WARNING: the surgeon general of rock says reading this Jack Black story is equal to 29 orgasms.
Or so Tenacious D, the two-man band that first made Black famous, might say.
The group’s HBO sketch comedy show, which aired just six episodes in 1999, introduced the world to Black’s hyper-intelligent, often filthy, always hilarious faux-rock act with fellow musician Kyle Gass.
Black went on to steal every movie he appeared in, most memorably 2000’s “High Fidelity,” in which his snarky record-store clerk Barry morphed into a smooth R&B singer – but not before verbally eviscerating friends and strangers with dubious tastes in music.
Then there were his roles as a pill-popping orderly in “Jesus’ Son,” a fat-blind lover in “Shallow Hal,” a stoner older brother in “Orange County” and a slackerturnedteacher in “The School of Rock.” All we know is we adore all things Jack. We’re even willing to see him wear stretchy pants and a red diaper in “Nacho Libre,” the Mexican wrestling comedy out Friday. So on the occasion of a new Jack Black project, we asked six people close to him how well they know the actor born Thomas Black.
NED BELLAMY
Black got his start thanks to actor Tim Robbins, co-founder of Los Angeles theater troupe the Actors’ Gang. Actor Ned Bellamy, the other founder, recalls a teenage Black exploring the fringes of funny – and the very first performance of metal-folk duo Tenacious D.
He was very young. He was just so enthusiastic that he’d sort of trip over his own feet. Sort of like a young colt. Everything he’s doing now was sort of incubating and cooking back in the day.
[He and Kyle Gass] started that show, Tenacious D, live. Kyle was a member of the Actors’ Gang, too.
They weren’t, like, quick buddies, though. Kyle had sort of the same interests Jack did, but for some reason they didn’t hit it off right away.
So one night, those two came out on the sidewalk and started doing this ridiculous show, which then became Tenacious D. At the time it was just, like, a rap tune with two white guys.
I don’t know if Tim recalls this, but when they came out and did that first performance on a sidewalk at 2 a.m., we just looked at each other and thought, that’s maybe worthy of a workshop character.
That’s all we really thought.
But they just kept playing it.
They would be at Gang meetings, and they’d say, “We’ll be playing at a 7/11 in Santa Monica.” Then they played [L.A. music venue] Key Largo, and before you knew it they had a gig at the Comedy Store.
Then Eddie Vedder had them open for him one night.
And now we just did this film, the Tenacious D movie [opening later this year]. They’re the best.
It’s so funny. I mean, who knew?
ROBERT SMIGEL
Better known as Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, and creator of the animated show “TV Funhouse,” Robert Smigel discovered a kindred spirit in Black, whose razorsharp humor and obsessive work ethic meshed with Smigel’s. When Triumph had to record a head-banging screed about dog castration, he knew there was only one man to turn to.
I worked with him twice and both times he was just incredibly generous.
The first was at a benefit concert called the Night of Too Many Stars.
Guys like [Adam] Sandler and Conan [O’Brien] did it – and Jack did an incredibly complicated number. We wrote a whole song medley where he was paying tribute to Broadway musicals, even though he had never seen any. We just made up songs that we thought would be in them.
His version of a tribute to “Man of La Mancha”. . . it was the highlight of that show.
A year later I did a concert in New York as Triumph, and I recorded all these songs for Triumph’s celebrated CD, “Come Poop With Me.” Jack did a song.
But I brought him in to do this angry song about Bob Barker. Triumph was mad at the inhumanity of cutting off dogs’ testicles. [Jack] was the only guy who could have pulled it off. Jack came into the studio and spent a couple hours perfecting his voice, and he finally went home at, like, 1 in the morning.
I got home at 2, and got a call from him around 2:30: “Hey man, I was just thinking there was this one moment, I think, uh, you should go with take three, where I hit the note where I wasn’t screaming.” I first saw him performing in Tenacious D as part of a “Mr.
Show” stage version. Jack did this crazy version of “Pinball Wizard.” It was slightly vulgar, but respectful – and it brought the house down. It was hilarious. And I mean, everybody could tell. . . that guy was gonna get laid.
SHARON SHAW
Despite his manic-slacker onscreen persona, Black’s developed quite a reputation for sincerity and generosity in real life. Sharon Shaw, a trustree on the board of the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, found an unlikely friend in Black when he called her six years ago.
I was the president of the Southern California chapter of the UMDF when he contacted me.
Within a year, he did a tremendous amount of work with us. He did a House of Blues fund-raiser with Tenacious D – it was just a blast. They had Spinal Tap. They raised over $50,000 for my chapter.
And then he went on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and played for the foundation and won about $125,000. He also donates a percentage of the Tenacious D merchandise, to this day, to the foundation. When [“Shallow Hal” producer] Scott Rudin made him reshoot a scene, Jack said, “OK, but you have to donate to this charity.”
MARJORIE COHN
In 2003’s “The School of Rock,” Black showed a flair for working with kids in a decidedly noncheesy way. This appealed to Marjorie Cohn, executive producer of Nickelodeon’s “Kids’ Choice Awards,” who tapped Black to host this year’s event.
We had a kids’ band playing the show, and he was great with them. He was complimenting their playing, and made them all feel special. He did a song based on Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” – rewritten so that it was about sliming.
During the show there are thousands of screaming kids around him, and he slimed a whole bunch of them and made their dreams come true.
JULIA PISTOR
Nickelodeon – not so coincidentally – is also a producer of Black’s new movie, “Nacho Libre.” Producer Julia Pistor says she was initially drawn to his eyebrows, but soon learned to appreciate the man beneath.
When we first came up with the idea, we thought of Jack in a luchador mask, because he has such good eyes and eyebrows.
Down in Oaxaca, he was completely a man of the people – hanging out on the set, going out to dinner, loving the food, the culture, speaking Spanish with the crew.
He’s very insightful. He’s engaged with people, you can see he studies them. I think a lot of comics are very insecure, and their comedy is based on that.
But with Jack, he’s a very secure and smart and grounded guy, so his comedy isn’t antics for the sake of antics.
DAN HARMON
In 1999, Black took a role in a scifi TV pilot for Fox. Directed by Ben Stiller, “Heat Vision and Jack” starred Black as Jack Austin, the world’s smartest astronaut, and Owen Wilson as the voice of Jack’s talking motorcycle, Heat Vision.
Never picked up, the pilot lives on in cult infamy. Writers Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, currently working on a VH1 sketch show, are in talks to revamp “Heat Vision” for film.
Ben Stiller said, “Have you ever seen this guy, Jack Black? It would be cool to do something with him.” We immediately thought we wanted to see him in an action series, throwing scientists up against walls, charming women, being on the run. We loved that he’s someone who refuses to be in on his own joke.
He just thinks of himself as William Shatner or James Garner, this sexy, macho guy.
We had lunch with him when we were about to start writing, and he said, “That’s the worst pitch I’ve ever heard. But I bet it would be a really funny show.” He’s the master of cheese! To the point where he makes cheese like it was in the golden age of TV. When every show had some big thing: a talking car with a sexy driver and they’re fighting a cyclops, and of course you’ve got to have Hasselhoff really chewing it up, like ancient Greek theater.
My personal favorite scene is when Jack is explaining the origins of Heat Vision, about his roommate Doug getting fused with the motorcycle.
And it goes to the flashback where he’s running, and Ron Silver is trying to shoot him with a ray gun, and then it comes back to Jack and he says, “During the escape, Doug was shot.” And he gets choked up.
That scene was so good, watching it on the monitors, I started having a little panic attack. I could never just let things be good – as soon as I saw that scene I started worrying that I had cancer or something.