Fascinating Naked Trucker description
From WB Nashville "Home of Country Music:"
The Naked Trucker and T-Bones. Those five little words probably conjure up thousands of kaleidoscopic images of rednecks, white bread and blue collars, but the reality is far odder than anything you can imagine. Think of them as the peyote chomping, gasoline sniffing, gear jamming, epithet spewing, chromosome-damaged cousins of The Smothers Brothers. They may saunter casually onto the stage, but when they open their mouths, the wisdom they disgorge is an overwhelmingly dense, intensely verbose kind of uniquely American humor that's heavy with pop culture references and laced with sharp political insights. They may be country, but they're country with a fierce intelligence that'll explode all your preconceptions and leave you slack jawed with wonder.
T-Bones met the Naked Trucker when he "accidentally" fired a flare gun at the Trucker's 18 - wheeler. After they resolved their immediate peccadillo, they recognized each other as kindred spirits. Soon they were roaming the country in The Trucker's rig hauling questionable cargo and searching for their own skewed version of the American dream.
The Naked Trucker is a long-haul driver in search of ultimate freedom. He's nude at the wheel, or on stage, simply because he can be. Fueled by cold beer and hot coffee, he's a voice of reason preaching the Gospel of Live And Let Live in a world dominated by the Us Against Them mentality. He's always ready to drive that extra mile for truth, justice and his own anarchic, idiosyncratic American way. It's hard to say if he's in fact naked, since his nether parts are always hidden behind his guitar or a dashboard, but he's naked in the sense that his mind is wide open to the shrieking beatnik saxophone cry that can shiver cities down to their foundation and rattle the windows of middle America with a laughing howl of unfettered independence. He's also a damn fine picker and a baritone singer who can attack a lyric with an insouciant Johnny Paycheck meets Jack Kerouac flair.
Gerald "T-Bones" Tibbons is a slightly bewildered bodhisattva with a bad comb over and his own kind of wicked wit. Armed with a bottle of sweet wine and a ball-peen hammer, he's as pedantic as he is didactic, living life with extreme immediacy, always looking for an angle, often finding the hardest way to make an easy buck. T-Bones is as smart as a whip and not afraid to use one. Imbued with a self-serving entrepreneurial
American spirit, he would just as soon con a corn dog from a carnie as he would stow-away on a space shuttle shot. His manic vocals, prickly stage presence and slightly warped lyrical talents contribute to the success of tunes like "Two Dollars And A Hand Job" and the unexpectedly poignant "My Daddy Is An Astronaut."
Whenever The Naked Trucker and T-Bones cruise into LA, they stop off at clubs like The Troubadour or the infamous Largo to spin out their demented tales of life on the road. It's there that they recorded the material for The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show CD and DVD, backed by The Dickaround Gang, a fine trio that includes Thomas "T.C." Chan on lead electric guitar, J.P. Fitting on bass and drummer Andy Paley. The music of The Naked Trucker and T-Bones is as unique as their unfettered banter, tunes that can pinwheel from country to rap to R&B and back again. "Where's My Beer" is a drunken, stomping honky tonk rave up, with a memorable chorus that soon has the whole club singing along; "You Don't Know Jack Shit" sounds like Bob Wills after a long night of Romilar and tequila, while their cover of Snoop Dogg's "Gin And Juice" veers off in a completely unexpected direction. Their between tune banter is an intellectual free for all with the darkly comic aura of a midnight side show, ADD rants that can reference Joseph Campbell, Area 51, Chaucer and Paul Simon, Vietnamese currency (that would be the Dong FYI,) dialectical materialism, Noam Chomsky, the TVA or a Learning Annex class on combed over political claptrap. The Naked Trucker and T-Bones will disturb anyone that wants things put into neat categories, but those with open minds will hear the unvarnished, though gently soaked in Wild Turkey, truth. The Naked Trucker and T-Bones reveal something essential about the way we live today, as they wander through an American Dream of postmen and porn stars, cream pies and carnies, a place where they feel free to smoke a bowl while they're smoking a Virginia ham.
Starting on January 17, 2007, The Naked Trucker and T-Bones will also be bringing their skewed comedic vision to Comedy Central for one of the most unique half hours on basic cable.
The Naked Trucker and T-Bones were discovered by the veteran actor/comedians David Koechner and Dave "Gruber" Allen. Koechner and Allen also produce the duos CDs, DVDs and the Comedy Central television show. They've been schooling The Trucker and T-Bones for several years, in preparation for their national multi-media debut.
Actor, writer and producer David "Gruber" Allen grew up in Naperville, IL and graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL with a BA in English. He began his career in comedy at Larry Wrentz's Comedy Club in Des Moines, IA, with the sketch group Don't Quit Your Day Job. That trio moved to LA and, in the early 90s, created the Comedy Channel series The Higgins Boys and Gruber. Allen had a recurring role as guidance counselor Jeff Rosso on the short-lived NBC dramedy Freaks and Geeks and frequently plays Todd Carlin, a hippie ne'er do well and fictional relative of George Carlin. His most recent television role was the hippie minister on Gilmore Girls. He's also been seen on Third Rock From The Sun, NewsRadio, Malcolm In The Middle and Real Time with Bill Maher. Allen is a frequent guest voice on the animated series King of the Hill.
The comedy bug bit actor, writer and producer David Koechner while attending the University of Missouri. After graduation, he moved to Chicago and joined The ImrovOlympic, which led to a gig at Second City. Lorne Michaels "discovered" Koechner and brought him to Saturday Night Live in 1995. He only stayed for one season, but while there, he befriended Will Ferrell, who cast him as Champ Kind in the film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Ferrell also cast him in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Koechner's other screen credits include gun lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss in Thank You For Smoking, the co-pilot in Snakes on a Plane and smaller parts in Wag The Dog, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. He has also been seen in NBC's hit series The Office as Todd Packer. In March 2007, Koechner will be seen in his first leading role as Coach Lambeau Fields in the Fox Atomic film The Comebacks. He is married to actress Leigh Koechner and has four children.
posted by Jim at 4:55 PM
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