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You're listening to Luke's English podcast for more information visit teacherluke.co.uk
Hello there welcome back to Luke's English podcast how are you doing today? I hope you're doing fine. Now this is going to be a rambling episode.
And one of the reasons why this is a rambling episode is because I don't have a lot of time to prepare an episode today.
I mean I've got a very limited amount of time it's Friday 4 30 on a Friday afternoon and this is like right at the end of the week for me.
We've got a long weekend coming up that's that means Saturday Sunday Monday because Monday is a public holiday in France because it's May and just there are about a billion public holidays in May in France.
And so it makes it very hard to get anything done sort of work wise. It's nice but from a work point of view it means that suddenly your time gets reduced.
Right you end up with far less time than you expected.
So you find me here or at least in this episode here I am starting the recording of an episode at 4 30 and so I've given myself a very strict sort of time limit here because I've got to be out of the door to be able to go and get my son from day care.
Probably in about 45 minutes so let's see if we can do this in 45 minutes also I would have just not recorded something now and you know done this at another time.
But the fact is that this is the last remaining time I have to actually get something recorded and prepared to be published for you at the beginning of next week because you know I like to try and provide you with one episode per week.
Right that's what I tried to do in episode a week but sometimes I find that I've run out of time and I don't have an episode ready and that's kind of what's happened this week.
I was working on something which was supposed to be published at the beginning of next week but it's just not going to be ready and I just realised I thought I'm actually looking ahead I can't do podcast work on Saturday can't do podcast work on Sunday and I won't be able to do podcast work on Monday either because that's going to be like another family day.
Just you know as I said a long weekend so I realised oh my god this is I've only got the next hour or so today on Friday afternoon to actually record something to be able to publish something for you so it's going to be a rambling episode.
That's the advantage one of the advantages of doing these rambling episodes is that I can kind of hopefully the idea is like do it without any preparation.
Some rambling episodes have a lot of preparation involved you know I write a lot of things down and there's lots of specific things I want to talk to you about and sometimes I write rambling scripts and everything over like finger rambles as I've called them in the past where I actually write the whole thing in advance and that work and carefully prepare exactly what I'm going to say but not this time this is going to be the rambling episode in the purest sense meaning that there's almost nothing prepared.
All I've got is a very just a few very hastily prepared scribbled notes on a spare piece of paper which I had lying on the desk a piece of paper which has got stand up comedy ideas written all over it things like going to the gym and French rationalism and using English as a superpower and talking about English food and star wars and meeting Americans and stuff.
That's all stuff that I'm going to be this is all stuff that I try to work on from my stand up material talking about shaving my beard and other things the way that English people go.
Right whereas French people kind of go I mean comedy gold of course but anyway that's what's written on the other side but here I've just written some very hastily assembled notes for things I want to talk about.
So yes how are you doing listeners you all right yes you here we are it's podcast time this is your chance to listen to some real English being spoken and in this case spontaneous English a spontaneous sort of stream of consciousness monologue kind of thing.
Now what I thought when I started recording this when I thought okay I'll do a rambling episode because I don't have any time so I've just got to talk and do a podcast and make it try make it as good as possible.
So I've got something to publish when it comes to publishing time at the beginning of next week I expect this will go up on Tuesday it seems that Tuesday afternoon has become the new podcast publication day.
Who knows it might go back to Mondays it doesn't matter but I thought right what I'll talk about is I'll talk about the gig that I saw on Wednesday night that's just two nights ago I went to see a concert at a big concert venue in Paris in the Bercy Accor Arena which I think is I think it's probably the biggest live music concert venue that they have inside.
The city limits of Paris huge place it's where you know when all the big all the big acts when they come to Paris they play at the Bercy arena and on Wednesday I went to a gig there and it was just great I just loved it so much and it was a chance for me to see a band that I've been a fan of for a long time for several decades now I never really thought I'd see them live.
And it was a nice surprise when a friend of mine offered me a ticket to go and see them so I'm going to tell you about that that's the idea so but anyway I was talking so that's going to I'm going to talk about that and I'm also going to maybe play a song but we'll see how it goes you know maybe I won't get time to do it I don't know.
It's a bit of a mad rush but I was saying yes may in Paris is a very difficult month to get things done because of all these public holidays and sometimes the public holidays sort of take you by surprise or at least they take me by surprise in in England public holidays always except for Easter and Christmas all our other public holidays are just automatically put on a Monday.
So you've got a pretty good idea when they're going to be you know we've got like one at the end of May we've got one at the beginning of August one at the end of August that's kind of it then there's like two at Easter you get the Friday and the Monday in Easter and then there's two at Christmas that's Christmas day and boxing day the day after I don't I think I don't think I'm missing anything else that's basically it for our public holidays but in France there are more public holidays and the Easter is a very important thing to do.
So I think it's a lot more public holidays and they don't always arrive on a Monday or they're not automatically placed to the you know they're not put at the they're not moved to the nearest Monday they they can just land it any day so every year.
I feel like people in France you know at some point check the calendar to see where all the public holidays are going to be and it's always I think probably very exciting it's like an adrenaline rush like where are the public holidays going to be are they going to be on Monday's Tuesday.
On Monday's Tuesday Wednesday Thursday or Friday or are they the worst case scenario in France is if those public holidays land on a weekend because that means that you don't get a day off you know you've you're public holidays been wasted because it's been it's it's landed on a Saturday or Sunday and you you have the day off then anyway.
So the you know ideally what you want in France you know if you don't want to work at least if you want to have a day off if you want to have lots of days off which I think most people do you ideally want your public holidays to land Monday to Friday now a Monday is good because you get automatically a long weekend a Friday is good it's the same thing another long weekend but in France you've got this other thing it might be the same in other countries I don't know you can let me know.
This other thing which is when a public holiday lands on a Tuesday or on a Thursday and they and they do this thing called the bridge which is where you you let's say it happens on a Thursday you get the Thursday off because it's the public holiday but then a lot of people take the Friday off as well and just like almost it seems like the whole country just decides that that Friday is just a is a pointless waste of time and so let's just take the Friday off as well and you end up with Thursday Friday Saturday Saturday Saturday.
And that's a that's called the bridge and then sometimes you get like I think it's possible that you can get the Thursday off and then everyone takes the Friday off but then you also get a Monday off as well and that becomes like a mega bridge and it's also possible that it will land on the Wednesday right the day off lands on a Wednesday and it's very confusing but you can have something you can even have what they've this year I can't remember now because I get so confused.
But this year there was this mega bridge which involved like a super long weekend I think people took two or three days off in a row because of the way the holidays landed and they they they took a what was it what were they calling it.
It's like what's the biggest kind of bridge you can think of ones that carry water damn it why can't I remember the word now.
Viaduct that's right so people took a viaduct or a viaduct I guess is the French word for it but people were talking about having a viaduct which is like a very big bridge you know a viaduct is like an old Roman bridge that carries water you know.
So anyway May is a tricky month to if you like me and you're kind of you work for yourself and you've got to organize your time and you need to be very productive and you need as many days in the week you know as possible to make your podcast episodes then may can be a tricky month because it means that suddenly you realize that your available time gets completely reduced also.
Other things other life related things have meant that it's been the last two weeks I haven't really got much done plus we had a light we had time off with that mega bridge that viaduct I was talking about we went to London we went to my parents so that was like a good six days where I couldn't work on the podcast so it's not been the most productive time for Luke's English podcast which is one of the reasons why I'm in this kind of slightly.
Frantic state today where I have to record this episode what else but it also means that my production schedule not schedule that's another story for another time schedule schedule but basically schedule is American English schedule is British English so I have to say schedule so my production schedule has been a little bit disorganized this this month but I've got lots of episodes in the pipeline and I've recorded a lot of episodes with other.
People collaborations or conversations interviews and I've for example I recorded one earlier today I had a friend here in the room with me and some others I've got one one two three four five at least five possibly six episodes with guests in the pipeline in various states of preparation I was intending to publish one with my brother which I record.
A few weeks ago that was supposed to be the one I published today but it's it's definitely not going to be ready because I think it needs a bit of work I'm trying to edit it together in a certain way I'm adding in little audio clips and an even video clips into that episode so that episode is going to be another one about music with my brother James and I'm wondering you know whenever I do episodes about music with James where we talk about a specific thing a specific thing specifically.
A specific cultural stuff like talking about a specific band or talking about a specific film or something like that often wonder you know to what extent that's going to be interesting for everyone listening but I've been doing those episodes with James about you know British cultural stuff for years and years on this podcast so it's like a long running tradition and and I really enjoy doing those episodes and I think that they are kind of a part of the
a core a core part of what this podcast is about you know this always been like that you know I obviously I do stories I do rambles I do episodes explaining jokes and things like the last last weeks episode I'm very glad to see that was well received by everyone I'm really glad you liked it I do these sorts of standard ones I do episodes with guests where we talk about things that I hope will be relevant for learners of English like for example the communication episode with Matt Abraham's where he talked about the story
where he talked about community speaking spontaneously the episode with Barbara Sarah recently the Italian journalist who described her relationship with English and how it's how her job as a broadcast journalist involves considerations of English and what it really means to be a native speaker and all that stuff so
in the midst of all those sorts of episodes I also have always done episodes about sort of British popular culture and I know that there are people in my audience who really like those episodes there might also be some people who perhaps don't see the relevance or maybe it doesn't quite don't feel that they can relate to it in some way but anyway the
episode in question which I've been editing and which I was hoping to upload here in this slot for episode 883 it'll probably arrive next week instead it's an episode about a British band called madness right now I don't know if you all know about
madness because I've got people from all over the world of course listening to this people of different ages but there's probably going to be certain members of my own certain demographics in my audience that definitely know madness do you know them if you
have ever heard of the band madness they were popular in the 70s and 80s particularly in the 80s but they're still popular they're still going today and certainly for James and me they are one of our favorite bands of all
time and certainly one of the most successful British bands ever and they've got like a really strong kind of identity they're really associated with England really
associated specifically with a very specific part of North London Camden and I just love madness my brother loves madness so much we grow up as kids listening to madness we're both really big fans of madness so we decided it we would love to do an
episode about madness and so you'll you'll be able to hear us talking about that and I hope you find it interesting oh is that's a police siren outside well of course it's the big bad city you know there's always going to be maybe they're trying to catch
the bank robbers or something I don't know French bank robbers who have stolen a bag of euros and the police are chasing them with baguettes like that just just a typical situation in Paris that happens all the time so there's that yeah so that's coming
next week I expect an episode about madness and I'm just kind of like mentioning it because I just want to I don't know I just want to kind of prepare you for that for the fact that next
week it's going to be one of those special or specialized episodes about music with James that appeal a lot to some part some people in my audience and then maybe some other people in the audience you might feel like I'm not I don't see the relevance of this I can tell I can tell
that because I'll publish an episode like I did one with James about ambient music a while ago and you know those sorts of episodes and they just seem to get less attention
sometimes you just get comments under those episodes things like please do a story episode which normally means I don't like this episode you've published and I think you should only do story
episodes or even something like I found this episode too difficult to understand which you know I appreciate you know when you're when you're listening to me talking about a specific
subject it's harder for you to engage with it and therefore probably harder to understand although having said that I did an episode earlier this year I think it was when I talked about the Beatles and talked about
their their song that the last Beatles song that was published earlier this year and you know people really enjoyed listening to that because there was a story
attached to it and I'm hoping to do that with this so let me tell you about the right I'm still not ready to tell you about this
concert I'm just sort of stringing you along a little bit here I just want to say something else so I was interviewed by an old friend of mine who has set up a
podcast right this old friend of mine an old colleague of mine who I used to work within London he's recently set up a podcast with his
friend and he the concept of the podcast is that they that they talk to people about their work right that's the that's the focus it's all about asking
people about their their work and finding out the stories of how they started doing that particular job that particular occupation and it's actually
fascinating they have some very interesting guests they've done about 26 episodes so far there's one with a teacher one with a photographer an
episode with a massage therapist who was also a headmistress of a school a conversation with a music engineer a conversation with a vet
right an animal doctor veterinary doctor a fitness coach a diversity champion a helicopter pilot a bookshop owner a nurse a TV cook a
hostage someone who was kidnapped in Iraq in 2007 and held hostage a royal marine commando a psychotherapist a writer a comedian a cafe owner a
museum manager an interior architect a lifeboat Helm someone who drives a lifeboat a sheep farmer and an an a and R veteran that's
someone who basically represent someone who works in the music industry a stunt performer someone who does stunts in movies and then an
English language podcast that that's me of course and I just wanted to let you know about the episode you could listen to it if you want if
this episode is not enough for you you could also check out this episode of my friends podcast the podcast is called
balls okay a a our B a L L S our balls and you can find it on Spotify you'll also find it on the page for this
episode on my website and you know they just interviewed me about about my life and about my work but because I know martin the guy who runs the
podcast or he runs it with his friend Andy because I know martin quite well you know it was not it was quite and it was a nice
interview because we just had a nice rapport you know and it was just a very pleasant conversation I really appreciated it
it was just a it's a nice warm conversation it's a funny one and we talk about all sorts of things that you might have
me talk about before but I think I talk about them in a slightly different way I talk about so the description of the
episode is this for 15 years Luke's English podcast has been helping people from around the globe learn English and
currently has over a thousand episodes which is true because it's a thousand if you include all the premium
episodes that makes a thousand episodes the talent Luke has for teaching English in a funny and engaging
and it's reflected in the huge number of devoted followers he has around the world that's nice isn't it for them to have
written that at the time of recording this in early May 2024 his YouTube channel has 1.13 million subscribers
Luke talks about the phenomena of his podcast about not about not setting up his own sports centre
about why he still teaches English classes in Paris and about his stand up comedy career
even if you're not from even if you're from the south of England and can speak English perfectly
Luke's podcast that's not me apparently I can't speak English perfectly not today even if you're from the
south of England and can speak English perfectly Luke's podcast is still very entertaining so that's Martin saying that he
thinks that even native speakers can find my podcast entertaining but anyway you'll find a link for that
episode episode number 26 I think of our balls the podcast you'll find a link to it on the page for this
episode and in the episode show notes and you know listen to it okay and you know do my friend Martin a
favour and you know bump up his podcast statistics a little bit but genuinely might find the other episodes
very interesting too because it's just a really interesting way to explore people stories
in relation to the interesting careers that they've had over the years and I'm going to have Martin on this
podcast at some point as well it'll be one of those conversation episodes that I produce over the next
few weeks and months one final thing before I talk about this concert and before I tell you which band it was
people are wondering when I'm going to do the next walk and talk episode the walk and talk episode in
Paris was really popular just a reminder a walk and talk episode is where I go out I've got I have my
camera video camera attached to me and I've got a microphone as well and I go out and go for a walk and
video and record myself speaking on a certain subject walk around Paris in a certain place and talk about a certain
subject so walk the next walk and talk episode will be coming soon but the reason I haven't done
another one yet is because I promised myself that I would do a premium episode focusing on all of the
focusing on a lot of the vocabulary from the first walk and talk Paris episode right is this does
this makes sense the the walk and talk Paris episode was number 874 and so I said to myself right before
I do another walk and talk I've got to do a premium episode about language from the first one does
that make sense so I've been working on that but premium episodes always take time to prepare even
when I try not to take a lot of time to prepare them and try and keep them spontaneous they still end up
taking quite a long time to prepare I would have recorded it today but there wasn't enough time but so as soon
as I've done p60 which will be a vocabulary review for the walk and talk Paris episode as soon as I've
done that and published it then I will be free to record a new walk and talk episode and I'm planning
to take a walk along the river right next to the river of course I can't walk on water unfortunately
that's a only Jesus can do that you know well what are you talking about I don't know sorry that was a
weird one but I'm going to do one where I walk along the river that's the idea along the path
next to the river which should be a bit more peaceful slightly less noise and some beautiful views as well
so that's as soon as I've done p60 I'll do the walk and talk the next walk and talk episodes so that
should be coming to you soon as well
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Hey it's Ryan Reynolds and I'm here with Keith co-star of my upcoming film if only in theaters May 17th
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Okay, right then so what about this gig that I saw on Wednesday? So the the the band that I saw is called tenacious D
Have you ever heard of tenacious D? Now some of you I expect at this point are going fuck yeah
Because some of you will be fans of the D like me others others others out there will be going sorry who what D D what to
To natious to natious D to nation's D some of you got no idea who they are I'm certain of it and then there might be a few people
Going yeah, I know to nation's D here. Yeah, not a big fan anyway. I'm a fan. I love to nation's D
And I was really happy that my friend asked me he's he basically said I've got a ticket. I've got a spare ticket for tenacious D
Would you like to come and I was like yes?
So I jumped at the opportunity to see them now who are tenacious D
So what I want to do is try and tell you about the band tell you about the gig and then try and sing you a song
I won't be able to do it justice because no one can really do a cover version of a tenacious D song
But I'm going to do it anyway right? Yeah, and I'll try and
I'll try and tell you the things you need to know in order to understand the song I'm going to sing for you at the end of this
Episode right so tenacious D are a double act that means there's two guys is basically two members of the band
Although when they record studio albums they get obviously other musicians together with them and they create a band
And in the past Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and from Nirvana you know my friend Dave Grohl who I met at a Japanese temple on a hillside in Kamakura in Japan
You know my friend Dave Grohl is the drummer from Nirvana the guitarist and singer from Foo Fighters
He often joins them in the studio and plays drums for them
But so tenacious D at the moment are on a world tour it's called the spicy meatball tour
And so yeah that's the show that I saw on Wednesday so tenacious D a double act and one of them is Jack Black
And the other one is a guy called Kyle Gas so Jack Black and Kyle Gas now Jack Black is actually a massively famous person
He's a hugely famous person in the movie industry in Hollywood
He's a huge Hollywood star actually he's not one of those he's a slightly unconventional Hollywood star
But he's a massive Hollywood star in the world of comedy really he's kind of a comic actor
So do you know Jack Black he's been in films like School of Rock was his I guess his first big success
What else has he been in how can I describe Jack Black?
So let me find his no not School of Rock I want Jack Black
Let me find his filmography and I'll just name some of the films now obviously he's the names of these films will be different probably in your country
This is what it says in on Wikipedia Jack Black is an American actor comedian and musician
He's known for roles in family and comedy films in addition to his voice work in animated films
His awards include an Emmy Award a Grammy Award and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards
So let me find the filmography where is it where is it where is it here we go
Let's see I mean he's been in Hollywood movies from a very young age he was in even Water World
The Kevin Costner film
He was in the cable guy the Jim Carrey film he plays the friend of he plays a side character in the film
He was in Mars attacks the Tim Burton film he was in enemy of the state the Will Smith film
All side parts it wasn't until I guess two year 2000 he was in a film called High Fidelity
The film version of a great book one of my favorite books by Nick Hornby
High Fidelity the film is about a guy who works in a record shop
And he talks about all the girlfriends he's had in his life and how they didn't work out
And he goes back in kind of reminisces about all of the failed relationships he's had
And tries to work out what went wrong each time and that and one of the guys who works in the shop with him is played by Jack Black
This sort of very extroverted character a very kind of rambunctious character
Is that a good word to describe him?
Rambunctious, exuberant, boisterous
So very loud full of energy
This is Jack Black he's typically like this in his films a sort of very energetic always like giving a thousand percent full of energy
And some people find him annoying like my brother is not a fan of Jack Black
He's not a fan of Jack Black he finds him annoying which I understand because he's very sort of what's the word for it
Very animated, right? So he's lots of physical humour
It's kind of a bit like Jim Carrey you know in the way that Jim Carrey is kind of like always very hyperactive
And always doing crazy things and he's got a very expressive face very very physically very expressive
Jack Black is a bit like that and but it wasn't until School of Rock 2003 that he I guess really became a huge star
School of Rock is about a guy who ends up becoming a school teacher by mistake sort of thing in a very posh school in the United States
And he can't teach the kids he doesn't know what he's doing because he's become a teacher by mistake
And he ends up doing the only thing he knows the only thing he can do which is to play rock music
And he teaches the children how to become a rock band and it's very funny and charming and in the end the he does form
I actually a really great band with the kids and so he's a very unconventional presence in the classroom
But he's extremely passionate about rock music and he manages to kind of form a really great band with these kids
And the kids are also brilliant musicians too and also like adorable and stuff
Jack Black was also in King Kong the big Peter Jackson version of King Kong
He played one of the characters in that he's in Nacho Libre
He plays the character of Ignacio in that he was in the holiday which was a sort of a romantic comedy kind of film with Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Cameron Diaz
Do you know who I'm talking about yet? Be kind, rewind, he's the voice of the panda in Kung Fu Panda in the English version
The English version of Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 1, 2, 3 and 4, he's the voice actor of the main character
Which is one of his most famous roles, he's in Tropic Thunder, what else?
He was in Dumanji, the sort of the new Dumanji films, Dumanji welcome to the jungle, there's the rock, there's Kevin Hart
And there's what's the other guy, Karen Gillan and also Jack Black
Alright, so do you know who I'm talking about? A massive superstar really, especially in the English speaking world
And to describe him he's kind of like, well I don't want to say he's fat
But he's kind of like portally, let's say, without being offensive to him
Jack if you're listening, you know I love you, I don't know how to describe you, you're undescribable
Alright, anyway, so there's Jack, he's one of the members and then the other member of the band is Kyle Gas
And Kyle is also an actor, and Kyle has actually been in loads of films and things as well
Loads of TV series, he was a character in Friends, he was in, what else was he in?
Anyway, Kyle has been in a lot of things too, but he is definitely less well known, I have to say
He's not quite as successful or maybe as, he's not reached the crazy levels of fame as Jack has
I mean he's still a huge success, I mean he's still a massive success with the things he's done
But he's not as recognizable perhaps, he was in a Seinfeld episode, he's played small roles in some of Jack's films
He plays a character in Kung Fu Panda and he's been in an episode of Friends and so on and so forth
He's kind of a character actor, alright?
But Kyle is an excellent guitarist, he's an absolutely brilliant guitarist
The two of them are both sort of larger guys, I mean kind of they're quite large dudes
Which is kind of, I mean I think it's part of their comedy, their appearance
They look like kind of slubby couch potatoes, but they're not at all because they rock really hard
And they work really hard and on stage they really perform with so much gusto and they sweat and they sing and they rock out really really hard
But first and foremost they are actors, okay?
And they met each other I think it's like acting school or in some sort of acting society
Years and years ago probably in the 90s I think, that's when they first met each other
They met each other as actors in an actors group
And I think at the beginning maybe they weren't too sure about each other
I think maybe Kyle felt quite threatened by Jack because Kyle fit in his mind
He was like the musician, the actor who also did music and then Jack arrived
And Jack was also kind of an actor who did music too
I mean Jack's not anywhere near as good on the guitar as Kyle is
Although he makes up for it in pure gusto, pure enthusiasm and spirit
Jack's voice is absolutely incredible
I don't know if you've ever heard Jack Black sing but he has this incredible voice
It's almost like operatic in its power and in its range
It's got a stunning voice
Anyway, that after they weren't sure about each other at the beginning
They did decide to join forces and form a band
And the band that they formed was called Tenacious D
Tenacious, if you're tenacious it means you are persistent
We work really hard
It actually comes from a basketball commentator
An American basketball commentator would talk about the defense of a basketball team as tenacious
Tenacious defense
Tenacious defense like in American English they'd say defense sometimes rather than defense
So you can imagine an American baseball commentator saying
Tenacious defense, I can't remember it was the New York Knicks
It's the New York Knicks he was talking about
Tenacious defense so when the defense like would never give up
Never persisting working really hard to maintain their defense
They were tenacious like working really hard to block the ball
So if you're tenacious it means you're working really hard to hold your position
Holding your position holding your principle
Being determined never giving up that's like being tenacious
And tenacious defense
Tenacious D so they took tenacious D that became the name of their band
And so Kyle, incredible genius classical level guitar player Jack
The man gifted with the golden voice and they teamed up to create songs
And their music is really kind of like a comedy band
They're a comedy band really
They do comedy songs about often very sort of pure-rile things
Like they'd sing songs about having sex
They sing ridiculous songs about stupid stuff
But they inject a lot of humor into what they do
Jack does all of his most intense comedy stuff
And it translates into something very very funny and very very appealing
For me anyway and for a lot of other people
The arena was completely full on Wednesday
And I think they're playing to full arenas all around Europe
And in many other places on this tour
Okay, right what else do I need to say about them then?
I mean just... I don't know what else I can say
You just have to listen to them
But there's something very compelling in the act of making music
That's actually really influenced by heavy metal
And serious like hard rock music
Which is often very serious, very epic in its scale
You think of bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath
Like Othay Osborne in the 1980s
Like this epic, very serious, very heavy kind of music
Which is like music that can move mountains
You know music that's like something from some kind of Nordic myth
You know like the music of Thor flying through the sky
Smashing things with a hammer
But singing about fairly ridiculous things
Now I said that I wanted to sing a song
And I think it's time I've got to do that
But you know there's no way I can sing anything like the way that Jack Black does
And that's a large part of the appeal of the band
And the song I wanted to sing was not actually one of the songs that they did during the show
But it's a song that I just really really love
And it sort of tells the story of their relationship
Of Jack and Kyle's relationship
Because the way it worked is that as I said they met each other at acting school
Or in this acting society
And formed the band
You know concerts and stuff and got a fan base and things like that
And they recorded their first album
And then around the same time Jack's career suddenly took off
And he suddenly became this sensation
And he suddenly got really successful with School of Rock
And then he ended up in like a really big budget
A Hollywood blockbuster
King Kong
And suddenly his career skyrocketed
And he was one of the big bankable stars in Hollywood
Going from big movie franchise to big movie franchise
And a huge success
Meanwhile Kyle's career stayed more or less where it was
And this is part of the mythology of the band
That we're not really sure how Kyle felt about that
It's not really not really clear
And this is one of the interesting things about bands
And I've talked about the Beatles before
And you'll hear my brother and I talking about madness and stuff
One of the interesting things about bands is the dynamic between the people in the group
And speculating on what really is their relationship
And what was going on?
How do they really feel about each other?
And are they actually united in this very sort of special cosmic way through their music?
Are they like brothers with an incredible bond?
Or is their friction between them?
And how is this all part of the special source that is in this recipe that makes a band so compelling and wonderful?
And Tunaceous D have got that
They've got the depth
They're not just a lightweight comedy band
They've got the depth of talent and a sort of compelling story at the heart of it
As well, it's the basis for comedy a lot of the time
They have to sprinkle comedy powder over what they do
Because if they don't add an element of comedy
Then it can become a little bit so one-dimensional and a bit too serious and a bit cheesy
So they worked out that they had to put comedy source all over their work
To get the right formula
But at the heart of it the relationship, what is it?
And how did Kyle really feel about Jack's success?
Was he incredibly jealous?
Did he resent Jack's success?
Did Jack go off and forget about Kyle?
How did it affect their relationship?
And I've heard, I've read and I've sort of got inklings that perhaps there was a problem with them
That Kyle perhaps resented Jack's focus on his movie career
And the fact that Jack couldn't spend time making the music with Kyle
And I just wonder how much of this is reality?
How much of it is myth?
The myth is that Kyle was possessed with an intense jealous form of rage against Jack
And it burned him from the inside and sort of destroyed him in some way
And Jack was unaware of this
And Jack was aloof going off focusing on his Hollywood career
Meanwhile Kyle was sort of like maybe destroying himself in a jealous rage
Turning to drink and drugs
And losing his mind
And then one day Jack learns about what's happened to his soulmate Kyle from the band
And he comes back and sort of rescues Kyle and takes him to the hospital
So the doctors can save him
It's actually a very moving story of friendship
But I don't know how much of it is true or how much of it is just myth making
I don't know really
The band recorded one album, they then made a movie
The movie was called The Pick of Destiny
It was like the story of it was like the Tenacious D movie basically
And they put a lot of it cost something like 20 million dollars to make
You know the way movies are so expensive
But it only took about 14 million dollars at the box office
And it was considered to be a commercial flop
And also it was a critical failure as well, meaning the critics
The movie critics said it was terrible
And that was a big problem and I think Tenacious D the band almost died at that point
Jack's career continued to be successful despite the failure of Tenacious D the movie
And I think this is probably the moment where the band possibly could have broken up at that point
But later on they got back together and continued
And now they're stronger than ever it seems
So I want to do the ballad of Hollywood Jack and the rage cage
That's the name of the song
Hollywood Jack, so that's Jack Black
Rage Cage, this is the nickname that Jack has for his friend Kyle
Because his name is Kyle Gas
And the initials are KG
KG or his initials
And Cage is a short form of KG
So Cage and then just rage cage
That's the kind of nickname that Jack has created for Kyle
Rage is an intense form of anger
And it's kind of funny because Kyle is not...
He doesn't look like the sort of person who would be in a rage
He seems to be very kind of quiet
He seems to be fairly introverted
He's a very big guy, he's a huge guy
But he's a sort of very quite fairly introverted person, it seems
This is at least the way he seems in contrast to Jack anyway
So for Jack to call him rage cage is kind of funny in itself
Because he doesn't seem to be a particularly rage-filled person
And that's why again this myth, this story of Kyle being possessed by a fiery, angry rage of jealous
And that rage of jealousy against Jack seems to be a little bit kind of ridiculous
Because on the surface Kyle is kind of a fairly calm looking ordinary guy really I suppose
But the ballad of Hollywood Jack and the rage cage, meaning this is the ballad of Jack and Cage
Or Cage G, Kyle Gas
So it's basically the story of Jack and Kyle's relationship
Let me tune the guitar before we start
Because every time I do this on the podcast there's always someone who says you could have tuned your guitar
For me it sounds alright but I don't have perfect pitch
There's bound to be someone out there listening to this podcast who's got perfect pitch
Who can just detect that one of those strings, probably the G string is not perfectly in tune
So I'm going to have to tune this up, I may well edit out the tuning because that's not exactly the most riveting podcasting
Is it listening to Luke tune up a guitar professional show business
This is how you introduce a song
Ladies and gentlemen this is Hollywood Jack and the rage cage and my cover version of Byton HSD
Hold on let me just tune the guitar
No that's not very professional so I might just edit the tuning part
Yeah flat
Okay it's in, E is in, let's go A
Also flat
It needs to be a bit sharper
And we're in, next string is B isn't it
Oh god I don't even know
D, D
Yeah D I'm in you know I'm a drummer really
As you can tell
I'm not sure it's a wise idea to try and do a cover version of Byton HSD song
But in the spirit of enthusiasm and passion and love for the music
I'm just going to do it anyway
I'll do my own version right
I'll put the video, there's a video of them performing this live and it's fantastic
And you'll see Jack's incredible voice, you'll hear his incredible voice and just see his performance
He puts 100% of his heart and soul into it
I don't have that kind of voice
But you know I'll do my best
I'll do my own version
G, next
B, here we go
Okay and top E
Okay
Okay here we go
About it a bit of the necessary reverb, a bit quite a lot, here we go
This is the ballad of Hollywood Jack and the rage cage
Nothing could stop them when Jables and rage hit the stage
And Hollywood Jack hit the big time and went to make movies
Rage cage was left far behind in the dust of his dreams
And he grumbled and growled and watched Hollywood Jack and Jay Leno
He bellowed and said he'd been nothing without help from Cage
He burned up the photos of Jables and Cage doing mushrooms
Fucking I don't need no more Hollywood Jack anyway
So Hollywood Jack lived up high on a hill in a bubble
And rage cage lived deep in the broiling valley below
Yes the rage caged bubble with rage
He looked at the ground and he looked at the stage
The lava was throwing and boiling inside the old cage
As Hollywood Jack climbed the ladder of stardom before him
He watched as his indecradentials flew right out the door
He'd make millions and then he'd go out and make even more millions
He'd screen cage he's calls and go party with Ja Ja Gabor
No one respected him, they just rejected him, no one would represent Cage
Left on the streets of his dreams he would cry and he'd rage for the stage
Oh
Then Hollywood Jack got a message that Cage was in trouble
They sent Cage away because he had gone completely insane
So Hollywood Jack jumped upon a jet plane and flew all that night through the rain
To be with his friend to see what remained of his brain
Then Hollywood Jack told the doctors you've got to retrieve him
You've got the technology used the techniques of your trade
He grabbed their lapels and he screamed by God you must save him
Because rage cage and I can't you see that we're one and the same
Oh rage cage, rage cage there'll be magic inside that old name
And you know what you know when you're going completely insane
Oh the rage cage, oh the rage cage the lion will roll once again
And you know yes you know when you're going completely insane
Oh nothing and no one could harm the old rage cage again
Nothing and no one could harm the old rage cage again
And nothing and no one could harm the old rage cage again
And nothing and no one could harm the old rage cage again
And Hollywood Jack and the rage cage were out once again
Oh yeah man that's not as good as that
But I'm not sure if you're going to be able to see that
But I'm not sure if you're going to see that
I'm not sure if you're going to see that
I'm not sure if you're going to see that
Oh yeah man that's not as good as they do it
But I did my best
That's the end of the episode listeners
You can find the lyrics for all of that
You'll find a link on the page for this episode on my website
Things like the stuff about cage
What is it? The rage cage bubbled with rage
Look to the ground and look to the stage and he grumbled and growled
And watched Hollywood Jack on Jay Leno
And where are the other things?
Brailing and boiling all that stuff
This is the ballad of... I'm going to just read the lyrics
This is the ballad of Hollywood Jack and the rage cage
Nothing could stop them when Jables and Rage hit the stage
And Hollywood Jack hit the big time and went to make movies
Rage cage was left far behind in the dust of his dreams
And he grumbled
Grumbling is like complaining
Oh that bloody jack black
Complaining to yourself
He grumbled and growled
Growled is like a dog or a lion or a wood do
And watched Hollywood Jack on Jay Leno
Jay Leno is a famous talk show host
Like a prime time TV talk show host
Like Jimmy Fallon or David Letterman or something
He bellowed, like shouted
You can imagine cage watching TV in his own home
And shouting at the TV
He bellowed, he said he'd be nothing without help from cage
Hi he'd be nothing without help from me
He burned up the photos of Jables and Cages doing mushrooms
They must have had some friends, some photos of the two of them
When they had some like a had a great time doing mushrooms together
And they probably had like some photos that he cherished
And he burned them all up in a jealous rage
Fuck him I don't need no Hollywood Jack anyway
So Hollywood Jack lived up high on a hill in a bubble
If you live in a bubble, you just live in your own little world
You're not really connected to reality
He was living in this Hollywood bubble
And rage cage lived deep in the broiling valley below
Broiling
So broiling just means really hot
And broiling is normally a form of cooking
It's basically grilling
Okay
So if you know broiled food is grilled food
But the broiling valley in this case is
The very hot valley
Living up in a luxurious home on the Hollywood hills
But Cages still living in the valley
Which is probably like much hotter and homes are probably cheaper
Cages lived in the broiling valley also he's angry
And the rage cage bubbled with rage
He looked at the ground, he looked at the stage
The lava was throwing and boiling inside the old cage
The lava, you know, like the molten red hot stuff inside of volcano
The lava was bubbling and boiling inside him
I love the mythology and the extremely dramatic language
I don't think in reality, I don't think he was quite as sort of Shakespearean as this
As Hollywood Jack climbed the ladder of stardom before him
He watched as his indie credentials flew right out the door
Indie credentials, basically if you've got a little of integrity
Because you're an independent artist
So cage watched Jack's sort of watch Jack become a mainstream star no longer an indie star
With the sort of integrity and respect he just became like a sell out
He'd make millions and then go out and make even more millions
He'd screen cage's calls so basically he'd send cage's calls to a voicemail
And he'd go and party with Jar Jar Kapoor
Which is an interesting reference basically go out and party with like Hollywood elites
And then about cage no one respected him, they just rejected him, no one would represent cage
So he couldn't get a job left on the streets of his dreams
He would cry and rage for the stage
Then Hollywood Jack got a message that cage was in trouble
They sent cage away because he'd gone completely insane
So Hollywood Jack jumped upon a jet plane and flew all that night through the rain
So Jack's like flying to save cage on his private jet
Or at least on a plane, I don't know if it's his private jet
To be with his friend to see what remained of his brain
Then Hollywood Jack told the doctors you've got to retrieve him
You've got the technology, use the techniques of your trade
He grabbed their lapels like the lapels of their shirts or jackets
And you know, and screened by God you must save him
Because rage cage and I can't you see we're one and the same
So Jack realizes that cage is his soul mate
And he in a moment of panic
He screams at the doctors to save him, to rescue him
Rage cage, oh the rage cage, there'd be magic inside that old name
And you know what you know when you're going completely insane
Rage cage, oh rage cage, oh the lion will roar once again
And you know, yes you know when you're going completely insane
And nothing and no one could harm the old rage cage again
And nothing and no one could harm the old rage cage again
Actually sort of, it really, I find it to be a really touching song
Even though it's ridiculous in the level of drama
This kind of Shakespearean level of drama that there is in the song
I still find it in its heart, it's like a really moving song
About two friends who split up
And one of them's incredibly jealous of the other one's success
But ultimately they come back together and they both, the successful one, comes back and rescues his friend
Because they realize that they are soulmates and the friendship that they started out with comes back together
And in doing that when Jack came back, when Jack came back
He rescued his friend and it's just a beautiful ending
That now they've got back together
Cage can never be harmed ever again, that they're kind of like their union
As tenacious D means that they are stronger, they're stronger together
It's beautiful
And that's the end of this episode
Thank you so much for listening
And I'll speak to you in the next episode
But for now it's time for me to go and pick up my son
Who, he's only small, he needs to be looked after
Right? So here we go, I'm going to go and do that now
Take care of everyone and I will speak to you next time
And now it's time to say goodbye
Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye
Bye, bye, bye, bye
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