a curated selection of thoughts collected within a 1 gb limit
the library of HBO has always been interesting. you could be sitting through one of the highest-quality programs that you can find on streaming and shortly after, there's some lesser known stuff where they could be lucky enough to even get a mention on the app. i've always been drawn to that obscure side moreso than their biggest programming. while shows like barry or curb your enthusiasm are legendary in their own right, there's a whole lot more that barely anyone knows about. painting with john is a great example, starring painter and musician john lurie as he tells stories from his life while he paints. but i specifically wanna talk about one such show that barely made it past six episodes. actually, three half-hour episodes with six segments in total. this is tenacious d.
the only way i can explain the show is if i explain tenacious d themselves. basically, jack black and kyle gass formed a comedy rock duo called tenacious d in 1994. since then, they've had about two studio albums, a big-budget movie with a soundtrack album, a low-budget webseries with a soundtrack album, and they've had quite the influence on artists and bands like the lonely island and even kanye. if you still don't know what i'm talking about, hear me out: you ever heard any voice clips of jack black swearing on one of those old youtube poop videos? yeah, that's tenacious d. their debut album didn't come out until 2001. however, they were working with david cross and bob odenkirk of mr. show fame on an HBO series beforehand, releasing in 1997 up until 2000. that's three seasons!
...each containing two segments in a half-hour.
yeah, it turns out that they wanted to do about ten episodes, but HBO wanted to strip away the producer role for the duo to make that happen. so instead we only got six segments. that's basically the entire history of this show. two guys make music, they make a show with HBO who then wants all creative control, they got told to lay off, and that's the end of tenacious d right there. so how does it fare?
each episode usually starts off with the duo playing in open mic night, as introduced by the host reading off their lovely prewritten intros such as this one:
"black sabbath, iron maiden, and molly hatchet could not be here tonight. but they all had sex and are proud to announce their two-headed baby: tenacious d."
ooh, don't forget this next one: "attention: if you're ovulating, move away from the stage. because this band is so potent, just sitting near them can get you pregnant." classic stuff.
and then the duo start playing one or two of their songs in all their glory. i mean the episode barely started and you can already see the show's charm right off the bat. with each episode being fairly short, all i can realistically say is "they get into wacky shenanigans." you know, like the episode where they nearly give up on their dreams of being rock stars until they meet sasquatch...don't ask. or how about that episode where they meet up with a cult and have a battle of the bands with a health department...again, don't ask. and then the episode normally ends with them performing a song that correlates with the episode, ultimately tying everything up together.
the only thing i never got about any of these episodes was the ending segment. not the final songs. those are different. no, at the end of every episode is a "live" stand-up skit where jack black and kyle gass segway into the next episode like they're key and peele. it's a bit weird, but i can't fault it for being weird. it's tenacious d. if they wanna be key and peele after encountering sasquatch, then let them be key and peele dammit.
if i could pick a favorite episode, i'd say all of them. but let's just go by what i think is the most legendary episode of the lot: "the greatest song in the world". strangely, it's the only episode without an open-mic intro. no, instead it opens with them playing mini golf in their apartment. all of a sudden, they're interrupted by a knock on the door from their new neighbor, an up and coming writer. but tenacious d aren't going to be let down so easily by any nosy new neighbors. however their rituals are perhaps too noisy for the potential new york times bestselling writer, so of course he files a noise complaint like the nosy new neighbor he is. but suddenly jb pulls a fast one on the police officer by telling the story of how tenacious d made the greatest song in the world to combat a shiny demon in the middle of the road who eats souls. if you know the song and dance, you'll know that the demon was surprised by the song alone. but alas, this humble HBO series tells the tale in its entirely. no sir, what really happened was that the demon then challenged the duo to a fight only to be struck by jb's fireballs. eventually, it's revealed to be that the demon was none other than the nosy new neighbor. he asks the duo (snort) "be you angels?" and they say "nay, we are but men. ROCK!" and then it seemlessly transitions into open mic night where they play not the greatest song in the world, but the tribute. in the end, the police officer has all the convincing he needed, as he insures the neighbor "don't call us again unless you have a good reason." needless to say, the beast was stunned.
overall, you really owe it to yourself to watch tenacious d. it's stupid, it's a bit weird here and there, and it's absolutely endearing. HBO should be ashamed for messing with it like they did. this kind of small-budget stuff is what makes their library so exciting. curb your enthusiasm started off looking absolutely terrible in terms of camera quality and it's one of the most popular shows on the network. how to with john wilson is basically a longer version of john wilson's how-to films on vimeo and it's one of the most compelling docuseries of the past decade. and here we are with tenacious d and only now has it gotten enough love to finally appear on HBO max for the first time...only to be cropped to widescreen. i suppose it still looks alright this way, but i say if you want the authentic tenacious d experience, someone uploaded every single episode on youtube. i think the series is on the complete masterworks DVD so get that if you want 3-and-a-half hours of good ol' jb and kg. truly, we'll never get an open mic night like this ever again.