No. 29: Fred Schneider On “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”

Michaelangelo Matos | December 23, 2008 10:00 am

Portishead, GNR, MBV, yadda yadda—the comeback no one much talks about from this year was actually one of the better ones: The B-52’s Funplex, which adapted the group’s classic sound to modern ends with very little strain. My favorite track, “Eyes Wide Open,” even resembled high-end DFA, no small thing. But the album’s relatively quiet aftermath might be due to Fred Schneider completely upstaging it with a short appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Scott McClellan, a former White House aide, wrote a tell-all about his time in the Bush administration; unfortunately, he also read the audiobook in a flat, affectless monotone. So Jon Stewart took it upon himself to “zazz it up” by bringing Schneider out to sing portions of it to the tune of “Love Shack.” It was a match made in heaven, or at least close enough for me to IM everyone I knew the next day the following message: “SCOOOOO! TERRRR! LIBBYYYYYYYYY!”

McClellan’s Audio Book [The Daily Show] 80 ’08 (and heartbreak)