A Very Quick Bonnaroo Wrap-Up
Although I am surely not the first person to call it “Bongaroo,” I was nonetheless pleased with myself when I thought of renaming the hippie-dippy Tennessee music festival from which I just returned. Michael Showalter and myself spent a scant few hours at Bonnaroo, but we had a great time during our brief stay and I definitely went apeshit on the free Butterfingers.
Butterfinger sponsored the comedy tent where we were performing, so there were lots of tiny individually wrapped candies in lieu of the fresh vegetables and dip that we usually have backstage. Is that a good thing? I guess it depends on your perspective, but I will say that Butterfingers taste surprisingly good dipped in Ranch dressing.
The shows themselves were good. Nick Kroll and Aziz Ansari performed with us, and during the first show the lovely Margaret Cho showed up and did a surprise set. So that was cool. Both Nick and Aziz were hysterical, especially one of them but I’m not going to say which one because it would definitely upset the other one. But ONE of them was amazing. AND good-looking. The only downside was that the shows were only scheduled for around an hour and fifteen minutes so Showalter and I didn’t have a lot of time to perform, since we were hosting the night and wanted to make sure everybody had time for their sets.
There is a common misconception that comedy and music go hand in hand. That’s usually not the case. Doing comedy at a music festival is actually very difficult since comedians do not compete well with musicians on any level. We’re not as cool, and we’re certainly not as loud. Last year, Sho and I went to the Sasquatch Festival in Oregon. The Mars Volta was playing while we were doing our show, the result of which was that our audience was able to see us, but hear the Mars Volta. Pretty sure that’s not a good combo.
Bonnaroo actually did a very good job of keeping the two things separate. There was a tiny bit of spillover from the music, but they had a great big air-conditioned tent for the comedians which worked well. If they invite us back, I’d love to go, although next time I’m hoping we can stay for more than a few hours. The reason we had to come and go so quickly is that we’re still in production on our TV show and there just wasn’t time to hang out and enjoy the amazing bands they had: Bruce Springsteen, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Band of Horses. They also had Phish! You will note I separated Phish from the list of amazing acts. Actually, I’ve been making fun of Phish a lot but the truth is, I honestly don’t even know their music. My mockery is coming entirely from a place of ignorance based on their genre: jam band. I’ve never been fan of free form musical experimentation because I am not a fan of being bored.
Anyway, thanks Bongaroo for having us and thanks Butterfinger for providing hours of jokes based on your name.
Oh Michael. Sasquatch is in WASHINGTON. How can you be so clever but so bad at geography?
Posted by: kai | June 19, 2009 at 01:38 AM
Does anyone read the comments first before they post?? Because, for some reason, and I don't know why exactly, call it deja vu or an unseen connection with the universe, something deep inside of me, something primal and fathomless is saying that Sasquatch is in...in...wait...I'm listening to the whispers...Washington st..yes, Washington State. Oh wait there's more..... "not in Or your gone"? Hmm, I wonder what that means...
Geez.
I love Aziz. I hope he was the funny one. Did you see triumph the insult comic dog? Andy Langer's from my town Austin here, and he was trooping all about with Triumph. Eh, but who cares about that. No plastic fart-joke dog can outdo the Michaels. Viva La Michaels! I'll bet y'all were killer -- congrats!
Posted by: Jaime | June 19, 2009 at 06:54 AM
p.s. Thanks for the blog Mikey. You the man.
Posted by: Jaime | June 19, 2009 at 07:05 AM
"I’ve never been fan of free form musical experimentation because I am not a fan of being bored. "
Hahaha! Me too, brother, me too.
Posted by: Camille | June 19, 2009 at 01:27 PM
If nothing else,I'v learned that Sasquatch is in Washington, not Oregon.
Posted by: Camille | June 19, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Does anyone know where the Sasquatch festival takes place?
Posted by: huh? | June 22, 2009 at 01:33 PM
Hey, I heard that Sasquatch was actually in Washington, not Oregon. Let's post 9 separate comments over 9 hours stating this fact, without bothering to read the other comments!
Posted by: Repeating Idiot | June 23, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Jaime, don't even mention Triumph the dummypants dog. He was the replacement for Thursdays cancelled Chicago show. Can you believe that? It's not enough that my puppet-phobia would kick into high gear, but I have to pay for it too?
That's when I decided the Universe was trying to tell me something.
But you know how those life lessons go.
You forget them 5 minutes later.
Posted by: Reen | June 24, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Aw boo Reen. Triumph does not trump Michaels. There's no kind of replacement for Michaels, but especially not puppy puppets. Not cool Universe. Not. cool.
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