Watch Daisy Jones stars Sam Claflin and Riley Keough interview Dr. Teeth and Janice of The Muppets Mayhem
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Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.
None of them have anything on the epic collab that is Daisy Jones & the Six and The Electric Mayhem.
The Muppets Mayhem debuted May 10 on Disney+ telling the story of the Muppets house band, The Electric Mayhem, and the laborious journey of recording their first album. Daisy Jones & the Six already captured hearts (and topped Billboard charts) back in March when it premiered on Prime Video, adapting Taylor Jenkins Reid's bestselling novel about Daisy Jones (Riley Keough), Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin), and the Six creating the album Aurora.
Eric Longden for EW 'Daisy Jones & the Six' meets 'The Muppets Mayhem'
Giving their mutual groovy vibes and rock behind-the-music style storytelling, EW decided to unite two of the most legendary (fictional) 1970s rock bands ever to grace our television screens, pairing off Daisy Jones stars Claflin and Keough with the Mayhem's Dr. Teeth and Janice for a wide-ranging conversation about their respective albums, their go-to karaoke tracks, and what it's like chronicling the making of a record on a television show.
SAM CLAFLIN: Welcome to a very special edition of Entertainment Weekly's Around the Table. We're here with Dr. Teeth and Janice, two members of the legendary rock band The Electric Mayhem, and the stars of the new Disney+ series The Muppets Mayhem.
DR. TEETH: That's right.
RILEY KEOUGH: Dr. Teeth and Janice, I am so excited to meet you and I'm kind of fangirling right now.
CLAFLIN: And I'm fanboying!
DR. TEETH: Well, it is most posilutely a pleasure to be here with you both.
JANICE: Oh, fer sure. I'm getting, like, really amazing vibes from both of you. Like your auras are both like totally stunning today!
CLAFLIN: I think you've brought the energy, that's what it is.
DR. TEETH: Right on.
Mitch Haaseth/Disney The Electric Mayhem perform on 'The Muppets Mayhem'
CLAFLIN: So Dr. Teeth, it is such a pleasure to meet you in person. Like our band in our show, I believe The Electric Mayhem formed in the 1970s, is that right?
DR. TEETH: That is correct.
CLAFLIN: Can you tell us how you guys got together?
DR. TEETH: Well, I don't want to tread too deep into spoilerizin' our new show, but what I can tell ya is, is The Electric Mayhem originally estabulated down in The Big Easy.
JANICE (aside, to Riley): That's New Orleans.
KEOUGH (aside, to Janice): Thank you.
JANICE (aside, to Riley): You're welcome.
DR. TEETH: As happenstance would have it, both myself and Floyd Pepper hail from N'awlins. Our grooviations could not be kept apart. Twas melodious fate that brought out the musicality in each other –– much like yourself and Riley, am I right?
CLAFLIN: 100 percent right.
KEOUGH: That's right.
CLAFLIN: So you guys just clicked straight away?
DR. TEETH: Indeed we did, indeed we did, Sam, but it was a facade of familial influences that hurriedly delayed the eventual draw of our dreams.
JANICE: Fer sure! But once their celestial stars collided, it was like, two whole notes melding into one perfect harmony.
KEOUGH: Sounds like the beginning of a very beautiful friendship.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Sam Claflin as Billy Dunne and Riley Keough as Daisy Jones
CLAFLIN: My character dealt with the responsibilities of being the band leader, too.
KEOUGH: One of the band's leaders.
CLAFLIN: Right, yes, sorry, I still feel like I'm in character sometimes. How did the responsibility of being the band leader, how did they weigh on you?
DR. TEETH: Well, that's the beauty of our little group –– none of us are the leader, yet all of us are.
JANICE: Totally.
DR. TEETH: Our group is ruled by a pure rocktocracy.
KEOUGH: Rocktocracy?
DR. TEETH: Precisely. We all subscribe to the same sensibility: One mind, one melody...
DR. TEETH AND JANICE: One Mayhem!
JANICE: Fer sure. We like, all have the same dreams, you know and the same vibes, and the same goals... we're like a beautiful, tropical ecosystem. You know, like, all working together in harmony.
KEOUGH: Just like any good band should, if you ask me!
JANICE: Oh fer sure.
DR. TEETH: That's right.
Mitch Haaseth/Disney Lilly Singh, Janice, and Saara Chaudry on 'The Muppets Mayhem'
KEOUGH: Janice, you've been with the band for so long, you must feel like family by now.
JANICE: Oh, wow Riley, you're like, so insightful! We're totally like a family! They're all like my brothers and best friends and well, y'know, Floyd and I are spiritually promised. But I couldn't imagine my life without any of them.
KEOUGH: I love that. It's not always the case with bands...
CLAFLIN: A lot of families too
JANICE: Fer sure. But, like, no matter what we go through, we all like really dig each other and we love making music together. What more could you ever want, right?
KEOUGH: I feel like I want to say "fer sure" right now, but I don't take your line, Jane.
JANICE: OMG, Riley! You can say "fer sure," it's not just for me. It's for, like, every organic being on Mother Earth...
KEOUGH: Fer sure, Janice.
JANICE: Wow, you're, like, a natural!
CLAFLIN: Fer sure!
JANICE: Okay we might have to work on that one a little bit. Maybe we'll just go with Riley for right now.
CLAFLIN: Sorry, it's the British accent.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video The cast of 'Daisy Jones & the Six'
DR. TEETH: There's something I wanted to ask the two of you: Were there any musicians that contributed to the characters you bring to life on your show?
CLAFLIN: I did a lot of research and watched a lot of Bruce Springsteen, him playing live, and Fleetwood Mac, if you're familiar. Yeah that was kind of where my love and inspiration came from.
DR. TEETH: How about you, Riley?
KEOUGH: I kind of watched any video that would come up on YouTube when I would type in 1970, whatever year performance. So I watched women, I watched men, I watched Robert Plant, I watched Jimi Hendrix. At the end of the day, Daisy didn't need inspiration because she's not the muse, she is the somebody.
JANICE: I can totally see that now! That's like totally amazing, right? So, did either of you ever want to, like, be in a band?
KEOUGH: It was never really something I thought of because I never had been musical really before the show. I never knew it was an option.
CLAFLIN: I couldn't play any instruments before we started this show, so I had to learn how to play guitar whilst we were in the process of filming.
DR. TEETH: You learned to play guitar for the part?
CLAFLIN: For the part, yeah. Now I have new dreams. [Laughs] But as a kid, not being able to sing, not being able to play any instruments sort of ruled that out for me, so I'm happy that I now have that skill under my belt.
DR. TEETH: Well, if I may so humbly hypothesize, I do believe you both will make exceptionally magnamatic full-time musicians, whenever you so choose to do so.
CLAFLIN: Maybe one day.
KEOUGH: One day.
Mitch Haaseth/Disney The Electric Mayhem on 'The Muppets Mayhem'
DR. TEETH: What is your go-to karaoke jam, Sam?
CLAFLIN: It depends on the day, it depends how I'm feeling, it depends how much of a good night I've had before. I do love to sing "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, though it's quite difficult to do on my own. It's a good crowd pleaser. But I also am a big fan of"Your Song" by Elton John, which is what I sang for our audition.
DR. TEETH: That was your audition song?
CLAFLIN: That was my audition song.
DR. TEETH: Beautiful, beautiful.
JANICE: I like, love that song.
DR. TEETH: Could you do a little of that for us?
CLAFLIN: [Laughs] Not today.
DR. TEETH: How about you, Riley?
KEOUGH: I'm trying to think about the last time I did karaoke and I think it was a Spice Girls song
CLAFLIN: Which one?
KEOUGH: I think it was "Two Become One" by the Spiece Girls, I think that was my last karaoke song but with some friends
JANICE: Who was your favorite Spice Girl?
KEOUGH: Oh my gosh, that's so hard, Janice.
DR. TEETH: Paprika?
CLAFLIN: [Laughs] Five Spice.
KEOUGH: [Laughs] Cayenne.
DR. TEETH: Cayenne.
KEOUGH: She was fantastic. My favorite Spice Girl when I was young was Baby Spice and I think now maybe it would be Ginger Spice.
JANICE: Oh I love Ginger!
DR. TEETH: Perhaps we could find a kind moment to accompany each other in some extracurricular Karaoke cravings sometime?
CLAFLIN: Karaoke with you two? How could anyone pass that up?!
KEOUGH: We would love that.
CLAFLIN: Yes please.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Sam Claflin and Riley Keough as Billy Dunne and Daisy Jones
KEOUGH: Janice, I know you're probably expecting this question, but you are in a relationship with your band mate, Floyd Pepper, and the two of you seem to have a great relationship an I was just wondering what your secret was?
JANICE: We just like totally get each other, y'know? Like our vibes blend like, really really well together. Plus, he's got that amazing mustache –– wow, have you like seen that mustache?
KEOUGH: I have seen the mustache.
CLAFLIN: It's an impressive mustache.
JANICE: Well then you like, totally get it, right? And every time I hear Floyd sing or play the bass, it's like the heavens open up and like drop tons of heavy-winged angels over me, leaving me unconscious for weeks, sometimes months.
KEOUGH: That's really beautiful, Janice.
JANICE: Right? I mean, it doesn't really happen, but wouldn't that be like totally amazing?
DR. TEETH/JANICE/KEOUGH/CLAFLIN: Love.
DR. TEETH: I brought a question that I wanted to ask you both. I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. It's down here. You know what? Let me get back to ya on that...
JANICE: Okay well I guess I was just wondering if you two have a favorite Muppet moment or movie or something that we've done?
CLAFLIN: What haven't I loved? But um, I was always a big fan growing up and still love watching A Muppets Christmas Carol. A Muppets Treasure Island...
KEOUGH: I was going to say, that was mine, Treasure Island! That was my favorite piece of work that you all have done.
DR. TEETH: Got it, here it is! Do you have a favorite Muppet moment or movie or something we've done?
Mitch Haaseth/Disney Lilly Singh, Tahj Mowry, Anders Holm, and the Electric Mayhem on 'The Muppets Mayhem'
JANICE: Ooh, like, what was more totally amazing for both of you: Making an album or making a series?
KEOUGH: That's a hard question, Janice. I think they both were incredible. I loved making the album because it's something I'd never done before, so it was a very fun, new experience for me. I think one of the great parts about our jobs is we get to learn new skills and do things we wouldn't normally do so I really loved that experience but they were both fantastic experiences.
CLAFLIN: Yeah, making the album felt like part of making the series, we sort of did it all around the same time. It felt very synchronized in that respect. It felt magical and you know, it was a very special new experience. What about you two?
DR. TEETH: Well I'd have to say when you're makin' an album you don't really get to spend time with amazing people like the people in our series.
JANICE/KEOUGH: Fer sure!
JANICE: Like Lilly and Tahj and Saara and Anders were like so amazing to be with everyday.
DR. TEETH: And don't forget that unbelievable production crew that made it all happen. We couldn't have been more luckified. Talk about a family.
CLAFLIN: That's exactly how we feel about our show.
KEOUGH: Yes we were very very lucky.
JANICE/KEOUGH/CLAFLIN: Fer sure!
JANICE: Ooh, nice, Sam!
CLAFLIN: Thank you, I'm learning. I'm getting there.
JANICE: Wow you're like in the zone now.
CLAFLIN: Thank you, Janice, thank you.
Warner Music 'Daisy Jones and the Six'
JANICE: So would you two ever want to like, make some Muppet Mayhem magic with us, you know like work with us?
KEOUGH: I would love to work with you guys.
CLAFLIN: [Gestures to instrument on table] Would I be expected to play this instrument because this looks quite tricky and as I said I'm still familiarizing myself with guitar so I'm not sure how helpful I could be.
DR. TEETH: You'll get the hang of it.
JANICE: Let's hear some.
DR. TEETH: Yeah why don't you play a little something, give it a shot.
[Claflin attempts to play something]
DR. TEETH: That's terrible.
CLAFLIN: In the series, and I guess in your everyday life, you spend a lot of time on the road in your van. What is that tour life like?
JANICE: Ooh, y'know Sam, it's like, totally amazing, right? We're all so close because we're, like, literally close all the time. We've basically spent, like, every waking moment of the last 45 years together –– so how amazing is that, right?
DR. TEETH: Our tour has been never-ending, not unlike our broken, collaboratory friendship. If I had to hypostulate, I believe our life on the road is the one reason we've stayed together.
KEOUGH: But it must be hard going from town to town and never really getting to put your roots down anywhere.
JANICE: Oh y'know, like, kind of, fer sure. But we bring our roots with us wherever we go because The Electric Mayhem is totally like a family, you know?. Our tours are like, one long family road trip.
DR. TEETH: Right on. And on our road trips, nobody's ever askin' "Are we there yet?" because we're never ever quite sure of the destination.
Eric Longden for EW 'Daisy Jones & the Six' meets 'The Muppets Mayhem'
KEOUGH: I think that's amazing, but being on tour for so long, surely there are tensions that can come up or arguments. How do you deal with those kinds of things?
DR. TEETH: Oh certainly, Miss Riley. We've had some truly far out disagreements in our day. But why bring up the negative when the positive's all you need?
JANICE: Well, like, you know, just this morning we couldn't pick a place to get breakfast.
DR. TEETH: I don't think we need to bring that up.
JANICE: Oh of course not. Let's like totally bury it so it all blows up all at once later on.
KEOUGH: You know what, I think Janice is right. Let's talk about...
DR. TEETH: Alright, you wanna talk about breakfast? As my memory recollectifies, it was someone in this room not named Sam or Riley that didn't feel the exterior of the iHop was conducive enough to a possibility of rainbow activity.
CLAFLIN: Guys. We don't have to do this right now.
JANICE/DR. TEETH: Mind your own business!
JANICE: Wow! Like that wasn't the iHop that was McDonald's golden arches that were blocking the sunlight and besides none of those places have kombucha and it doesn't work for me! No Vegan options!
DR. TEETH: [Plugs his ears] Lalalalalala...
CLAFLIN: We can shelve this now, we can talk about it later maybe but we have to go soon, and we'd love to ask one more question: What is next for Electric Mayhem?
DR. TEETH: Well, Sam I'll tell ya, that's up to the rockin' road of life. However and wherever it may compel us, we shall follow.
JANICE: Oh fer sure. And like, whatever happens, we'll like totally be together.
KEOUGH: Is there anybody you're just like dying to collaborate with?
DR. TEETH: Well, at the moment... I'd say Sam Claflin and Riley Keough!
JANICE: Oh yeah I hear they're amazing.
KEOUGH: Okay well should we sing a song together?
JANICE: Oh let's do like a karaoke!
DR. TEETH: How about this one? [Starts singing "Can You Picture That?"]
ALL: Can you picture that? Can you picture that?
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