U Talkin’ U2 To Me? - R U Talkin' R.E.M. RE: ME? - Slowing It Down with David Wain

Episode Date: May 9, 2018

Adam Scott Aukerman take a break this week from discussing R.E.M.’s discography and instead welcome film director and friend David Wain to talk about his experiences in an R.E.M. tribute band. Scott reads his favorite reviews of the podcast so far and David shares the secret to playing drums before listing his Top 10 R.E.M. Songs of All Time. Plus, David shows off his Jimmy Stewart on an episode of “There’s Always Time For Impressions.” This episode is sponsored by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com/REM code: REM).

Hey everyone, today's Are You Talking to R.E.M. ReMe episode is brought to you by Squarespace. A dream is just a great idea that doesn't have a website yet. Is that right, Adam? Well, if you want to make it a reality, you make it one with Squarespace. The most natural ad reads in the business, Adam Scott. Squarespace makes it easy to turn your idea into a unique website, showcase your work, blog, or publish content. What else can you do? Oh, you can sell products and services of all kinds in just a few clicks, Scott.

With 24-7 award-winning customer support, you can customize everything from look and feel to settings and products using beautiful templates created by world-class designers. And there's nothing to install, patch, or upgrade ever. I thought I'd fake you out. Head to squarespace.com slash REM for a free trial. When you're ready to launch,

use the offer code REM to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. From Chronic to Collapse, Town and Into Now respectively, that is, this is R.U. remy the comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things rem this is good rock and roll uh music All right, welcome back. We are back. Big show tonight. Patented, slowing it down episode tonight. A little later, we have a great guest, someone who reached out to us to be on the show. He is what I call a film director. He is what I call a film director. He is – he has that patented – A lot of things patented tonight. That coveted credit. That coveted credit.

Those three little words we all desire, a film buy. You know what I call him is a friend. Really? I don't go that far. Yeah. Well, I guess all that matters to you is show business. It does. You know, I mean.

Labels. Labels on my jeans. You love labels. And my friends. Yep, Jordache. You have a label maker that you always carry. I really do. Any of my foodstuffs, my containers, I like to know what's in them.

I think the thing about boxes is let's make them all clear. You know what I mean? And that goes for houses. That goes for any kind of container. I just want to know what's in all of them. You're 100% behind this clear backpack movement. I love it. I love what caused it. I love the results. Yeah, you love everything about it, which is horrifying. But our good friend David Wayne will be here. You know him from Wet Hot American Summer and other works. I know him from being my friend.

You love this guy. Talk about him as a friend. Look, I'm just saying that I don't – the first thing I think of isn't like, Look, I'm just saying that the first thing I think of isn't like, oh, David's a major filmmaker or Scott owns a big company. I think of my friends. I don't care about that stuff. I own a big company? Well, you run a big company. Are you talking about my penis?

Yeah. Okay, let's introduce ourselves. First of all, you know me from such television shows as Comedy Bang Bang, and that's about it. Did a Brooklyn Nine-Nine. That was a gift that Andy Samberg gave me. And other than that, Just Shoot Me back in the 90s when I was hot, when I was coming off of Mr. Show, and then the well ran dry in terms of performing. Scott Aukerman here, and across the table from me, you know him from the current hit, Big Little Lies. Those lies, they keep getting bigger.

They keep getting littler. We don't know, is it a trick of the light? Is it perspective? We don't know what's going on with these lies, but they're back, they're bigger, they're littler. Meryl Streep is around to lie a little, but they're big, they're little. Adam Scott is here.

Man. Hi. You look tired. I am tired. Why? Well, it's 4.30 in the morning. Yes. You wanted us to come here at 4.30 in the morning. Yes. You wanted us to come here at 4.30 in the morning.

I got a certified letter from you the other day. I require a signature for all of my communications. Knowing you about your communications, that is rich. I don't trust these little devices, these little coffins we all carry around. The rectangle we all bow down to. Oh, my God. Enough already with these things. Enough.

Let's make them squares. Look up. Or circles. Look at me in my eyes. Let's make them circles. That would be fun if phones were circles. See, that would be fine with me. That would be fun.

I would really enjoy that. You know what I would like? An oval shape. Yeah. It's a friendly shape. What about a football shaped? And I'm talking three dimensionally. Yeah. What if a phone shape. What about a football shaped? And I'm talking three dimensionally. Yeah.

What if a phone were the shape of a football and regulation size? And made of pig skin. Yes. And had laces. Yeah. And we could use them to, you know, once we look up from them, you know, then we can toss it around. And we all had to wear regulation pads at all times.

And what if to use it, you had to kick it through regulation goalposts? Before you make any call or send an email. That is the dream. That is the technological dream to me. Scott, welcome back to the show. It's good to see you. We have a lot to cover tonight. We have a lot to cover.

Before we get to our guest, I have a list of topics. This is one of the first episodes that we have recorded since we've been putting these out. Does that make sense? I mean, one of the first ones that we've been able to address some of the reaction to the episode. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Well, it's the first one because we did the— Oh, God.

You and your fucking details. Just go with me. No, but we did the return of you, it is. Yeah. Well, it's the first one because we did the... Oh, God. You and your fucking details. Just go with me. No, but we did the return of you talking U2 to... That's the only one we've done since... Since we've been putting them out. I didn't realize that.

Yeah, yeah. So we can finally address everything. There's been just a wellspring of things that people want to talk to us about. Yeah. So let's go through it, all right? Okay.

All right. Okay. The sign-off. How we end the about. Yeah. So let's go through it, all right? Okay. All right. Okay. The sign-off. How we end the show. Yeah. Remember the first episode? We didn't think of anything, so we've just been saying

we hope you found what you're looking for. Yeah. Which is good, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like it, right? Me too. A lot of people have said

we should say it's the end of the show as we know it and we feel fine. That would be cringe. That would be lame, right? Yeah. Yeah, that would be cringe. But let's try it.

Okay. Okay. All right. We were in the DC City paper crossword. We were a clue. I saw that. Yeah, because I sent it to you. Yes, you did.

Oh, you saw that. You just happened to open your eyes one day. Yeah, because I sent it to you. Yes, you did. Oh, you saw that. You just happened to open your eyes one day. Yeah, that was pretty cool and pretty difficult, I would think. A difficult? A bit of an obscure. Well, it doesn't come, it's not at the tip of people's knowledge. It's not, you know, this show, are you talking R.E.M. Re.Me? Yeah.

Speaking of which, this is another thing. Yeah uh the re part of the title yeah technically some people have alerted to me we have to say regarding no that it's pronounced ray really yeah what do you think about that wait why yeah exactly but it means regarding. Yeah, but it's pronounced Ray. But that sounds terrible. Are you talking R-E-M Ray me? Ray me. That's awful. Also, the character in the new Star Wars movie is Ray.

It's short for regarding. Now, where are you getting all of this fan reaction? Because where does this come from? Because I pay attention to the fans, Adam. Well, I do too. I mean, I get lots of nice things

said on Twitter but I don't get this. Like, where do you get people are, want a different sign off? Where does that happen? Because people send it

to me constantly. Really? Yes. But what do you think about the Ray issue? Well, that's weird. That's just a

grammatical thing I didn't know about. But I say we pay no attention to it because it doesn't make any sense to me. Agreed, yeah. Yeah, so we're not going to pay attention to that. I want to shout out the guy who sent us a bunch of records. Yeah, that was very nice. He sent us a lot of REM vinyl. He sent us the box set of Automatic for the People. Do you want me to find his name? Sure. All right, stall was very nice. He sent us a lot of REM vinyl. He sent us the box set of Automatic for the People.

Do you want me to find his name? Sure. All right. Stall for a minute. Oh, a kid came up to me at the airport. When I say kid, I mean someone who is younger than me. So he was – I think he was like in his early 20s. And he said that he had never really listened to REM and now he loves them, which was very nice.

That's something, right? That's a nice – Okay, I found it. Have you had similar – I wasn't paying attention. People who, like, listen to REM now or discover them through us? No. The guy who sent us records is – on Twitter is Sledding X Tigers.

Dan is his name. Does he work at Bicycle? Is that the name of the – I don't know. He says he works with the band, wanted to send us a care package. He works with the label that does all their catalog releases. So he sent us a giant care package. Yeah, it was very nice.

Not just REM stuff, but... Credence. Which you snapped up and I turned my nose up at. Yeah, you're not a fan of Credence. I'm not a fan of Credence. I don't know why that is. I think that's crazy. So you like them?

I love Credence. You do? What's your favorite Credence song? Born on the Bayou. I love Born on the Bayou. What do you like about Born on the Bayou? Do you like the idea of being literally born on a bayou? I love the idea of a baby coming out of his mother and straight into a swamp.

Just right in there. Sploosh. And then you pick the baby up out of the swamp and all of that afterbirth has been washed away. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. What the baby is or the afterbirth has been washed away. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. What, the baby is or the afterbirth washing away? All of it. All of it.

Just the whole experience. The tableau, if you will. I will. And then you wrap that baby up in the leaves of whatever tree has happened to it. The fronds. The fronds. And those become the baby's clothes. For the rest of his or her life.

You said his at the very beginning of the— I sure did. Are you fucking around with the microphone? What's going on there? That's not me. No, I mean, do you need something? No. You're comfortable?

I'm perfectly— You're wearing a very casual dad sweater. Yeah. Well, I was just at a dad-like party. A dad—what is a dad-like party? Well, it's for the school that our kids go to. So I, you know. You got to dress it down?

I guess I just went dad-like. What if you were to show up to one of those school functions and you were like Adam Scott, Hollywood actor? You know, you were wearing Ray-Bans, you were wearing, you know. I did wear Ray-Bans. You mean like show up like i don't know why that's the first thing i can think of i showed up in like a punk rocker like the punk rocker in the michael bolton special like the 80s sitcom punk rocker with a rainbow mohawk yeah that would be that would be crazy do you think uh your your kids would be allowed to stay in school? I don't know, but I did play that punk rocker in a Tom Selleck sitcom once.

Tom Selleck sitcom? Yeah, called The Closer. Now you're speaking my language. Yeah. English. I am speaking English. Are you? Because I have a universal translator in my ear.

Would you please remove it? Okay, here we go. And just talk to me like a normal person. What language is this? Oh, okay. No, I get it. Put it back in. Hey. Yeah, see.

Oh, wait, am I not speaking English? You are not speaking English. Oh, wait, am I not speaking English? You are not speaking English. I also got to give a shout out to Barrett Emmerich, who sent us a really nice message. I texted it to you, and you can go ahead and say, oh, I saw that. But he sent us a really sweet message about, I don't know, it was a private message, so I probably don't want to pass on exactly what he said, but

it was very, very nice. I sent it to you and your response, what a dick. I feel like Barrett would appreciate that. I think he would. I also want to play this because this is something that a fan made uh i think that

you'll really or i know that i played this for you it's really great a few episodes back episode six ish i believe we uh debuted our version of the song called How Does It Feel When You're in R.E.M. Episode five. Five-ish. Oh, no, six. You're right. You're right.

And someone said it to music. Yeah. And I don't quite know who it is, but let's play it here. Let's see how it sounds. This is the debut on this show, at least, of How Does It Feel, parentheses, when you're in REM, second parentheses, good, end second parentheses,

end first parentheses. Here we go. This is a song that means a huge amount to me because I wrote it when I came out of a very bad, a very dark period. How does it feel when you're in REM? How does it feel when you're in REL?

Feels good. How does it feel when you're in REL? Feels good. Feels good. How does it feel when you're in REL? How does it feel? How does it feel? To be in REL? Oh my God. We are dying laughing at that. That is really funny oh man uh that is i wish i knew who who made it it's so funny thank you uh thank you to whoever that is uh i wish we could credit you

but that's uh really really funny man Oh, I have one here. Someone tweeted the last couple of days. Hey, guys, are you going to cover the R.E.M. score for Man on the Moon on the podcast? Like count that as an album because technically it is an album of theirs. I mean they have like three or four new R.E.M. songs and then a bunch of noodles. Well, they have, it's a score to the movie and then like two new songs

because Great Beyond was there. Great Beyond was a big hit. I don't know. What do you think? I think maybe we should or we can... What's your appetite for doing more episodes?

Do you want to close up shop? Yeah, let's end it. Every once in a while, Adam is like, oh, we got to do an episode for such and such i'm like you barely want to do the ones we're doing i want to i just i know we were very it's very hard when you got those little eyes looking up at you and you're like how am i gonna tell these and make them sound natural is that the hardest part of big little lies is like all the lying you have to do oh i

thought you said these little eyes. Oh. I thought you were talking about my kids looking up at me like, Daddy, why are you going to make a stupid podcast? Do they ever say that to you? No, but they did listen to it the other day. I would think they would say that about your acting career. They do.

They definitely say it about my acting. It's just the podcasting is less tangible, so they can't point at it and say it's terrible. It's just the podcasting is less tangible, so they can't point at it and say it's terrible. But I would say that don't you agree that people enjoy this show more than the entirety of everything you've ever done other than this show? Probably. I think so. Speaking of people enjoying this show, this is something that we do every once in a while is we love it. We love when our fans give us reviews.

Love it. Love it. When they go on iTunes and give us some nice reviews. Yeah, we reach into the old, are you talking R.E.M. Remy mailbag. Remy. Remy mailbag. Is it because of Doe Remy? Maybe that's why it's weird.

That's weird. Why would they say? Remy. Remy. Are you talking R. That's weird. Why would they say that? Raimi. Are you talking R-E-M Raimi? Speaking of great film directors, Sam Raimi. Ugh. Amazing.

A consummate filmmaker. Spider-Man. Spider-Man 2. Hey, guess what came after that? What's that? Spider-Man 3. Spider-Man 3? Uh-huh. Spider-Man 3.

They could have kept going as far as I'm concerned right four five six go all the way up to seven

then knock it off call it a day yeah call it a day but what a what a filmmaker I know that we're in sort of an airsots

episode of I love films oh yeah is that what this is I guess so. Hey, everyone. Welcome to I Love Films. This is Scott. And this is Scott. And we... It barely has to be said, but we love films.

Listen. Sam Raimi. Sam Raimi. Filmmaker. The Evil Dead. The Evil Dead 2. The Evil Dead. The Evil Dead 2. The Evil Dead 3. Spider-Man.

Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man 3. Spider-Man 3. Drag Me to Hell. Drag Me to Hell 2. Drag Me to Hell 3. Drag Me Back to Hell. Drag Me, like, dangle me above hell.

Tease hell. Just tease hell. Just cock tease hell a little bit and then pull me back up into heaven five Sam Raimi just say it Sam Raimi

yeah it doesn't sound like it even makes sense when you say it like that but when you think about it visually close your eyes and think about it try to do it at a 16-9 ratio when you say it like that. But when you think about it visually, like close your eyes and think about it. Close your eyes and, you know, try to do it at, you know, at a 16-9 ratio, please.

Yeah. Aspect ratio. Okay, please. Please letterbox it. Letterbox that motherfucker. I gotta tell- And surround sound. Oh my God.

I want sound in front of me. I want sound to the side of me. Love it, love it. I want sound in back of me. I want sound every single place above me. Ugh. Make sounds below me. I wish Sam Raimi would come to the side of me. Love it, love it. I want sound in back of me. I want sound every single place above me. Make sounds below me. I wish Sam Raimi would come to the theater and just be like- Below me?

Below me? Just be like blowing me during a film. Sam Raimi, if you're listening, and I know you are- Please. Please blow us. While we watch a movie. Please. While we watch a movie.

Not a film. A movie. Because I would never dare get a blowjob during a film. Never. But a movie. Please. While we watch a movie. Not a film. A movie. Because I would never dare get a blowjob during a film. Never. But a movie? That's what movies are for. That's what movies are for, to get blowjobs during. All right.

This has been I Love Films. See you next time. Bye. That was a good one. Yeah, okay. So speaking of one. Yeah, okay. So speaking of reviews, our favorite time of year is when we start one of these shows and we lure unsuspecting fans of the band into listening to them,

and then they get upset and they send us reviews, and then they post reviews. So let's read some of these. This comes from C-Mess the First. He says, I'm assuming these are all he's, by the way. He says, not for me, not funny. Okay. And do you know him to be an REM fan?

I don't know, but there's a recurring theme as we go through these. And where did these come from? These are all on iTunes. These are all on iTunes, yes. This is Kegstandstand gives it two stars. Hey, out of five. Not bad. Listener beware.

If you're looking for a podcast discussing Hariem, look elsewhere. Approximately 10% to 20% tops is discussing the band. The remainder is a couple of buddies farting around in front of a microphone. Yeah, and? The one under that, by the way, from ArchonMyTH is, update please, way too much talk about REM guys. What's going on with Harry Potter? That's awesome.

What is going on with Harry Potter? Nothing. Still haven't returned? No. No. No. Never going to? No. No. No. No? Never going to? No.

I don't think that's – Do you think your kids will ever – like has the moment passed for Harry Potter or does no one talk about it anymore? Yeah, it's not. I'm the one that brings it up like every time we finish a book. I'm like, hey, should we start that? Jump back into Harry Potter? That lonely cobwebs copy of Harry Potter. I don't know what it is.

It doesn't seem to be as fervently followed in this particular elementary school. Yeah, interesting. What are they like over there? Ready Player One. It's all Ready Player One. Really? Is there a reference to anything that you've ever done in Ready Player One? Is there a party down?

Do they have the pink bow ties anywhere? Not that I could tell. But you know, I haven't watched the whole movie in slow motion yet. Okay. So we should probably do that. That's coming. Terrigal Junkie writes, get to the point, aggravating. Two stars.

I like Adam Scott when he has a script. Good point. I get that these two are trying to be funny but they are mostly just repetitive and vulgar which isn't the same as funny and their endless tangents are mind-numbingly vapid on the new our harium podcast it took them over an hour and 15 minutes before they even started doing the track by track song impressions tighten it up. Brevity would definitely improve what they are trying to accomplish here. Yeah. Because we're trying to accomplish so much.

Well, it's the comprehensive compendium of all things REM. Let's see. A complete mess. Oh, listen to this guy. I'm a fan of Comedy Bang Bang, but this was a complete disappointment. They try to have it both ways and it simply doesn't work, which becomes plainly obvious very early on.

You can't have the clueless buffoon host persona as well as tell your own true life personal experiences of discovering listening to REM. I feel as if the hosts were playing a joke on the listeners. Let's see how stupid we can be and how far from the subject we can go and still have people listen. The only interesting part comes after wading through 85 minutes of drivel. Don't waste your time. But a comedy bang-bang fan, supposedly. And it sounds like he – Probably a big comedy bang-bang fan.

That's a pretty deep dive. Yeah. And what does he mean by have it both ways? Like by you being the host and playing a character but also talking about your real life. I think he just doesn't realize I'm actually clueless. Clueless about what, though? I don't know. Just like I'm kind of a dumb person.

I don't think he understands that. Let's see. Sir Bumby. Sir Bumby. Oh, God. Yeah, Sir Bumby. Love REM. They have done no research.

Info is wrong. Very unfunny. Although it may have been fun to make. That's great. Wait, what were we wrong about? I don't know. I know that when we did Fables of the Reek, this is, well, I don't know.

Never mind. What did we get wrong in your opinion? The stupid thing is that I've held back a few times because I am afraid of being too nerdy and I've held back from jumping in with facts. And correcting people? Yeah. Right. So maybe I'll – Because no one likes that guy.

Right. That guy that you are. Yeah. So – exactly. So maybe I'll be more kind of vigilant about that stuff because – Yeah, really hold our feet to the fire on these REM facts. This is what people are listening for. Oh, yeah.

For the comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium. The Fables of the Reconstruction never talked about the reconstruction, which is kind of what the album was about. Exactly. And the fables regarding them. Yes. We never talked about it. We didn't. We just talked about the songs

but never like the theme of the whole, whatever. Waldo 1000 says, meandering garbage, awful just weak meandering uninspired improv garbage. Get an editor and cut this down to 30 minutes. You'd have something enjoyable.

Oh. Everyone wants us to cut this down. Here's a good one. Five stars. Great for sparking dreams about Adam Scott, but buff and fending off high school bullies. What? Thinking about you fending off high school bullies with a big, tough buff guy, I guess. Huh.

Okay. Five stars. If you miss people chewing into microphones and talk forever without making a point, this is the podcast for you. This is all,

I'm just honored. Here's another good one five stars if I could give more stars I would you don't see this type of value from one podcast if you want to learn

about new music you don't only get to learn everything that there is to know about one band you get to learn about two everything from who's in each band to what highway's going

to Santa Cruz Good stuff. And the last one, five stars. These guys are REM experts. They know the band members' names. They know a lot about the Bruce Springsteen Broadway show. So thanks, guys. Really appreciate. What's our rating on iTunes? Five stars actually like on average yes five stars yeah out of 75 so thanks for sending those that's really nice yeah uh

very nice that's really good look at those i didn't even know they had i totally forgot about them until we were doing this and i said said, oh, let me look those up. And they were making me laugh today because there's a lot of funny ones from fans of the show, obviously. That's the majority of them, but I love the ones that are from the REM fans. Yeah. Let's see. We – by the way – yes. By and large, the reaction has been terrific.

I was surprised by how many people have kind of approached me about this new podcast and people enjoying it. It's awesome. It's been wonderful. And when you say you were surprised, like literally like, ah! Yeah, like scared. I pooped my pants. What? Oh, no.

Did you change? Are we off? We're off the air. We're off the air now. Yeah, I pressed. The minute you said, like I have a whisper button here. Anytime you start whispering, I just press stop. Thank you for doing that.

Yeah, so you pooped your pants? I pooped my pants. Did you change out of your pants? No, because I was in the middle of a huge very important performance performance of what was shakespeare in the park oh my god which role malvolio yeah how did you know you never came to see it well i mean the the immortal bard yeah yeah you know what i mean um anyway so i didn't have time to you didn't have time wait how long how long ago was this well a month and a half ago you haven't changed your pants in a month and a half that's

right that's right adam yeah i get it thank you you lead a busy life i do i'm a busy person i don't have time to change how's it feeling down there? Oh, well, now it's fine. I mean it's basically just kind of crusted over. Should we stop whispering? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's just get back to the show. Okay. Welcome back.

So, yes, thank you so much to the fans. What a ride it's been. And who knows how much longer we're on this crazy ride. Scott, what a long, strange trip it's been. And who knows how much longer we're on this crazy ride. Scott, what a long, strange trip it's been. Credence. Okay. I feel like it is great, though, to see this reaction and see people actually being enthusiastic about this band. That makes me very happy.

Mm-hmm. Oh, yes. being enthusiastic about this band. That makes me very happy. Mm-hmm. Oh, yes, and Chef Kevin reminds me that the actual band of which we are doing such a deep dive into, the very band in the very title of this show, Har- Har-iam,

they featured this very show on their very web page they did didn't they that was really cool to see a picture of us on the REM website page was a huge moment it's almost like we are members of the band

at this point we're sort of like you know how Billy Preston was the fifth Beatle we're like the first and second members of REM do you know how Billy Preston was the fifth Beatle? Yeah. We're like the first and second members of REM. Do you know who the other unofficial fifth members have been over the years? Of the Beatles? Of REM?

Test me. Do you know who any of the unofficial fifth members of REM have been? No. Okay. Who? Who do you got? Peter Hulsaple was there. Yes, during the out of time era.

Yeah, but he was on stage for the Green Tour. The Green Tour, yes. From the DBs, a great band. Michael Stipe even introduces him at Unplugged as sort of the unofficial fifth member of REM. And then what I heard was he wanted to share- Of the profits. Oh, is that right?

And that's when you got to go, whole sapple, hit the road sapple. I didn't know that. And then Scott McCoy, of course, was with them for years. Of course, Scott McCoy, whom we were just speaking about a few episodes back. He's great. Great guy. He sent you a nice message, did he not? He sure did.

What a nice guy. Do you want to talk about that, or do you want to keep that close to the vest or the chest as Christopher Nolan would say? Maybe after the next – what would Christopher Nolan say? He's in – I've talked about this on other shows, but in The Dark Knights, he has two different characters saying keep it close to the chest, which is not the American version of that expression, but I think it must be the English version. But it sticks out like a sore thumb to me because here in America, in Gotham City, we say

close to the vest. He has two different characters saying it in one movie? In one movie, yeah. Keep it close to the chest? Yeah. Weird. I guess it makes as much sense as saying re instead of re, but... I love Inception. Is this I Love Films Weird. I guess it makes as much sense as saying re instead of re, but... I love Inception. Is this I Love Films again?

I think it is. Hey, everyone. Welcome to I Love Films. This is Scott. And this is Scott. And we love films. I was just talking about a film before we started recording this show.

Which film? Can I just talk about films just in general for a second? Sure. I have four words for you. Yep. Ca. Uh-huh. Sa.

Uh-huh. Blanc. Uh-huh. Ah. Great film. Great, great film. If you don't mind me saying, one of the classics. Look, if you're talking films before 2016.

Sure. It's in there. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Like from the year, let's say, zero. Say, you know what? Say 33. Yeah, okay. When good old J.C. came

back and climbed up on that rock and was like, hey, guess what? Hello, world! Hello! Jesus is back! From then until 2016. 16, 15, somewhere around there. It's one of those. When you're talking about films, it's one of them.

It sure is, Scott. Hey, you know what other film? Huh? One easy piece? No. Two easy pieces? No. I don't think so.

Three easy pieces? Nope. Doubt it. Four easy pieces? Nope. Six. Six? No. I don't think so. Three easy pieces? Nope. Doubt it. Four easy pieces? Nope. Six. Six. Too many.

Too many. But five easy pieces? Love it. What a film. Jack Nicholson. Oh, Jack. That's a classic performance. Hey, get me five of those easy pieces.

Great. Classic impression. Classic film. Classic impression. Classic film. Classic impression. Classic film. Now, what film were you talking about? Oh, I was talking about a film also in that category from year 33 till 2015, 2016, somewhere around there. A movie called Inception.

Ah, Inception. I think I'm in a dream right now. God, if Jack Nicholson was in Inception what kind of stuff would he say? It's too bad that our favorite film actors have to age

and you know they have to die because I would love to see every time I go see a film I would love to see the likes of a Kirk Douglas

sure you know a Jack Lemmon yeah an Orson Welles oh my god what a great you know what was great about Orson Welles? He was an auteur.

He wrote – Maybe the first auteur. He was an actor. What? Yeah. He acted in his films as well. Which one? Well, Citizen Kane.

What film was that? Have you not – Citizen Kane. I haven't seen that. It's like the most famous film of all time. The most famous film? What film was that? Have you not? Citizen Kane. I haven't seen that. It's like the most famous film of all time. The most famous film? Yeah. Maybe a movie.

Maybe the most famous movie. No, Citizen Kane is a film, Scott. Okay, I'll take your word. What am I saying? Of course I know Citizen Kane. I know, I know, I know. I love Citizen Kane. I love it. It's a real film.

This is a long episode this is it's too long almost yep or it's kind of like a bonus episode in a way of I Love Films

of I Love Films we'll see you next time thanks bye bye long yeah gotta tighten it up a little editing.

I wonder what one of our fans would have to say about that one. What were we talking about? Oh, Scott McCoy, do you want to say what? You're going to look for it. You're going to look for it. What a sweet guy, though. What a sweet, what a, mwah. I wish I could kiss him right now.

Who are the other five? It's been a couple episodes since Lance was on. We can talk about the Portland thing and how cool. We already talked about it when he was on. No, I know, but we can refer back to it. Yes, that will be so fun. Well, we're kind of recapping what it's been like since the show. I'm just saying we got to hang out backstage with those guys and they were super nice.

It was amazing. You got Bill Billbury. Booberry. Billbury, Mike Mills, and Peter Tork. Peter Tork? Yeah. That's right. Peter Tork.

REM, great recording act. Certainly. And live act as far as i'm concerned i look as far as i'm concerned they they ran the gamut they would they would record music they would perform it live that's everything you want a band to do we're going to be talking to him we need to go to a break when we come back we have have a wonderful director. Very patient man. Look, a guy who I said, come late if you don't want to listen to this, and he said, I'm interested. I'm in. I'm all in. He pushed

his chips toward the center of the table and was like, count me in. I'm on board. I only have, you know, a seven, a three, a joker. Did you see Molly's game yet, speaking of poker? Oh, speaking of films and poker films.

Yeah. We got Rounders, Molly's game. Yeah, I did see Molly's game. I really liked it. She ran a game. Did you ever play in that game? No. Did you know that the Mike Serra character is based on you?

Oh, shit. He's a total douchebag. Yeah, he's a real asshole. Yeah, that's you. Oh, shit. He's a total douchebag. Yeah, he's a real asshole. Yeah, that's you. Oh, my God. That's bad news. I believe we met playing a poker game. We did.

And our next guest, and I met playing a poker game as well. And he was very nice to give me a DVD of his work at the next week's poker game because I mentioned I hadn't seen it. And he was like, huh, I'll bring you some. Had you not seen The State?

No, it wasn't The State. It was some shorts he made. Ah. The Stella shorts. The best. The best. Speaking of him, we're going to get to him. David Wayne is our guest.

Talk about our – Comedy hero, David Wayne. We're going to be talking about so many things. And he also has brought us some very special recordings that he made. I haven't heard them yet. You haven't heard them? No, I haven't listened to them. So I'm going to hear them for the first time along with our listeners of his band doing REM songs.

This is very exciting. We are going to come right back with more Are You Talking REM? We will be right back in just a moment. We're gonna come back in just

a moment. Hey, Adam. Today, I want to talk to you about Squarespace. How's that sound to you? Oh, I can't wait. Please. Please. I know I sat you down, called a special family meeting just for this. We're all here.

Both of our families. Cool up, Naomi. Stay out of this. Have you ever thought about anything? Well, no. Okay. Let me give you a tip. If you ever do, if you ever have a thought or a dream,

well, you can make it with Squarespace. That's what I've heard. But you didn't choose to think about it? Exactly. Okay, well, Squarespace has beautiful templates. I know how into templates you are. You're like Indiana Jones in the Template of Doom over here. I love kicking back and just dreaming up a good old template.

Hey, Naomi, I told you. Enough. I'm talking to Adam. You can customize everything from look and feel to settings and products, all optimized for mobile, right out of the box with built-in search engine optimization. How do you know that? I'm having my first thought, and that's what it ended up being. Well, this leads me to my next thought, which is that you can showcase your work or your blog,

or you can publish content. You can announce a special project. You can even sell products and services of all kinds in just a few clicks. Then use Squarespace's analytics to help you grow in real time there is nothing to install patch or upgrade and not for one week not for two weeks not for three weeks but ever ever ever though if you do have a question squarespace is again award-winning 24 a lot of awards what is up with squarespace and again like it sounds like they spend half their day going to awards shows. And we would like to see

this award. We want to see this award. Show us the award, Squarespace, because I've been talking about this award you supposedly have won for years, and I doubt it exists. The 24-7 Customer Support Award? So that's a category? These guys are liars.

Anyway. Keep dreaming, but make it a reality with a website from squarespace head to squarespace.com slash rem for a free trial and when you're ready to launch use the offer code rem to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain that is squarespace.com slash REM. Offer code REM. Welcome back. Adam is pretending to play bass. Stand-up bass. It kind of looks... Wow, it's all the way up to his neck.

Oh, my God. Now it's almost as if the bass is a mustache. Wow. Welcome back. This is so exciting for us because we love talking to people. I love connecting with people. Connect on like a cellular level. Yeah, just getting right in there, just face-to-face and connect.

We are nose-to-nose practically with our next guest. And when our noses are at his nose, our toes are at his toes because we're about the same height. He is the director of such wonderful things as, which of his films have you appeared in? Let me guess, The Ten? Were you in The Ten? Nope.

Nope, okay. Were you in They Came Together? Yeah. Cool. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. What'd you play in that? I was in a- Were you in They Came Together? Yeah. Cool. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. What did you play in that?

I was in a – Were you Paul Rudd? No. I was in a music video in the middle of the movie. Very good. Nora Jones music video. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

You – the Wet Hot American Summer television show, you were in that? I was in that. Season two? Season two. Mm-hmm. So fun. what else anything else fun no that's it and you know what that's enough that's enough for you good yeah very good but so many great movies so many great movies uh we also have the new uh wanderlust on netflix

called a and let me see if i can get this right a simple no a futile a simple simple plan yep it's the bill paxton billy bob thornton remake remake yes an even simpler plan yep a much more simple plan no what is it few it's a few stupid and futile gesture a stupid and futile or just a stupid comma futile? Or a futile stupid gesture. Oh, my God. We got to get clarity on this. This is embarrassing. Does futile or stupid come first, David?

He's not talking until we introduce him. Okay. He's a professional guest. Oh, okay. Let's make that our first question, though. Okay. All right. Here we go.

He is a great guy and I guess a friend to Adam. Please welcome David Wayne. Hey, guys. How's it going? Hey, David. Hey, David. I'm so sorry. Just I'm busy with some of my directing and filmmaking stuff, so I couldn't be here at

the beginning of the show when you guys started. Oh, I get it. I understand. Very busy. Hey, we have, look, there's a question right off the top we got to ask you. No, and what is it? I'm embarrassed. Whatever the question is, it's like that's a big reason why I'm here.

Just anything you want to talk about, I'm here to be part of it. You should ask him. I want you to ask him. I don't want to ask him this. I feel stupid saying this. David and I are friends, so I feel like if I don't know. Guys, whatever it is, I'm here to question. I actually watched the movie, and I should know.

Well, but, you know, watching the movie, do I know the title of Schindler's List? Not just because I've watched the movie doesn't mean I know the title. Schindler's always walking around going, look at my list. Look at my list. It's Schindler's List. But like when I met Steven Spielberg, I was like, I loved your movie, List Schindler's. Oh, Schindler's Listicle. One of the reasons I was late is I was just talking to some people about my latest movie, A Feudal and Stupid Gesture.

What? What? What? I'm just saying that's what it was called. We don't have to ask the question anymore. I wasn't listening. What did he say? He said the name of the movie is A Feudal and Stupid Gesture.

No, no, no. A Feudal and Stupid Gesture. It's not A Feudal and Stupid Gesture. It's A Feudal and Stupid Gesture. A Feudal and Stupid Gesture. No, no, no. A Feudal and Stupid Gesture. It's not a stupa, a stupid gesture. It's a feudal and stupid gesture. A feudal and stupid. And stupa, a stupid gesture. A stupid gesture. They test marketed that as the title for a long time.

That was what the shooting, when we were shooting it, it was called a feudal and stupid, a stupa, a stupid gesture. And people stumbled over the. I think it was the working title that I had in my head then. Right. That's why. But people stumbled over it sort of as a tribute to REM. Stumble.

A little reference there. Yeah, a little reference. Well, getting us back, by the way. So we're not going to ask that first question. But instead, I'm going to just move the goalposts a little bit and shift what my first question to you is. And David, we have to ask, you're on this podcast, Are You Talking to REM? Yeah.

Re-me. What was the first time you heard of REM? Oh, wow. Now, that's a curveball. Jesus. Yeah. I'm not afraid to throw a slider every once in a while, too, my friend. I am a big fan of REM, the biggest.

The biggest, really. And I'm a fan of this podcast and of conversation and of friends. Human beings? And so you guys were kind enough to have me come hang out during this episode. This is like a hangout episode, you know? Yeah. So I just thought a lot about— Welcome to the clubhouse, David.

The kind of things that— No girls allowed. Guys, beers. Do you know any girls lot about- Welcome to the clubhouse, David. The kind of things that- No girls allowed. Guys, beers. But seriously, do you know any girls? Do you want to bring them? But you just said no girls allowed. Yeah, I know. But I mean, we might bend the rules.

I mean, if one came by. If one came by and wanted to just hang out for a while. I don't know. And if that's the rule, I don't feel comfortable breaking it. Yeah, but you know- Okay, it's not the rule. It's not the rule. It's a guideline more than a rule.

You did say it was a rule. It feels weird to- Yeah, but we're the body. We can come up with- Yeah, we can certainly. Yeah, but you know, it's not the rule. It's not the rule. It's a guideline more than a rule. You did say it was a rule. It feels weird to... Yeah, but we're the body. We can come up with... Yeah, we can certainly, yeah. It's like, you know, let's change the Constitution. You know?

Okay, I get it. Like, sometimes the rules are... There are no rules. Well, the rules are made to be broken and that's the first rule. Speaking of breaking the Constitution,

I do have something I wanted to say about Trump. Oh, great. Oh, yes, please. This is the place to do it. So I hate to – it's not – I mean it's never a good thing to trash on the president. I hate to do it. No, respect for the office if not the man.

Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. No one's saying – Thank you. But I don't know. I mean supposedly as commander-in-chief and I hate to I hate to lob this one out, but sometimes, and not always, I sometimes think they should call him tweeter-in-chief. I hate to say it.

No, I know what you mean by that because he's always on Twitter. That's one of the reasons. I don't know. I know you're joking, but that is one of the reasons why I'm— I don't know, guys. I'm 100% serious. I'm uncomfortable with this. Look, the office is what I have respect for, okay?

What, tweeter-in-chief? I have respect for the man just because he's a man. He's a human being. Look, I go for the juggler. What can I say? Look, I mean, yes, does he tweet a lot? Yes. Do I enjoy the fact that he tweets a lot?

Of course. Do I think he should tweet more? Yeah, I do. At the end of the day, so do I. At the end of the day, I'm scrolling through tweets going, where are more tweets? I want more tweets. And I have a lot of issues with him as a president, but at the end of the day, I'm happy he's the one in the Oval Office. I have issues with him, but do I think he's the best president we've ever had?

Yes. Ultimately. Guys, at the end of the day. If you add it all up, at the end of the day, he's the one in the Oval Office. I have issues with him, but do I think he's the best president we've ever had? Yes. Ultimately. Guys, at the end of the day. If you add it all up, at the end of the day, he's the best president we've ever had. One, two, three, four, five plus five equals best president of all time. We live in a country where we can say anything we want about the president, positive, negative, whatever. That's the important part. It's incredible.

It's incredible. It reminds me of when you fill out a form. It's like, are you a man, woman, or other? It's like, what's that? I guess some people are homosexual. Okay, well. Maybe. All right, David. So when did you first hear of REM?

That's all I was saying. So what I was saying is during this week, I was excited knowing that I was going to come in here and talk about REM, one of my favorite bands, maybe my favorite band. Maybe. I did not anticipate though that you'd ask me that one.

Yeah, I'm sorry, but I gotta, I gotta. I will tell you, I was in high school doing a set of short plays that was written by students and this guy.

Why not long plays? Because then it would be too long. I would love to go to the theater and see like 10 long plays right in a row. Written by 14-year-olds. Was it called the Mercifully Short Night of Theater? Yes. That was the subtitle of it. There was this guy.

His name was Charles Randolph. He wrote a play, and then every night when we rehearsed it, his thing was, as soon as you hear the song Stumble, you know that's the last song before this play is going to start.

So meaning once the, the house music? Mm-hmm. So yeah, when you hear Stumble and let's, let me see if I can. What about just going around

to everyone and saying, we're about to start getting your places? Well, listen, this is more of an acting thing that you might not understand. But the idea is in theater, you hear this. It's an old tradition in that one show we did in 1984. Would it be sort of at house music level and then it would rise as the lights went down? And the lights go down.

Oh, boy. I bet that's bringing you back, right? Well, it does. It does. And for a kid, for me, he was like, you know, R.E.M. I'm like, yeah, sure, I know R.E.M., but I didn't. But now that song still gives me chills. So Charles Randolph introduced you to R.E.M.

He did. What year was this? Probably 84. So it was soon. It was like a year after this album came out. Or no, this is Chronic Down. Yeah, this is Chronic Down. A couple years.

But it was, I loved it, though, and I still, I heard you guys trashing on Stumble. What? Well, you were like, of the five songs on Chronic Town, it's your least favorite. That doesn't sound like me. That doesn't sound like me. It's, okay. And doesn't sound like me. Okay. And now here's the audio. I gotta say,

Stumble, out of all five, it's my favorite. I love it. You doctored the audio. I think you doctored the audio. A little more like Dr. Feelgood, if you ask me. Anyway, that was my introduction. So was that the only R.E.M. song that you knew at the time? At the time.

And your only chance to listen to it was while you were prepping to do this play? Because he had the tape. But then I went down to Record Revolution on Coventry in Cleveland, Ohio. This is Cleveland, Ohio. You grew up there. Shaker Heights, Ohio. Okay. And I gave him some money and I got Murmur when it came out.

Sounds like an equitable trade. Sure. How much money though? Honestly, actually it was more. Was it like $500? Okay. Because that's a bad deal. I think I said it too quickly

because I didn't tell the right story. The real story. Okay. The other next door to record revolution was record exchange. And that's where I would take it. You'd take records and then – And my father owned radio stations as a kid.

So he brought home stacks of records that were given to the radio station. Oh, what a scam. Well, they had a little stamp on that that says not for resale. Yeah, promotional use only. Like a cutout, like a little – it looks like they took scissors. And a little gold stamp. A store would buy them, but then they would have to charge less for them. Yeah, they sell them as used.

Yeah, they sell them as used. Well, but I remember so well going into record exchange and saying, is it okay that it has this thing that says it's illegal to sell these records? And I said, how do you know what the price are? And he says, we look at the value and the condition. And I was like, well, but what about- Sounds like a scientist. Wow.

And I said, but what about the fact that it has this label that says it's illegal for me to bring it in and sell it? And he's like, we look at the value and condition. It's like, shut up. He's trying to be like, stay cool, you fucking idiot. But I would bring in a big stack of those and get a new CD. So you trade those in for equal value, a new CD or tape. Depending upon the value and condition, of course. Of course, of the record, the said records.

I mean, if you're interested in getting involved in this, there is an 800 number. I wouldn't – if it's okay, I'd like to give out the number. Yeah, please. And by the way, for those of you concerned about a toll, this is a toll-free number. Okay, so this is an 800 number, typical. And by the way, for those of you concerned about a toll, this is a toll-free number. Okay, so this is an 800 number, typical. 800 number,

so no charges apply. No charges for the long-distance fee. I know a lot of your listeners Standard text messaging rates, though. tend to be concerned about the toll. This is a toll-free call. Even if you're overseas or is this just

a United States thing? Okay, that's something I'm going to have to come back to you on because I don't know the answer to that question. Can you come back for our next episode?

Actually, do you mind leaving now? I will leave and I'm going to get that answer for you. I'll be back in an hour if everyone can just wait. Okay, let's pause

the episode right now and next time you hear us it'll be an hour later. Great. Hey, everyone. We're back and it's 5.30 in the morning now.

There was a bit of traffic. I went to the headquarters of the company that set up the 800 number for us. Okay, wow. And they had to come in quite early. Yeah, because they weren't working right now. But I do have the answer for you, which is that it is not an international thing. Okay, so if you are overseas, just as a word of warning. Don't try calling this expecting it to be a toll-free number for you.

There may be a toll of some sort. Even up in Canada. Our friends to the north. Sure. What about Hawaii and Alaska and Puerto Rico? If the states are not – I'm going to have to go back. Oh, shit.

Okay. All right. We'll wait. Good info to have. Hey, we're back. Oh, shit. Okay. All right. We'll wait. Good info to have. Hey, we're back. Hey, guys. And it is like breakfast time now. Yeah.

7.30 in the morning. I stopped at Denny's on the way here. Wait. Did you bring us anything? It was so expensive. I only had- Expensive? That's like the cheapest restaurant there is.

I'm starving. God. We've just been sitting around waiting for your silly ass. I ended up giving a big tip, though. That's why. Oh, really? How big? Because the waiter wasn't very nice.

Wasn't very nice? Was very nice. Oh, okay. What did you end up getting there to eat? Eggs, bacon, and potatoes. Oh, delicious. Boy, that's the triple threat. Is that the Grand Slam?

Is that the Grand Slam breakfast? Yeah. That's everything I want in a breakfast. You know what I want? I want something that comes out of a chicken's butt. Yeah. I want like a sliced up pig that's fried. And then some taters.

Just something that they were missing back in old Ireland. I always found it ironic that you would get like cheesy bread with pizza. It's very similar ingredients. Yeah. Where? Little Caesars. Oh, I see.

It's like here's some pizza and then on top of that how about some more pizza? How about some pizza but without the tomato sauce and without the stuff you like about pizza. I hate to lay this down

but would you like some pizza with your pizza? I know. Exactly. That was a little harsh. So did you get that info for us? about pizza. I hate to lay this down, but would you like some pizza with your pizza? I know, exactly. That was a little harsh. So, did you get that info for us? Yes. It will not work in Canada either.

Okay, got it. But wait, what about Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska? No, none of those. Yeah, that was the information that we wanted you to do. But it won't work or you'll have to go pay. They will levy a toll. Okay. And do you know how much?

$4. $4. Okay. Wow. He got all the information. Let's get that number going. I was really not wanting to go back again. So I got all the info this time.

You were so helpful before. So you want to give this number out? Yeah, I'll pass. Okay. So we're not getting the number? No, I will give the number. But I'm going to give it at the end of the show. Okay.

It's easier because people, that's when, give people a chance. You don't want people like pressing pause on this to go call some number. No, no, no. Give people a chance to get a pencil or a pen and a piece of paper. And I don't even know what we're talking about. I have forgotten what we're talking about. Just to remind myself and the listeners, what was the number? Yeah, what is it?

What are we even talking about? I don't think you ever even mentioned that. You said, I'm going to give out a number. And then we've been waiting here for three hours. It was for if you want to get involved in. In what? In exchange. I'm just not even on board with the premise.

Records for CDC. All right. So anyway. He said, if you want to get on board with this, I have an 800 number. So you got Chronic Town. So I got involved with it that way. He got involved with REM by buying their record. Yeah, we get it.

Well, but then, so in my high school days. Yeah. Four years usually. My, okay, sorry. Starting over. Can we rewind? Really? In my high school years, I was, my friends were in bands a lot of bands

and I had a basement so they would all practice in the basement and drum sets ended up being in my basement Were basements not common in Ohio

in your neighborhood? They were but my parents were lax because they had older children and they ran out of

Where they were like ground level and above very strict. Below, anything goes. All access, all the time. Yeah. Lots of, I like, I went down there and I would get blown.

Oh. Wow. Sounds like what we want Sam Raimi to do. Yeah, while we watch a movie. His movie. So there was always a drum set down there. There was a drum set, there was a PA, there were guitars, and that's where I...

Did you play things yet? Did you play instruments yet? I didn't much at all. I didn't at all, but I... What were they doing down there? Did your siblings? My friends would have band practice in my house. And so when they weren't there... They brought the instruments there? They brought their instruments. And so when they weren't there – They brought the instruments there? They brought their instruments. Okay.

And so when they weren't there, I would dick around and that's how I ended up learning to play the drums. And I ended up learning to play the drums and the piano and the guitar a little bit. Self-taught drummer. Self-taught. Wow. What's the secret to playing drums? You know – But you got to – basically you got to hit them.

Okay. So, oh, you already know this. Hit what? You got to hit these things Okay, so you already know this. Hit what? You've got to hit these things so that it makes an audible sound. You know, a lot of it, it's like those are the tools, sure. And it's like, yeah, okay, here's how to hold the thing. Here's how to do this kind of paradiddle. Yeah, here's the sequence of drums that you have to hit.

You know what? That's all bullshit. You can learn that in two seconds. To me, it's about telling a story. I love telling stories. And what story are you telling? Like since the days of the caveman, painting on the side of caves, like, oh, this woolly mammoth killed my buddy. All the way up to Spielberg's The Post.

Right. And nothing past that. We've been telling stories. Yeah. And being a drummer is being a co-author of a story with the bass player and the keyboardist. I like thinking about it like the drums are a character in the story. Almost like New York City in that great film Manhattan. Yeah.

New York City is a character in the story. It almost kind of is, though. Yeah, no, no. I mean, I know people joke about it, and they're like, ha, like that character in New York City. No, but in this case, New York really is a character. But in that case, it kind of actually is. The story would not exist if not for New York City. And the energy and the pulse.

And a lot of people would call that a setting. The people in the city, it's like the blood coursing through the veins of the character. It's like an anthropomorphic city that talks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you had musical instruments down there, and you were in the band? Or they were just practicing? It all evolved, and it eventually weaseled my way into some of these different bands that were-

At what point did you say, like, hey, you know, I've been farting around on the drums here, and I'm- I've been playing your drums. Yeah. Without permission. Now can I take over? Can I replace you in the band? But I think it was one of those things

where sometimes somebody would drop out or somebody had to, and so then they'd be like, hey, you can do it. I was, yeah. Is that how people talk to your friends? Yeah, all of my friends had smoked a lot. I was in bands in high school

and a little bit of college myself, and yeah, it was always like- Were you a drummer? No, guitar. And it was always like, oh, who's in the band today? And there's some fighting and firings. And in fact, we had one gig that our original bass player, who didn't know how to play the bass, he was teaching himself as we were playing gigs and stuff uh we finally someone had to fire him and go you just can't play these songs and so we were we were playing a gig at a pizza place it was our first like big major gig that we got at this pizza place and we started playing a song that he like co-wrote

but it was you know we all co-wrote it you know and he came up and he just like came up right in front of our faces and flipping us off like right you know the big long finger flipping us off and then after the after the gig

he was like I thought you would have retired my song when you retired me oh boy the drama among the band a lot of drama

what was he doing at the pizza place well I think he was like still into us as a band and didn't hold any hard feelings about it until then or something. I don't know. The drama in our school, I remember, was because there was a battle of the bands. Oh, we were in one. Craig Wedren, who's my composer always. Shutter to Think, great band that he was in.

Craig Wedren's amazing. Everyone, yeah, he's the best and still going strong. But at the time, he was also like the star singer. And he was both in our band, Immoral Minority, which was like the cool rock band. Immoral Minority. How did you come up with that name? That was Craig's name. Was it based on?

That's a good name. That's a good name for like a high school band. Well, you've heard of the Moral Majority? Yeah. Okay. So just put a little twist on it. I don't. Sure.

Well, okay. I'll break it down. So Immoral Majority. That's one way. But he said, not that, but Immoral Minority. Immoral Minority. Okay. Okay.

Got it. I like it. I like it. I like it. What kind of music were you playing in Immoral Minority? Huskerdu, Replacements. All covers or inspired by? Mostly covers and some, a few originals.

Then Craig was also in like the cool new wave band that was playing Duran Duran covers. Oh. Stuff like that. It had like a girl in it and had a cool keyboardist. That's cool. Yeah, it was pretty cool to have a girl. Yeah. And when it came to the Battle of Bands,

you weren't allowed to be in two bands, so he had to choose which band. And it was a big kerfuffle. But then when he left the Immoral Minority to be in Freudian slip thus was born the next the next immoral minority minus Craig was a new band called Batman and Robin and that

was like that was the big that became my big and we were like we won the battle of the bands really did Batman and Robin won the battle of the bands with our covers of this charming man by the Smiths uh-huh and the Battle of the Bands. With our covers of This Charming Man by The Smiths and The Wait by The Pretenders. Okay. And Ha Ha, I'm Drowning in Your Love by Teardrop Explodes.

Okay, yeah. Thank you. Isn't it weird that The Pretenders made a song called The Wait and the band made a song called The Wait? That's the only time, I think, in rock history that anyone has made two songs at the same time. But they're spelled differently. That's really weird. So was that your chance to step up to the plate,

so to speak? You know how in a baseball game... Have you ever seen a baseball game? No. Let's see, Crack of the Bat. I know that at breakfast, I always step up to the plate. Grand Slam breakfast? Okay, so like that, when you step up to the plate. Grand slam breakfast? Yeah.

Okay, so like that. Like when you step up to the plate. When I go to breakfast I'm like, I'm in the dugout. I'm just going to pick up the bat,

step to the plate and hope to get a home run this breakfast. When you step up to breakfast everyone's watching. I think you're talking about a baseball game,

my man. Well, I don't know where those terms come from. I just use them. Okay. But I was sort of the leader of the I was the you were the leader I was the managerial leader of the band okay and did everyone else consider you the leader

or you just think I didn't tell the best well my favorite part of the story okay which is that the for years I was actually the manager of the band but wasn't a musician but I would make the posters and put my picture on the posters as the manager. And my name was the biggest name on there. Oh, my God. I mean. Because my father paid for the printing or something. He's like, oh, we're going to do it with my son.

So you were the whole time wanting to be in the band probably. Yes, but it probably took me a while to even admit it to myself and then to them. And then finally I was like, can I just play all day? Can I just be in the band? But then so – What does this have to do with our good friends in Hariem? Oh, right. So, well, then finally I was in these bands and we were doing it.

And then later on, basically, we were evolving into doing another band at another time with a slightly different lineup. And we loved R.E.M. and were doing so many R.E.M. covers. And we decided let's just become an R.E.M. tribute band. Okay. And that's what we did. Were tribute bands out – I remember the 80s. It wasn't really a thing it seemed like. Like there weren't a lot of tribute bands out there.

Not that I was aware of, no. The late 80s I remember was – Were there other ones at your high school? No. The concept of them, I mean, is – Suppose we had heard of it, but it just – I don't even know. But we just were like, why – let's just – it seems like we want to play only R.E.M. songs, so let's just do it. And we called it Seven Chinese Brothers.

Okay. And then we sort of at the same time had a Smiths tribute band with the same members. These Charming Men? This Charming Band. Great. And we went, we would play This Charming Band and then we would leave and say, okay, stay tuned. The Seven Chinese Brothers are coming up. They're pretty good.

You want to stick around for them. And then we would come out and be like, how about those guys? That's great. Wow. So, and this is exciting. You have brought recordings. Well, I called my friend Steve Kelly, who was the bassist, and I hadn't heard these in many decades. And you're still on good terms with Steve Kelly, the bassist. I mean, we email.

Uh-huh. Yeah. I know. Yeah, that's fun. What's Steve Kelly doing these days? He lives in Boston. Boston. Where does he park his car?

Yeah, that is what you need to ask him. Not a lot of places to park your car. Does he know Matt Damon and Ben Affleck? Yeah. What does he think of apples? I think he likes them. How does he like these apples? Oh my god. Yeah, no, he's good with them.

He's good with those apples? Yeah, because I knew that's when I knew you'd ask. What does he think of these Holes apples? Yeah, he's good. He's good with them. He's good with those apples? Yeah, because I knew that's when I knew you'd ask. What does he think of these Holes apples? Yeah. He likes them. So you call, you email him. I email him and I said, do you have the recordings? The recordings. He's the keeper of the recordings? Well, he had them.

Okay. So then yes. I don't know why we're arguing, but okay. And so I have them and I I could play a couple samples. This is great. Now, you brought them on your computer. Yes. And you need to – I'm doing the old aux cord joke.

He fell for it. You know, earlier I thought it was great how you were pushing your hair back when you were imitating Jack Nicholson as if anyone could see you doing that. Thank you very much. Do you have any impressions, David? Very important to do the impression. Yeah, do you do any? Well, I mean— I know this is a total sidebar from, you know, the REM show, but I would love to hear just some impressions.

Oh, there's always time for impressions. Always. Is this an episode of There's Always Time for Impressions? I believe it is. That's the impression that I get. Hey, everyone. Welcome to There's Always Time for Imp? I believe it is. That's the impression that I get. Hey, everyone. Welcome to There's Always Time for Impressions. This is Scott.

And this is Scott. And we have a very special guest here today, a master impressionist himself. They do call me the man of 10,000 voices. Oh, what a treat. And we're going to hear 9,999 of them tonight. David Wayne is here. Hey, David. Well, don't call me David.

Call me Gomer Pyle, will golly. Jim Neighbors. But then again, honestly, I don't even know maybe what Jimmy Stork would want to say about all this. I don't know what he would want to say. What a wonderful life this is with Jimmy Stork in the studio. It truly is. What a wonderful life it would have been if Jimmy Stewart had a Cockney accent and he was from Cockney, England.

I don't know about that. Different parts of London have different accents. Like you got the Northern England accent and you got the Southern England accent. Are we going to cut this short? Are these impressions? I don't think so. All right. We'll see you next time.

Thanks. Bye. That's the impression that I get. You know, all the different... That one really fell apart at the end. No, no. We're not in this anymore. Presidents were...

We're not. In the elevator stuck together. Yeah. We're not doing this anymore. George, where's the fourth floor? Ronald Reagan. Okay. I'm a peanut farmer.

Jimmy Carter. Back to your band. Yes, yes, yes. So we have this one. Maybe I'll play little snippets of a couple of them. Sure, yeah. Or play the whole thing. You tell me when to stop.

Let's see. How about should we just begin with the begin, the begin? Ooh, the begin, the begin. Very nice. Is this the – Oh. Yeah, go ahead. There it is.

You've got to sped it up a bit. Yeah, it was a little faster. That's Scott Harbert singing. It was a live concert. Sure. Can I talk over this a little bit? Yeah. Okay.

A little dicey. It was a live show, but it was in an all-purpose room, like a youth club. And I don't think there was that many people there. Like, maybe ten. The whole idea of youth clubs is a little weird, isn't it? It was called the PTB, the place to be. And they were like, all the kids will hang out here all the time.

And I was sort of helping them out with it. And it lasted for maybe two months, and nobody ever once went there. What did they think people would come and do there? They found, like, an unused room at one of the schools. I just think the whole idea that if someone were to come, like, if you were to come up to me, David, and go, hey, I'm starting a youth club. I don't know.

Just to rescue them. You're not young, for one thing. So it would be really weird. But did they have, like, sports equipment? They had, like, a foosball table No. Just to rescue them. You're not young for one thing. Yeah. So it would be really weird. But did they have like sports equipment? They had like a foosball table and like some board games. Just one foosball table? And they were like, kids are going to want to hang out here. Yeah.

I remember I hung out with one, with one, not in one, and they had a bumper pool table. And that was like the big. Oh, yeah, because they got it for free somewhere. Yeah, yeah. And I played bumper pool one day. I was like, yeah, this is fine. They're like, why don't you come back next week?

I'm like, I played bumper pool already. So you guys, right here is where I, as the drummer, am going to play the drums and the keyboard at the same time. Holy shit, like Scooter and the Bee. Live. I was super excited about it. And it's coming in about a couple seconds

here. I mean, wow. And then listen to what I say afterwards. Thank you! Wow, you guys really slowed it down.

You're taking some liberties. I like it. Yeah, it's great. Would you ever think that you should play the correct notes on that? If you want to hear the record, listen to the record. Right. We're here to give you a little interp. I'd like to hear the record.

Is that an option? For a high school band, I was really impressed by this. Yeah, yeah. No, this is good quality. Well, then, just like on Life's Rich Pageant, I think we go right into these days. Yeah, you do. So maybe we'll just hear that, and then we'll make just a transition. I'm into it.

Yeah. It was, yeah. It's tighter than I remember. How were you received by your peers? Well, I don't know that we did that many shows. Well, taking into account that there were 10 people at this show, was it not? Was REM a popular band at the high school? No, definitely not.

Yeah. Because this is pre band at the high school? No, definitely not. Is this before Document? It was right as Document just had come out. See, this is when I was in a band and we talked on a previous episode about how we played The One I Love right when it was a popular song and we played a terrible version of it. Actually, I was a

DJ in high school also and my friend Ari and I, it was called Metro Music. Is this Ari, the Ari that you base your character Ari on? No, it's what they base the name of the band, REM, on. Oh, okay. Really? So it's Ari like, wait a minute, is this an episode of Ari's Butthole?

I believe so. Hey, everyone. Welcome to Ari's Butthole. Yeah, we're talking about Ari's butthole. What do you have to say about it? I mean, you know, not much, really. Well, I guess let's call it. Bye. We'll see you next time. Bye. Good app. That was good. So your friend Ari, he and I had this

DJ service called Metro Music, and the kids at the dances wanted to hear the popular hits of the day, but sometimes when we were in like a cranky, rebellious mood, we'd be like, no, we're going to play Radio Free Europe. And they would be like, so what? What did people want? They didn't care either way. I remember the one time I DJed, I think I was 17,

I DJed my friend's birthday party. She was like, you have so many records, you should DJ my party. And so I was playing like, it was with a bunch of adults first, and so I learned the DJ trick of like, play stuff from the 50s and 60s early on, and get all the old people out dancing, and then segue

into popular stuff. But the one thing I didn't know was like, all the stuff I had was like white, REM oingo boingo type stuff. And so one of the girls came over was like, can you play like dance music? You know? And I was like, sure. Axl F.

That's kind of what we had everyone out on the dance floor. But I didn't have any of that kind of stuff. So here, do you want to hear one? Another couple? Of course. So this is a can't get there from here. A little rushed. A little rushed.

That chord is not the right chord, right? Probably not. This one. You know, there was no internet. Right, yeah. Well, you have to

solve this though. There's no internet. Yeah, but when you're listening to, yeah. Well, you have the songs, though. There's no internet. Yeah, but when you're... Listen to the record. Yeah, but you can't... There's notes playing at the same time. You can't know what chord it is. You can't pick them out?

I don't know. But it's just... I mean, it's impressive to me because it's recognizably that song. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, in high school, there's no way I would be able to do any of this. We did a cool...

Here, let me just... The singer is... You know, his approach is interesting. Yeah. He's not doing it like Scythe, which is great. I think why do a cover if you're just going to sound like the people? But they're an R.E.M. tribute band. Yeah, that's true.

That's a good point. He was a great guitar player, that guy. Really great. But he wasn't playing guitar, I don't think. What? We didn't like him. Your story is very shaky. He was playing guitar like... He was kicked out of the band

for behavior reasons. Then we invited him back just to sing or something. Here's me doing background. Here's him mumbling. That's wild drumming. It's a big deal. Were you wild drumming. Yeah, oh yeah.

It's a big deal. So were you guys an R.E.M. tribute band in that there was someone as Peter Buck, there's someone as Mike Mills? No, we didn't put on costumes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are different genres of tribute bands because since then I have been quite a connoisseur. Because when I went to NYU on B Bleeker Street, there was this band, this club called the Rock and Roll Cafe, and every night they had three

different tribute bands. Oh, wow. You could just pop in, not even pay a ticket, just look for a second, and there's Rush is playing, or Jimi Hendrix is playing, or Guns N' Roses. Oh, I would go there constantly. It was awesome. And they're technically exactly as good as the real thing. The first one I ever heard about was the Electric Punks.

They played here in L.A. It was a Van Halen tribute band. And that was the only one that we had. And this is like after, you know, Roth left the band. Wait a minute, is this an episode of V-Talkin' Van Halen V. Me? Yeah. Let's go! Yeah. Hey, everyone.

Welcome to If You're Talking Van Halen V. Me. This is Scott. And this is Scott. We're just talking Van Halen. We have a very special guest, David Wayne. Hey, David. I love Halen. You love him?

Yeah. Oh, my God. What's your arrow? I love Michael Anthony. I love Eddie, Alex. Oh. Now, wait a second. Wolfgang. What about Wolfgang? are you a Hagar guy?

okay, I knew you had to ask it yeah, yeah, let's hear it I knew you were going to come to me with that or Gary Cherone I'm all about DDD, Diamond Dave Diamond Dave Diamond Dave 1984?

I'm actually. 1984? I'm actually asking. 1984? I'm all about VH2. I love those scissor kicks he used to do. Those were classic. Oh, my gosh. His assless chaps. Oh, yeah.

So funny. No one can out Eddie, Eddie. Yeah, exactly. That's a good point. Thanks. Well, speaking of good points, here's another one. We got to end this. Yep. Yeah, exactly. That's a good point. Thanks. Well, speaking of good points, here's another one. We got to end this. Yep.

Bye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. So, David. Let me just play the end of Can't Get There From Here because we did a little something. Okay.

I think. That's the... Jesus. I'm sitting here trying to really pace it up for you guys, but I realize that's not a huge priority. Here it comes. Ah, interesting. Now, these sound like fun songs to play. Oh, such a blast.

I would kill to do it right now. R.E.M. started as, they call them a party band a lot because it just is like, this is great music to just kind of like dance around to and have fun. We might need to start a 40s white guy R.E.M. tribute band. I would start tomorrow. What would you play? That bass that you were miming?

I can't play any instruments. You could be the guy who's like the what do you call it? The guy who's in the band The hype man. The hype man. Or I'll just be the manager

but I'll put my face on all the posters and my name will be bigger. Remember that rap act where one of the guys had a clock around his chest for example. I mean it's like but you know what's weird is I went to go see him.

They came on an hour late. It's like, hey, look down at your chest. Yeah, that'll help you be on time. Well, maybe the clock was wrong. That's true. I bet it was right twice a day, though. We need to take a break, David. All right.

Is that okay? Actually, I'm going to take a pass. We're just going to plow through? Yeah. No, we do have to take a break. When we come back, do you have more that you want to play, or do you have, do you want to? I think it would be a good idea to play one or two little more pieces.

Okay, great. And you have some studio recordings. Yeah. That's true, too. We have some other stuff. Plus, we're going to hear your top 10 R.E.M. songs of all time. All right. That's exciting.

So we are going to be right back with a little more Are You Talking R.E.M. Remy. Remy. We'll see you on the other side of this. Adam, big fan of the show that we want to talk to everyone about. Yeah. And I, in fact, was on it. Oh, cool.

I got the call to be on it, and you did not. Apparently not. Very sorry about that. Yeah. Thank you. Teachers Lounge. Teachers Lounge. It's a show that is so good only I can be on it and not Adam

Big Grande they're four really funny dudes super great guys they have a podcast called Teacher Lounge and it's back for season 6 available exclusively

on Stitcher Premium Teacher's Lounge is a behind the scenes look at a fictional Hamilton high school it's told excuse me I took a drink-the-scenes look at a fictional Hamilton high school. It's told... Excuse me, I took a drink. I thought you would say that sentence a little more slowly.

Nope. For once, I spoke fast. It's told by four of the honor department's teachers, or the honors department teachers, I guess is a better way to say that, played by UCB's Big Grande Improv Group. And what makes a comedy podcast special

often is its skill in constructing a fully realized world. Who wrote this? This sucks. This sucks. Why do I have to read this? And Teacher's Lounge

pulls this off with remarkable flair. Remarkable, wow. Who wrote this? This has got to be the work of Sean Kevin. Join Big Grande and other special guests

from the greater Hamilton High community to discuss the work of Kevin. Join Big Grande and other special guests from the greater Hamilton High community to discuss the hard-hitting issues facing today's high schoolers only on Stitcher Premium. Go to stitcherpremium.com slash teacher and use the promo code REM for a free month of Stitcher Premium. Welcome back

That sounds pretty good What did I think of that song? You were kind of an asshole about that song. Asshole? Come on. I like that song. I love that song. Oh, wait.

No, this part sucks. No, this is great. It's great. Welcome back. Are You Talking to R.E.M. Remy? We're here with David Wayne, and he's been playing us some kick-ass jams. Oh, man. We've got to hear more.

Well, here's one that I like. It's the song I Believe from Life's Rich Pageant. And then somewhere halfway through, we switch into this song also called I Believe. Remember we were talking about that earlier? Two songs with the same title. By the Buzzcocks. Oh, I believe it.

You know that song? Yeah, yeah. Here we go. Oh, I believe it. Yeah, you know what it's on? Yeah, yeah, here we go. Oh, I'm sitting here playing like a DJ. Like, here I go, but it wasn't even plugged in. And now he's dangling the cord in a teasing way. And I'm trying to also talk to the microphone. I'm trying to be professional. You're nothing if not professional.

I come from a radio family, and I just care about the... You know, I could tell. Is your dad still with us, by the way? Yes, he is. 90 years old. Really? And what does he do for a living? He works two jobs.

He's a short-order chef, and then he repairs roofs. No, he's retired, actually, weirdly enough. Does he still get those records? No. But now with Spotify, right? Yes, actually, weirdly enough. Does he still get those records? No. But now with Spotify, right? Yeah, true. All right. Is he really 90 years old?

Yeah. Wow. Just turned 90. Doing great. Plays tennis. So this is that. It's like a lyrics rock. The first song I learned on drums of any song in the world was Radio Free Europe.

That's how I learned to play the drums. Oh, interesting. It's fascinating, actually. Did you guys play that in this set? You know, yes, we do. Yes, and we have it live. The studio versions of these songs kind of suck. I can give you a little taste.

But then the other thing I was going to tell you while we're getting to the interesting part. Well, we also played a lot of, we would have debates about the lyrics because all those early songs, it was very. Was this in front of the audience? This is part of the show? No, I wish.

This was pre-podcast when the thing was to like endlessly debate things in front of an audience right it was more like we talked about it beforehand okay uh and um but then it was like this continuum where we we had the horrible cassettes that we mostly listened to but then somebody would finally bring in the vinyl of something and be like oh now we hear a little better oh i see but then the c finally bring in the vinyl of something and be like, oh, now we hear a little better. Oh, I see. But then the CD came out and then we'd hear even better and we'd get an even newer idea of what the lyrics were. Right.

And then, even more than that, years later, with the advent of the internet, I tracked down the isolated tracks, the original studio tracks, which I'll play you in a little bit. That's a little tease. This is exciting because we've never heard these before. No.

It's really cool. So how close are we to the Segway? I really hope it's soon. Here, let me see. Let me skip ahead. Here we go. Nope, that's not it. It's coming, you guys.

It really is. But if you're interested in other tidbits, is that if you go see my movie Wanderlust, you'll hear the song Driver 8, because it takes place in Georgia. Fascinating. So wait, let's get this story. Let's rewind a little bit.

Was Driver 8 expensive? Probably. If you see your movie Wanderlust... I put the song Driver 8 by R.E.M. in that movie. Interesting. Classic R.E.M. song. Classic movie. Classic movie, classic song. Okay, it's gotta happen.

It's gotta be around right now. Okay, here we go. It's a great song, I believe. One of my favorites. Here we go. and this version of it oh wow i believe it's like how did we do that i love this song this this i believe because the ending chorus required me to play so fast that it was such a blast.

You hear this? You hear this blazing fast 16th note? That's really fast. Yeah, it is really fast. I was young. Is this you on backing vocals again? I might have been grunting a little bit. You got some effects on the vocals, too.

Sounds good. I don't know. You guys were tight. It sounds tighter than I ever remembered it being. You guys are good. I would see you. Yeah. Thank you.

Maybe we need to do a reunion. I think everyone's still alive. Let's get your buddy out. Let's get this other guy who's kicked out for for behavioral problems well he was the guy who were like you're three hours late for rehearsal and then he would say oh and you're beyond reproach that's a good counter wait a minute oh and you're beyond reproach i love it this sounds awesome i love the buzzcocks. Later, some of us, same band, toured summer camps for a whole summer

called the Rocket Nights of Summer. I did a mashup. I don't think we ever played it live, but when I was in my band, I figured I'd have a cool mashup of XTC's Dear God and Gesthemony from Jesus Christ Superstar. They were sort of in the same key. They were like...

Those are fun mashups. Dear God, I'll be the guy the message of. And then I only want to say... Do you guys know Jesus Christ Superstar? I don't know either of those songs. You don't know XTC's Dear God? I don't think so. Or maybe I do.

If I heard it, I would probably know. That was always the thing. That's insane to me. If a song had the same chord progression as another song, you'd jump into it. I always loved when Brian Setzer's big band would play one of their songs, Rock This Town, and then they would switch into the Pink Panther theme. Anyway. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Henry Mancini's classic. Here, this is this. This is cool. So, right? Yeah. This is this. This is cool. So, right? Yeah. We know this. Sure.

Yeah, the classic Harry M song. But what if I... Polish up the grave. Whoa. Put that, put that, put that up your wall. I mean...

Put that, put that up your wall? That this isn't country at all. Isn't that crazy? Raving station. Wave. Beside yourself.

So you have like the original four track recording? Where do you get that? Well, you can find all the stuff on the internet. Anything that was ever on GarageBand. I mean on Guitar Hero or GarageBand. Guitar Hero. And what was the other one? Rock Band. Rock Band.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So wait, is this a cover? No. This is the actual original track from... And Rock Band separates it all? When those games came out, Rock Band and Guitar Hero... I thought it was other... They started by doing covers, but then soon in, the demand was there to get the actual

bands to participate. So they would get the separate tracks, but they were not, but it was easy enough for hackers to then find. Hackers, man. This is fucking these. Like the movie from 1995. Yeah, Angelina Jolie. With Matthew Broderick, and he like puts.

Yeah, hackers. The only way to win the game of thermonuclear war is not to play. These hackers did it. So that's crazy. That sounds so interesting. Is the Mike Mills backing vocals? Let's hear a little bit. Can we hear some of those?

By the way, that was great. Well, the vocals are not separated, but you did hear a few other songs, too. I think I have These Days It's amazing By the way, if you go on the internet You can find thousands of songs But how are you able to switch back and forth? Oh, I see

He's a hacker himself I like to dick around with music production, you see. So you put it into iMovie or something? This is Logic. This is like real music software. Is that like that 1-800-SUICIDE thing, Logic? Yeah. Can we hear these days like that?

Okay. Let me see if I want to see what's happening. This is crazy. What do you think, Adam? What do you think? This is blowing your mind. It's blowing my mind. What do you think, Adam? What do you think? This is blowing your mind. It's blowing my mind. What do you think about it?

It makes me think. Maybe they sucked? No, you realize just how professionally recorded Murmur was. This is all sounding very technical and impressive to me. But it's interesting hearing his voice by itself. It sounds much more, I keep wanting to say, I think of them as a neophyte band at that point, but he sounds very kind of experienced in the studio.

Yeah, but I mean, look at Chronic Town. I mean, it's so tight. It's so good. I'm not feeding off you. I will rearrange your scales if I can. And I can. And I can. March into the ocean. March into the sea.

By the way, I mean, he's just got a great voice. Yeah. This sounds fucking awesome. Todd Glass would want a little more reverb on this, though. I did a thing for a while. I would get these kinds of tracks, and then I would just slide the vocal track like a quarter of a second so that it sounds like the singer is terrible. You have a lot of free time.

It's crazy. I don't know. How are you so accomplished? I don't know because I waste so much time doing so many things. I don't quite understand your life. Like you wake up in the morning. And I like practice my Rubik's. You step up to the plate.

I practice the Rubik's Cube. Then I spend like two hours doing card tricks. Then I. You walked in here with two decks of cards. You always have cards on you, which is cool. I have never not seen you doing just magic. Right. Just sitting around doing magic.

And then I'll probably play Scrabble for a while. I don't understand. And then direct a movie. Is directing movies that easy where you can do it like, you know? It's pretty easy. It is pretty easy. It takes no time. Just while we're here, this is my remix of You Shook Me All Night Long.

Okay. It's not a remix. It's more of a... Yeah. You just got to listen for just a couple seconds here. This is the band ACDC. Thank you. Live.

So far, it sounds familiar. Sure. Yeah, very into this. I know you didn't ask, but here it is. Great. Whoa. Whoa. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing.

And where that came from, there's a lot more. Wow. Oh, my God. I don't know. What's it like living in your head? That is great. Oh, my God. Did you have any more REM songs on that thing?

Yes, sure. Do you want to hear the ISO tracks or more of the tribute band? Please, no more of the tribute band. What other ISO tracks do you have? Okay, okay. Which songs? It's like pulling it up. Well, that's not that funny.

So we've got Driver 8, Losing My Religion, and The One I Love. Let's hear Losing My Religion. That's one of the more popular songs they've ever done. It was a big hit. And we haven't talked about that on this show to this point. It actually was a big hit. It was a very big hit. It's weird that we didn't mention that.

It's playing now. Cool. So do we need to turn it up? I guess we're waiting for the vocals to start because I just didn't even get into that. What do you want to do

until the vocals start? You would think that they would... Oh. Life is bigger. It's bigger than you and you are not me. The lengths that I will go to You know

The distance in your eyes At a certain point, the novelty wears off And you're like, okay, yeah It's cool I love this I feel like I love listening to the other parts, too That get to our, you know

I almost feel like, though That I would rather listen to all the parts put together What do you mean? I mean, I would say more Like, for, like, general times Yeah Sure Like, for pleasure I would say more for general times. Sure.

For pleasure, I would probably put them all together and just listen to them all simultaneously. But what about just the drums for a while? Is this losing my religion? Yeah. This is telling a story. This is a drummer that knows how to tell the story by hitting the skins. Is Bill Barry one of your favorite drummers, would you say?

Yes, he is. And the drummer from Jay Goss Band, I love. But if you listen to the ISO tracks of, say, Stuart Copeland, it's pretty instructive and incredible. Really? You know, he holds the sticks like this. Oh, I didn't know that. Like this?

And like this as well. Because, you know, I'm in a remote studio in Denver, so I can't see what you're doing. Thanks, by the way, for hooking up the sound watching. No problem. By the way, I'd like to just thank all the great people here at KEZT in Denver who's been so just nice to set me up at 4.30 in the morning. Well, they knew your dad as well. You know, it's kind of a favor for him.

Are they bummed out that this is taking four hours? Well, they did. The morning show is now being delayed so that we can tape this. But they're like, it's cool. It's cool. Not a lot going on in the news today. They have a tape of yesterday's show they're playing. Should we listen to hear what David's favorite R.E.M. song is?

What, are you trying to get out of here? No. I thought that's what we were doing. What's your problem, dude? No. I thought that's what we were doing. What's your problem, dude? David, I wrote to you earlier today, and I asked if you would bring in your top 10 hurry-em songs. Hurry-up.

Oh, right, on internet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. On internet, yes. I wrote to you, and it was fun. It was fun to write to you. What was that like? It was cool. It was like I looked up – you have many email addresses, by the way.

Thank you. I found the right one. That was so sweet. Oh – you have many email addresses, by the way. Thank you. I found the right one. That was so sweet. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah, no problem. I found the right one. I sent it to you, and I was like, I just fucking emailed David Wayne. It's kind of a big –

It's happened. It was a big deal, and then you wrote right back, and it was thrilling. My list of top ten is, I had to be honest. Yes, please, candor. I could have spread it out more. Yeah. Because I do like some of the later REM stuff. But you've got to be honest.

But I have to say, they just didn't make it in the top 10. Yeah, I get it. There's only 10 slots in the top 10. There's only 10 slots, and I thought about it, believe me. And so they're really focused on the first three, four albums. Okay. Want me to go 10 to 1? Yeah, I think that's classic, yeah.

All right, do you want to just read them out? Read them out one by one, and I'll try to find them and play them. All right. Number 10 is Talk About the Passion. Talk About the Passion. And this is from which album? That's going to be Murmur. Mm-hmm.

I could do it right here. Oh, you have them right there? Yeah, of course. You have them in the list? Here, take this. Take the cord. Third time's a charm. We've never done that to a guest before.

I mean, I feel like you might have to release at least a photo of what you're talking about people know people know believe me people know alright so talk about the passion

which by the way was one of the first songs I ever learned to play on the guitar really and I I only learned to play guitar

the way R.E.M. plays right I never really learned how to play regular chords you never strummed you just kind of did arpeggios? I only went ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Ah, okay. Talk about the passion. Ding, dong, dong, ding, dong, dong. Do, dee, dee, dee. Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. I mean, Chinese brothers. All right. So I'm going to keep going.

Stick around for this charming band. Then, of course, I mean. Oh, okay. Great. Wolves Lower, that's number nine. Wolves, comma, lower. And then another one. Let's slow it down. Let's slow it mean... Oh, okay. Great. Wolves Lower, that's number nine. Wolves, Lower. And then another one. Let's slow it down.

Let's slow it down. Okay, so Wolves, Lower. What do you like about this? To me, well, I think of it as the first R.E.M. song there is. Yeah, it's a first track on side one of Chronic Town, although they did put out the single before that. A great kicking off song, right? But I do.

Kicking off an EP. Yeah. What's this make you think of? To me. Do you think of Scary Wolves? I mean, first of all, the drums. Talk about drums. Yeah.

I mean, this is like so. They have a full kit. Awesome. They have a full kit. For like a bunch of 22-year-olds. It's incredible. They could buy like kit. Awesome. They have a full kit. For like a bunch of 22-year-olds. It's incredible. They could buy like the complete drums. But I just don't, there's no song like this.

Yeah. It might, now that I'm talking about it, it might be higher on my list. Whoa. I'm not going to change it. Okay. I'm going to stick to the instinct I had earlier. Mm-hmm. All right.

All right. So then here's, then I Believe. Oh, yeah. Starts with the banjo. I like this part of I Believe the best. I like it. Just the banjo part. But when it kicks in, because part of me was thinking when I got Life's Rich Pageant,

are they going to have any of that really classic sound? Yeah. Then this song comes on and you're like, oh, yeah. Yeah, this is the classic. But this is even, it's just, this is like a 4th of July drinking a beer in the sun song. I wish 4th of July were every day, too. I love our country. I don't know that it would be the same, though, if it was.

Then, of course, there's this one. I'm now down to number seven. Swan Swan H. Which, by the way, I read that Michael Stipe says the title is now just Swan Swan Hum which by the way I read this Michael Stipe says the title is now just Swan Swan Hummingbird

he was being too arty when he when he said Swan Swan H he's retroactively he's retroactively saying all the records

and change it he should well Mike Mills felt it was pretentious to have it be Swan Swan H yeah and so Stipe is now like

yeah I get it yeah it's just Swan Swan Hummingbird but I think that wasn't that one or two of those wasn't listed on the CD or record

yeah or it was out of order and it was all weird the Life's Rich Bachelor I felt like one of those yeah they had an extra song that was just not

mentioned yeah right yeah so by the way they remastered this song in 2011 it sounds like this very similar

okay alright what is uh that's number seven yes i mean we've actually talked about most of these songs already at one point or another cool hey you know what i want to reference what is that show we did we went to go see up in portland yeah let's reference that just wanted to reference that. Now that we can. Radio Free Europe. This is what I consider to be the first R.E.M. song. Me too. Which version do you like the best? I like the studio.

I know you guys like the hip-tone single. As a fan of the show, I heard you talk about that. Thanks, bro. I like them both for different reasons. I like them both. This one's really great. That's one of the things I do like about this one. Is that it's really great?

Yeah. I mean, that's probably my favorite thing about it actually. Is that it's really great? The other version I feel like has different qualities that I like.

Really great ones? All right, that's number six. Then that was number six and then the next one, just imagine you're at Shaker Heights High School down in the In the basement.

Stage three. Oh, okay. Stage three. And everyone's getting ready for the show. What's going on on stages one and two? And upstairs. Wow, this is truly focused on the first four albums. I did say that.

By the way, when I say this is the worst out of five, this is still one of the better R.E.M. songs of all time, in my opinion. I agree. You know what I mean? It's my number five favorite. But nothing from Reckoning or Fables yet.

Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. So, and not now, at number four, this is called Catapult.

Catapult. Catapult. Catapult. I mean, just the choruses. Can you iso my vocals here for one second? Catapult. Catapult. You'll be a guitar player and vocalist for our- Can we isolate our me and Adam's vocals for how does it feel to be in REM?

How does it feel to be in REM? Feels good. Good stuff. All right, that was number five or four? That was number four. Okay, what do we have at number three? The number three is from Reckoning, I think. Yeah.

I mean, come on. I'm sorry. To me, that first, when it kicks in the verse right here. It's like, ugh. Third verse when Mike Mills comes in with the backing vocals for the verse. Oh, yeah. That's where I always get a chill. I always pee in my pants when that happens.

Yeah. Little drops. Just pew, pew, pew, pew, pew. As with any great music in life, it's what you associate from the time you first heard it or from some key moment. It's interesting, though. Sometimes it'll pass through into just like, oh, now I'm just hearing it and I'm not even – oh, yeah, I used to associate this with that. I don't know. What am I trying to say?

That's the malleable quality of music. I sound fucking stupid, don't I? I wasn't sure what you were saying, but I think I understand. Thanks. Okay, good. You do sound fucking stupid. Wait, I want to try and guess your two top songs. I'm going to say – Stand in the place where top songs. I'm going to say.

Stand in the place where you live. I'm going to say Driver 8 is one of them. I'm putting out a poker face here. Yeah, you are. You're a really good poker player. Thank you. Yeah, you are. Did I talk about That's How We Met?

You did, like an hour and a half ago. I'm going to say Driver 8 and then Fall on Me, maybe. No, I don't. No, no, no. I'm going to go. This has already been so much from Murmur. I don't think it's anything from Murmur. I'm going to say, how does it feel to be in REM?

I think so too. For both one and two. And now, coming in at number two, this is Casey Kasem. Whoa, Casey. Another impression from David Wayne. David Wayne's top 10 R.E.M. songs. The second most loved song of all time from R.E.M. As per David Wayne's opinion.

Shut up, Casey. Can't do it. Whoa. No. Is this because you played this in the band? You're both like, no. Is this really one of your... Well, again, it's this association.

Oh, yeah, yeah. You're the time, yeah. How much fun it was to play and sing. I'm not going to go. All right. What's he say at the beginning? When the world is a monster. Is a monster. That's what I thought he there. When the world. All right. What's he say at the beginning? When the world. What's he say then?

The monster. It's a monster. That's what I thought he said. Yeah. That's sort of like foreshadowing of monster. Yeah. And the world turning to shit. Yeah, that's true.

My number one all-time favorite one is one you could have guessed but didn't. Whoa. This is blowing my head. Wait. Let me try and guess again oh pilgrimage or laughing you could have guessed it but didn't but didn't uh i mean is this this is great boxcars no uh it's carnival sorts box yeah, yeah. And the part that really makes me jizz is right here when it kicks in. Can you do that?

Can you start the song again and jizz again? Yeah, I'd love to hear you jizz again. I mean, I'm here to do a job. I'm getting paid, so. I don't think I'll ever be able to hear this song without hearing you go That's the goal. That's a great song. Hopefully true for a lot of

the listeners as well. Wow. What a top ten. But I mean, just to give you a little comparison. And the chorus. I don't know which version I like better. There he is. God, that sounds so fun. It was great.

That would be fun. We should be in there. Let's do it. By the way. Let's do something. I wish my high school had bands like that. It sounds like there were a ton of bands at your school. I think we should have the Are You Talking R.E.M. Ray Me Tribute Band Show.

Yeah. Yes. Where we – okay, so listeners out there, anyone can sign up. Yeah. It's free to – or no, actually, let's do it like we're putting on this event. We need to – to submit. It's $250. And then we choose, let's say, eight bands. Yeah, but you need to submit.

Like, we need as many people as possible to submit in order to put on the event. With a check for $250. $250, okay. But then I do think at the end of the day, the whole show is our band. Yes. Yeah. We won't choose any of them. Yeah. We're going to choose eight, but they're not going to play. But you do get the honor of having been band. Yes. Yeah. We won't choose any of them. Yeah. We're going to choose eight,

but they're not going to play. But you do get the honor of having been submitted. Right. Exactly. Or we can have an evening of all REM tribute bands. Yeah. Like eight tribute bands. Actually,

that would be really, that would be really fun. And awesome. Because I think there's an REM band that just, tribute band that follows me on Twitter now. Are they called Stipe? Yeah, there's that one. So like it would be fun to gather –

I think they're from the UK, right? Oh, okay. But I mean it would be fun to fly them out. And here's the other thing I wanted to talk about. R.E.M. Fest. Here's the other thing I wanted to talk about. And David, I'll allow you to get in on this. Okay.

Okay, so a lot of people have said, well, what do you want with R.E.M.? Like what do you want R.E. want REM's reaction to this show to be? I mean we interviewed you too on our previous show. And look, this is all we want. We want REM to reform and we want to put on a backyard barbecue, probably at Adam's place because he has a better backyard than me. We want to put on a backyard barbecue and we at Adam's place because he has a better backyard than me. We want to put on a backyard barbecue, and we want them to just do two sets, two sets of an hour and 15 minutes apiece.

So a total of two and a half hours. Two and a half hours, no repeating songs, no repeating songs. That's all we want, and we want to invite 250 of our closest friends, and we want them to reform. And Bill Barry, we want them to reform and Bill Barry, we want him there. Non-negotiable. And we want to be able to record it

both on video but also on audio. We need to isolate all the tracks. But we own the master tapes. We own the masters. That's very, very important to us because if you don't own the master, then you have a master.

I was going to say though that I would suggest you get asked for a percentage of all royalties we want points we definitely want points for the whole library

their back catalog yeah yeah yeah no I mean we'll take I mean we'll give them 20 points we want to to be just 100% honest

we want to fleece them can I just give you oh yeah can I just give you a little hint from the art of the deal? Tell them if they don't do the show, if they do the show, then we will not insist on having ongoing royalties for all of their library in perpetuity. And they will feel like they're then getting a deal.

They're getting a deal. It's a good way of doing business. Because you walk then getting a deal. They're getting a deal. It's a good, good, good way of doing this. Because you walk away from a negotiation, everyone feels like a winner. But you're the only one that really won. You fuck them over.

Yeah, fuck them. And this is all we want. Look, just get all four of them back together for the first time. Plus a sound guy.

Gotta get the sound guy. Gotta get the sound guy. At least a sound guy. Well, we want their guitar tech. We want their lighting crew. That's very important because we don't want to put on like a shitty, like a backyard just, oh, it's a fuck around show. We want a professional show.

Well, we're going to be filming it, so it needs to look good. I mean, and we'll get Lance Bangs to film it. They should trust us. We're not paying any of these people. Not paying any of them. There is one problem. What's that? One of the guys from their

pyro crew, not the main guy, but one of the... The guy who does all the fireworks behind him? Yeah, but one of the assistants no longer is in that business anymore. Really? I think this whole thing falls apart. I don't know. Wait, which guy? The guy who did the... Rick.

Rick? No, Rick's not doing it anymore. Rick Danziger. Rick Danziger yeah he's out he's out you know what he did the flash pots well no mostly he guarded the equipment when everyone was out there doing this show we can't get another guard fuck this well rem if you're listening we these are our demands and get rick back if you can. That's all we want. You guys must have met those guys at some point. Rick? Rick? Yeah. Oh, you met him up in Portland. Yeah, he was there. He wasn't guarding anything.

But the REM guys. You're right. He retired. I have now met 75% of them? Yeah. As of I? Yeah. Have you met Michael Stripe? No.

Michael Stipe and? Not really, no. I crossed paths with him at a few parties way back in the day. I saw him at one of those New Year's or Christmas parties. Wait a minute, you were in that Drive video though. Yeah, I was. So you met him then? Not really.

Not meeting. It was like a thousand fans. Right, right. Not peer-to-peer, much like LimeWire, for instance. Oh, my God. LimeWire. Wow. That's where I got all my early REM signs.

I did. I used to get REM bootlegs off of LimeWire. Yeah, of course. 99% of your audience is like, what? Yeah. What's LimeWire? Look it up. David, we want to thank you for being on the show.

This is a true treat. Always a pleasure. Yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate you reaching out to us, wanting to do it, and bringing all these songs and tracking them down. And I appreciate you guys inviting me back for the next episode. Sure. That's so nice. Yeah, come on back.

Anytime. Anytime. We can't invite him back. We can't. It's just not possible. You know what might be easiest? I'll just stay here until the next time. Oh, cool.

Sure. We should move studios. I don't know what to do about this because it's not. By the way, I just got to say, I love coming to the Earwolf studios. And I think all of the Earwolf podcasts are terrific and worth checking out. I wouldn't even begin to name all the titles. Sure. So many.

I will try. Go ahead. Do them alphabetically if you could do. I wouldn't even begin to name all the titles. Sure, so many. I will try, but there's so many good ones. Go ahead, do them alphabetically if you could do. Well, I'm sure there's many of them. What do we got, Beautiful Anonymous maybe first? Yeah, I don't know. Then Cry Babies? Something with Paul Tompkins, I'm sure.

Oh, sure. The Pod F Tompkast. Yes. His current program. We always kind of wrap up when we have a guest. David, what do you want to say about REM? What have they meant to you in your life? I hesitate to use the term soundtrack of our lives because it's so done.

Yeah, but it's evocative. But with that caveat, I will say REM to me was, I mean, I guess I would say the soundtrack of our lives. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like a 10-song soundtrack. Yes. Like a CD with a track listing on the back that you buy at Virgin Megastore.

They got me through all the hard times. Really? Talk about the hard times. What about the good times though? I want to hear about the good times. Did they accompany you through those good times? Were they carrying you? Like for example, when we were setting up for my bar mitzvah and there was too much going on. You had a late bar mitzvah if REM was, what age did you do your bar mitzvah? 12. So you get the, I think you get it. Yeah, I definitely get it.

I definitely get it. We also ask about each of our guests' first sexual experience. Oh, right. It was in the teepee at camp. Really? Tell us about it. I was right. It was in the teepee at camp. Really? Tell us about it. I was right.

Yeah. Adam and I have a side bet for each of our guests to see. So, yeah. And one of you went with teepee and one of you bet heavy against it. Yep. I win. I win $5,000. Wow.

Sorry. David, you're a great guy, a wonderful guest to have. Please do come back again. Please do come back again. We have a lot of albums to go. Yeah, that's true. I'll be back. Hey, the Terminator.

I'll be back. Wait a minute, wait a minute. I'll be back. I knew it. It's considered a divorce. All right. Well, that's going gonna be it for us we'll see you next time on

we're gonna be doing more of a regular show on a regular album I'm sure we'll see you next time until then we hope that you have found what you're oh no no no it's the end of the show as we know it

no I can't do it it's not good we hope that you found what you're looking for. Bye. Hello, hello. This is Nagin Farsad. I'm a comedian, a writer, a honey mustard enthusiast. I also host a podcast on Earwolf called Fake the Nation. So here's the deal.

Every Thursday, I invite two of my favorite politically savvy comedian pals and policy buffs, and we kvetch about news and politics. And I'm talking about people like W. Kamau Bell, Robin Thede, Brian Safi, Asif Manvi, John Lovett. Guys, the list goes on. What I'm saying is we get very funny, fancy people. And together we chat about things like the Russia investigation, Syria, the EPA, you know, just some of the light stuff. But we also do the light stuff.

And we do it in three tasty little segments that are rung in with this cool bell. Yeah, that's the bell. So, you guys, check out Fake the Nation on Stitcher or Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. There's new episodes every Thursday evening. This has been an Earwolf production. Executive produced by Scott Aukerman, Chris Bannon, and Colin Anderson. For more information and content, visit Earwolf.com. You can sit in on hour-long conversations between me, Cameron Esposito, and some of the brightest luminaries in the LGBTQ family. Query explores individual stories of identity, personality, and the shifting cultural matrix around gender, sexuality, and civil rights.

Plus, it is fun. We have had some incredible guests. Emmy winner Lena Waithe? Yes, definitely. Congressman Mark Takano? You bet. L Word creator Eileen Shakin? Yes, definitely. Congressman Mark Takano? You bet. L Word creator Eileen Shakin? Yes. President and CEO of GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis? We definitely have. We've got celebs,

people like Trixie Mattel, Evan Rachel Wood, Tegan and Sarah, the band, and the people, separately, on two different episodes. We also have activists and change makers in our community. I think it's a one of a kind show full of chats you have never heard before. It's identity. It's community. It's query. You can find query every Monday on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts and Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.