Bob Odenkirk Tries To Ruin Rogue Wave's New Video By Directing It
It's a fake comedy/indie rock feud! Via EW's Popwatch, in this "director's cut" of the new Rogue Wave video for "Chicago x 12", director Bob Odenkirk (The Great) pitches the band on his failed vision for the video based on misheard lyrics and featuring The Karate Kid. Bob sent out an email claiming that Rogue Wave rejected his version of the video but that he was releasing it anyway. But that was a joke:
This isn't the first time Mr. Show alumni have appeared in indie rock videos in which they play shitty video directors hired by the label to overthrow the band's vision.
Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, and John Ennis in Yo La Tengo's "Sugarcube" video:
David Cross and Janeane Garofalo hijack Superchunk's "Watery Hands":
As Popwatch noted, it's all a throwback to the great days of music video sketches and tongue-in-cheek videos like Phil Collins's still-amazing video for "Don't Lose My Number." True story: until I re-watched that video a few months ago, I had no idea they had irony in 1985.
Posted by Lindsay at 11:59 AM in Fake Feuds, Music Related Content
Tags: Bob Odenkirk | David Cross | Janeane Garofalo | John Ennis | Mr. Show With Bob And David | Phil Collins | Rogue Wave | Superchunk | Yo La Tengo
Rogue Wave fans and supporters,
First off, I can’t believe Mr. Odenkirk is complaining so publicly about his frustration about the so-called video he “directed.” Let me give you some facts perhaps you don’t know.
For starters, we only agreed to “Discuss” ideas for the video but he showed up with this “Demo” video that looked like it was made that morning on the way to our studio. He could not have misunderstood the lyrics any worse, and I don’t know where he found those cardboard cut-outs of the band. He didn’t even have enough – there are five of us! And I guess I don’t resemble my cut-out very much because Odenkirk clearly mistook me for a production assistant when he asked me to get him a cup of coffee (actually, he just sort of barked "double cap, tepid, and unload the trucks!"). When I told him that I was in Rogue Wave, he just mumbled “What’s that?” without looking up from his cell phone. Later he freaked out and wouldn't talk to anyone because one of the amps wasn't working. Finally I was able to explain to him that the sound didn't matter because we were basically lip synching to the album track and he just sort of stared into space with a half-grin, stroking his chin, and said, "So, “that's” how they do it...." All in all, the whole day felt like Mr. Odenkirk was more concerned with his green screen suit and karate stunt double than he was with the band's performance.
I am not trying to harp on Mr. Odenkirk’s methods of directing, even if it did throw me off a little when he showed up to the set talking in robot voice and wearing a hand-made costume of cardboard and tin foil. I was sure he either he came straight from Burning Man or thought he was going to audition for a part in Transformers 2. But all that aside, the band feels terrible that so much uproar has come about from this. We just want to just put it behind us and move on. To our fans, I would like to apologize again for all of the confusion. And Bob, believe me when I say that there are no hard feelings on our side.
Zach Rogue
Score = 0