One of the greatest comedy films of all time, This is Spinal Tap didn’t make much of an impact upon its release in 1984. An improvised mockumentary about a fictional English rock band played by American comic actors who weren’t particularly well-known was, apparently, a tough sell. However, it gradually became a cult hit on VHS and is now part of the cultural fabric.
In A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap, the film’s director Rob Reiner recounts its making alongside co-creators Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. A fascinatingly fact-packed gift for Tapheads, it’s as much of a labour of love as the film itself.
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What began as a sketch for a 1979 TV comedy special hosted by Reiner quickly took on a life of its own when Guest, McKean and Shearer realised they loved improvising – or ‘schnadling’ as Guest calls it – in character as these none-too-bright yet endearingly sincere and pretentious rockers. Reiner, a sitcom actor who wanted to direct, was similarly smitten, and lo the film was born. Well, almost.
Armed with a 20-minute demo reel and a four-page document detailing the band’s eventful history, it took four demoralising years of meetings with baffled executives before they met a producer, Karen Murphy, who understood what they were trying to do. A masterpiece ensued.
Amid all the trivia on the film’s production – eg they wanted Michael Palin to play Tap’s manager but were too nervous to approach one of their comedy heroes – the book also foregrounds the talents, both musically and comedically, of its three main players.
