A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap review – give them some money

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.

Guest and McKean in particular are music obsessives who’ve been friends since the late 60s; their enduring closeness is mirrored by that of their Tap alter egos Nigel Tufnel and David St Hubbins, albeit without the petty squabbling. Like all the best musical parodists they have a keen understanding of, and affection for, their target (certain jokes in the film are based on first-hand experience). 

The authors also reflect upon the strange afterlife of Tap (much like The Monkees and The Rutles they became a real band who played shows and released albums) the decades-long legal battle to earn money from the film, and the making of its belated and not-bad-at-all sequel. We’re also treated to an enjoyable epilogue in which they ‘schnadle’ in character, possibly for one last time. A delightful book. 

A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tapby Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer is out now (Simon & Schuster, £25).

You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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