Bring The Rock is the thing I look forward to the most at every Sketchfest. It’s the perfect synthesis of the three things I enjoy the most: rock n roll, stand-up comedy, and autobiographical storytelling. I love this show so much that I have, in fact, written my story for the off-chance that I ever actually get invited to do this show. (Greg, I am a fan. I am trained in public speaking, and although I’m not a great singer or guitarist, I am passionate about both.) Last year, Bring The Rock didn’t end up happening at Sketchfest, and I was very, very sad. I was very happy to see it return this year.
This year also marked the return of Electrik Snöfläke as the back-up band. More recent iterations of this show featured The Reigning Monarchs, the surf punk band fronted by Bring The Rock host Greg Behrendt. Electrik Snöfläke consists of Gigolo Aunts’ Dave Gibbs on guitar and keys, Letters To Cleo’s Michael Einstein on bass, and Mark Rivers on drums, most famous for being the drummer for Mouse Rat. As much as I love The Monarchs, it was kinda nice to see the same people on stage from my first time around with this show.
The band started jamming out on a surf rock riff before Behrendt came out from side stage, strapped on a beautiful pink Gretsch, and tore into “Jack The Ripper” by Link Wray. Behrendt made note that this was the first instrumental piece every banned for causing people to behave violently. The band continued to play as Behrendt launched into his opening monologue. The entire set was pretty music-focused, touching things like not being able to relate to modern music, to feeling out of place at attending rock shows in your fifties, to Greta van Fleet. In case you were wondering, Behrendt does not like Greta van Fleet. I believe he compared their look to that of Mrs. Roper in Three’s Company. Behrendt brought up Ariana Grande as someone that his kids like that he couldn’t understand. Then he performed a “so perfect it was funny” rendition of Grande’s hit “7 Rings,” complete with different band members tackling the raps.
The first guest of the night was Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Tom Lenk. Lenk told us a very honest and heartfelt tale about how he found music, and how the music he found was outside the norms for guys his age. He mentioned Debbie Gibson as one of his early favorites, who was also my first favorite musician when I was a preteen. He then mentioned that his first tape was Cher’s Heart of Stone, the record with “If I Could Turn Back Time.” After a short story about an embarrassing meeting with Cher backstage at a show, I expected a performance of that specific Cher hit. Instead, Lenk sang a song he wrote for Cher when he was 9 years old: “Love Is Hard To Do.”
Not only did Lenk already understand how to write for someone else’s voice at such a young age, but he had an amazing gift for melody at this age, too. Lenk also managed to do the song without fully impersonating Cher, instead just “winking” at a Cher impersonation. His Cher song was solidly good, but then he sang TWO songs that were intended for The B-52’s. With these he did opt do full impersonation of B-52’s Fred Schneider, matching his intonation to a T. The closing number, “Different Means Different,” expressed an honesty and openness that people alive five times as long a Lenk would have trouble conveying.
Next up was Cedric Yarbrough, best known as Deputy Jones in Reno 911. His story was short and sweet – a lovely tale of winning a chance to go to Prince’s mansion, Paisley Park, when he was 17. It was a chance of a lifetime; he even got to sing with Prince on stage in his mansion. However, Prince didn’t make his presence known until 3:00 AM, so young Cedric got home awfully late, and got an awful spanking when he got home. For the song, he did the beginning of “7” acapella with the band, before segueing into “You’ll Never Find A Love Like Mine” by Lou Rawls. What did Lou Rawls have to do with the Prince story? Nothing. Just wanted to sing the song.
No doubt inspired by Lenk, Benrendt returned with his guitar to play a couple of his first songs he wrote. One of those was a catchy pop rock song that I think was called “Skulls in a Basket.” He seemed embarrassed by it, but the audience loved it. People started clapping along, and the band tried to join him before he called it off. It’s a shame, that song was solid.
Closing out the show was Bay Area folk balladeer Matt Nathanson. Nathanson insisted he wasn’t a comedian, but I disagree. He was hysterical. He started out by simply telling stories about being a dad, before jumping into his main story. This was, of course, about Taylor Swift, the most significant figure in modern popular music next to Beyoncé. He knew Swift was a fan because she would write Nathanson lyrics on her arm. Swift then released a song called “All Too Well,” which Nathanson believes borrowed a lyric from his song “I Saw.” Initially this was viewed as flattering. Then he got mad enough to call her out on Twitter. This was a terrible idea, as a sea of young fans starting hate-tweeting at him – eventually landing him the most press he’d had in years. Swift never responded to this call-out, stopped writing his lyrics on her arms, and even denied him admission when she did her tribute to her influences on stage a few years later. His response? He played HIS favorite Taylor Swift song… Then did “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson. It was the funniest moment in a night of funny moments, especially since Nathanson put his whole body into the performance.
Such a fun show… I can’t wait until next year. Greg? Mr. Behrendt? Janet, David, and Cole, the organizers of Sketchfest? You won’t regret having me on.
