaction and the amazing insights, as always. Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman are must see mockumentaries with the same cast. Would love to see you react to those as well.
Spinal Tap has several albums and have toured more than once with Mick Fleetwood on drums. Fortunately, he hasn't died yet. All music in the film was written and played by the actors.
I think that the problem may have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf.
Another great mockumentary is "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash" from 1978.
Love it love it love it!!!
I haven't watched this in at least 15 years!
Thanks cheers from Australia x
One of my favorite comedies of all time. I'm SO glad you're reacting to this. 😀
Hello Cleveland!!!! To my knowledge this is the first mockumentary or the first famouss mockumentary. Without this there is no Office, 30 Rock, or Parks and Recs. Christopher Guest has a few mockumentaries which are decent e.g. Best in Show.
Harry Shearer did lots of work on The Simpsons if youve watched. Great reaction dude
I was stationed on the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) from half way through 1981-1983 homeported in Alameda CA.
the woman with black hair accusing Spinal tap of being offensive and sexist is Fran Drescher who starred in the TV show The Nanny.
Harry Shearer provides voices for Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, formerly Dr. Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Otto Mann, Rainier Wolfcastle, Scratchy, Kang, Dr. Marvin Monroe, and Judge Snyder, among others
The guitarist had also 11 fingers in "The Princess Bride".
One of my favorite movies of all-time! Good review!
The mime was billy crystal , fran drescher, was at the party , I really like your analysis to your reviews .. been subbed for awhile and enjoy your style
There's an (imo also very funny) mockumentary for the rap genre, "Fear of A Black Hat" (1993). Revels in being an homage to this, so worth checking out.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! It’s a fine line between clever and stupid.
Criterion released a DVD version in the '90s that had a full 90 minutes of deleted scenes, which were just as good as the actual film.
On the special edition dvd the deleted scenes are stitched together and play like an alternate film - also excellent
There is an earlier mockumentary called The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash by Eric Idle from Monty Python which is a spoof on The Beatles. It's hilarious as well.
I am not sure where to start with you on this one. LOL...
There are very few scenes that don't have a cameo by someone you should know... In my opinion.
It would take more time than I care to list it.... lol
Glad you watched it. Great job as usual.
The film hilariously references many iconic British rock bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Queen. The actress who played Jeanine (June Chadwick) looks quite a lot like Sherrie Swafford, who was the girlfriend of American singer Steve Perry from the band Journey. Their breakup was featured in Perry's megahit song "Oh Sherrie".
D minor is saddest of all chords...."what's the song called"... "lick my lovepump"..
A few more mockumentaries you might be interested in 'Waiting for Guffman', 'Best in Show', and 'A Mighty Wind'.
"The Rutles" aka "All You Need Is Cash"
A pretty obscure but brilliant mockumentary of The Beatles created by Monty Python's Eric Idle (and many others).
Easily on par with Spinal Tap, and definitely an influence (though much less well known sadly).
As a musician I can confirm that D minor is the saddest of all the chords.
Smell the Glove would have been the greatest album cover of all time
"What's wrong with being sexy? 😐"
There's an earlier mockumentary made in 1978 about a rock group called 'The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash' about the pre-fab four The Rutles. It's a very accurate parody of The Beatles written by and starring Monty Python's Eric Idle. It also stars Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Michael Palin and others. It's a tv-movie so maybe it doesn't qualify for your channel, but I highly recommend you to watch it as it is well made and has lots of uncanny original Beatle-pastiche songs written by Neil Innes who also plays Ron Nasty (the comedy equivalent to John Lennon) in the film.
Addressing your wish for a longer version, the 2-DVD Special Edition has over an hour of scenes that were cut from the film. Also, the commentary track is the guys, in character, watching their own documentary and complaining about how Marty DiBergi messed things up. Well worth the few bucks it costs, unless the content can be found elsewhere, I'm not sure.
The mocumentary style was not just a stylistic choice, but functional as well. Because this was so heavily improvised, it allowed the cast and crew to adjust on the fly and try different takes. It worked well enough that Christopher Guest and the rest of the core cast have continued to use the approach in their subsequent movies, like Best in Show.
You should watch "The Rutles", I think you will like it.
As to the outrageous demands some rock bands used to make, Van Halen was often held up as the worst; the demands varied but the "no brown m&ms!!!" demand was usually cited as the most outrageous. But...arena bands and club bands have to provide a lengthy contract to their venues owners/managers a few weeks ahead of the performance date. It usually contained an awful lot about the lighting system for the light show AND safety precautions the band expected the venue to take. Van Halen would put their outrageous demand two-thirds into the contract, usually surrounded by electrical jargon. That way if the band showed up and did NOT find their 'ridiculous' demand met, they would refuse to play, rightfully assuming that safety guidelines for light shows had not been followed either. They would figure that the contract had only been skimmed or not read at all, and this would this put them in liability for any accidents, fires, or deaths. It was damned clever of them, and it clearly showed whether or not it was safe to play there, for themselves AND their fans.
And as far as improvisation goes, the movie was improvised up to a point. The structure of the film WAS written, and cast members improved their lines as long as each scene went from A to B. All of Christopher Guest's fake docs worked that way. BEST IN SHOW is said to be the best, but I haven't seen it. It's a mockumentary about dog shows if not THE big dog show - Westchester? Westminster?
The special addition DVD i had years back had almost an hour of extra footage, all of it good.
The Japan thing is actually a music industry in-joke based on reality. Many bands in the modern rock era found newfound success touring Japan after falling out of favor in the west, as Japan eats up many aspect of U.S. pop culture, so the expression is used, e.g., “They’re not well-known in the U.S., but they’re big in Japan.” The expression also has been used in song and album titles over the years.
Best in show is hilarious you need to watch that
Still one of the greatest comedies ever.
I think "The Rutles" was the first mockumentary; but Norman Gunston deserves a lot of credit as a 'mock reporter'. As an Australian, before Spinal Tap or Ali G - it's even easier to misunderstand what was going on. Seeking a genuine laugh? Search out Norman Gunston.
"...these go to 11"
BBCI player's volume slider goes to 11 :D
Before I even get started watching your reaction, Shan, let me just say, this ought to be a film for many repeated viewings. It's largely improvised (therefore a wonder of film making) and there's something new every time, even after decades. The story of the making of this film is almost as compelling as the film itself.
Also, Woody Allen is way problematic, but if you're looking for early Mockumentaries, check out "Zelig."
For the funniest mockumentary I recommend "Best in show" from 2000, it is seriously funnier than Spinal Tap (that I also love) but doesnt hold the quality of the documentary genre as good. You also have The Rutles (the original Spinal Tap) and Punishment Park (not funny at all but one of the best in the genre) from the 70's, and of course there is Forgotten Silver, the best mockumentary ever made...
You should immediately watch "Fear of a Black Hat" it's another Mockumentary but focused on let's just say a different genre of music.
Love this movie in that it's only a sleight exaggeration of reality. Somewhere on TH-cam is a video of Todd Rundgren doing a shoulder roll from the top of a pyramid while the sphynx eyes shoot multicolored lasers. He was playing a glass guitar shaped like an ankh This was during the RA tour, I was at the show.
Just rewatched a movie that I think you would like. Tim Burton's Big Fish. Wonderful story, special effects, cinematography.
If you're in the mood for another rock & roll mocumentary after this, check out "The Rutles: All You Need is Cash" from 1978. Somewhat on the shorter side but totally worth it.
None More Black was my band's name. Too funny.
mime is money.....line delivered by none other than billy crystal.... and fran drescher as the party host... this film is a who's who of actors...billy would of course, go on to star with meg ryan in "when harry met sally"... huge hit..
You can buy the soundtrack and they released a later album Break Like The Wind.
this movie has so many one of comedic nuances it is incredible
Watch it with the DVD commentary if you can. The actors do whole thing in character. It’s almost like watching an entirely different movie that is just as funny.
Great choice, Shan. This film is amazing!
For another excellent (and earlier) mockumentary, check out "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash" (1978) with Eric Idle of Monty Python.
Try the Rutles: All you need is cash. 1978.
In a way the band are real. They've actually released albums & have toured / played music festivals.
All still in character of course! :-D
I love this movie. Everything is just spot on for me. Good times.
This film is so cool. But it immediately makes me think of Still Crazy with Bill Nighy, Timothy Spall, Stephen Rea and Billy Connelly. It has comedic elements but some more somber elements as well. It's about a fictional 70s band who had a tragic breakup 20 years earlier, but is trying put together a reunion concert. Some actually decent music interspersed with band members bickering and lots of background and some good character development. You could do far far worse than watching Still Crazy.
It's hard to comment throughout the film because some of the lines are delivered so quickly, it's hard to miss.
This was the FIRST mocumentary.
Did Bad News come out earlier?
This movie is so funny and so well done. And Christopher Guest, playing Nigel, have made several mockumentaries. Watch Best in Show.
First film of it's kind. And almost all of it was improvised Look up Squiggy and the Squidtones. You'll be surprised..