{"id":19,"date":"2008-12-02T11:01:08","date_gmt":"2008-12-02T16:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/makeemlaugh\/video\/interviews\/best-of-the-best-michael-mckean-on-christopher-guest\/19\/"},"modified":"2018-09-10T16:08:58","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T20:08:58","slug":"best-of-the-best-michael-mckean-on-christopher-guest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/makeemlaugh\/featured\/best-of-the-best-michael-mckean-on-christopher-guest\/19\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael McKean on Christopher Guest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Michael McKean talks about Christopher Guest and <em>This is Spinal Tap<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-19-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/makeemlaugh\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/14\/files\/mel-michaelmckean.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/makeemlaugh\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/14\/files\/mel-michaelmckean.mp4\">https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/makeemlaugh\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/14\/files\/mel-michaelmckean.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p><strong>Michael McKean<\/strong>: Rock and roll takes itself very seriously.\u00a0 It can.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 I mean, the people I\u2019m attracted to like you know, the songwriters, especially Tom Waits and- and They Might Be Giants and Richard Thompson and Elvis Costello, Loudon Wainwright.\u00a0 These are all people who are capable of breaking your heart, but they\u2019re also practitioners in the- in the other- in the other thing.\u00a0 I think all great songwriters can do both.\u00a0 Randy Newman, he can tear your heart out, but he can also write a really, really funny song.\u00a0 Noel Coward, same thing.\u00a0 But there is something about the self-importance of this kind of bubble mentality.\u00a0 I mean, when bands are on the road and you know, doing what they do, and making money, and- and scoring chicks and- and doing all this stuff, they don\u2019t rea- really reference anything else in the world except \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 themselves.\u00a0 They\u2019re living in this kind of tunnel.\u00a0 And I think that Chris- the- the films that Chris has done subsequent to \u201cSpinal Tap\u201d all have that in common.\u00a0 You know, little theatre and the dog show and the- and the you know, the- the folk concert, it- it- it\u2019s all about people taking themselves very seriously.\u00a0 You know, if you\u2019re not riding high, then your fall\u2019s not amusing.\u00a0 You know?\u00a0 That\u2019s why I- I- I\u2019ve always felt that the idea of getting a laugh by trashing someone who\u2019s beneath you is- it doesn\u2019t appeal to me.\u00a0 It\u2019s- it\u2019s kind of easy, you know?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael McKean talks about Christopher Guest and This is Spinal Tap. https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/makeemlaugh\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/14\/files\/mel-michaelmckean.mp4 Michael McKean: Rock and roll takes itself very seriously.\u00a0 It can.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 I mean, the people I\u2019m attracted to like you know, the songwriters, especially Tom Waits and- and They Might Be Giants and Richard Thompson and Elvis Costello, Loudon Wainwright.\u00a0 These [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3494,3495,34],"tags":[3348,600,3349,3350],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-interviews","category-best-of-the-best-video","category-featured","tag-michael-mckean","tag-music","tag-parody","tag-rock"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ 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Tom Waits and- and They Might Be Giants and Richard Thompson and Elvis Costello, Loudon Wainwright.\u00a0 These [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/makeemlaugh\/featured\/best-of-the-best-michael-mckean-on-christopher-guest\/19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Make &#039;Em Laugh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-02T16:01:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-10T20:08:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"colin fitzpatrick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"colin fitzpatrick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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