So here’s the thing. You tell me Kurt Loder, Rolling Stone editor, MTV news anchor, and co-fricking author of Tina-fricking-Turner’s autobiography, is hosting a new interview show on My Damn Channel, home of You Suck at Photoshop and Wainy Days, well, I’m already going to be in a very salivate-y place, nerd-wise.
Then you tell me that the format is going to be an überlaidback laptop-to-laptop use of iChat, the show is called Lapdance, and the first guest — who appears in four whole segments — is Harry Shearer, star of This is Spinal Tap and one awesome Christopher Guest movie after another AND voice of Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, and Smithers … OK, now, I’m jumping up and down in my seat like a kid on Christmas morning sometime before opening presents but after eating a whole box of Lucky Charms. In short, I was pretty excited about reviewing this new project. So excited, in fact, that I had to wonder, was there any way this was going to live up to my geekspectations?
The answer, sadly, is no. Not tragically so, mind you — this is a great setup, and a great interview with which to kick it off. But Loder and Shearer are two exceptionally chill guys, and this is an exceptionally chill format. And even though Shearer throws out germs in every segment, whether he’s talking about politics, comedy or reality TV, the whole thing skews just a shade too mellow to approach greatness.
The front page blurb says that Loder will be chatting with “celebrities, musicians and filmmakers” in the new series. The design is promising; it’s intimate and relaxed, and you definitely get the feeling that the stage is set for those great peek-behind-the-curtain moments every fanboy/girl dreams of, like that fantasy where you somehow find yourself at the bar after closing and the two coolest famous people you can think of are there at the bar shooting the, uh, breeze, and you get to lurk nearby and listen. Cool, man.
Unfortunately, much as I loved Shearer’s riffs on beauty queens, 24-hour news, and CAA’s wheelhouse, this Lapdance only got about 85 percent of the way to the sweet spot for me. As chill as they are, neither Loder nor Shearer is known for pulling punches, so maybe I wanted a little more grit, a little more bite … or maybe I just needed a little more interview. But I’m keeping my laptop open and my pocket full of singles, so keep em’ coming, Kurt.
