By lineup alone , the first Festival Supreme was n’t rotatory . for sure , it was pile . In fact , it looked like one of the good comedy fests ever curated , with immense pic hotshot ( Adam Sandler , Zach Galifianakis ) , company reunification ( Mr. Show , The Mighty Boosh ) , and some music fete warhorse ( Tim & Eric , Tenacious vitamin D themselves ) . But the literal visual sensation of Festival Supreme was something more specific , and even more special .
Tenacious D , otherwise eff as Jack Black and Kyle Gass , had create an event in the same manner that Yahweh created Adam in the Old Testament : in its own image . Unlike most music festivals where funniness and medicine were segregated , here it was offer up simultaneously , the ethos of the band elaborate to an integral event . Sandler bring his acoustic guitar and play songs . Fred Armisen appeared as character “ Ian Rubbish ” perform a set of punk Song . Maya Rudolph register up with her Prince cover band Princess . The Clarence Shepard Day Jr. was conceived with a vision that was n’t pronto plain from just reading names on a bill sticker .
And that vision has persisted to what will now be its fourth sequent class whenFestival Supremedescends on the Shrine Expo Hall and Grounds on October 29th . It ’s a run that has get wind a spectacular improvement in execution , and a longevity that could n’t have been foretell when considering the subject that presented themselves during the fest ’s inaugural soiree at the Santa Monica Pier .
Tenacious D|Cody Burkhardt
Interestingly , the original vision and name for Festival Supreme were both different than their 2013 slaying . “ About five or six age ago , we started playing around with the idea of a Monsters of Comedy Rock Festival , a big throwdown with Flight of the Conchords , Spinal Tap , unyielding cholecalciferol , and The Lonely Island , ” Black explains by phone from Hawaii .
“ But we find out we could n’t practice the Monsters of Comedy Rock name because Gene Simmons from Kiss have Monsters of Rock , ” Gass adds by speech sound from Los Angeles .
“ Yeah , you ca n’t apply the word ‘ monsters ’ with anything , it ’s all taken . ” Black says . “ But I ’m happy we could n’t use it because I think Festival Supreme is superior in every style . So , we could n’t get any of the four horseman of the comedy Book of Revelation like we planned . We tried , but they were all busy . But then all these other people we asked say yes . Mr. Show say yes and Tim & Eric said yes and The Mighty Boosh said yes , so we looked at ourselves in the mirror while holding hands and enjoin ‘ we ’re going to do this , we do n’t require the four horsemen of the clowning apocalypse . ’ ”
Courtesy of Festival Supreme
Finding the right location for the first installment also raise challenge . retentive D ’s longtime managing director Michele Ceazan - Fleischli remember nearly establish up when they were unable to finalize on a venue . “ We had no idea where to put it and how people wanted to down clowning and music , ” she think of . “ I ’d go to so many festival and come across the comedy tent battle because the medicine was next doorway to it . ”
“ I do n’t think anyone else was doing what we did , where we put the comedy at the cutting edge or at least hand - in - hand with the music . I sense like Jack and Kyle were trailblazing . ”
It was through a ally ’s hint that they began to consider the Santa Monica Pier , with the quad ’s story and scenic qualities as part of the appeal . The uniqueness of the space also matched the arch over estimate for the event . “ I do n’t think anyone else was doing what we did , ” Ceazan - Fleischli say , “ Where we put the comedy at the forefront or at least hand - in - deal with the medicine . I felt like Jack and Kyle were trailblazing . ”
Tim Heidecker|Cara Robbins
In terms of sales , the event was a big winner , selling out with roughly 8,000 masses attending . But issues were manifest before fans even entered the festival . “ We cerebrate one of the adult problem would be parking , ” Ceazan - Fleischli says , “ but that was n’t a job . It ’s annoying to park down there , but I think everybody knows that already . But getting into the fete was an return . The business line seemed horrific . ” The waiting line stretched beyond the bag of the wharfage , and served as a prevue for the environment fans were about to spend several hour in .
long D and their refugee camp are still proud of that first yr , to the point where Gass and Black are n’t quite anticipating discourse the hiccups that occurred . And they are proper , in a sense . There were some awful performances and some special moments that first year of Festival Supreme that should n’t go unmarked . The Lonely Island come out as a surprise node during Tenacious D ’s closing set , Eric Idle wreak with his own name by bring out Billy Idol during his appearance , and David Cross and Bob Odenkirk ’s revitalization of Mr. Show would end up as a preview for a full - fledged reunion for their eventual Netflix reboot . But The D are also naturalistic and know that certain aspects of the fest just did n’t work on the Santa Monica Pier .
“ It does n’t weigh how good your lineup is if you ca n’t take a diddlysquat . ”
Courtesy of Festival Supreme
“ Club Intimacy [ the small tent commit to standups ] was a full clusterfuck , ” fatal admits . “ No one could get in there . That was issue bit one . Issue numeral two was the plumbing system , there was all kinds of problems with the voider . And it was embarrassing because one of the great thing we had advertised about the fete was the toilets . We had advertised the ‘ lucky toilet experience , ’ where each one would have its own ‘ butt - Lir ’ and everyone would go out talking about the gutter , and that backfired openhanded sentence . We all had a footling bit of shit on our boldness . ”
“ Because we ’ve been to festivals , too , and get it on how important that is for your solace , ” Gass adds .
“ It does n’t weigh how good your lineup is if you ca n’t take a son of a bitch , ” Black says . “ But be that as it may , even if you could n’t get into Club Intimacy and you shit your drawers , you still have to admit that certain acts were unbelievable . But yeah , there were definite arise pains . ”
Ceazan - Fleischli also point to the issue with the standup comedy collapsible shelter , where the idea of everyone floating around and just checking out a couple jest does n’t really influence with the calibre of talent that they had . For the most part , the great unwashed wanted to see an entire solidifying , and the comedy was geared towards staying for the whole time .
As for the can , she corroborate that Black and Gass take their plumbing very seriously . “ Jack and Kyle , when they themselves tour , one of the things that they find to be most important are the toilets , ” she tell . “ It ’s hard to get that much water system in and out of the pier and the event was oversold , so the lav pretty much had to be shut down . We got a lot of sad and pretty gross - out feedback .
Then there were technical issues of sound bleed from the main euphony stage into the tent hosting the sketch funniness . Some people single out Adam Sandler for playing into Mr. Show ’s band , but in realness his stage was just run late and he was merely finishing his allotted time . But the delay was noticeable enough that the performer struggled through it .
“ We ’re wary of doing drollery on these outdoor , bigger stages , because some of the subtler , weirder stuff we do can be lose , ” articulate Tim Heidecker , who play Festival Supreme with Eric Wareheim as Tim & Eric for that first year . He also appeared as Heidecker & Wood in its 2d class , and is schedule for a solo standup set this year . Heidecker take note that he was n’t really pleased with his performance at that first fete , cite the sound leech as well as the difficulties in play in the cold temperature . “ We ’re not seasoned player , but I remember picking up my guitar at the beginning of the set , hardly able-bodied to hear it , and what I could get a line was wildly out of tune . ” The pier ’s rigid curfew made Heidecker gun barrel through the issues , and he recall being blanched with himself for the circumstances .
Had Festival Supreme been a distinctive music festival , these hardships would have been more easily overwhelm . Most music festival are uncomfortable by nature , but beer , drug , and genial formulation help make the experience tolerable , even play . But for comedy , a certain point of comfortableness is required for things to be rummy . It ’s arduous to express mirth when you are packed in too tight , or when you ’ve just missed an creative person you were really looking forward to , or when you ca n’t get a reasonable spot to poop .
Attendees took to social media to voice their discontent at some of the trouble of Festival Supreme ’s first run , and they were find out loud and clear . “ With all the feedback , we know we had to fix all this if we were ever gon na do it again , ” says Ceazan - Fleischli . “ We wanted to redeem ourselves . Kyle and Jack want to shake off the best show in Ithiel Town . It was very significant to them that everyone have a great time . ”
“ stream is fundamental . You want your festival to be move . You want hoi polloi to get a little bit of this and then go somewhere else to get a minuscule bit of that . That ’s sort of the electricity of festivals . ”
When Ceazan - Fleischli speaks about the 2014 installment , it ’s apparent in her voice how much she hopes hoi polloi who took consequence with the first Festival Supreme came back to second .
“ Finding a locale was a huge part of the next class , ” Gass recall . “ We looked at a lot of places all over LA , even up in Simi Valley to attempt to find the ripe place . ”
“ LA is problematical , ” admits Black . “ For a second we were locomote to be out in Lancaster . But we find The Shrine , and that was the perfect destination . Instead of relegating the standups to the Club Intimacy clusterfuck tent that hold 1,000 the great unwashed and is a bottleneck nightmare , we have the Shrine Auditorium which hold 6,000 the great unwashed and is the velvety , gilded toilet experience of our dreams . ”
Another cay to the Shrine ’s success as a venue is the use of the Expo Hall , which Black points out is important in channel their annual paper , be it the dark genus Circus of 2014 , the Las Vegas couch of 2015 , or this year ’s outer outer space motive . “ I compare it toBen - Hurbecause it ’s this jumbo ellipse , ” Gass tell .
“ stream is cardinal , ” Black say . “ You want your festival to be moving . You want people to get a lilliputian bite of this and then go somewhere else to get a little routine of that . That ’s sort of the electricity of fete , you do n’t need multitude to stagnate , because if you do sit down and decide ‘ this is the place I need to be to see people , ’ that ’s just a concert . You need people to move to different experience and have to make some decisions . ”
And that ’s exactly what happens at the Shrine . Two outdoor stages substitute between melodious presentations , while the indoor space permit for retreats from the estrus and the sun . If someone wants to sit down for a while , the Shrine Auditorium is available for that , with sizeable space to accommodate the crowd size , which has settled in at around 6,500 for the preceding couple years .
“ Moving to the Shrine alleviated all of our issues , ” says Ceazan - Fleischli . “ It ’s the perfect venue for what we ’re doing . The second class Jack commission his friend to contrive this circus of destruction . It was harebrained . There were two trains , there were all these performance artists , and there were art installations . A destiny of people arrange up because it was near Halloween but not on Halloween .
“ We had the space to do what we require to do , and we were very lofty that no one complained , ” she says . “ We looked at Twitter because so many multitude took to social media the first year , but we could n’t find anyone saying anything forged . ”
And settling into their new home allowed for Festival Supreme to highlight its biggest strength : booking some of the best clowning stone lineups ever curated . As to how Festival Supreme impresses every year with the artists they play in , much of that has to do with the human relationship Black and Gass have cultivated over the years , and the high streak they ’ve set through their own originative accomplishments .
“ Jack has my fondness , ” say Maya Rudolph , Saturday Night Livealum and star of numerous films and televisions shows . “ He ’s one of the the great unwashed I ’ve have sex the longest , since I was 14 , so I would do anything for him . I did n’t really need to be intimate what the festival was , but I already had some idea of what the festival would be because , in my vox populi , Tenacious D is the guide of medicine and drollery together as one , in the best potential sense . I say that because watching them throughout LA when they were first starting out was such a triumph to me . They were doing music and comedy so well and so beautifully , which was a will to their musicianship , because we already knew they were comedian . I think a lot of people followed in their footstep because of how well they did it . So , it ’s only right that a fete has their revenue stamp on it . ”
Heidecker echoes the sentiment , saying , “ We owe Jack so much . He was the first guest on the first episode ofTom Goes to the Mayor , and just a existent early supporter of Eric and I. So if Jack want us , it ’s just a no brainer . ”
This kind of respect is why Festival Supreme is able to get braggart figure to not only seem , but to be resort figures . The 2016 lineup will see Sarah Silverman , Will Forte , Garfunkel and Oates , and Fred Armisen as just some of the gift making return trips to the festival . And that ’s just what is in good order bill . Festival Supreme has also made a habit of surprising fans with unexpected sets and coming into court , a discriminative stimulus they ’ve taken from promoter Goldenvoice ’s most established prop , Coachella .
In its first year , unexpected guests included Conan O’Brien showing up with Triumph , the Insult Comic Dog , while “ Weird Al ” Yankovic appeared unannounced in year two . And for class three , devotee got a surprise coiffure from Reggie Watts , who also played the inaugural fest on the Pier .
“ It was super last minute because somebody strike down , ” recall Watts , band loss leader forThe Late Late Showwith James Cordenand headliner of the upcoming Netflix specialSpatial , premiering on December 6th . For Watts , whose live operation are know for their use of improvisational Sung dynasty , playing on brusque notification was correct in his pilothouse . “ It was a perfect place for me , I ’m always ready to go . ”
“ Jack and Kyle know every act and they know why they want them to perform . They have a reason for being there . ”
Watts fit a particular ecological niche of comic that also do medicine , the blueprint that the festival is built on . But Festival Supreme also began bid music - first acts that also happen to be comical . This was n’t really present in its first yr , but has become a trademark of the result since it moved to the Shrine . Black mentions Beastie Boys and Devo as two paradigms of what they ’d look for in their melodic bookings .
“ It always comes down to whether the musicians have good senses of humor , ” Black says . “ It ’s not always obvious , because there are some really peachy , serious musicians who are suspicious as hell as a byproduct of their personality , not that they ’re inevitably pop off for that . Like The Darkness last year , who are notoriously funny as nether region , but are n’t a ‘ joke ’ lot . I palpate the same elbow room about Die Antwoord . There ’s also a leaning toward performance graphics , which is why we had peach on the bill . She ’ll make you laugh , but it ’s because of the strange places she ’ll go in her medicine . ”
Be it comedic friend or musicians they admire , Festival Supreme never seems without a design . As Ceazan - Fleischli point out , “ Jack and Kyle know every act and they know why they require them to do . They have a ground for being there . ” The door is open for the performing artist to try new things , to work without a profits , and to embrace the second . This has signify Aubrey Plaza doing an total set in fictitious character as “ Yolanda ” or Amy Poehler subverting audience expectations by riffing as a cloistered singer - songwriter . It also means that Black and Gass reinvent Tenacious D from class to twelvemonth , only headlining the first year themselves , prove out a wind routine last year and book themselves as DJs this class .
2016 will find Flight of the Conchords headlining the festival , a big moment for Festival Supreme since the New Zealand duo were one of the original acts The D wanted for the inaugural event . And beyond this class , the theory still seem wide - loose , despite Reggie Watts ’ initial concern .
“ I remember think ‘ how are they going to keep bringing more acts every year , ’ ” Watts say , “ because they ’ll run out pretty quick . ” And this does hit on the trouble that might occur with a festival with such a distinct lane , that there is only so much that could exist within the music and comedy banner . But four years in and the booking remain originative and exciting . Some comedian , like Armisen and Rudolph and Heidecker , have enough varying talent that multiple appearance can still experience novel . Otherwise , Black and Gass still have a number of artists they have n’t been able to shoot down yet , noting that Louis CK , Dane Cook , or their white hulk , Spinal Tap .
Ceazan - Fleischli is not ready to give up on Spinal Tap , noting that they want to do it , but there ’s just a lot that happens in the Spinal Tap universe of discourse . “ I would n’t rule it out , ever , ” she says .
Because where else would be better for something like Spinal Tap to perform than Festival Supreme . It ’s taken just a few years to constitute an improbable comedic paradise , one that can feel as much inclined for ease and luxury as it is for dirty jokes and loud rock’n’roll euphony . “ Comedy lean to be an chance for kids at a music festival to sit down , to get out of the sunshine , to rest , ” Heidecker notes . “ And they are all eminent , and by the clock time they come into our tent , they are probably exhausted or feeling sick or ill-gotten . It ’s not my preferent kind of audience , patently , but we line up what we ’re doing to to accommodate that . We ’re not going to go up there and do something where we ’d be let down if multitude did n’t get the subtleties . That does n’t incline to be the Festival Supreme experience . ”
“ It ’s good to see all the other comics , and it ’s undecomposed to expose some people who might not be familiar with you to what you do , ” Heidecker say . “ And if Jack demand me to jump off a bridge , I ’d at least talk about it with my married woman . ”
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