Harry Shearer - Biography
We know him from The Simpsons, from Saturday Night Live, from a bunch of genuinely brilliant films, but with comedian extraordinaire Harry Shearer, doesn’t it begin and end with bassist Derek Smalls in the 1984 classic This Is Spinal Tap? Shearer got his start as a child actor, appearing at the age of seven as a regular on The Jack Benny Program in 1950; Benny mentored Shearer, as did voice actor Mel Blanc, the man behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and the rest of the Warner Bros. cartoons. Shearer also played the original Eddie Haskell character in the pilot for Leave It to Beaver; he and his parents decided to turn down the role in the series, opting for a childhood with some degree of normalcy. He studied political science at UCLA, went to graduate school at Harvard, managed to avoid being sent to Vietnam, and taught high school English. He reentered show business in 1969, joining The Credibility Gap, a comedy troupe that had a radio show in Los Angeles; the other members included Michael McKean and David Lander, who would leave the group in 1976 to join the cast of Laverne & Shirley. From there, Shearer worked with Albert Brooks on a comedy album, and co-wrote the 1979 film Real Life. Shearer and McKean also appeared in a pilot episode with Rob Reiner. The pilot didn’t get picked up, but more connections were made; Christopher Guest was also a cast member.
In 1979, Shearer was hired by Saturday Night Live, as a writer and a performer, as a replacement for Dan Akroyd and John Belushi. Shearer hated it, and clashed repeatedly with producer Lorne Michaels. He was soon off the show, but better things were around the corner. Shearer, McKean and Guest teamed with Reiner on an improvised feature film that satirized hard-rock conventions and the entire “rockumentary” formal: 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap. Appearing as essentially loveable but completely clueless, heavy-metal lunkheads, McKean (David St. Hubbins), Shearer (Derek Smalls) and Guest (Nigel Tufnel) were absolutely brilliant as the band, Spinal Tap. They wrote, sang and performed the songs, and maintained spot-on British accents throughout, while Reiner played the hapless director who chases the band, shooting footage for his “documentary.” It is savage satire that perfectly nailed the rock ‘n’ roll zeitgeist, and numerous moments slipped straight into the lexicon. Just say “Stonehenge” to a rocker, and they’ll immediately recall the scene when the 18-inch replica (it was meant to be 18-feet tall, of course) descends to the stage. Just how accurate is the satire in This Is Spinal Tap? When they first saw it, neither Eddie Van Halen nor Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler understood that it was a comedy.
There are three Spinal Tap albums, and they’re all hilarious, in large part because the actors “get” rock ‘n’ roll. They have a perfect handle on the misogyny, the macho posturing, the goofy mysticism (Druids, et cetera) and the general rampant stupidity. This Is Spinal Tap (1984 Polydor) features some classic songs from the film, including “Hell Hole,” “Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight,” and “Big Bottom.” Break Like the Wind (1992 MCA) finds the band back in the studio, but this time they let some actual rock stars in on the joke: Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Slash, Dweezil Zappa and Cher all appear. “Bitch School,” “The Majesty of Rock,” and “The Sun Never Sweats” are all priceless. Spinal Tap celebrated the film’s 25th anniversary with Back From The Dead (2009), which was also a clever tie-in to the group’s appearance in the Rock Band video game. Shearer, McKean and Guest, have made several other wry mockumentaries, including Waiting for Guffman (1997), which pokes at small-town theater productions, and A Mighty Wind (2003), a parody of folk music.
Of course, Shearer’s greatest claim to fame is on The Simpsons, which debuted in 1989, and is the longest running prime-time program in the history of television; Shearer voices the characters of Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Dr. Julius Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, Otto Mann, Rainier Wolfcastle, and Dr. Marvin Monroe. Shearer also runs his own record label, Courgette Records. His comedy album, Songs Pointed and Pointless (2007 Courgette), is a arch bit of satire that tackles subjects like torture (“Waterboardin’ USA”) jingoism (“Let The Flag Burners Fry (On The Fourth Of July)”) with wit and intelligence; Guest and McKean appear, as does Shearer’s wife, the talented artist, Judith Owen. Songs Pointed and Pointless demonstrates that Shearer is a legitimately talent musician – even beyond the realm of metal.
