The Cowbell Sketch Part 1

Ah, Yes, you're listening to The bened Skin Show ninety seven point one The Eagle. Thanks for rolling with us today. We are celebrating Kat's birthday today and having a good time. This segment right here is brought to you by Andrew's American Pizza Kitchen. Only one location in town. It's in Plano Preston and Plano Parkway. But it's so good it's

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Ben.

There's a new documentary series on Peacock it's four episodes. It's cald SNL fifty and it's really it's less than a document worry about the entire show is it is a separate thing. So the first episode is about the five minute auditions that people have in front of Lorn and his assistance and kind of them watching it back and reliving it, and it's very crazy and it's hidden footage no one's ever seen.

The second how long is it? About an hour? Each episode is about an hour, gotcha.

The second one is focusing in on the writers and it's just a week in the life on that show, and it is it's unbelievable. I mean, that show is not for everyone. It's clearly very stupid. The hours and the third one is about looking into the history of the cow Bells sketch and I don't know how they decided that was the one they were going to do a full documentary on, but they did, and it's so good.

I thought you guys would love it.

So you're saying this particular doc about just as sketches like an hour long?

Yes? Wow.

So the fourth episode I haven't seen yet is about season eleven, which was when Lorn came back. So Lauren left the show for a while. The show got bad, and Lauren came back and saved it from Dick eversol. Yes, so like, I haven't got there yet, and I'm sure it's great. The first two are great, but this one is one. I thought this will translate to radio really well,

I remember listening to that song as a kid in the car.

It's a great song and I loved the song first, and then I heard the cowbell second. It's the perfect calibration of loud enough but not too loud.

Don't listen to me but I'm playing the cowbell here, and I ain't had the thought even as a kid, what is the life of the guy playing the cowbell?

As he was in high school, you know when he thought of this idea, and then eventually as he started doing like some sketch comedy in college, he added it to is his room, he had a you know, what's the board where you'd pin you know, little notes on it.

What they call this dream board? Back up?

Yeah, I don't know what they call it. You get a thumb vision board. We were just talking about a bulletin boarder bulletin board.

That's the idea. Is bulletin board. We're not talking about the Oprah. Yeah, Will aspire to have.

So he added that, and then eventually once he got on SNL, he sat down and wrote it. Now you're going to learn more about that in a second. This is what really got me jumping off the couch last night. Look, we've known the Frankeles for a long time, Mark and Scott Frankel and Jean Burkett, right, and Frank Frankel and Frank. But the character that Will Ferrell is playing in the sketch where he's beating the Cowal. The guy's name is

So who is the cow bell genius that inspired Will's leap of fame seventies rock legend Gene Franklin. I'm Jane Frankel anyway, Gene Frankel's totally made up.

Oh, Gene is fictional.

What are you talking about?

Are you lying to me? I should have done my homework. It's Chris Catan. He didn't know Jeene Frankles totally made up name.

Uh.

The guy in the documentary that plays Gene Frankel. The actual guy is Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the drummer who looks a lot like Will Ferrell.

That's great.

So I thought of Jean Burkett and her buddy's the Frankles pretty much the entire time I was watching this. Now when they write this sketch up? He wrote it in October of ninety nine. Okay, it didn't air till April of two thousand. October ninet nine, he wrote it. Norm MacDonald was the host, okay, of the show. It's like I think normally great to play the Christopher Walken role that we know it now, and that character is Bruce Dickinson, right.

Bruce Dickinson.

You will learn more about Bruce Dicketson in a minute, because it's not your guy from Iron Maiden, right, right. So you write it and then it goes to table read on Wednesday in front of the entire staff, a huge room, and they read forty sketches. And here's the genius of Will Ferrell though during the table and here's what he wrote in it.

Norm MacDonald had come back to host. That's when I wrote the sketch initially, and Norm was playing the producer character.

The way the table read works, long, huge table and everyone's got scripts in front of them.

We would read anywhere from thirty five to forty sketches, and anywhere from eight to twelve would get picked.

So the name of the sketch, which I did know, is called recording session.

He didn't want to lead the joke, so I'm sure he wasn't going to put cow Bell sketch, so you knew cal Bell was coming.

Lorne Michaels reached the stage. Directions cut to interiors studio at the drums, ratio with bass, Parnell's lead singer with guitar, catad with guitar, Will with woodblock.

Huh interesting. I had no idea it was written in as woodblock.

I gotta have more woodblock, woodblock.

I don't think it rolls off the tongue. Yeah, I just wouldn't work.

We would not be talking about the sketch today if it was Christopher Walk and saying I need more woodblock.

It has never written as Cowbell who.

Wrote Sol wrote it wood block?

Wow?

Now he not know what a cow bell sounded like.

I think he did, And I think this is where it gets a little unclear, as if he did that on purpose. So cow Bell is not the joke in the room, and then you'll find out that it doesn't make that episode.

So he's like, okay, throws it in the drawer and we'll get it out later.

So I'm wondering if he just wrote it like that to hide it, or if he really was going with woodblock. You'll find out he rewrites it clearly. But this is what I did not know about that night, the Christopher Walking episode. What do you think outside of that Christopher Walking? You remember the Foo Fighters meme. It's that episode. It's that same episode, and they have the because this is all archived footage that no one's ever seen, because Lauren's

And Norm was funny and everything like that. But just as it goes that that week there was it just wasn't picked. So it was shelved for two or three months. I remember thinking, oh, it's a little too weird for the room. I'll just hold on to it. Maybe they'll be a better fit. When Christopher Walking came back, I rewrote it with Walking in mind.

We got to meet him for the first time that Saturday Night Live musical guest.

Fighter.

Before introducing the band, he asked me if the accent was on Foo or Fighters.

It's the emphasis who cool fighters with cool fighters?

I said, I think for Fighters.

And so We're standing there on the stage as we were about to go to air, and I'm like.

He's gonna do it, He's gonna do it, He's gonna do it. Pin drop silence, and he says Ladies and Gentlemen.

Ladies and Gentlemen Fighters.

They did it as a joke.

It's so funny.

No, it was Dave Grohl did it to two yeah, and it's like it shows Dave Grole like they're standing on the stage like they're cutting promos or something and what's the excellent So.

That's amazing that that happened.

But it's also pretty perfect that that sketch not only ended up with Christopher walking, but the only other band I can think of that would appreciate the sketch more than the Foo Fighters is Tenacious d right with like their love of classic rock and all those stories.

Like it's so perfect that they were the band that.

So featured in this documentary heavily is Josh home of Queens of the Stone Age?

Is that right?

Because when they were on Satay Night, I Will Ferrell came out and started playing cow bell with him. Amazing, but he's no one knows, is that what they think? So it might have been that a little sister is one of those. So this is where this has been the last one for this segment. Then we'll carry it over because they have the eight o'clock dress rehearsal. So this sketch is written, but no one knows you've done

And then and the proximity, the physical humor because he puts his body so close to you and it's like spacing issues and yeah, it's just so eager.

And I think there's also this element of that show.

And we did this sometimes here like okay, I got some here about don't don't click it, don't click on the lake or don't see it, don't you react to it live on the air.

Right, we're all.

Week you're writing the sketch, but you still want to hide something. So here's the dress rehearsal. How that went down.

Eight o'clock.

You began a two hour dress rehearsal.

It's do or die for the writers and the cast members, because if the sketch doesn't go well in dress, you're screwed.

It gets cut.

All right, guys, I think we're ready to lay this first track down. By the way, my name is Bruce Dickinson, Yes, Bruce Dickinson, And I got to tell you, fellas, you've got what appears to be a dynamite sound.

Everything wasn't as heightened as it was in the air show.

I was surprised of how low key.

He was playing it.

He wasn't bringing the full walk into it.

He doesn't do full walking, and I don't think I'm as physical at the.

Time, I don't think anyone had any faith that that sketch would air.

Not to mention, the sketch played in the corner of the studio that we would affectionately call can.

Alley, it was actually doomed from where they put it on the floor.

And I've heard Dana Carvey say this up and they show you very well on this documentary the layout of the studio, what goes into the architecture of creating these sets and painting and all that stuff that goes into it. But there's home base where the monologue is, and the first sketch is usually not on home base, it's on the other side. And they went to s cannaley for this, so they're like, we're not getting on, Like we're in the corner. The audience can barely see us, so you

Oh that's juicy, all right.

Deep dive into one of the greatest SNL sketches of all time from the birthday Boy Kevin Turner.

Coming up next.

Part two of that