Comments on: Rick Moranis - Alt Country Balladeer

Rick Moranis - Alt Country Balladeer

Parlour Tricks — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 07:43:40 -0800

Rick Moranis - Alt Country Balladeer. Whatever happened to Rick? The former SCTV star and 80s/90s movie comedian apparently doesn't miss "acting." His new album of humorous country songs is nominated for a Grammy.

By: mr.marx

mr.marx — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:03:02 -0800

listen here (this is weird)

By: Gator

Gator — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:06:16 -0800

From the small sampling on his site, I'd say the songs are fairly meh. Were they really just reaching to throw a fifth nominee into the "comedy album" category?

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:06:21 -0800

I was wondering what the hell happened to him.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:08:36 -0800

Ditto, Astro Zombie. I guess I figured he was doing stand-up or theater in the backwoods of Canada. You learn something new every day.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:09:09 -0800

WHAT. THE. FUCK. RICK MORANIS.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:09:09 -0800

I always thought his best work was on SCTV and his worst in films. The Elton John versus Liberace skit, Gerry Todd, Tom Monroe, his Robin Williams, etc. That he did this indepedent of Hollywood bodes well. However, I didn't really care for the McKenzie brothers album. Worth a look though of course. Thanks for letting us know about it.

By: LarryC

LarryC — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:15:23 -0800

Well I'm listening and so far I think it is funny as hell. Thanks for the link!

By: Rothko

Rothko — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:16:32 -0800

This is not bad at all.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:19:27 -0800

Your favorite former-SCTV-star-and-80s/90s-movie-comedian-cum-alt-country-balladeer sucks.

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:21:30 -0800

Yeah, I've wondered this myself. This reminded me of him not too long ago. He will always be Dark Helmet to me...

By: you just lost the game

you just lost the game — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:22:47 -0800

Hell, if Hillary Clinton can win a Grammy....and Bill Clinton can win two...

By: willmize

willmize — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:22:56 -0800

Oh my GOD. Gerry Todd. SCTV was the shiznit. Rest in peace, Johnny LaRue.

By: beowulf573

beowulf573 — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:24:06 -0800

How can you not love Geddy Lee and the McKenzie brothers. "Take off! To the Great White North! Take off! It's a beauty way to go. Take off! To the Great White North!"

By: cptnrandy

cptnrandy — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:24:37 -0800

Yikes. I'd read about this, but until now, never tried to listen. Maybe he should consider an album of standards . . .

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:33:31 -0800

He was interviewed on Fresh Air not all that long ago (I couldnt find the link to it - search came up empty) talking about his "music". While he did sound fairly sincere about wanting make music, his attitude was pretty clearly set in the comedic vein.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:36:47 -0800

Honey, I Shrunk My Celebrity Status!

By: HTuttle

HTuttle — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:44:18 -0800

Never did understand how that talentless Un-funny guy managed to keep being in movies. He must have some VERY incriminating photos of hollywood bigwigs.

By: KevinSkomsvold

KevinSkomsvold — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:46:26 -0800

We could always use more-anus.

By: raysmj

raysmj — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:47:15 -0800

He's pretty funny in "Ghostbusters," though. I watched it this weekend for the 18th or so time and found his stuff funnier than I ever had.

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:49:14 -0800

For the haters, I heard him interviewed on KCRW's The Treatment, and he's pretty genuine about it. He knows he's not a great singer, but he wrote some silly country songs, put out an independently-released album for the heck of it, and people like it. More power to him! Also, now you see why evil will always triumph. Because good is dumb.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:51:00 -0800

(this is weird) Damn, This is, indeed, very weird. I want to say his singing sounds like a flat tire but I also fear this would grow on me. I also think if I found this in a thrift store with no Moranis connection (just an anonymous self-pressed thing) it would become the instant WTF ironic cool etc record between me and friends. It's grown on me. I'm on track two!

By: mikepop

mikepop — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:52:08 -0800

He was interviewed on Fresh Air You might have been thinking of this Weekend Edition interview. That page also allows you to listen to some songs from the album.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:52:09 -0800

Maybe he should consider an album of standards . . . One of my favorite SCTV bits of his was his Mel Torme-style take on "Turning Japanese." I guess that kind of stuff would get old after a whole album, though. Oh yeah, and I blame his Canadian veejay character for the fact that I almost always pronounce the word "video" as "vuhdeo" now.

By: freebird

freebird — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:01:06 -0800

I think it's pretty interesting that this happened through Artist Share, and seems to have been and end run around the industry until it started winning awards. I don't fully understand Artist Share yet, but am I right in thinking it's a pretty cool new-school model for music creation and distribution? Seems like it may still work better for established artists, but it clearly seems to nurture more creative, risky projects.

By: mcsweetie

mcsweetie — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:01:35 -0800

I actually like it a lot! it reminds me of Silver Jews.

By: NotWeButOne

NotWeButOne — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:20:57 -0800

Elvis Mitchell has a half hour discussion with Moranis on his show "The Treatment" on KCRW.

By: freebird

freebird — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:21:20 -0800

OMG I used 'and' when I meant 'an'. I must either reconsider my usual assumption that this implies utter insipid drooling stupidity when I see others do it, or throw myself wailing from the office window now. I am not accepting suggestions, it's an entirely personal decision.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:25:06 -0800

As far as I'm concerned, being a MacKenzie Brother entitles you to do whatever the fuck you want for the rest of your life. He and Dave Thomas should be knighted, or maybe declared kings of somewhere.

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:33:18 -0800

You might have been thinking of this Weekend Edition interview. That page also allows you to listen to some songs from the album. My bad mikepop, you are quite right. Thanks for the correction.

By: I Foody

I Foody — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:33:24 -0800

I like it.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:38:56 -0800

One of my favorite SCTV bits of his was his Mel Torme-style take on "Turning Japanese." That was his Tom Monroe character I believe. He also did the Police's "Da do do do do" (or whatever it's called) on a grassy hill. And I was wrong about Robin Williams, that was Martin Short of course. Another who I find best in sketch comedy rather than films.

By: furtive

furtive — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:44:09 -0800

Metafilter: I'm surrounded by Assholes!

By: djeo

djeo — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:44:22 -0800

I dunno folks. I listened, loved it, and bought the CD. I don't think I would have ever heard about this if it weren't for the Blue. Good trick Parlour Post.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:45:38 -0800

I actually like it a lot! it reminds me of Silver Jews. posted by mcsweetie at 12:01 PM EST on January 20 [!] It does actually!

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 10:09:34 -0800

He does remind me of The Silver Jews. Meh, at least he's doing something fun and different, instead of just letting Hollywood typecast/waste him in nebbish roles. Are you listening, Eugene 'If The Cheque Clears' Levy?

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 10:11:29 -0800

If you need to log in to any of those sites to listen to the music, the password is: 1........2..........3...........4

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 10:42:26 -0800

Boy, that's a lot of periods for a password. How does anyone remember the exact number in between each numeral? He and Dave Thomas should be knighted, or maybe declared kings of somewhere. Now here's where I gotta disagree. I assume Dave Thomas is a talented comedy writer. But I've never been a fan of his performance. He seems to have exactly one character/attribute - "pissed off" - that shows up in different costumes in different sketches. Well, I guess he did do Bob Hope OK. But other than that, he's nowhere near the comic actor that Moranis is.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 10:44:49 -0800

yeah. He just latched on to the comic meteor that is Rick Moranis. </sarcasm>

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 10:46:13 -0800

As far as I'm concerned, being a MacKenzie Brother entitles you to do whatever the fuck you want for the rest of your life. That's a good attitude. He and Dave Thomas also were brilliant as the duos Woody Allen & Bob Hope and David Brinkley & Walter Cronkite. Moranis was such a part of that show it's hard to believe he was only on for years 3 and 4 of the six seasons. All things SCTV.

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 11:15:03 -0800

Isn't he the guy who plays Jiminy Glick?

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 11:20:29 -0800

But I've never been a fan of his performance. He seems to have exactly one character/attribute - "pissed off" - that shows up in different costumes in different sketches. Well, I guess he did do Bob Hope OK. But other than that, he's nowhere near the comic actor that Moranis is. No argument there. But he was perfect as Doug MacKenzie, and that's good enough for me.

By: tublecain

tublecain — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 12:36:11 -0800

dgaicun, Martin Short plays Jiminy Glick. Not funny. But, man the Woody Allen/Bob Hope "Play It Again, Bob" parody is one of the funniest things from that show! It basically takes the plot of Woody's play/movie "Play It Again, Sam" and replaces the imaginary Bogart with Bob Hope. The SCTV guide is definitely the best site, there's also sctv.org.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 14:04:42 -0800

I'm afraid I'm one of the three people who like Jiminy Glick. And Clifford. Go Martin! Ditto on the Mackenzie bros. knighthood. As an aside, I got to meet Pam Elsinore (Lynn Griffin) from Strange Brew a few months ago ..

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 16:33:53 -0800

I love the Glick too. But not the film version.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:11:28 -0800

Dave Thomas may have lacked Moranis' range as a character performer, but I'll never forget his Cruisin' Gourmet, which I'm convinced only passed the NBC censors because they didn't understand it. And his Max Von Sydow as an insane barber from the (short lived but often completely brilliant) The New Show had me simultaneously laughing and gasping with amazement.

By: evilcolonel

evilcolonel — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 21:17:52 -0800

To continue the derail, let me just say Dave "Lin Ye-Tang" Thomas and Harold "Moe Green" Ramis are the main reasons Season 1 of SCTV is my favorite.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 21:50:18 -0800

I brought up that Cruisin' Gourmet skit a couple of weeks ago when discussing Turkey dressing. Dave did a wonderful Lee Iacocca fund raiser for Chrysler parody as well. There was Tex, G. Gordon Liddy, Captain Kombat, the K-Tel announcer, and of course, his wonderful Richard Harris.

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 23:29:01 -0800

Mostly not funny, but I like the bit about 'pop-up she males'.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 13:01:15 -0800

Dave did a wonderful Lee Iacocca fund raiser for Chrysler parody as well. There was Tex, G. Gordon Liddy, Captain Kombat, the K-Tel announcer, and of course, his wonderful Richard Harris. Yeah, again, though, all those characters were pretty much "pissed off" the whole time. But I see your point - early on he did some good turns, but by the end he just seemed to do nothing but Angry Curmudgeon.