Life & Work with Allen Keller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Allen Keller.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Back in Chicago, I had a band called The Falling Wallendas that put out several albums in the 1990s. In 2000, when my band broke up, I quit music to write comedy. I had an acclaimed America History-based sketch comedy show at the Second City Theater called “Patriautism.” Meanwhile, I was cranking out screenplays and TV pilots. One of my scripts was a finalist in a bunch of screenplay competitions and landed me representation. So my wife and I packed up our car, our two-year-old daughter and dog, and moved to L.A. where we’ve been ever since.

During Covid, an old friend of mine from the music world, Alex Hofmann, who worked at Ted Talks and was once tour manager for Radiohead, came up with the idea of interviewing our acquaintances in music and comedy about their “Spinal Tap Moments,” based on the 1984 Rob Reiner mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap.” This movie has become a touchstone for performers of all types who have had to put up with the indignities of being on the road, playing on stage, and recording in the studio. We focus on experiences they’ve had which may not have been funny at the time but are hysterical in retrospect.

Our eclectic list of guests includes members of the bands The Pixies, Sleater Kinney and STYX, film and TV composer Craig Wedren (Yellowjackets, School of Rock), record producer Butch Vig (Nirvana “Nevermind”), actress Julie Bowen (Modern Family), comedian David Cross and artist Shepard Fairey.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Technology has really given our podcast an assist. We started conducting our interviews during quarantine on a Zoom-like platform called Riverside, and using an AI-driven editing program called Descript. Alex and I were also very fortunate to hook up with podcast producer Gretchen Kilby, who has amped up our production values considerably. And our guests, who are often friends, have been incredibly helpful and wonderful to deal with.

We had one big SNAFU where we were going to auction off an NFT to help fund the project. Alex, as Radiohead’s very first American tour manager, is in possession of the historic contract from the British band’s first show in the States from 1993 at a club called Venus De Milo’s in Boston (coincidentally, one of Spinal Tap’s albums in the movie was called “Intravenous De Milo.”). Anyway, we tried to auction off an NFT of that original contract on Openseas but it was a world we weren’t very familiar with and never got a bid.

We also had an incredible coincidence with one of our guests, Grammy Award-winning songwriter Dan Wilson who has collaborated with Taylor Swift, Adele, Pink, Weezer, and John Legend. During our interview with Dan, we learned that he had gotten to work with his hero, Carole King, a decade ago. Well, I rent a house which was once Carole’s office space and, in the the middle of re-telling the story, Dan and I realized that he had worked with Carole IN MY HOME, exactly where I was recording the interview! It was quite a Spinal Tap Moment in and of itself.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Our podcast is story-driven and doesn’t concentrate on the highlights of our guests’ careers, nor do we talk about origin stories like other interview shows. We focus on when things went very very very wrong. And since Alex and I are musicians and have experienced a lot of Spinal Tap Moments ourselves (i.e., I once was about to hit a bar patron with a barstool at a gig because he was going to stab the headlining band’s drummer, but ended up not having to because, at that very moment, an ambulance crashed into all the cars outside the club, nearly killing my bassist) we intersperse our own Spinal Tap Moments in with our guest’s.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Please like, follow, rate, review, and subscribe to Too Much Effing Perspective on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @TMEPSHOW

Contact Info:

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