Documentary Now! Season 2 Episode 5
“At some point you have to pull down the curtain and put on your pajamas.” Armisen (who wrote all the music in this episode) is no stranger to doing tangential musical performances at events that have been inspired by his musical riffs on programs like Saturday Night Live and Portlandia, but this musical group feels especially important to both him and Hader. Hell, the duo even did a separate musical documentary (that was a two-parter, at that) last season, but the passion here in their Talking Heads approximate, Test Pattern, is very real. The fictitious musical duo have even already done a live performance on Late Night With Seth Meyers at this point. They just love embodying these musical personae. It’s also rather interesting to learn that the way this episode was put together involved “Test Pattern” actually performing a live concert. This promotional material indicates a lot of this footage was assembled by them actually throwing a concert (they even come up with a clever way to push guests to wear ‘80s attire to further fulfill their needs). This works about a hundred times better than performing something in studio and using extras to complete the illusion of a concert film. It just acts as another strong piece of evidence of the meticulous production design and effort involved in this program. Every step is taken to make this look more real. As “Final Transmission” plays on you’re treated to a number of Test Pattern classics, hits like “Art + Student = Poor,” “This Is My Street,” and my favorite, “Flashing Lights.” There’s even an ‘80s style robot that accompanies the band in a very welcome touch. Robin Sparkles would approve. Through the band’s final performance, we also get to go through the group’s varied evolution, such as their Belinese period, Marky’s William Gibson-inspired songs, and let’s not forget the Rudolph-led track that made it onto the Sun Warriors soundtrack, “Save Time For Me.” The reinventions don’t stop and before you know it Armisen is croaking out a too perfect Tom Waits-inspired song that laments about a derelict carousel graveyard.
