Classic Clips: Jenna Elfman audition for Dylan’s band, Dharma And Greg, 1999

You may have forgotten the late Nineties American sitcom ‘Dharma and Greg‘ which was built around a premise that has been revisited endlessly in the new 21st century world of Reality TV (The first rule of reality TV? None of this is real….).  Basically, Hippie chick Dharma has a date with super square lawyer Greg and they marry immediately.  Endless amusement plays out over five seasons and 119 episodes.  For our purposes the episode of interest is Episode 51  from Season 3, entitled ‘Play Lady Play‘.  Dharma helps out a local garage band who need a drummer immediately – the “humour” revolves mostly around Dharma being a late twenties woman who dresses for the weather – and it would seem that the weather is mostly good – and the band being a bunch of boys in their mid-teens.  When Dharma turns up to band practice the mother of one of the boys is concerned that she may be a sexual predator.  Hilarious.  I mean, wow.  The upshot is that Dharma gets kicked out of the band with a good chunk of the episode run time remaining.  Fortunately, she hears about another band who are looking for a drummer and confidently goes off to audition.  Maybe they’ll be good enough for her, who knows?

Which is where Bob Dylan comes in.  You may also spot Tony Gilkyson, Joe Henry, T-Bone Burnett and John Fields.  Bob is clearly enjoying himself – another chink in that imagined “Bob’s so serious” carapace.  Turns out he likes to enjoy himself. Well…who knew?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUk6jVl5Z-s

About Jonathan Aird 2681 Articles
Sure, I could climb high in a tree, or go to Skye on my holiday. I could be happy. All I really want is the excitement of first hearing The Byrds, the amazement of decades of Dylan's music, or the thrill of seeing a band like The Long Ryders live. That's not much to ask, is it?
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