What Comedian Danny McBride Is Listening to Right Now
This summer, HBO premiered a new season of a show chronicling the hypocrisy, dysfunction, and drama of a high-powered family. No, it’s not the one you’re thinking of. Where Succession leans on the Machiavellian subtext of neutral tones and icy quips, The Righteous Gemstones takes viewers on a thrilling ride that whips from outrageous comedy to chilling tension with the grace of an Olympic speed skater. It hits most of the same basic marks as Succession, but it’s faster, funnier, and more pointed about the twisted relationship between wealth and suffering. Manhattan media barons the Roys are privileged enough to eschew the plagues of working-class existence; as the televangelist leaders of a South Carolina megachurch, the Gemstones’ lives revolve around them.
The Righteous Gemstones is the work of Danny McBride, who created, starred in, and co-wrote Eastbound & Down and Vice Principals. The series follows the widowed pastor Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) and his three adult children, Jesse (McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam Devine). Unmoored by the loss of matriarch Aimee-Leigh (played by Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles), the siblings and their troubled father squabble over who’s in control of the congregation and its offshoots, and try to stave off larger controversies.
Music is a key element of the Gemstones story, with one plotline anchored by flashbacks of Aimee-Leigh singing and clogging as a kid alongside her brother Baby Billy (Walton Goggins). The duo’s claim to fame was the song “Misbehavin’,” a ridiculous tune that went semi-viral after airing in an episode in mid-September. Powered by a springy melody and lyrics that pivot from childhood foibles to threats of eternal damnation, the song is shockingly catchy. “We found ourselves listening to it in the office—it instantly got in our heads,” says McBride, who co-wrote the song with Patterson and composer Joseph Stephens. “We had no idea people would think the same thing.”
McBride, along with Stephens and music supervisor Devoe Yates, often uses music in his shows to lend a sense of place. Of course, he tries not to be clichéd about it: “Who wants to watch a Southern story that’s scored by fiddles and banjos and the most generic cues?” wonders the Georgia native, who’s now based in Charleston, South Carolina. As with his other projects, Gemstones both acknowledges and upends Southern stereotypes with accuracy and empathy. The comedic absurdity pops with ultra-precise regional details, like Judy Gemstone striding past a rack of “I’m Big on the Pig” t-shirts (a localized fave) before having a meltdown in a Piggly Wiggly supermarket. “The more realistic the china shop can feel, the funnier it is when the bull destroys everything,” McBride says.
The Righteous Gemstones finished airing its first season this week, and McBride is already mapping out where the family goes from here. As he does this, he’ll likely find himself listening to Elvis, pretending they’re old pals. Below, McBride discusses the King and some of the other music he’s been enjoying lately.
Sturgill Simpson: Sound & Fury (2019)
I love Sturgill Simpson. I’ve gotten to know him over the last few years, too, and he’s a buddy of mine. I just respect his journey. I respect that he’s been doing what he’s doing and found success not when he was 19 years old. He kind of lived a whole life before he became a rock star. And he actively wants to shed people’s perceptions of him. He leads the charge in his career, and not in a way that people expect. I think that’s admirable. I feel like it’s the kind of thing we try to do with what we make as well, always trying to stay ahead of the audience and not trying to get boxed into a corner.
Monster Rally: Adventures on the Floating Island (2019)
I’ve been listening to Monster Rally for several years now. I have a playlist of all their stuff, and that’s what I put on every time I get onto a plane. I just order a screwdriver, put my headphones on, and listen to that album. It makes me just float away like I’m in some weird tropical vacation with a beach. This is their new album, and anything that comes out from them, I just love to devour and listen to over and over.
Elvis Presley: Live 1969 (2019)
I haven’t gotten through all 13 hours, but I’ve definitely gotten through seven or eight of them. I have it on my computer, and when I come into the office to write, I’ll hit play instantly and let it be low in the background all day long. It makes me feel like I’m working next to Elvis. He’s working on his albums, I’m over here working on my scripts, we’re just trying to make it.
Right after I graduated college, I drove cross-country, and I stopped at Graceland. I was thinking I was stopping for the kitsch factor, but by the end of the fucking tour, I was a full-on Elvis fan. There was something about seeing his house and the Jungle Room—it just sparked my imagination. I think he’s incredible. He’s such an awesome artist. His look is a lot of what we pull from for Jesse Gemstone. The Gemstones have his same appreciation for showmanship.
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
