By Peter Lindblad
Anybody remember “The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show?”
It lasted only one season on Comedy Central, premiering in 2007. Actor/Comedian David Koechner, famed for playing slimy cads Todd Packer on “The Office” and Champ Kind in the “Anchorman” movies, was one of the co-stars. To him, nothing he’s ever done tops the musical comedy act he’s fronted with fellow actor David “Gruber” Allen.
“Oh, I loved that,” said Koechner, in a recent interview with Out & About Wisconsin. “God, it’s f**king gorgeous. That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done. It was just bliss. Oh my God, so much fun.”
Koechner is coming to the Skyline Comedy Club in Appleton Friday and Saturday this week to do standup comedy. The 7:30 p.m. shows for both nights are sold out, but you can still get tickets for the 10:15 p.m. performances on Friday and Saturday. An “Office” trivia contest is part of the festivities.
Allen won’t be there. Koechner is going it alone this time, but he has fond memories of doing “The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show” live onstage. Regulars at the alternative-comedy venue the Largo nightclub in Los Angeles, the pair combined infectiously funny songs and stories from the road.
According to Koechner, the TV show had the potential to be great. He feels the network got in its way. It may have been ahead of its time.
“The TV show did not do it justice at all,” said Koechner. “With that show, people were like, ‘What is this?’ First of all, Comedy Central f**ked it up in the market. And you can write exactly that – absolutely f**ked up the marketing. They absolutely f**ked up whatever possibility there was for the show by insisting that we present it as some type of sketch act, which it was not. So, they f**ked it from the beginning, but you know, as someone said, you’re the executive producer. But you know, if you have sh*tty management long enough, you realize you’re in this alone, I’ll do the best I can, and by that point, I’m like, “Well, I’ve got this shot on TV. You’ve got to make compromises and do as they say.”
Even so, Koechner tried to warn the network not to sell it to audiences a certain way.
“I’d always said to them, ‘Don’t you dare ever market this as ‘blue-collar comedy,’” said Koechner. “Well, they didn’t, but those mother**kers called it ‘roadhouse comedy.’ What the f**k does that mean? Of course, that seems just blue-collar adjacent, correct? We’re up there doing f**king references to Chaucer and Noam Chomsky. I don’t think that’s blue-collar. We were more in line with ‘The Daily Show’ than we were with the ‘Blue Collar Comedy Tour.’ Bless them, but we ain’t it. But maybe we were betwixt and between. Maybe we weren’t anything. I would say we weren’t like anything anybody had ever seen.”
If Koechner was in charge, he’d have marketed it differently.
“It’s Abbott and Costello meets the Marx Brothers and they’re sitting watching Monty Python, while they’re reading in one hand Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ and Mark Twain in the other,” said Koechner. “Now the entire time this is going on, they’re listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival, and they’re inspired by the Smothers Brothers, and as this is all happening, they’re going down the road in a big green trailer … on a 40-foot trailer in the back is a carnival under a big tent that’s on fire (laughs).”
Allen played the Naked Trucker, an over-caffeinated long hauler, who sang and played guitar in a red hat and boots. As for Koechner, he was the insightful drifter and lovable moocher T-Bones.
“It was a very dense show,” said Koechner. “There was a lot going on.”
As always, Koechner has a lot going on, too. He’s dipped his toe in internet comedy, and he’s still learning how to best take advantage of it. It’s the wild west and he wants to be the new sheriff in town.
“Yes, and I think a lot of people are still figuring it out, as much as there is already there,” said Koechner. “I’m still figuring it out. Again, it’s betwixt and between, because I came before this stuff, and I haven’t made best use of it. Certainly, people have and in a way that’s puzzling to me, but it works and God bless. We all find our voice in the way that is best suited for ourselves. Some like to paint on wood. Some like to paint on canvas. Some people like to make a f**king NFT, and if you could explain to me what that is, then we’ll both know.”