Derek Smalls and The Cucumber
Legendary comedic actor Harry Shearer celebrates his birthday on December 23. While most know him as the voices for Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Principal Skinner and Ned Flanders on The…
Legendary comedic actor Harry Shearer celebrates his birthday on December 23. While most know him as the voices for Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Principal Skinner and Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, he’ll always be Derek Smalls, bassist for Spinal Tap.
When it comes to the iconic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, many hilarious moments come via Smalls. However, he metal detector scene is just perfection.
For real, why on Earth would you wrap the cucumber in foil and then stuff it down your pants?! Love to know if anybody pulled a similar prank on airport security since the film’s release.
The Long Awaited Sequel to This is Spinal Tap
News of a long-awaited sequel to This is Spinal Tap was confirmed in May 2022 by Deadline. At that time, Spinal Tap II was slated for release in March 2024. Of course, the release has since been pushed back to an unknown date.
Reiner confirmed he'd be reprising his role of Marty DiBergi. Additionally, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest are on board as David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel, respectively. (No word yet on who has the unfortunate task of playing the drummer.)
As for the premise of the film, Reiner said it centers around a final concert of sorts. Spinal Tap's manager, Ian Faith, passed away. His wife inherited a contract that stated the band still owed Faith one more concert. (In real life, actor Tony Hendra, who played Faith, died in March 2021 at age 79.)
Reiner's DiBergi character documents the final concert, which is reportedly being shot in the style of Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz. In May 2022, Reiner told Deadline that DiBergi feels he owes it to Spinal Tap to capture this concert. He says the band was upset with the first film.
"When I heard they might get back together, I was a visiting adjunct teacher’s helper at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts," said Reiner. "I drop everything to document this final concert."
In November, Reiner confirmed Paul McCartney and Elton John will make cameos in the sequel. In addition to cameos from Sir Paul and Sir Elton, country music icon Garth Brooks will also make a cameo in the sequel to the 1984 cult classic mockumentary. Reiner also mentioned that filming will begin in February.
The iconic cult classic This is Spinal Tap was released in theaters 35 years ago today (March 2.) It is easily one of the most quotable, funniest films of all time to the point where even the biggest rock stars can own up to its painfully true moments.
Obviously, the most popular line from the film is, "These go to 11," but there are so many other golden nuggets in this brilliant mockumentary. In honor of the anniversary of the film’s theatrical release, here are 11 other quotes from This is Spinal Tap that aren't "These go to 11!"
(Note: This list is numbered, not ranked. Ranking each line would be like asking us which Spinal Tap drummer was our favorite. It’s simply too hard of a question to answer.)
1. “Here lies David St. Hubbins…and why not”
2. “You don’t do heavy metal in Dubly, you know.”
3. “I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf.”
4. “Well, this piece is called ‘Lick My Love Pump.’”
5. “It’s such a fine line between stupid, and uh…clever”
6. “This miniature bread…”
7. “The review you had on ‘Shark Sandwich,’ which was merely a two-word review, just said ‘Sh-t sandwich.’”
8. “He was the patron saint of quality footwear.” – David St. Hubbins on the origin of his last name.
9. “We're very lucky in the band in that we have two visionaries, David and Nigel, they're like poets, like Shelley and Byron. They're two distinct types of visionaries, it's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water.”
10. “None more black”
11. “Well, so what? What's wrong with bein' sexy?” “Sex-IST!”
Erica Banas is rock/classic rock news blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
