Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste
David Byrne is a natural-born performer. In another life, he might have been a prop comic—he was essentially doing it already with that giant suit. In this life, however, it took some prodding from Fred Armisen for him to get up on stage and do a stand-up set, which he said he performed unannounced at a show Armisen organized. “That is one of the scariest ever, because you’re just alone with words for the most part,” the multi-hyphenate shared of the experience in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “I don’t know if I’m ready to go there,” he continued, referring to future comedy club appearances, “but you never know.”
Despite Byrne’s stage fright, the jump to the comedy circuit wouldn’t be that drastic of a leap. In addition to his time with Talking Heads, Byrne has also created two Broadway shows, not to mention his decades as one of the more creative solo artists of his generation. He already has a friend in John Mulaney, who reviewed an unreleased song he wrote during the COVID-19 quarantine called “Six Feet Apart” or “Six Feet Away.” (“There was a line about ‘She had Purell in her purse’—he liked that,” Byrne said.)
The artist also talked about one of his songwriting methods with Rolling Stone in a way that sounds like it would lend itself quite nicely to the process of writing a good joke. “There were a few songs where it maybe had the first couple of lines, or maybe just the title. ‘I met the Buddha at a downtown party.’ And I go, ‘OK, that’s like a short story. What happens next? What did he look like? What’d he say?” And so it starts to write itself. You just let it go and try and keep it interesting,” he said. “I have other ones that I never managed to turn into songs. There was one called ‘The 50-Foot Baby,’ and the baby was wreaking havoc everywhere, just smashing things and picking up cars and tossing them around. Like Godzilla, but a baby. But I didn’t know exactly where to take it.”
Still, it doesn’t sound like Byrne is rushing to the comedy club stage again any time soon. He also has bad news for anyone who may be inclined to dig into the depths of the internet to find the set he did do. “As with comedy clubs, nobody [was] allowed to use their phones or anything like that,” he said. When his interviewer pressed about whether fans would be able to find the set on YouTube, he only had one word: “Nope.” It’s a shame—that 50-foot baby idea would make for a pretty good bit.
