{"id":7052,"date":"2020-07-28T19:33:31","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T19:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/?p=7052"},"modified":"2020-07-28T19:35:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T19:35:14","slug":"shearer-does-trump-singing-mother-in-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/28\/shearer-does-trump-singing-mother-in-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Shearer Does Trump, Singing &#8220;Mother-in-Law&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZtptN8bfl3M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">You loved him as <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/simpsons.fandom.com\/wiki\/Charles_Montgomery_Burns\">Mr. Burns<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">. You feared him as <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/harry-shearer-talks-about-his-nixon-fixation-1414513899\">Nixon<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(Or maybe it was the other way around.)<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, now <strong>Harry Shearer<\/strong> takes on a yet more demanding (<em>or was that \u201cdemeaning\u201d<\/em>) role\u2014<strong>Donald Trump<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>During his Sunday night radio program (<em>um, I meant &#8220;podcast&#8221;<\/em>), \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/harryshearer.com\/le-show\/\">Le Show<\/a>,\u201d Shearer has,\u00a0ever since the 2016 election, reluctantly coughed up the words \u201cpresident Donald Trump\u201d with something between a sardonic chuckle and a dismissive guffaw.<\/p>\n<p>Shearer\u2019s new video depicts Trump singing a song in praise of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, It&#8217;s the first track of his forthcoming album, <strong><em>The Many Moods of Donald Trump<\/em><\/strong> \u2014\u201ca cycle of satirical songs inspired by the last four years of U.S. politics and in particular the often mercurial behavior of the current occupant of The White House.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Written by Shearer, the video is based on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GiYsLDyQToA\">Mother-in-Law<\/a>,\u201d an Allen Toussaint tune that was a hit in 1961 for Ernie K-Doe. The band includes A-list New Orleans musicians such pianist David Torkanowsky, bassist George Porter, Jr. and drummer Raymond Weber. Even their innate sense of groove can\u2019t rescue Trump\u2019s characteristically rhythm-less phrasing, which Shearer captures.<\/p>\n<p>I talked to Shearer about this latest role, and his presidential fixation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who has been your favorite president to portray, and why?<!--more--> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think it&#8217;d be a tie between G.W. Bush and Nixon. The former, because it was so much fun to write his mangled syntax\u2014the one I recall is when he told an aide, &#8220;You&#8217;re preaching to the chorus girls.\u201dThe latter, of course, because he was as corroded by resentment and grievance as the current guy, but he also felt the need to cover it all up with a facade of &#8220;dignity.\u201dAnd, as I studied him anew for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2585194\/\">TV series\u00a0<\/a>in Britain, I was reminded with new force of his array of gestures and expressions which tend toward the feminine\u2014the fluttering of eyelashes, the hands that flutter upwards. Nixon worked so hard to mask his feelings, and then they forced themselves out in the lovely and appalling moments like &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/opinion\/lesson-watergate-article-1.3180241\">Governor Evidence<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What preparation\u2014physical, mental or spiritual\u2014 goes into &#8220;becoming Trump&#8221;?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the video, the preparation is strapping into an array of garments\u2014a kind of electronic wetsuit, a somewhat annoying headpiece, and a set of gloves. \u00a0The hardest preparation is to get into the deadness of affect that defines his vocal intonations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you think Ernie K-Doe would have to say about living under Trump&#8217;s rule?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>I think Ernie would say &#8220;Shut up!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can you tell me a couple of other highlights from the album?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, the idea is going to be releasing a song a week, with another video (&#8220;Executive Time&#8221;) along the way. \u00a0There&#8217;s a Stormy song, a song about his irresolute course in the pandemic (&#8220;COVID-180&#8221;), and of course a self-tribute to his mental acuity (&#8220;Very Stable Genius&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are you still laughing whenever you utter Trump&#8217;s name?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the radio, yes. \u00a0Ever finding new ways to chuckle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You loved him as Mr. Burns. You feared him as Nixon. (Or maybe it was the other way around.) Anyway, now Harry Shearer takes on a yet more demanding (or was that \u201cdemeaning\u201d) role\u2014Donald Trump. During his Sunday night radio program (um, I meant &#8220;podcast&#8221;), \u201cLe Show,\u201d Shearer has,\u00a0ever since the 2016 election, reluctantly coughed &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/28\/shearer-does-trump-singing-mother-in-law\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Shearer Does Trump, Singing &#8220;Mother-in-Law&#8221;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[492,211,493],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7052"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7062,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052\/revisions\/7062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}