U Talkin’ U2 To Me? - U Talkin' Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head? - American Utopia (w/ Demi Adejuyigbe)

Episode Date: November 4, 2020

Comedian/writer/musician Demi Adejuyigbe (The Amber Ruffin Show) joins Adam Scott Aukerman to discuss David Byrne’s tour/album/concert film American Utopia. They also talk about Demi’s love of Stop Making Sense, Adam’s first Broadway show, and Spike Lee’s directing style.

from e to zimbra this is is you talking talking heads to my talking head? The comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things talking heads. This is good. Rock and roll. Music. Welcome back to the show. I say welcome back in case,

just assuming that you've all heard at least one episode, but welcome to the show if you've never heard an episode. This is you talking talking heads to my talking head, the comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things talking heads. This is good rock and roll music. I realized I was about to explain the show, but I had just already explained the show in the introduction, and that was not necessary. But welcome to the show. We have a very special one today.

We're breaking from the format we have been going through talking heads discography in order of release in uh uh uh uh uh uh sequential order chronological that's the word i was trying to think of chronological we have been doing that but we are breaking away and talking about something that isn't even officially branded as Talking Heads, but certainly is Talking Heads adjacent. We are talking about the not only tour album, but also movie, American Utopia, David Byrne's American Utopia, I should say, which just came out. We will be talking about the music, we will be talking about the movie, and we have a very special guest who's going to be joining us for that. Comedian Demi Adjouibe is going to be here, and I'm very excited about that because of his connection to talking heads which we will talk about when he is here but one person i want to talk to before that oh by the way my name is scott ackerman i'm the lead with since we're talking about broadway i'm going to be

using stage terms here i am the lead of you talking talking heads to my talking head. What am I? You are the supporting actor. So wait, are these acting roles? Yes. I've been reading my lines. Have you not been reading your lines? No, I've been reading my lines. I wonder if you've been going off book so much.

Well, I'm off book every week, so I guess technically I'm not reading my lines. Off book, by the way, is a theater term. Off book means not reading your lines. I know I need to explain this for the people who are just downstage of us in the peanut gallery, as William Shakespeare once coined them, I believe. Did he coin peanut gallery? He did. uh, coined them.

I believe. Did he coin peanut gallery? He did. He also coined the terms men's and women's rooms, uh, when referring to the, the, uh, the bathrooms at the old globe,

at the, at the old group, the old grove. By the way, that's what I call Josh when I see him old grove, the old grove. What's up, Grobes? But he is the supporting actor to my lead actor.

Please welcome to the show Adam Scott. Hello, Adam. Hi, everybody. Listen, I don't know if I've ever talked before on this show about my love of the theater, but I feel tonight it's appropriate because tonight is theater term night here. It truly is. Yes. We have stage right, stage left.

Point stage right, if you could. Stage right. Yeah, stage right. Not up. Not up. You're pointing up right now to the heavens. As if I am on stage. As if you're on up right now to the to the heavens as if i am on stage as if you're on stage point stage right no you're pointing down at your penis right now it's a point it's it's basically

to your right unless you have your back to the audience ends up being towards the penis when you're on stage that is definitely one acting style where everything is directed at the penis when you're on stage that is definitely one acting style where everything is directed at the penis yeah that's the only acting style i know it's all penis centric isn't that every isn't there eisner taught yeah isn't there some sort of acting style which is just basically every scene is just prelude to fucking essentially like oh yeah that that's a whole did you watch the the vow that hbo thing that about uh how do you pronounce it nixium or nivium or yeah you said i said two things and you said yeah yeah both of them are correct oh okay thank you i did not watch it why did you watch it the guy just got uh 150 years in prison yeah and there's a thing he did that

reminded me of like acting teachers where he's like you know we're men so all we care about is fucking it's like fuck fuck fuck what do i want to fuck i want to fuck that and when i'm done with that i'm gonna fuck that and i'll just keep fucking it you just have to fuck i know that's the dude wait that's the dude from the vow that's got 150 years or what about your acting teacher how many years well just it it felt like a an acting teacher who who's who's kind of surmising that it's all just it all comes down to fucking surmising yes he's surmising that it's all just, it all comes down to fucking. Surmising. Yes, he surmises that it's all about fucking.

Sir Meisner, welcome. Sir Meisner. Ah, Sir Meisner is here. He's about to fuck you. Who's the, I had a couple of acting teachers like that. I remember I had one in college who had like, he had very, there's no other way to say it, but very Marc Maron energy. Was it Marc Maron? It was not Marc Maron, but he would, you know, sit down in a chair with, you know, leaning against the back.

He'd turn it around and lean against it. He had a big long mustache. I think his name was Marc. He had a big long mustache. I think his name was Mark. He had a lot of... Marin. Sounds... So far you're describing Mark Marin. He had about an hour of material every single time we would meet. Right.

But acting teachers, yes, they are the scum of the earth, are they not? That's what we're here to say have you ever taken acting classes i would doubt it but uh you go ahead and hit me you can't there's no way of knowing by looking at my work if it's something that's been studied or not was it was there a certain time with your acting by the way adam Scott, you may know from certain acting projects, Parks and Recreation, other less popular things, which I can't name. He currently has a game show, which is, and I have a mnemonic way, or not mnemonic way, but I have a way to trick my brain into remembering what the title of it is.

Ask me if I want to watch your show. Do you want to watch my show? I don't. Oh, that's what it is. Don't. Yes, that's right. But what was the biggest challenge for you as an actor? Would you watch your work and adjust for the next time,

or are you embarrassed by your early roles and what did you fix would i watch my work and adjust for the next time well sure i mean like go oh gosh i was i was pushing it there i was a little forced i'm gonna dial it back next time i go onto a set or or were you perfect right from the jump you mean like as a as a young like young actor starting i don't know why i need to explain this to you no i said it perfectly curious about the context because i i would work so infrequently if i watched something and thought oh i should make an adjustment i would have to hold that adjustment for like seven months and then and then be like oh okay now i can now now i can apply this to this these three lines on boy meets world that i have do you feel like there was

a role where you really like broke through and you were like got him oh i i nailed this. Yeah, were you watching? Now, I remember when I was in Oklahoma, not the state, but the musical, my mother came to see it, and she gave me a very nice compliment afterwards. She said, you were so good in this. This was the first time I felt watching your acting like you really uh believed what you were saying oh boy so was there ever a moment like that for you i'm where my where my mom came up to you and said anything like that to you i'm saying is at least she did uh enjoy your work and think you uh she believed you it it really made me feel though that i had wasted the previous eight years of my life or i used those eight years and getting to the point where i needed to be how old were you when you were in Oklahoma? 23.

Wow. Where is this production of Oklahoma with a 23-year-old Scott Aukerman? Let's see. That was up, pardon me because I am choking, Every Other Word. But is this, by the way, an episode of Choking Every Other Word? Yep. Hey, everyone. Welcome to Choking Every Word. This is Scott. every other word yep hey everyone welcome to choking every word this is scott and this is scott and today we're we're choking every other every word i don't know i don't know if um it it's every other word.

Just a few words at a time. It's definitely frequent. Frequent. Frequent choking, yeah. Let's try to do it. Excuse me. I would say that it's more like every fifth word or so. Yeah.

I don't know what that is. I don't know what the hell is going on, but we'll see you next time. Thanks, Mike. Bye. Good to have. Yeah, that was enjoyable. It was very good. So far, this is an enjoyable romp of a podcast.

Yeah, so far, we have... Let's give ourselves grades. You know the reviews that Broadway shows get? Sometimes they stay up late. Have you ever done Broadway? No, but I've been to Broadway in several different towns. Have you ever stayed up late in your own life? Oh, yeah, sure.

Last night I stayed up pretty late. No, last night I went. Last night I went. Is this another episode? I think it is. God damn it. What's the latest you've ever stayed up? Is 14 a time?

Can you stay up till 14 in military hours yeah yeah i've been up so you stayed up till 2 p.m till 2 p.m yep so wait when do you when do you usually go to bed i usually go to bed at like 8 9 a.m and how okay when do you wake up uh i usually wake up right in time for dinner. I wake up, dinner is the most important meal of the day. You got to have it before you go to work or school. Okay, so then you stay up until, like I said, 8, 9 a.m. That's when I go to bed.

Why? What time do you wake up? I'm pretty normal. I usually wake up somewhere in the 5 p.m. range. Oh, okay. So you wake up a bit earlier than I do. Yeah, and then I go to bed at 6 p.m. That must be nice. Once in a while, I'll wake up that early, and i love it because you're the only one up you can walk the dog you can get it's it's like you're in the middle of i am legend or something you're

walking around los angeles around no one's around it's 5 p.m and it's like it's a ghost town no traffic i'll sometimes just walk down the freeway with my dog. Oh, yeah. At 5 p.m., no traffic anywhere. It's gorgeous out. And a semi-automatic rifle. Sure. Like an I Am Legend. Sure, and I'm just shooting zombies. I think there's zombies.

Oh, yeah, that's the other thing. There's zombies everywhere. There's zombies in I Am Legend? Is that what that was? I think it's a zombie movie, yeah. I think it's, as they say, a zomber. Fine. Why does that upset you?

I was just frustrated with, you know, just kind of rubbing it in my face a bit. Yeah, I'm sorry. No, you're right. It is frustrating. But in any case, so they would stay up late on Broadway and wait for those reviews to come in. Oh, God, yeah. And that's a lot like what we're doing right now. We're just, like, staying up late, waiting for the reviews of this romp of a podcast.

Waiting for the reviews. Which hopefully one of them is going to say it's a romp. When I was a young kid, and by young kid, I mean, I don't know, 11, 12, somewhere in that range. Sure. By all metrics, that is young. Yeah, absolutely. By any measurement of time. Other than in dog years.

In dog years, pretty old. Wow, that was real. That cough was real. In any case, you know, I was a kid. Oh, gosh. I was on a trip to NYC, New York City, with my – with your side piece. With your guma. Yeah, otherwise known as not the home of paste pecan sauce.

Sure. And my step-uncle – I mean I can just call him my uncle. He's a terrific guy. Why do you need to downgrade your step-uncle, I mean, I can just call him my uncle. He's a terrific guy. Why do you need to downgrade your step-uncle? You know what I mean? I don't think it's a downgrade to say step anything. Yes, it is. It's a downgrade.

Otherwise, we wouldn't say it. It's certainly not an upgrade. You don't walk around going like, this is my stepmother. Oh, isn't that great? Isn't that great that my mother, you know, divorced my dad or died or whatever, and now I have a stepmother. What a wonderful situation this is. No, it's not an upgrade. Okay.

It's not even a lateral move. It's a downgrade. It's definitely a downgrade. But if that were the truth, then Stepmom would never have won like best picture and everything that's true it did win best picture so we're at this play at the broadway show dames at sea oh wait so and your step-uncle did this one that's why you did that yeah he's lighting designer right so we go see dames at sea on opening night and uh which was i'd never seen a broadway show before anything so it was it's huge deal and then afterwards we go to the party and the uh papers arrived at the party

and it was a big hit or a good review so i assume it went on to to a big hit. I don't know. Someone can do the research of dames at sea in New York. Who do you want to do the research? We don't have anyone to do research like that. Well, I don't know. You know what? I'll hire someone tomorrow to do that research. Like an intern or? No, I think I'll hire a professional researcher.

Okay. Like a salary, like a base salary with yeah yeah i'll pay him i'll pay him a good a good salary good livable wage what are we talking i mean obviously like not minimum wage because this seems like it's going to be a lot of work but like how much are we doing i think we all know that minimum wage in the u.S. is not cutting it these days. Uh-uh. It should be $15. It needs to get up there at least $15. I'd say $50, $50 an hour. $50 an hour would be fair, but I feel like this is a pretty tough job, and it's specific.

We're talking about researching one specific thing. It's not like you're saying, hey, go research everything. This is very specific. Exactly. So I need to find out the production Dames at Sea when it was exactly in, I guess it would be the late 80s. And was it a hit?

It could take months to, it's going to take some – a crack researcher. So what are we talking, six figures? At least, at least. How many hours a week would you say? Let's just say 50 because it's going to be a little bit of overtime in there. Yeah, I'll do it. Well, okay.

I mean you can send your resume in, um oh shit really okay yeah i mean what are you what are you looking for in an employee i need someone who can get some researching done and get it done in like half a year okay well i do you want to do the job interview? Right now? Sure. Okay. I mean, it's your picnic here, so you can- Very good. Very good. No, you can choose to have the basket filled with tuna sandwiches or it can be filled with shit. It's up to you. Is this part of my job description? Do you want me to pack your... It's part of your interview.

You have to play along with all of this. Oh, sorry. Okay. I'm, you know, seeing your demeanor. I'm watching everything now. How does one play along? Yeah, sure. But how does one play along with you saying

you can fill your picnic basket with tuna sandwiches or shit? Like how, what is the response you're looking for? That's up to you man it's your interview well i responded the way i wanted to respond and you told me that i was blowing the interview so what are you looking for i didn't say you were blowing the interview i just said you need to respond the way you're going to respond it's your pick i responded the way that i responded i know and it was great really Really? You're hired. Yes! Can I just say my greatest weakness is that I care too much?

I've been keeping that one in reserve just in case you asked me. The interview's over. You don't need to. Okay, I just wanted to say it because I was so proud of that answer when I thought of it. Well, we'll see. You'll be judged. Can I get my salary in advance? No. No, you get paid when the job is over in six months.

I don't think that's legal. I think you have to pay at least some of it as we go along. Sue me. Fuck you, I will. My dad's a lawyer. Test number two completed. Great job. You're hired again.

Yes! I knew it. I knew this was still part of the interview. Yeah. Okay. So now can I have my salary in advance? No. Okay.

When do I get it? You can get it. Let's see here. um hmm let's see here ba ba ba ba ba hmm do do do do do do

do do do do do do do uh what's today that's Wednesday add 14 carry the two put it down there

in six months when you finish fuck I don't think that's legal sue me I can't sue you who am i kidding my dad's not a lawyer i don't have any money to sue you all right i'll just do the job great oh damn it i thought that was part of the interview us hoping you would say that it was all a joke and you were gonna pay me

now it is great yeah hire it again awesome can i have my money up front no how do we get out of this i need money adam wait why do you need money so bad i don't understand you think this is paying the bills you talking talking heads to my talking head. Have you heard one ad on this show? Have we read one ad since we've started doing this show? Not one. No one's listening, Adam. No one's listening. Well, if they were listening, they would be pretty psyched about this content.

Good Lord. They would be pretty psyched about this content. Good Lord. Look, Adam, we have to take a break. Does that surprise you or does that shock you? I think it's needed. Look, we have a very exciting show. We're going to be talking about American Utopia.

Have you watched it yet, by the way? I should have asked you before we scheduled this. Oh, yeah. When you say, oh, yeah, what does that mean? you watched it yet, by the way? I should have asked you before we scheduled this. Oh, yeah. When you say, oh, yeah, what does that mean? You watched it once? Or you watched it enthusiastically? I watched it enthusiastically once. Well, we have to

take a break. We're going to be talking about American Utopia, the film, the album, the Broadway show. When we come back, we will also have Demi Adjouibe will be here. We will be right back with more You Talkin' Talking Heads to My Talking Head after this. Welcome back. You Talkin' Talking Heads to My Talking Head. welcome back you talking talking heads to my talking head special american oh there goes that fade uh american utopia edition i'm here with adam scott and we're going to be talking about american utopia uh and uh uh before

we bring on our guest adam did you see this in the theater or did you just watch the movie? When would I have seen it in the theater? I'm flummoxed by that question. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I thought you meant like the movie. Did I see it in the theater? Oh, okay. No, unfortunately.

I'm just like, do I have to explain Broadway shows to Adam? I mean, he was just talking about having gone to one, whereas his step-uncle was the lighting designer, and suddenly he doesn't know what a theater is? That may have sounded like the beginnings of a terrific bit, but no, unfortunately, I didn't. It was like one of the first things I was going to do when I got here last spring to start the show, but then that didn't end up happening.

Well, you probably would have driven to the hotel or wherever you're staying first. Yeah, I would have unloaded, like unpacked, maybe. Get off a plane. Get off the plane. Well, yeah. Jesus, yeah. Get off the plane is probably number one, yeah. And then I would have to get a ride from the airport to. Well, actually, do you do you clap when the plane lands? Yeah. Okay. So I do that. That's the very first thing. You're right. The very first thing. Thank you, Demi. The first thing I do when I when I'm in New York officially is I finish the applause that I started when we were just off the ground. Because you clap continuously throughout the flight. So on a flight from LA to New York,

that's a six hour. Scott, that's not fair. I clap for the last 10 minutes of the flight through the landing. How do you know when to start? I asked the flight attendant. You say, just give me a 10 more minutes minutes. Give me a 10-minute warning. Do they give you a light from the front with their phone? They give me, yeah, because we're usually, they've already told them to sit down. So they just give me a Morse, you know Morse code? They give me a Morse code. What are they spelling out in Morse code?

We're landing in 10 minutes. We're landing in 10 minutes. That's a lot of Morse code. I ask them to give me a cool 45 too. So I've got a cool 45, and then 35 minutes later, they give me the sweet 10. So you're not startled. Yeah. So yeah, I'm not surprised.

I know it's coming in exactly 35 minutes. So I'm ready by the time that sweet 10 comes. So when that's over, though, of course, you got to- I finish clapping, yeah. You finish clapping. 35 minutes. So I'm ready by the time that sweet 10 comes. So when that's over though, of course you got to- I finish clapping, yeah. You finish clapping. Then you unbuckle your safety belt. Unbuckle the safety belt. I kind of just shake off the detritus of air travel. When you're in your seat, you're shaking this off? Yeah. No, sorry. I stand up and then I shake off the det sorry i stand up and okay yeah we forgot a very

important step there standing up yeah uh shake off the detritus of air travel and then i i grab my carry-on well depends if i'm if i'm if i have a seat in front of me if i have the seat in front of me that's where my carry-on is uh easy access and do you have to strap it in with the seat i i don't even know if if they would allow that they let you do that yeah as long as you you know belt it in and glue it to the to the to the bottom of the seat you're fine glue wait glue what the the the carry-on you have to what kind of glue do you use? I use just Gorilla Glue, the kind you get at Target. Regular glue? Gorilla Glue? That's not regular glue.

Regular Gorilla Glue. That's not regular glue. If you're using Gorilla Glue on everything. Well, Elmer's wouldn't work with the fabric that they use for seats on an airplane. Right. That's why that wouldn't work. Yeah, because it's right gorilla glue works great is this an ad for gorilla glue what's going on yeah are we sponsored by gorilla 6.99 for like a i don't know a seven ounce bottle it's uh kevin has told me that we

have not been able to get any ads on this show but is he funneling them straight to you yeah so you're cutting me out of me out this is just me i have a son of a bitch and for the copy that they gave you they didn't they said it's 6.99 for i don't know like seven ounces yep that's right okay here i'll show it to you it's right here the copy's right here oh that's interesting wow yeah there it is there it is yeah 6.99 for i don't know seven ounces there it is in 48 point font why so big dollar an ounce that's a gorilla glue uh motto that's their motto dollar an ounce that's not just something that they said that's a motto they they like dollar and run their company by they put it on the guarantee it so what about what happens with inflation down the line or that's the thing it's inflation proof and it says

that right above the it's inflation proof inflation proof motto it's the only one in the world okay well we should be using gorilla glue as our currency then right sure well some people do use it as currency i'm going to after i get paid for this ad i'll tell you that much but what if they pay you in gorilla glue well they are and that and that's why I need to use it as currency, because I don't have a ton of real currency. I just have a shitload of Gorilla Glue. Got it. I was always thinking, like, you know, the 99-cent store.

I'd be like, well, what about inflation? Are they going to have to change their, you know, like the $5 burger at Carl's Jr.? It used to be like hey this would cost you five dollars at a at a fancy restaurant and then it actually cost five dollars and then they had to stop saying it you know because it didn't make any sense anymore but i was like at some at one point they're gonna have to like call it the two dollar store the dollar 98 store but it turns out they just make everything smaller. Really?

As inflation rises, they just give you less and less of the thing that you're paying 99-cent store. So it's like you can get— It's just shittier stuff? No, you can get like, hey, four sponges for 99 cents. But then five years later, they give you three. Should we introduce our guest? I think so. Maybe he wants to weigh in on this topic.

I would love to. I've been silent for so long. Yeah. We want to introduce our guest. He is a comedian. He is a musician. He's a writer. He, I believe, was writing on...

Were you writing on the Amber Ruffin Show? Yeah, I am. You're currently doing it. That's great. I'm in a Zoom right now. I should go. Oh, shit. Wait.

Are you talking to us or are you talking to her? I'm so sorry. Sorry. One second, Amber. What was that, Scott? Wait, hold on. Was the whole Gorilla Glue thing with Amber? Yes.

What are you guys doing? What is this? Oh, man. We were talking about Gorilla Glue as well. Oh, that's so crazy. Do you also glue your carry-on to the seat in front of you? Yes. That is insane.

You're not stealing our bits, are you? We're not going to watch the Amber Ruffin Show tonight and see Gorilla Glue on it, are we? No, you wouldn't because the Amber Ruffin Show airs on Fridays, Scott. Okay. Speaking of throwing a plug in there yeah seriously um he is a a great comedian and and one person that i really wanted to have on the show uh uh for several reasons but please welcome to the show demi a did you ebay hello hello scott can you give me one of those reasons? I will. Yes. Okay. So I was on a different podcast on another network called Blank Check, where they were talking about, David and Griffin were talking about the oeuvre of Jonathan Demme, and I

came on to talk about something wild. oeuvre of Jonathan Demme and I came on to talk about Something Wild and I noticed that you were on the episode before me talking about a little film called Stop Making Sense. That is correct. And I listened to it and it is one of your favorite albums. I'm not sure about favorite films but it's one of your favorite albums. You say you've listened to it more than any other album. Is that right? I do believe that's true. Yeah it's one of my favorite albums. You say you've listened to it more than any other album. Is that right? I do believe that's true. Yeah. It's one of my favorite both. I've watched it maybe three times this year already. And it's like Stop Making Sense is the album I listen to whenever I'm just like, ah, time to go for a walk in the neighborhood.

It's like I put on Stop Making Sense. Why not? So you're going on hour-long 20 walks through the neighborhood. That's right. And I don't come home until it's done. My dog hates it. Wait, you're not taking your dog? You got to take your dog on these walks. Oh, no. He hates it. Prime dog time. He hates it because I'm taking him out for so long.

Oh, okay. Your dog hates walking. But he also has a pair of headphones on and he hates that album. That's right. He is not into Talking Heads at all. That's one thing I found is Talking Heads is not music for dogs they hate him they hate it it's not but uh in any case demi i i wanted to have you on mainly for that reason because you're such a super fan and knowing that this is sort of the spiritual sequel to stop making sense i wanted to check in with you about it and see what you thought about it yeah but uh i don't want to ask you that right now because we need to set the scene and i don't want to get your opinion just now so right you gotta

tease people sit on that opinion for a little while if if you don't mind because we we should talk about the show itself um american utopia on broadway david burns american Utopia on Broadway. Just came out. This is an emergency recording session. We got it together as soon as we could to put out this episode. And just came out on HBO Max. I'm not sure. Was it on HBO Regs? On the Regs? I have no clue.

That's a great question. I don't know. Isn't it? It really is a good question. Scott, did you see this show in the theater? Okay, I'll tell you my experience with American Utopia. Let's hear it. So my first, the first little taste I got was when David Byrne was on The Colbert Show. Did you see that?

Either of you guys? I've seen that, yeah. Demi, you were nodding of you guys i've seen that yeah demi you were nodding but this is an audio medium so you're going to have to speak up sorry i was not again it's the other zoom oh it's amber nodding to amber she was asking she was asking if i saw david burn perform on colbert oh that's exactly what we were asking oh is it crazy that's wild i've got this i should get her in friday yeah i gotta see what she's talking about so um i i saw i saw uh david burn on colbert and uh it was really cool it was him and the band dancing around the entire audience and doing choreography and doing choreography with colbert

and it it seemed really cool so i was like oh man this this and okay let me back up a little bit i also saw the david byrne saint vincent tour in 2012 at the greek here in la and that was sort of the genesis of this tour i think because um they had seven or eight horn players who were all – their instruments were mic'd and they were all able to do choreography around the stage. So that was sort of – but the drummer was in one place and the keyboardist was in one place. But the horn players were all kind of doing choreography. So I saw that and then I saw the Colbert thing and I said, oh, wow, this looks like it'll be a little more of the same. So I want to go see this tour. And then before it came to LA, I watched the Coachella performance, which was streaming

live. And that was like, I think it was like around 5 p.m. The sun might have gone down or something during it, but it was really fucking cool. And I remember telling you, Adam, that we have to go see David Byrne when he comes to the shrine. This is like a must-see. Yeah. And then what happened? We didn't go.

When you say we didn't go, was I texting you constantly? No. For the month before then? No. And you were not returning any of those texts no i remember you saying we've got to go see this and i was like yeah totally and then and then i don't remember anything else happening yes did you say well let me let me fill you in yeah i said it's

happening should i get tickets hey it's coming up are we gonna go should i get tickets and then i think maybe the day before you're like oh sorry i'm out of town can't go yeah it's a bummer i wish i uh i wish i would have figured out how to go see that so uh i i would i wished i'd gone to see it but then when i heard it went to broadway i uh knew i had to get my little tush to new york city I knew I had to get my little tush to New York City. And I flew to New York and I saw the show. And yeah, so I saw it on Broadway. Demi, did you see it?

No. And you know what sucks is I flew to New York just being like, I promised David and Griffin that I'd do the show at some point. And I was like, no better time. That's right. You flew to New York to do that podcast that I did. And I, and I flew to New York, not just to do the podcast,

but I did their podcast in New York and saw David Byrne on the same trip. Yeah, I was there and I was, it was like the anniversary of stop making sense. And I learned about American utopia happening because it was like the anniversary of it. And I was like, Oh, maybe I should go see it. And then I didn't.

And now watching this, I was like, I fucked up. I absolutely should have gone see. I flew to New York for a Talking Heads thing and then was like, I'm not going to go to this other Talking Heads thing. I was thinking recently about time travel and like going back in time and reliving your life with everything, you know, with like perspective. Why were you thinking about that? Just for something I'm doing. And I was just, I was thinking about it. And the one thing that I keep thinking about

is trying to figure out how I would go to the Pantages to see Stop Making Sense. Like how I would convince my parents that I was old enough to see a concert and how I could save up enough money or how i would just like kind of ditch them and go see it i was like as long as i'm back by 11 i'd have to take public transportation yeah because you were of age where you could have like snuck off and actually gone yeah i would have been 14 which would have been a stretch with my parents that's what you

would do with a time machine, Scott? That's literally like one of the big things that was on my mind. Why don't you just go to the thing yourself as the adult in the time machine? Why do you have to convince a younger person to do it? No, but this is me if my consciousness gets transported back, like a 13 going on 30. Ah, okay. Yeah, this isn't a Back to the Future thing. Oh, that's all you had to say. This is a 13 going on 30. Ah, okay. Yeah, this isn't a Back to the Future thing. Oh, that's all you had to say.

This is a 13 going on 30. You didn't clarify that. This is Jennifer Garner as Scott Aukerman. Yes. Going to the Pantages, sneaking off to the Pantages. Who's the Mark Ruffalo in this scenario? Well, I think he's the Incredible Hulk in my biopic. It's the Incredible Hulk and Jennifer Garner as Scott Ackerman.

I met the Hulk. We hung out for like three years. And so he would probably play the Hulk. Okay. Anyway, so you didn't go see it and you fucked up. That's right. And then I watched it here. But you watched it at your home.

Yeah, a few times, actually. I've watched it twice as well. Adam, you watched it once enthusiastically i loved it it was terrific and i i you know if i was a betting man i'd say i'd i'm gonna watch it again i put it on again today um i watched the back half for the second time and just i i really was struck i was like like i think i'm just gonna have this on in the background a lot yeah much like what you do demi it's just so great but let's let's talk let's talk about the show itself uh before we get into to our our views on it so this was uh it started

out as of course the album american utopia which came out in i believe yes came out in 2018 a collaboration uh with uh old sourpuss he's rearing his ugly head wait brian you know produced that with him brian produced uh or co-produced with a few people but uh also co-wrote all but one of the songs all but two of the songs sorry um yeah old. All but two of the songs, sorry. Yeah, old sourpuss just frowning his way into this sunny project somehow. Yeah, when David Byrne mentioned old sourpuss during the show, I was just like, oh, jeez. I was surprised that people weren't like, boo.

He says at one point, he goes, oh, my friend Brian Eno. I just wanted people to say boo! I'm surprised old sourpuss didn't enter the theater and ruin everybody's night. Just like going thumbs down to everybody. Boo! Is this also where I mentioned that I'm actually really close with Brian and... Oh, he's talking to Amber.

Don't worry about it. No, I'm not. I'm talking to you guys. He's still talking to Amber. I'm talking... He he's talking to amber don't worry about it no i'm not i'm talking to you guys he's still talking to him i'm talking he's still talking to him are you talking to adam scott and scott ackerman two writers on the amber ruffin show whoever's names maybe maybe we shouldn't have said that about old sourpuss it seems like we've really you're calling my friend old sourpuss to my face he's calling brian eno my close friend of many years sourpuss to my face i feel i feel terrible demi i'm sorry that's just the first line of uh the sketch that i think we should do i'm so sorry what are you guys what's going on i'm so sorry i really gotta hold you fuck um so the american utopia record came out back in 2018 uh back in march and i remember there being like a kerfuffle when it came out this isn't i mean the

major thing about the record but um i do remember a little bit of weird press where mr burns uh people were a little upset that uh i believe not a single woman played on his record. Is that right? People were like, hey. They were like, hey, why do you only have men musicians? There's like 30 or 40 musicians on this record, and I think they're all men. So he came out and apologized for it and said like, my bad. And so I actually think that this tour,

he intentionally hired a bunch of cool women and they're really cool. But so this album came out and have you heard the record, either of you guys, the actual record? I haven't heard the record, but I remember when Everybody's Coming to My House dropped and I heard that and I did get very excited

for American Utopia. and then it totally just i forgot about it until uh the broadway show was happening yeah that song is great yeah it is and i think i had the same feeling and then just never really thought about the album again until i watched this on hbo so so it's a really good promotion whoever was the PR department for American Utopia at least these guys thought they should listen to it but they immediately forgot about it so not much retention but um they went on into that album at all Scott I I definitely did it's you know david or mr burns's uh solo records are um you know spotty uh but uh some are really great and this one i thought was uh one of the better ones i i definitely and i will say seeing the show so many times uh really makes you enjoy the songs that they play a lot

so they went on tour for uh a few uh or not a few years but about definitely a few months and um it was a really unique tour so for anyone who hasn't seen it essentially what happened was mr burns was sitting around his goddamn apartment and he was like just you know mulling this tour over he's just like oh what do i do what do i do oh my gosh i have a tour coming up i'm so scared what do i do he's frightened are you bullying david byrne he's got stage fright no he's sitting he's sitting around and he's thinking about the tour and he he really enjoyed the uh, uh, the tour of St. Vincent where, um,

the horn players were able to wander around the stage and do the choreography. So he started wondering, well, could we do that with the entire tour? Could we do it with every instrument? And he didn't quite, he couldn't quite wrap his mind around how to do it with drums so uh he called up

uh his uh his drummer who he's worked with for a long time uh maro rifosco and he said hey is this possible could we do it could we do it with drums where the drummers are wandering around and and maro thought about it and he said like okay let me let me really think about how many drummers you would need in order to replicate like not only what one drummer does while he's sitting down but also what percussionists do so he really mapped it out and he thought okay for one drummer who's sitting down we'll need three drummers we'll need one we'll need one guy doing the bass drum we'll need one guy doing uh the snare and we'll need another to do the like the uh the cymbals right but we also need three other drummers to do what a percussionist would do as well so he came to david burn or mr burns and he

said hey i think we need six drummers um what do you think about that and then uh they they got the keyboards and then the bass and the guitar and so mr burns is thinking about this and he's he knows he wants two dancers too so he ran the numbers i read this article where he's like, I'm very budget conscious. And so I ran the numbers, and I thought about how much every show was going to cost and how much the band would cost, and I really wanted to keep everything under budget. So he actually wanted to have horn players, but the budget wouldn't allow it. That's one thing I was wondering about when I watched this, because he just has the guy who's playing synth horn, right? Synth horns, yeah, exactly.

So that's just a budget thing, but he eventually worked it out where he could have this cast of people. So when you watch the show, everyone is playing their instrument while standing and doing intricate choreography with and behind David Byrne the entire show. So it's a 100-minute show, and everyone is standing up and dancing the entire time. It's really incredible. It is really, really good, really incredible. I had high expectations just because everyone who had seen it said it was great, and I was afraid it was going to be overhyped, but it was terrific. It was not overhyped. about how they miked the instruments, because every single instrument has to be miked the same way you would when you go see a concert.

But when you go see a concert, they're basically like all the mics are just set up in one place and they have area mics above the drums and stuff. But they're moving around with these instruments, so all of the mics have to go inside all of the drums. instruments so all of the mics have to go inside all of the drums and they they couldn't construct the drums the normal way that you would because of the mic inside so they had to find like special skins for all the drums that were looser than normal so that you would get the sounds that you would normally hear in a concert

with this mic inside it was really fascinating like how much work they put into this yeah it's interesting so uh the head of the the drum line went to these six drummers nick cannon of course wearing his turban and talking about the Jews. He went to all the drummers and said, like, here's what I'm thinking, but what are you guys thinking? And he said that everyone came back with, like, all these great ideas of different instruments. When you watch the show, like, they're all drumming these really unique drums. And they all had ideas, and they brought it and said, I think this would be cool for this song, and I thought this would be cool for this song. And I thought this would be cool for this song.

And so it was really collaborative. And that's just, you know, there's six drummers. That's just part of the show. I mean, it's really incredibly intricate. They had to rehearse for six weeks, I believe, eight hours a day. I bet. Jesus. And it was choreographed by Annie B. parson who uh is a choreographer and dancer and

director from brooklyn um she's the artistic director of brooklyn's big dance theater and basically so what did you guys think of the of the actual choreography how did it how did it hit you i thought it was great i feel like there's something uh just the way that they use space, even in how he sort of replicates the thing of the certain parts of the band coming out on stage in pieces like he does in Stop Making Sense. It all works so well. And the fact that they're like dressed uniformly and that they move in such a, like it all, it feels like the choreography works so well with both the lighting and the camera that it's weird to think of how this probably plays as a live show because i feel like visually it's so you know specific but it i thought their movements were incredible and even just the fact that they can do all that and like memorize it also being like all right we got to play the right notes and

shit i it floors me yeah i i thought the same there's one song i think it was um this must be the place where they did that sort of signature move where i saw in a lot of like publicity photos of he and the two kind of main dancers doing that one move where they do you know what i'm talking about where they all oh where where they're they're sort of like Arabesking. They're sort of like... They walk like an Egyptian. Outstretched arms and sort of crouched legs. Yeah, and it's so simple, and it was sort of indicative of a lot of the choreography,

which was just sort of really simple but really striking and great. And just that one move um it got applause every time they did it during the right the song on the chorus they would do it every time and each time the crowd went crazy and there's just something in the sort of brash simplicity of all of the choreography. And part of it is seeing so many of them doing the choreography together. And some of the choreography was just them walking back and forth too, or just a group of them being on one side and David Byrne being on the other and them changing places. It's so simple, but so just fun to watch. And part of it is the music, the happy music.

But then he also, like, midway through the show, talks about his idea for the show was, what's the one thing people like watching more than anything else? And it's other people. Doing it. Sorry, what did you say? People doing it. Doing it.

Doing it. I think and in this case amber again i'm not see that's part of his conversation it still is part yeah i would get fired if i was saying that to amber i'm talking to you guys i'm on the podcast you talking oh what's it called you talking amber ruffin to me you talking talking talking heads to my talking heads. He wouldn't insult us like this. He's definitely talking to Amber. I am not talking to Amber. I'm talking about American Utopia. Wonderful Broadway show.

He's convinced me. He is talking to us. Yeah, definitely. Hi, Demi. Anyway, yes. Well, a lot of the choreography is very deceptively simple movements. I was reading an interview with Chris Giarmo, who is the dance captain.

He's the striking dancer slash backup singer who wears sort of drag queen inspired makeup. That's his view on it. He's great and he uh he essentially um says that the the what uh uh annie b parson does is she takes sort of normal movements it's kind of what what david mr burns did in stop making sense you know with the chopping on the arm and he he she takes these sort of deceptively simple movements but everyone has to do them in unison. And while they're performing their instruments and they all have to hit the

exact move, they can't just sort of half assets, you know? And so it's actually very, very difficult to do. And Chris Jarmo was talking about how, uh, like what the hardest song was.

And, um, was talking about what the hardest song was. And he was saying the hardest song for him to do was Don't Worry About the Government, which is really early on in the show. But you guys can see these movements that they're doing. He has to sing while doing these perfectly in sync every single time. And it's really incredibly difficult to do.

Yeah. The choreography for that one struck me because it feels so much more intricate than everything else. And it feels like it's a lot of pointed movements and a lot of like voguing in a way that feels like it sort of disappears later on in the show. Right. So I'm not shocked that it's complicated.

Nothing, Adam. I don't remember that one well you only watched it once enthusiastically i guess i was being too enthusiastic at that point here's a question i had i yes i i could have sworn that life during wartime was in the set list but i looked at all the set lists even from the tour i don't think they ever played that fucking song it is not the one the one song that they put as a bonus track at the end of the album is the great curve um speaking of cool op she was not with me when i saw this show damn um but uh um but and i can't recall whether that was an encore that I saw when I saw the Broadway show or not.

But I seem to remember. It's like the guys didn't cheer enough. Yeah, I seem to remember it ended with Road to Nowhere, but maybe they played The Great Curve. But yeah, the show is a, not surprisingly for something that started as a tour to promote an album um it has quite a few of the american utopia songs in it but it also has a lot of talking heads songs and a really great cross-section of some of the best songs from mr burns recent solo work which uh are you guys as familiar with his solo records not at all depends like i i i was surprised there was no there weren't any songs from like ray momo is that how you pronounce that like first big solo yeah because there were there was like a hit on that album and they

that was in there so a few of these i didn't know, but I definitely knew that Everyone's Coming to My House and Lazy. Do you know that was probably, that's maybe Mr. Burns' one of his bigger hits. Yeah. From his solo record. That's not a Burns song, right? That's Express? Express 2 is the,

they're sort of DJs who did it and he sang on it. Okay. And then Toe Jam is his, one of his songs with uh fat boy slim which was kind of popular um but yeah so it's kind of across it's it's like you get the best of talking heads um with i think three songs that were in stop making sense but then you get all these really great um mr burns songs which which have not been really performed live all that much, with a band that is, I would say, as good as the Stop Making Sense band was, if not better.

What? Interesting. I mean, that was a great band, but these guys are doing everything they did and dancing the entire time, which, you know, George Harrisonrison look god bless him he uh you know he didn't have to really dance a lot in the beatles he he basically like they they would bow simultaneously that's as choreographed as the beatles ever got but when he got to you know stop making sense he he you know shook his little butt

up there on the stage you know during one part of part of Stop Making Sense. But, you know, you wouldn't say this is a choreographed show, Stop Making Sense, but this American Utopia is. Yeah, but this Traveling Wilburys concerts were highly choreographed. That's true. Roy Orbison was insistent upon that. He was like, I've never done a show that's not choreographed. And then Bob Dylan, too. He's very, very active on stage.

I'm going to do the robot. That's right. Watch me floss. Wait, was that to Amber or was that to us? Sorry, that was to Amber. Are you guys talking about robots also? Bob Dylan doing robots? We weren't talking about robots also bob dylan we're also talking about well we weren't talking about robots we were talking about dancing that's so funny yeah

i have a sketch called what if bob dylan did the robot oh okay yeah so uh uh yeah when i saw this uh on broadway um i want to talk about the experience a little bit because, you know, most Broadway shows, they have a sign when you walk in that tells the audience when they're going to stop serving alcohol. And it's usually at intermission, like right after intermission, they're like, there'll be no more drinks. And this one had a sign, I think, that said, we're going to be serving the entire show. And when I saw that, I said, uh-oh, trouble. And sure enough, there was a huge fight. Maybe I've talked about this on the show,

but there was a huge fight in front of me during the show between two groups of patrons where they were arguing and I think they're just arguing about like the people in front of someone wanted to stand up and dance during a song and they were saying like sit down sit down and it came to blows and people got

at the David Byrne show people got kicked out of the show and that was crazy and put a lot of stress into a show that was a feel-good, good-time show. But then the other weird part about it is my friends from the band Yacht were, I guess, up in the balcony unbeknownst to me. And they saw me down there. And so they wrote to me the next day to say, like, hey, wasn't that a great show? And I said, yeah, there was a huge fight.

I don't know if you saw it. And they said, oh, yeah, there was a big fight near us as well, up in the balcony. Really? Everyone fighting at American Utopia. You wouldn't think it. This is such a good time show when you watch it. Like, everyone's just having a great time, but yeah.

I bet it's people going, like, man, this is my favorite song. It's like, no, the next song's better. No, the next song sucks. And then they're just like, I gotta kick your ass. How do you know what the next song is i checked the set list so um let's talk about the the actual film as well uh you know after we take a break we can go through the songs and talk about the certain songs but how do we how do we feel about uh spike lee is the director how do we feel about uh how he directed it i loved

uh how it looked and felt and you remember that there's that point in the in the show where there's like a light a lamp or a light bulb kind of going out on stage to david burn and then it recedes again during bullet i think yeah you're right and at one point that when it recedes that he cuts to a shot of the camera uh receding like it's on the stand with the light bulb i thought that was hey there's cool stuff like that do you think adam just learned the word recede i i do think he's got a word of the day calendar i only used it three times and i only used it three times before this today and i loved using it it sounds good coming out of your mouth it's really good um if you guys don't mind i'm just

going to recede for a second let you guys discuss no problem spike lee direction demi how'd you how'd you feel about this especially in comparison to stop making sense i loved it i think spike Lee really did a good job. And it feels like the kind of thing where, like when I thought about the fact that Spike Lee directed this, it was confusing to me because I feel like in my head,

like my image of Spike Lee is that he would hate everything Talking Heads is, like just a bunch of like white guys doing Afro beats. I feel like he'd just be like, fuck this. And he isn't. And the fact that he shoots this with such a good eye for how to make it feel like a musical and not just be like fuck this and he isn't and the fact that he shoots this with such a good

eye for how to make it feel like a musical and not just being like i'm just gonna film the thing you did uh is impressive i just watched uh contemporary color the thing that david burn did with uh saint vincent a bunch of other artists back in like i want to say 2014 or whatever like a color guard thing and the way that is shot is so just sort of like ah we're just going to do this all once and we'll get as many cameras in there as we can to collect it all and it that's kind of the modern way of of whenever a band you know they were a little more popular six years ago or bands 12 years ago but when yeah bands in general were really popular but um you know how they would put out a dvd or a filmed concert of the you know and it's

pretty much just like point and shoot this this spike takes great care in in making this a film and and and you know it was a very different experience for me from watching it um with look i'm gonna be honest great seats third row but it's a very different experience because he's he literally is like filming it like a film sometimes he's doing above shots he's getting up on stage and and you know i don't know if he's using sliders or what but he's he's doing all these kind of weird close-ups that are that are you know not an angle that you would watch the show from from the audience yeah it looked like they had done the show without the audience there probably definitely there are a few shots where like the camera is clearly moving with them like in front

and behind them like there's a shot where he's just following them from the front during i think e-zimbra and it feels so uh like it's it's what makes it work so well as if you were like it just elevates it to a new level it's great yeah the camera doesn't really stop moving for the whole the whole thing which really works well it took a little bit of getting used to a little bit because i just watched stop making sense and and because we did that episode about it and and it is shot differently than stop making sense so like anytime anytime they would do something that isn't what stop making sense would do i would kind of go is that right like when they would show the audience during a song you know how demi didn't yeah

jonathan demi that is not this gonna say i don't be trash talking me i'm right here i'm sorry i'm talking to amber right now okay got it yeah jonathan comma demi yes exactly jonathan demi um he would he would never show the audience he did all these kind of long takes he did a lot of it in close-up and this this is very different spike was definitely like you say uh demi comma this show was shot like a musical in some sense. Like the shots from above were a lot like those old musicals where you would, you know, who's the swimmer dancer? Busby Berkeley. Yeah, Busby Berkeley and the swimmer dancer, Esther,

or whatever her name is. Mary Lou Henner. Mary Lou Retton. Mary Lou Henner. Mary Kay Letourneau. That's right. henner mary lou retton mary letourneau that's right um they were it was shot a lot like old old busby berkeley musicals which was interesting but but the first time i saw it was like is this right this isn't what stopped making sense with this one though whenever he would be in a close

up for too long i wanted him to jump back because i wanted to see the the whole stage more than i did with stop Making Sense. There's something about like... Everyone is doing such incredible things. I tell you one, and the second time I've seen it, it still jumped out at me. The one moment where I was like, that's not the cut that I would have went to

is during Once in a Lifetime where suddenly the instrumental break comes up once in a lifetime where the, suddenly the instrumental break comes up and Angie Swan, the guitarist goes into the brown, brown, brown. And he, instead he doesn't focus on her. He's on Mr. Burns's back and you hear a huge cheer, but Mr. Burns is like doing a pose, but everyone in there,

this was my experience was cheering for Angie Swan because she like comes in and is kicking ass, but he's not focused on her. But it is interesting every once in a while I'd be like, Oh man, I want to see the whole picture, you know, because when I saw it live,

it's just like fascinating. Every single performer is doing something really interesting pretty great i i remember spike lee being a huge jonathan demi freak so i would imagine this was a cool thing to to do to sort of like you said make the what did you call it the spiritual sister of uh receded he got to just recede into uh the work which was very cool to watch apparently he watched it 20 times before filming it um live and um it's a lot of tickets i mean i paid i think 150 bucks to go see it so he he that's that we're talking three grand that's probably why he did this he He's like, I need to make this money back.

Can I sell this? $3,000. Three bozos. That's it? Okay, yeah. I was reading a really good Vulture article with Chris Giarmo, who is the dance captain. the dance captain and um by the way we also i i gotta point out um uh tendai uh uh um she uh they they both are the dancers what is tendai's last name um it's not the other like main dancer yeah uh kuumba uh tendai kuumba she andarmo are the two dancers and they're just like so magnetic

but i was reading a really interesting uh interview with chris giarmo who was talking about how and the first time you see him he's so striking because he's wearing just bright makeup and um everyone is wearing suits and they're barefoot, which, by the way, this started because Mr. Burns was thinking about the stage outfits and he wanted everyone to be wearing the same thing. And he was like, well, I'd look good in a suit, so I'd probably want to wear a suit. That would look pretty snazzy. And so he thought, OK, everyone should wear suits. But then he was like, but there should be something different. What if we didn't have shoes on?

like but but there should be something different what if we didn't have shoes on and so that's everyone's shoe list which i guess uh is really hard to do for the dancers um because there's no arch support so doing how quentin can come and see our show so doing eight shows a week with no shoes is like really really tough to do yeah so i was reading this article or this interview with chris giarmo and and he got involved because he's worked with annie b parson for um several years he actually was in the drumline thing demi that you saw which i haven't seen he was a dancer in it oh in contemporary color yeah in contemporary color so he worked with mr burns before and he heard that mr burns was looking for a dancer who could sing. And he just like cold emailed him and said, hey, I'm available to do this. We work together on the contemporary color. And Mr. Burns just wrote back, oh, cool.

Would you be the dance captain too? And that was it. No audition or anything like that. It was just like he remembered him and gave him the job. But he's so striking. He comes out with bright, bright red lipstick and wearing sort of queer-influenced makeup. And that was very important to him to represent that in the show. he was nervous about it because he wondered if spike would kind of be on board with that aesthetic and um so he came up and introduced himself to spike and um was chatting with him and spike like about three questions in was like hey what lipstick color do you wear and chris was like oh here it comes he's gonna ask me to tone it down or he's gonna ask me to

change it and he goes well i'm wearing like a neutral pink. And Spike Lee was like, no, no, no, red, bright red. We want to up it for the film. We want to make it as striking as possible. And he just felt like very taken care of in that moment. That's right. Spike really appreciated that. And that's one thing about the movie and the show.

It has so many incredibly diverse performers with different personalities and it's a celebration of all of those different people by the end of the show you just you really feel like you know these people in a way yeah and you and you really feel like oh wow you know from uh jacqueline Acevedo, who's like a really magnetic percussionist who's always dancing and doing choreography as well as these incredible drum things. Every cast member. Dancing and choreography. Yeah, both. I mean, it's incredible. Wow.

But every cast member gets their time to shine, especially in Toe Jam, where they all get to do like dance solos and stuff. And it's you really come out of it going like this is a celebration of people. I agree that you kind of felt like you knew them a bit because at the end when they're all riding bikes. Yeah. I was like, oh, I hope I get to see so and so on on the bike. And you get to spend a little time with each of them on their bikes as well. You all sort of you have your favorites in watching the thing and and what's been great about seeing it so many times is going back and like watching different people and what they're doing the entire time because

every single person is doing something fascinating and and you know it's it's really cool a lot of people's backgrounds helped them get this job like i was reading angie swan the guitarist she uh was in cirque du soleil and jacqueline acevedo was like a dancer as well as uh percussionist you know so like everyone kind of has these really unique backgrounds that they use um to great effect in the show yeah and they're all incredible musicians just incredible that's the thing that this this is the degree of difficulty to be in this show. I cannot even imagine. Like, okay, you have to be one of the best musicians,

and you have to be an incredible dancer and be able to memorize all this stuff. It just seems like I don't know how anyone did it. I would say, like, not only do you need to be one of the best musicians in the world, you have to be one of the best musicians in the world. You have to be one of the best musicians in the universe. God, you got me. That's right.

Adam's flipping me off. All right, we've talked about it generally enough. We need to take a break. When we come back, we're going to be going through some of the songs. We will be right back with more You Talkin' Talking Heads to My Talking Head, American Utopia Edition. with more you talking talking heads to my talking head american utopia edition

welcome back you talking talking heads my talking head american utopia special This is the opening song. This is called Here. I really like this song. Yeah, as it opens, Mr. Burns is sitting alone on stage holding a skull. A brain. A brain, sorry, a brain. The thing inside the skull.

Do you get skulls and brains mixed up? I do. I hit my brain the other day, and now I get skulls and brains mixed up? I do. I hit my brain the other day, and now I get skulls and brains mixed up. So this, Demi, you mentioned it, sort of starts off like Stop Making Sense in the sense that Mr. Burns is alone, and we add musicians as the songs progress.

Yeah. Even just having it be him on stage until a harmony happens is such an interesting choice. And just getting to see the stage, the chain curtains built during this is a very cool thing. Because I think the chain curtains lift up at the beginning of the show. Is that right? They're all on the ground and then the whole rig kind of lifts up and comes in.

Yeah, it's very striking. And is this a song from the album American Utopia? Yes, yes. So this is kind of establishing the theme of the show, which addresses the connections we have as humans, and he points out the human brain and how it loses connections over the years as sort of a metaphor to people connecting,

which is really interesting. So a very cool song. So a very cool song. By the way, we have a review of the 1989 production of Dames at Sea. It wasn't 1989. It wasn't 89? All right. It was before that. You said it was going to take six months to get this information. I guess you're right.

So far, so good, though though that's part of research it's uh you know that's a lot of trial and error as michael richards once said that's right um so after mr burns sings to the brain then um we get uh tendai and and chris come in. And this is a medley of, I know sometimes a man is wrong, and then it goes into Don't Worry About the Government, which he hasn't played live in 30 years. Really? I know sometimes a man is wrong.

I know sometimes I do believe By the way, he is in good voice. He's getting way up there with a lot of... He sounds good. Is it a little processed, though? They process it occasionally, like on Once in a Lifetime. Yeah, Once in a Lifetime, they definitely do. Do you think the album is do

you mean i don't know because i was watching it with friends and my friend who didn't know david burn very rachel joey yes uh phoebe monica gunther was there uh marcel you let gunther in yes we have to he complains if we don't uh but she was saying that she loved his voice and then my roommate was saying well that's definitely processed that the words like I believe at that point it's a little too clean but I don't know mr. know-it-all gay could they they could process it live right hey yes or a do you when you say process do you mean like auto-tuning it or what do you mean? I think so.

I think a little bit just like smoothed out in a way where it's like if not, his voice might like crack down or be a little flat, but it's not like entirely replaced. I wonder if that was for the movie

or whether they would do it live in the... Yeah, I don't know. Okay, this is Don't Worry About the Government. I like the way that this song sounds here more than I do with Talking Heads. Interesting. We have Tim Kuyper who is out there with a tambourine, doing the song on tambourine.

I think it's because of the harmonies when it gets into the loved ones, but i also just i don't know i like it it feels more well i i think talking head songs sound better with a band this size you know what i mean like that's why i like stop making sense that's why i like this it's just so joyous let's hear those harmonies dimmy is talking about. I love this song. So good. I just think those harmonies make it even more joyous. It's so great. And the choreography that's going on during it, it's so amazing. I was reading an interview with Mr. Burns where he was talking about certain tours that he's done recently where he will be doing level of excitement when you have that much of a backing track that the audience just doesn't get much more excited

they just kind of watch the show as opposed to this where it's you know such a huge band and they're doing this he says the excitement is just off the charts. So I thought I'd say that. I love that. I love that you said that. All right, this is Lazy. This is the aforementioned Lazy, the Express 2 song. How do we feel about Lazy Guys? I had not heard it before American Utopia, and I love it.

Yeah, I like it too. I don't know it either. It was sort of a, it was like a minor hit. It's definitely one of the few songs he's done that had kind of broken out to more of the public consciousness a little bit. Which is maybe why it's placed so high up in the show. And the dancing on this one's very fun, too, because it's like, it's a lazy dance, but it's so fun. Oh, I don't want to talk over? This one? Yes, this part's bad now.

No. I just... The dancing that he does for this one is so instantly memorable because it's just like him sort of going back and forth with his arms open, and it's very fun, and it feels in league with the song. He's talking to Amber again. I can tell.

All right, this is Lazy. What was the song that he mixed with talking about the government? It's I Know Sometimes a Man is wrong, which might be on Ray Momo. No, it's not. I just checked. I'm trying to figure out where it... It's from one of his... Yeah, it's from Ray Momo.

It is? Yeah. So in your face... In my face. Sorry, you guys are saying Ray Momo? Ray Momo. Ray Romano? Ray Romano.

Oh, I know, Debra. Sometimes a man is wrong. Oh, no. Debra. Jesus Christ. Once vacationed at the same hotel as him. Yeah, that's from Ray Momo. One of the last songs on it, as I recall.

Good song. All right. So then, by the way, in between the songs, and this was not the case in the concert version, there's more talking. Like Mr. Burns kind of does these like sort of monologues in between a lot of the songs where he talks about the themes of the show. And what did you guys think of all that? Did he do that when you saw it on Broadway? On Broadway? Yeah.

Because when you do something on Broadway, I think there's an expectation that it's going to be thematically a little more challenging, you know? Right. But not in the concert version. I loved it i feel like david burn always has this feeling like he is a children's talk show host and just having those sort of interludes in between nails that feeling for me and just him being like here's another wonderful thing about the the world that we live i'm like great keep that up by the way demi did you see the john mulaney sack lunch bunch Lunch Bunch? Yes, I did.

Loved it. It's great in that. I love the song that he does on that. All right, so then he goes into This Must Be the Place, Naive Melody, which is just incredible. Let's hear this. I can't believe he put this so high up in the set list. You know, it's crazy. Watching this again, he has so many songs that could be the

last song and and they're like song four or they're in the middle absolutely the uh uh once in a lifetime is like could be the end it's it like it it brings down the house let alone burns down it but i'm always so shocked that he seems to love playing these songs still do you think do you think at any point he said to talking heads can we just call this david bernan down the house and they said no he was like okay my bad shouldn't have even mentioned it at definitely at one point yeah i mean of course he did. I think it's weird to even posit that as a question. It's almost like you're receding into your

question itself. I just want to, real quick, Adam, can you give me a definition of the word recede? Use it in a sentence. I'll use it in a sentence. I receded to the store where I purchased

Butterfinger Doesn't Butterfinger my understanding of the word Okay, alright, well, let me try again I'm gonna recede on over to the coffee maker and make myself a coffee when I wake up in the morning

Okay, so you can recede over to somewhere. Absolutely. You recede, or I'm going to recede these dishes before I put them into the dishwasher. Hmm. I'm just going to look it up. This isn't helping. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.

This song is, it's, you see a show like this and you really you know someone who doesn't even know david burn or talking heads would you know it's one of those by the way there's a really great um stereo gum article about this song that just came out today the day we're recording it by of course i've talked about him on this show before, Tom Bryan, a great writer. He does a column called The Number Ones where he writes about every number one single since the Billboard charts began in 1958. And this did not hit number one,

but for the Indiegogo campaign to help save the website Stereogum, he's been, if people pledged a certain amount, the Indiegogo campaign to help save the website Stereogum. He's been, if people pledged a certain amount, he will write about whatever song they ask. And someone asked about this song. And it's a great article that Tom Bryan wrote, but even better is the person who suggested it writes about his wedding and how much this means to him.

And it's very, very touching. Go read it if you can. This song was the song that I heard that made me cry for the first time in quarantine. I went on a hike and I was listening to Stop Making Sense and I heard this song and it just made me think about being in college and dancing to this song. And I was like, oh, to be in a crowd of people again.

Yeah. What day of quarantine was that i want to say one yeah i want to say it was day one why are we here 23rd yeah okay uh let's hear e zimbra that's next i i mean this is so so great this is by the way i think um the full band finally is out at this point and angie swan comes out i think this is the first time you hear angie swan she's like amazing uh guitarist oh it's so great by the way. Burns straps on his guitar for this as well. This sounds so good. This is the first one that I think is heightened by the way it's shot. Because he gets very close and follows performers as they're going.

And it works so well. It makes the song feel so powerful. What a great song. Yeah, this is where it really kind of takes it up a notch because the choreography with the entire band kind of starts here and it just starts to get really intricate and really impressive where you start going like, oh, holy shit, this is something incredible. All right, let's then go to Slippery People.

Slippery People. Oh, this is so good too. I love this song. They do say little creatures in this song, Scott. Oh, they do? Did we argue about that on a previous show? We didn't argue about it. I was like, do they say it in this song?

And then I looked up the lyrics, and I was like, nope. But they do. Okay. That's why I need a researcher so badly yeah why don't you just recede to one yeah i should recede one up do remind me do they play this in uh they do in uh stop making sense yeah they do yeah so so far we've had two songs that were in Stop Making Sense. Not a lot from Stop Making Sense,

I have to admit. Less than you would think. When I went back and counted... It's like four. Yeah, it's like four or five. It's not that many songs that have the...

And it's so great to hear some of the later Talking Heads tracks done this way. Yeah, Blind is amazing. God, this must have been so fun to see in person. Oh, my God. And I couldn't get anyone to go with me.

I was alone. Okay, so this is Slippery People Destroys. And then Mr. Burns starts talking about television. And this is one of his songs about television. This was from the St. Vincent record, collaboration record. This is I Should Watch TV. Is that a good album? It's pretty good.

I like it. It was kind of my introduction to Talking Heads. Oh, really? Why? Because I didn't know about Talking Heads very much until I went to college, and around the same time that I was learning about Talking Heads, Love This Giant came out,

and I was a huge St. Vincent fan. Were you a St. Vincent fan before that? Oh, yeah, absolutely. And so then I was like, okay, well, I've got to figure out who this guy is, and then it was like, all right, time to re-educate myself about everything. When she was on Comedy Bang Bang,

I can't remember if this made the actual episode or not because we edited some of it down, but I remember saying to her that her album covers reminded me of David Byrne album covers. This was before this was announced, and she got a very curious look on her face like, hmm. Really? And I thought, that was a weird

way to react to that. Then they announced their collaboration three months later or something. The way this one is shot too is so awesome because it's him talking and then he turns to the curtain and the camera whips

and it immediately turns into like he's looking at a TV, like the light through the curtains. Also, the very, very last shot of this when the lights go out is very dynamic and is an example of not shooting it just from the audience's perspective of like, oh, here's the show.

It's very cinematic. All right, so then we go into the single from uh american utopia this is everybody's coming to my house which um what do we think about this oh i love this and i love the story he tells before about a bunch of kids like elementary school or junior high kids singing this song and how he felt it changed the meaning of the song to something far more optimistic and inviting uh because he always meant it as like more of a cynical meaning like i can't wait for these people for these everyone to leave yeah and then they play that uh over the credits the elementary school and it's really good

i love the drums on this song so much. When it kicks into the chorus, just great. This was very fun to watch with friends who didn't really know or care about David Byrne because they just kept commenting on how much he feels like an alien who's just landed here

and is talking about buildings a lot and how cities work who did you watch this with some trees my friend liz who is really big into music but does like just as talking blind spots yeah yes um okay so then after that we go into kind of what, I mean, could have been the end. Everyone was so hyped up by it, but this is once in a lifetime. Just an incredible performance. The way everyone gets so excited any time one of the bigger Talking Heads songs comes on is very infectious. It is.

But how incredible to have this many hits where you can put once in a lifetime in the middle of the show have it be as good as any encore and then go nope we still have a full show to go yeah we've done seven or like eight songs let's keep going i mean how many 45 year old people got excited in the audience when this song's going well i'm a 29 year old and i was fucking jazzed. I know, but I'm just wondering about how many 45-year-olds. Let's say eight. That's good.

That's fair. Yeah. I want to get to the point where Angie Swan comes in with the guitar just because... She shreds? She shreds and... It's just such a cathartic moment of her going... You talked over it. Oh, sorry.

I mean, you heard like one second of it. It wasn't cathartic for of her going over it oh sorry I mean you heard like one second it wasn't cathartic for Demi and I know I feel like I just receded into my shit she does recede this really well the weird thing about this song is because I got into talking heads so late every time I hear this song I think about the trailer to wreckreck-It Ralph.

Oh my God. So what are you thinking about? Are you thinking about the images, the character Ralph? Are you thinking about Sarah Silverman's princess character? What exactly is... I'm thinking about it all. I'm thinking about the establishing shot in the trailer

when you hear this song, and then he's like, I'm gonna wreck it! And I'm like, okay, every time I hear this song from this band I like, I'm going to wreck it. And I'm like, okay, every time I hear this song from this band I love, I got to think about this movie. I still think about Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Yes. Because I remember being bummed that they used the song.

Twice. It opens and closes the film. I know. Wild. So they destroy on that and the audience is like, and by the way, this is the first song i believe where the argument happened in the performance that i saw because a guy was dancing around anyway so they they kind of destroy it and everyone's on their feet they're clapping

and then they do the classic move of all right let's take it down a notch this is glass concrete and stone also a very good song. I love this one. Yeah, this is great. This is from... What album is it from? That movie. Which one?

Oh, In Good Company? I think it is, actually. This one was not on Wreck-It Ralph. Although if they wanted to use it in the sequel, I mean... Yeah. We should recut Wreck-It Ralph. Although if they wanted to use it in the sequel, I mean, we should recut Wreck-It Ralph and use this trailer for it. I'm on it. Grown Backwards is the album that this is on.

Is that an album about your penis? It's receding. And I'm using it correctly. My penis, that is penis you use your penis correctly what do you guys think of this one nice little breather i love this song yeah i love it and then um the next song is is probably i i was trying to say like what's my favorite moment in this and i think toe jam might be my favorite sequence because they all get to do like a dance yeah you get to see all of their personalities

it's such a good song it's so let's play it and let's hear it but it it really is everyone gets their own spotlight moment it feels different from the rest of the show too i feel like the lights even change color significantly. It becomes a community performance at this point, you know? In such a great way. This one feels so much like a Rafi song. Like just a song for children. Have you guys seen the music video for this song? No, what's it like? It was, I think it was like, it went viral a while ago, but it's like, like basically it's a bunch of people in a house getting naked

and then the censor bars. Yeah, so it was weird because I was watching the video and I was like, this is very atypical for a Mr. Burns video because it's essentially people gather in an apartment and they start taking off all their clothes and they're like sort of sexy models. I was like, what is going on? And then the censor bars, like the black sensor bars um depending on what body positions everyone is in spell out

different words which is really cool so good my favorite one i think and then after the joyous um celebration of that the lights get very stark and born under punches starts so let's hear that um it's a very cool I feel like this is one of the more popular Talking Heads songs that I have never been a huge fan of you know I don't know that it's I don't know it's popular in the sense of it never like broke through to the public at large necessarily. But do you mean like popular of Talking Heads fans? Yeah.

Like that people talk about being like, oh, well, these are the big songs of. Yeah. I get it. Yeah. I mean, it's. Doesn't it open fear of music? Not fear of music, but. Remain in light.

Remain in light. So Demi hates this, so we're going to skip ahead. Can't stand it. And then comes another song off of the album American Utopia. This is I Dance Like This. A little bit of comedy in this song. where everything stops and they're still dancing they do that a lot in the in the show where they have like sort of silent moments and the audience go you know it's it starts with lazy because they're okay so my friend and I had a thing where we were trying to name every instance in music where there is a lyric using the word stop and the band behind the singer stops.

Right. So like in Allison by Elvis Costello. Sometimes I wish that I would stop. And the whole band stops. You from talking. So we were trying to think of like all the instances so they do it in lazy and then they do it and this must be the place they do it no they do it first in lazy and then they do it in this must be the place as a callback to lazy but mr burns was saying

no one views it as a callback to lazy They just viewed it as this really beautiful moment in one of their favorite songs. So it gets like this rush of applause. Right. But he was like, it was kind of a happy accident. We just kind of were doing like a callback to the thing we did in the previous song. This was the one that I wasn't crazy about. Yeah, it doesn't feel like a song that is in the same style as the other ones. Yeah, you know what's interesting is this is a Broadway show that came from a tour.

And like I was saying, there are songs that they were doing on tour that I wouldn't have necessarily have included in this. And that's one. No. So not my favorite. But then this one is Bullet, which is really interesting. And this is from the new album. But then this one is Bullet, which is really interesting, I think. And this is from the new album, and I think it's kind of cool for a slow... Demi, you're nodding your head like, eh, maybe. No, I like it.

I like what he does, like, where he goes into that false, like, oh, great dog. I really like that. Oh, great dog I really like that Oh, yeah Skin that women had touched But the bullet went on through What's interesting is We have three straight tracks From the new album Yeah, this is the bath and break

You know, because Every Day is a Miracle Is from that other the new album. Yeah, this is the bath and break. You know, because Every Day is a Miracle is from that other Eno, David... No, it's from this one. It's from American Utopia. I thought it was from their album.

Check out your screen, bro. I thought it was from that one... It's not! See? You're thinking of One Fine Day. That's what I'm thinking of. I love that song.

Demi actually did go to the bathroom during this song. Who? He did? Yeah. I did not. I went to go grab a laptop charger okay so then i don't pee oh sorry i don't mean to i don't want rumors spreading insinuate that you um then this is every day is a miracle the third song uh straight song from american utopia i think this song is so funny i did not know about it before american utopia but the

lyrics are very uh they're just they're comical in a way that i can't even explain. It's like... What's the... What would you say is the comical part of it? Because he says something like a chicken or God is a rooster and Jesus are like eggs' son. And then he goes into like, the kiss of a chicken

is hot. He says the dick of a dog. And something doesn't mean shit to a dog. The Pope don't mean shit to a dog. Shit to a dog. Something doesn't, yeah, yeah, and something doesn't mean shit to a dog. The Pope don't mean shit to a dog. Shit to a dog, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's this part right here.

I like it. Sorry, guys. Adam just went to the bathroom, too. Now that guy pees. That guy totally pees. He loves it it Real pisser I like this song a lot

Yeah, this is really beautiful I think this will end up being one of the Stone Cold classics Of his oeuvre Here are the lyrics that I meant Did he just say shit? He did. He did. He's nasty.

I think David Byrne is nasty. It's disgusting. So then after this one, suddenly we have harsh spotlights and we go into blind. This is like... God, this sounded great. So incredible to hear with this big band. Yeah. Oh, this is with this.

I love the choreography for this song. It was like they were all being like this. It was acting as if the stage was tilting from side to side. Yeah. So in the choreography, they're all sort of like falling to one side of the stage, and Spike Lee tilted the camera to accentuate that. It was really cool. Are there any things you noticed that were, like,

different in watching it from the stage production to this? There are two things. The one is the very end on Road to Nowhere. They didn't go out into the audience. That was for the film. But the other thing that I was trying to remember whether it was in there was the Colin Kaepernick reference. I don't think it was in there. I think it was put in for the film.

But I can't be certain. I was going back and forth. But I don't remember the big projection of Colin Kaepernick. When was the Colin Kaepernick reference demi do you remember it's i think it was during i should watch tv right yes because i think they're trying to make a song that's about a trivial subject maybe mean more to it but i don't remember that being in the in the broadway show but i don't remember that being in the Broadway show, but I don't know. Huh. I love the choreography in this and everyone's characters that they're sort of playing during it. It's really cool. Then we have Burning Down the House,

which could be the end of any other show, but no, there will be four more songs after this, or three more songs after this oh that growl is so. Let me hear you try to growl. It's pretty good. That was actually very good. Thank you. I think it's just as good as his. Oh, thank you.

I should do American Utopia. Demi, you're a musician as well as being a comedian and everything. In a way. How difficult does this seem to you? Do you think you could do it? Absolutely not. I don't even play in front of people because I'm like, this feels nerve-wracking. So to do that and then also, like, to sing and dance or to sing and play an instrument,

to do any two things, I'm like, that's crazy. So to do, like, three, I'm just like, these these guys are superheroes it really is endlessly impressive watching what they do i mean it's crazy it's great and they seem like they're having so much fun which i would say after about 20 performances i would be like oh man what a drag doing this and fuck this fuck david burn fuck you this performance of burning down the house is so good but it's so hard to beat the energy and joy of the stop making sense version right right yeah but i don't know that it does i think the stop making sense version is probably better but um and then we have uh this is okay so this is a janelle Monae song which called Hell You Tombout which she performed

at the Women's March Kulop was there speaking of the Great Curve and I was there too. Oh you were there? I was Speaking of the Great P This dude pees I was in

San Francisco because I had uh live show a previous engagement i was bumming that i couldn't go but in any case i was across the street at the man's march i went back swinging your big fat dick around there's a man march gotta let him know um but so so this is a cover of a Janelle Monae song. And this was, in the four times I've seen it, it's very moving. Almost impossibly moving when you're there live, I would say. Because this is a song about people of color who have who have passed away uh and been killed yeah murdered essentially and they're saying say his name and they're and you they're encouraging everyone in

the audience to say these names it's really a very uh striking moment and then in the film i was wondering what they would do in the film, and Spike Lee takes it to another level. Yeah, and he goes further and shows people who have been murdered since this performance of Toby. But he has a lot of their loved ones holding up pictures of them, which is really— of them, which is really, when I saw the first one, it just was like a gut punch. It was like, oh, wow, that's what he's doing? And then it just continues on, and there are so many names.

Let's hear some of this song. Hell you, hell you, hell you, hell you Hell you talk now? Can you talk now? Can you talk now? This is the one that first got stuck in my head after watching this. Oh, yeah. It's so, it's just so repetitive in a way that I think it's supposed to be that it's like kind of hard not to think about. And it's incredible. Walter Scott.

Say his name. Walter Scott. It's kind of hard not to think about, and it's incredible. It's also the song where it feels like they stop doing choreography. It's like they don't want the distraction to be their movements. You're right. They all just stand there. They're sort of in a line. Yeah, they're in a line. They are stepping forward a few people at a time to kind of lead the crowd in saying these names.

Yeah. But yeah, one of the more striking sequences in film this year, I would say. Is this an episode

of I Love Film? I don't know. I think it was. It was brief. It feels like this whole thing should have been. Yeah, you're right. What are we doing? And that is just a very incredible moment

to not only watch in the film, but to be there in person. And then you have a couple songs after that. You have One Fine Day. This is the song that he did with the Brian Eno. Oh, this song. And this is beautiful. Kulop heard it and was like,

did he write that song? Me too. I was like, is this a song I've known all my life? No, it's incredible. He performed it on Kimmel, I believe. Oh, that makes sense then. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh the wandering eye Inside my heart Yeah, this does feel like a song that has... It's like you hear it and you're like, well, obviously this has been around forever. Like I figured it was a cover or something. Yeah, that's what Kulop thought, because it's just so classically beautiful. Speaking of Kulop.

So good. Watch the movie. Watch the movie for yourself. And then the very last song is Road to Nowhere. We talked about it. They are marching around. They go out into the crowd. And they're playing to the camera

and making faces at the camera and stuff. It's very charming. Everyone gets their own moment. And then we go backstage with them after. Yeah, I loved the shot of the stagehand marching along. That was really fun. That was very stunning. I didn't like that.

Descent. And then Angie Swan Swan the guitarist goes up and is talking to David Byrne she's like yeah that's how you do it that's how you do it and then she looks into the camera and goes world star which made me laugh I love a good world star reference

it's also funny how he kind of processes it all just being like yeah that was nice he just like walks away he's like offering high fives like a human would do and then he walks out of the theater with his bike and just waves of people and rides off into the night um yeah and over the credits of course we hear uh everybody's coming to my house the kid version while we see all of the cast on bikes riding around. It's just really, I mean, the whole thing is just joyous.

Joyous, a wonderful celebration of humanity, and takes so many of these songs, which are great, on record, and takes them to another level. I really did feel watching it like i needed this like just a shot of happiness and joy yeah you know yeah well you know this um we don't know what's going on in the world right now um this is very attuned to what i mean they taped it back in february or filmed it back in in February. And there's a lot of stuff about voting and a lot about current issues. And this episode that we're recording right now comes out the day after the election.

So who knows what's going on in the world right now but if um make sure you practice some self-care and this is a good yeah watch this um watch watch this if if anything is in the next uh week or uh month is getting you down take a break and watch this and it'll uh give you a little bit of hope for humanity yeah and if i'm uh dead by the time this comes out watch it in my honor sure of course and trump 2020 we want to mention sure yeah yeah when we say things are getting you down it's if trump loses um what what's this version of the great curve i haven't listened to that yet we listened to a little bit of it uh before oh we did and you were here and yeah when we went

to break i played a little bit of it oh shit maybe i'll do it later i don't know if i'll get you had you had that slack jawed look on your face like what's happening so guys what is our okay so when i when i went to see this show i first of all i i don't like taking pictures during shows because i've i went to see springsteen on broadway and they were so hardcore about anyone bringing their phones out during the performance and i was and i had a front row seat and i was like man this would be such great pictures so hardcore about anyone bringing their phones out during the performance. And I was, and I had a front row seat and I was like, man,

this would be such great pictures, but I can't do it. And then everyone around me was taking pictures constantly. But so I feel, I feel really weird, but I did take like two pictures during road to nowhere because all the lights were up and everyone was dancing. Um, and I posted it on Instagram and I was saying at the time,

like, I think this show as a show equals or is better than Stop Making Sense. What do you guys think? I think it's hard for me to compare because I've seen Stop Making Sense so many times and it feels like that's what Talking Heads is to me. And it is interesting to watch this and just have it be like, this is supposed to be just David Byrne. And he kind of separates the way that David Byrne songs are presented from Talking Heads songs. But it does feel like it feels more like it involves the audience. And it's supposed to be a performance more than a concert, which is nice. But it's just hard to stop making Sense to me. Me too, but I will say it's similar. I see why you say that, because there isn't another show, a concert that just brings out the joy of music

and humanity like this and Stop Making Sense do. They have that in common. I've seen Mr. Byrne a few times solo, and this is the most reminiscent of Stop Making Sense do. They have that in common. I've seen Mr. Burns a few times solo and this is the most reminiscent of Stop Making Sense. Yeah, it's that. I mean, it feels to me like, you know how we were so upset

that Talking Heads never toured again after Stop Making Sense? You know, it's like, this feels like the next step for that. And unfortunately, it took, you know,

35 years to do. It kind of makes you wonder like, oh man wish mr burns would have been touring with a with a band like this the entire time but i just read that it is slotted to start again on broadway september 21 yes if everything's back yes please go to it and i i would maybe go with you guys if you wanted to go. You know, we could. Should we do it Spike Lee style and go see it 20 times? Yes. $3,000.

That's nine bozos between the three of us. So any final words on this? I couldn't recommend it more. And like we were saying. Oh, my God. I thought you were going to say I couldn't recommend it more uh and like we're oh my god i thought you were gonna say i couldn't recommend it i was very worried yeah no i give it a c plus that's the best though um demi uh i think it's truly fantastic it feels so uh it's just, it's so impressive how David Byrne's music is, it feels so singularly able to be presented in a way that doesn't feel like any other like concert film or any other performance. And I have to, like, I feel like as much as it is like a credit to the filmmakers that

he works with, it's also like the music that he makes feels so uh necessary to be presented in such a way like i watched uh true stories twice this year and i watched it earlier this week and was just sort of struck by how versatile talking head songs are that they can be like transposed like other styles of music and like even just present like sung by other people in like this story format and you're like that's still a talking head song and it just feels like it's that thing of he's an alien coming to earth and being like i'm singing about all these weird things you guys do but i love it and i think that that sort of music is what gives way to people feeling like there has to be a way to present this to more than just the people that are in this room and so it's awesome that we get to see something like this that does

that so well for some songs that are 40 years old they still feel very vital absolutely um yeah it just it doesn't feel like you're going to see the stones or whatever where they're trotting out the old hits to cash in you know it really feels like necessary music yeah yeah um well speaking of true stories that'll be next week for us and so you you saw that a couple of times recently were you crying during that you big baby i was not because i'm strong and actually i was chopping wood while i watched it so well demi thank you so much for being here yeah during this uh it's always great always great to talk to you and um you are talking to us right yes i'm talking to you too you too yes i'm so sorry uh really one second bono uh no edge can you meet oh no he's

been talking about different zoom with bono yeah sorry what did you what did you guys think i was doing um have you been talking to bono this entire show sorry amber someone else is also talking to me what's going on scott how many zooms do you have i'm so i'm so i'm so sorry uh mr president one i just sorry mr president who is it who is it we need to know yeah tell us who it is tell us we're a week out as of this taping we need to know who it is oh no all right well that's gonna do it for us american utopia definitely check it out um we're gonna go out here on the great curve um because adam was not paying attention during it before um oh it sounds great demi thanks so much and thanks thanks to you, the listeners.

We'll see you next week. And until then, we hope that you found what you're looking for. Bye. Thank you.