Not So Tenacious

Finding a good creative partnership, one that lasts the test of time, is hard to do. And it can fall apart all too easily.

Jack Black, one of the biggest movie stars in the world, has had one of those relationships with Kyle Gass, a man nearly a decade older than him who he met through an acting group. The duo had worked together for more than 30 years, released one of the best comedy-rock albums of all time, one that holds up both musically and comedically. When I was in college, I played the hell out of that album, which says a lot about me.

And Black clearly thought the world of his musical partner, based on the gesture that went viral Sunday night, which started with Black delivering a birthday cake to Gass during a concert on their Australian tour.

But then, Gass said the wrong thing, using his birthday wish to make a charged comment on the shocking assassination attempt on Donald Trump the previous evening: “Don’t miss Trump next time.”

It was a sloppy improv that turned into an international incident and threatened his career. Black, who has his own major career to worry about, one that has slowed the output of Tenacious D over the years, chose to put pause on this defining creative partnership, just like that.

And as a fan of both of these comedic geniuses, I just feel gut-punched. Look, the politics of the moment are hard to navigate around. Gass clearly said the wrong thing, and he got blowback for it, but that is the risk of live improv.

Consider, for a moment, the Whose Line Is It Anyway troupe, perhaps the best-known improvisers in the modern era. You probably remember most of those sketches as PG-rated at best. But a large portion of the reason for that was that they were working in a setting where a director and a standards person were actively reining in the comedians throughout the performance. In one example, someone in the audience suggested a sketch involving Bill Cosby and Adolf Hitler, only for the director to step in and prevent them from joking about Hitler. (Drew Carey and the rest of the troupe responded by constantly bringing Hitler up, forcing the original context to remain in the show. It’s important to note that Cosby was not a controversial figure at the time.) Now, just imagine the stuff that never appeared on the air.

Gass and Black were doing it live, and working live means no safety net. Especially when anyone can pull out a camera and put your edgy joke all over the internet. Gass learned that the hard way.

There were a few reasons why the joke blew up as it did. First, people were angry and looking for a villain, and hearing that Jack Black’s comedy partner said something that offended them gave them just the person to target.

Next up, it happened abroad, where critics of the commentary—most notably former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the current Australian ambassador to the United States—were easy to find. (Rudd has notably had a frosty relationship with Trump.) Continuing the tour in Australia was likely going to provoke an international incident.

Also not helping, perhaps most importantly, are the power dynamics in this situation. Gass, while having worked more-or-less constantly since the early ’90s, is by no means the star Black is, mostly appearing in character-actor guest appearances on television. (Gass, who hasn’t had many roles of late, lost his agent over the joke.) Tenacious D is his main meal ticket in the modern day, but it has evolved into a side gig for Black, who is better known for his voice acting work in mega-franchise films like Super Mario Bros. and Kung Fu Panda. Sure, this band of creative equals can sell out pretty sizable venues, but if Black has to choose between playing Bowser or working with Gass, it’s possible Gass might not win out.

Given that Tenacious D’s music (such as their recent cover of “Baby One More Time,” above) was getting worked into Black’s film work, you can see why he was quick to pull the plug.

I can’t imagine Tenacious D fans really changing their opinion about the band over this joke—but Jumanji fans? You can see why Black felt compelled to hit the pause button.

Gass made a mistake, but his mistake is that he told an edgy joke in a charged moment. There are people currently working at high profiles that have done far worse than Gass. For example, Shane Gillis appeared as the host on Saturday Night Live earlier this year, a mere four and a half years after he had been fired from the show for a long history of edgy podcast episodes that played with racist and homophobic tropes. But he was popular, and so he got a pass. Will Gass eventually get that pass, or will he have to disappear for 20 years like, say, Michael Richards?

Over at The Daily Beast, comedy blogger Sean L. McCarthy noticed a similar disparity:

But the incident raises more important questions: Why do liberal entertainers fall on their swords, while conservatives fight back defiantly? Is one tactical response inherently better than the other? And better how: For business, or for your reputation?

Tenacious D, beyond their comedy, presents music as a life-changing virtue. There might be a lot of Led Zeppelin aping and a little Dungeons & Dragons fantasy-role-playing in the mix, but the basis of the entire act is that two creative partners get together and embrace the devil’s music for all it’s worth.

We care because of the partnership. One hopes that is not lost because of one single poorly received comment.