Jam of the day, Mission Hill, the first album you ever bought, and Zach Galifianakis: Cake / "Italian Leather Sofa"

Artist: Cake
Album: Fashion Nugget
Song: "Italian Leather Sofa"
Released: September 17, 1996
Label: Capricorn Records

I've been watching a lot of Mission Hill lately. I had never heard of/seen the show until a year or two ago when I watched it at my friend's place. It was hilarious, and still is. I bought the 2 DVD set of the entire show's run (one season on WB before getting axed) back in the fall and have watched it off and on, particularly with other folks who have never seen it before. Pay it forward and all that, you know? If you don't know it, definitely go check it out. It's a somewhat straightforward animated sitcom with some oddball characters and a twisted sense of humor, kinda like Seinfeld meets Family Guy for Generation X hipsters. Something like that. Plus, it has Brian Posehn! Just watch it, would ya? Here's a compendium of funny clips I found:



The theme song for Mission Hill is a sped-up instrumental cut from Cake's tune "Italian Leather Sofa". I didn't realize it was at a faster tempo until I went and listened to the song just now (right after watching an episode of the show). Say what you want about Cake, but they have a special place in my musical history. I remember listening to this CD, Fashion Nugget, in my cousin's room whenever we visited. This was sometime in middle school, and the "Parental Advisory" sticker on the front intrigued me (although I realize now it's only because they say "Fuck" a few times on the record: the chorus in the title track is "Shut the fuck up!" and their cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" has the line "I should have changed the fucking lock …"), and I went out and bought the CD at a Newbury Comics at some point. I don't know exactly, but that might have been the first album I actually went out to specifically purchase with my own money. Weird, right?

"When she get what she wants
She puts the rest on a tray
In a zip-loc bag
In the freezer"



One last thing: did you know Zach Galifianakis had a late-night talk show on VH1 for a short while? Did you know The Shins made their TV debut on that show? And did you know Cake played on the show and Zach kinda made fun of people who like Cake? I seem to remember a snarky comment he made in one clip, but now I can't seem to find it onthe web … maybe I made it up? But anyway, that irreverence about the whole Hollywood/getting famous scene and obvious lack of caring about what anybody thinks of him is what drew me to his comedy in the first place (and what makes this video of him in the audience at the Ellen DeGeneres show so hilarious) but I'm not sure that applies anymore after all of this Hangover business. I could barely sit through the first movie and have no desire to see the second, thankyouverymuch. I'll take Live at the Purple Onion over that shit any day. Anyhow, here's that viedo clip from Late World with Zach:

Video: Demetri Martin / If I (one man show)

Okay, not technically music-related here, but Demetri sometimes plays guitar, piano, harmonica, or bells (sometimes a bunch at once, like in Person!) during his standup, so it's okay. Plus, he's brilliant and I need to share this. I've loved his standup for a long time; I caught his Comedy Central Presents special on TV back in the day, then his hour-long specials, then the Important Things show, and he came to my undergrad college sometime during my junior year, too. They're all awesome: funny, insightful, intelligent, uplifting, etc. This is the kind of comedic style (and personality, even) that I wish I could embody.

I watched the first six episodes of Important Things on Netflix earlier tonight and it reminded me of how great the show is. I did some Googling to try and find a link to that sketch from the show on "Chairs" where the guy finds a piece of gum under his chair and then they play the scene backwards and find out where the gum came from . . . yeah, it's hilarious and ingenious, but I couldn't find the link. I did, though, rediscover these videos in the process. If I was Demetri's one-man show during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2003. In a way, it seems like it was a big gateway into his comedy career: I recognize some of the jokes from his early standup specials, and the overall theme of the show is describing his life and way of thinking and how he had come to realize that this is what he wanted to do and be and so on. It's inspiring and funny and you really need to watch it. All of it. So here it is:







I find it weird that each of these videos has a different number of views, because I can't imagine watching just one of these without seeing them all straight through (like I just did).