This week, Documentary Now!‘s awaited (well, as much as a comedy show appealing particularly to documentary film enthusiasts and Talking Heads fans could be awaited in the general sense) spoof of the Talking Heads documentary, Stop Making Sense, will air. (It’s called “Final Transmission.”) In advance of the episode — which is out Wednesday, October 12 — IFC has shared some clips that’ll help you get to know the band — Test Pattern — in advance, and Jezebel has likewise posted a video of actual Talking Heads founding members Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz watching parts of the episode.
The first, perhaps most exciting clip introduces Anita, the female vocalist of the parody band (played by Maya Rudolph) on how she came to be part of Test Pattern: she initially dated Marky (Bill Hader), but then married Lee (Fred Armisen, playing the David Byrne counterpart), because “it was part of a performance he was doing about the banality of marriage — so he married a lot of objects, like a telephone, a parrot, and a fancy automobile, and [she] was the only human.” Watch:
IFC also shared a snippet of the origin story of the band, described by Marky and Lee:
Meanwhile, Pitchfork has published a video of a full song performed by Test Pattern, and Jezebel, as mentioned, enlisted Weymouth and Frantz to provide their commentary. (Frantz jokes that the lyrics are better than Byrne’s).
Watch that video, as well, and tune in for the episode this Wednesday: