In 1999, Jack Black and Kyle Gass began filming what ended up being a series of 6 comedic shorts, portraying the trials and trivilations of Tenacious D trying to make it big. The episodes where aired on HBO one at a time originally following Mr. Show. However, after their success, the later episodes were paired together and aired independently. One of the best aspects of the show, was that each episode contained an open-mike performance by the D. Many of the great songs like Jesus Ranch, Cosmic Shame and Sasquatch cannot be heard anywhere else.
Another interesting aspect of the show, was that it contained cameo's from many of the D's close friends. JB's long time friend Laura Kightlinger played the role of the Backstage Betty in Angel In Disguise, and KG's close friend Tracy Young was the lady who answered the door when the D were door to door rocking in Death of the Dream. Lee played a large and self explanatory role in The Fan and John C. Reilly (Magnolia, Boogy Nights) also took on the role of Sasquatch in Death of the Dream.
With six sucessful shows under their belt the D's television crusade was gaining momentum. Next, the D unofficially anounced that they were not only writting ten additional episodes, but also extending the episodes from the original ten minute format to a full half hour. Everything seemed to be going great, but disaster then struck. When it came time for the D to renew their contract, HBO's greedy executives were seeing dollar signs in the D's sucess and decided to demand the creative rights to Tenacious D. At which time, the D told HBO exactly where they could stuff their contract, thus bringing Tenacious D's television crusade to a bitter end. However, the D are moving on to bigger and better things. Or in other words, their moving up to the silver screen in a movie titled: "Tenacious D: In The Pick of Destiny". In the meantime though, Tenacious D's first official live DVD is scheduled for release in September of 2003. It will include all of the HBO episodes as well as professional 5 camera footage of the Brixton Academy show, back stage/tour bus footage, the concert shorts, the video's for Wonderboy and Tribute along with their respective "making of's" |
