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| Micucci (left) and Lindhome. Photo courtesy of the artist. |
If you are confused by the moniker Garfunkel and Oates, you wouldn't be the first. Comedy duo Riki "Garfunkel" Lindhome and Kate "Oates" Micucci took their stage name from two of music's most prominent second bananas. Once Tom Arnold booked them; thinking they were actually Art Garfunkel and John Oates. Now that their self-released album, All Over Your Face, has debuted at #1 on iTunes Comedy and HBO has tapped the team for a pilot, it is unlikely that mistake will be made again.
Micucci and Lindhome met at the Los Angeles chapter of the Upright Citizen's Brigade in 2007 and quickly began working together on the musical film Imaginary Larry. When the excerpts of that collaboration amassed legions of fans on youtube, the two decided to pursue further musical ambitions.
"That was really exciting for us," Micucci wrote from L.A about All Over Your Face's iTunes ranking. "We made this album all on our own without a record label."
They did create a fictitious label, "No One Buys Records," to release the album on and it's this type of irreverent humour that landed Garfunkel and Oates on Jay Leno's Tonight Show on four separate occasions. Their lyrics frequently tackle social taboos like unconfident sex ("Handjob, Blandjob, I Don't Understandjob") drugs ("Weed Card") and pregnant envy ("Pregnant Women Are Smug.")
"It usually starts with the subject of the song," Micucci, who is originally from Pennsylvania, wrote about the Garfunkel and Oates writing process. "We just start spitting out ideas. Some songs come out really quickly but most take a lot of time and thought. 'Handjob Blandjob, I Don't Unerstandjob' took months to finish. We began writing that song on an airplane. We were discussing in great detail our confusion about hand jobs and the poor lady sitting next to us seemed really uncomfortable."
The pair recently wrapped shooting a video for Weed Card, a song that was written in sex columnist Dan Savage's basement. However Garfunkel and Oates' celebrity ties don't end there. Micucci and Lindhome were invited by the Oates of their namesake to perform as his opening act.
"John Oates is just so cool. And one of the nicest guys, too," Micucci wrote. "We both grew up listening to Hall and Oates and they still are one of our favorite bands, so we were flipping out when John reached out to us to see if we wanted to play music with him. We opened for him when he played in Southern California and then last September he invited us to play at his Songwriter Festival in Aspen."
The only stipulation for the girls using his name is that John Oates requires free beer at all of their shows. While Art Garfunkel has yet to contact the duo, Micucci adds that they wouldn't turn down an opportunity to work with him.
The opportunity to ink the deal for their pilot at HBO came from a partnership with Richard Keen. Keen has previously worked on the web sensationTom Cruise is a Cock Block and Comedy Central's Important Things With Dimitri Martin. If Garfunkel and Oates' series is picked up, a portion of the series will be web-based.
Both women have established ties with HBO. Micucci has a reoccurring role on Bored to Death as Zach Galifianakis' elfin love interest and Lindhome will appear in the upcoming Laura Dern-starring comedy Enlightened. Micucci has also appeared on the sitcoms Raising Hope, Scrubs and Weeds and you may remember Lindhome as the murderous maven Sadie in the recent remake of Last House on the Left, or from guest spots on sitcoms such as Single Dads and $H*! My Dad Says.
In addition to upcoming shows in LA, Garfunkel and Oates will be appearing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival this spring and hope to release another full length album by the end of the year.
Weed Card
Worst Songs Ever Medley
Garfunkel and Oates talk about the 80's! http://bit.ly/hI3CCk
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