We're a Brooklyn Baaaaand!

Okay, so, it seems I'm a little late to the party that is IFC's Z Rock. I blame it on the guy driving the pedicab I took who looked an awful lot like Twisted Sister's Dee Snider. At any rate, in the case of this quirky and offbeat gem, it's better late than never.

 

Intro

I knew nothing about this show going in. I saw an ad ahead of the trailers of movie I went to see. I thought it was funny, went home and added it to my DVR. Sometimes it really is that simple. After having watched a few episodes, I started looking for info in this show. Especially after the end of episode tags advertising Z02's most recent album (Casino Logic) being in stores. 'Hold on a sec' I thought, 'these guys actually have an album out'??!

Well, let me just say, Google is no friend of Z Rock. Or at least no friend of Z Rock the TV show, having brought listing upon listing of Z Rock radio station affiliate websites. Okay, no problem, how about Entertainment Weekly. Sorry, no dice, zero results. Ain't It Cool News? Success! Yes? Success? No! 5 listings...all having to do with DVD release dates and/or premiere dates.

Picking up bits and pieces here and there, mainly from IFC's own televised promos, and a two sentence IMDB plot summary written by "anonymous", this is what I was able to gather and believe to be fact about the story behind the show:

Paulie Zablidowski, his brother David, and their life long friend Joey Cassata are in a New York (presumably Brooklyn) rock band named Z02. Now they play themselves in a show somewhat about themselves.

That my friends is all I can say I know to be true.

Upon Further Digging

As for the yin to Z02's yang, the Z Brothers, I don't know for a fact that this second band existed prior to the show. I believe there probably was/is a second, tamer band these three were/are a part of, but were they named Z Brothers prior to the show, and did they only play young childrens parties? Did they also play Bar/Bat Mitzvahs? How about Proms? All valid questions left to be answered by someone with some true journalistic clout, i.e. someone whose readership reaches at least into the double digits. Not that it will help any, but here's the show summary from IFC's official Z Rock site:

"Rock band by night. Kids band by day.

Z ROCK is a comedy series that follows three friends leading a double life: by night they're a hard-partying rock band and by day they're a kids party band. Z ROCK is (kinda) based on the true story of the band Z02 (brothers Paulie Z and David Z, and lifelong friend Joey Cassata) and gives a satirical look at the dark underbelly of the rock n' roll dream.

Paulie (vocals), David (bass guitar), and Joey (drums) are average, Brooklyn born-and-bred neighborhood guys doing what it takes to avoid menial jobs to pay the rent. By day, they re-invent themselves as Z Brothers: THE band to book in New York City - if you want your trust-fund five-year-old to be the envy of every blue blood in school."

Kinda? Kinda! "Z Rock is (kinda) based on the true story of the band Z02..." Well gee, thanks a lot, that clears everything up. I mean, I don't know, I've only been watching the episodes on IFC, maybe there's a documentary on the season 1 DVD that expalins it all.

A Heady Comparison

But regardless, let me just say that the lack of media exposure is a bit of a head scratcher. Z Rock could easily be compared to Entourage, another show of which I'm a fan. Imagine Z Rock as Entourage, but before the boys went off to Hollywood. Not like last season's New York set finale, where Vince was already famous, but imagine it as if Vince was maybe still taking acting classes, and had maybe only landed a few national commercials before getting the lead in Head On and moving to L.A. That's the best comparison I can think of for people not versed in Z (however it requires they be versed in V E D & T).

Okay, it seems I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself. I hope I haven't lost any of you along the way. Let me get down to the basics.

The Rundown

Z Rock focuses on the members of the rock band Z02, two Jews and an Italian (make up your own punchlines), the (biological) brothers Paulie (guitar and lead vocals), & David (bass), and their life long friend Joey (drums). To make ends meet until their big break comes, they play kids parties as their alter ego The Z Brothers. Z Brothers by day, Z02 by night, see what I meant about the whole yin/yang?

They are of course helped along the way on their journey to stardom. Most notably by their tenacious and dogged manager Dina, played by the fiery Lynne Koplitz. Joing them is Neil (Jay Oakerson), a small time club owner and would-be suitor to Paulie (would-be if only Paulie wouldn't keep rejecting his advances). Also along for the ride is a laudry list of eclectic greats from the music (anyone from Dee Snider to Dave Navarro to John Popper to Daryl Hall) and comedy worlds, with comedians some playing themselves and others in character, many in recurring roles, among them, Joan Rivers, Gilbert Gottfried, Jim Norton, Patrice O'Neal, Dave Attell, Greg Giraldo, Jeffrey Ross, basically anyone that had ever appeared on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. Worth nothing, Koplitz and Oakerson both began their careers as stand-ups.

They All Play A Role

Paulie's the soul of the show and the band, and the level head, the equivilant of Entourage's E. David is the ladies man, the player, the Vince of the show. Joey, well, Joey's the short fuse and the eccentric, the guy who has to have things a certain way, our very own Johnny Drama. Dina is the manager who will fuck, or fuck over just about anyone to help her boys get ahead. She easily gives Ari a run for his money as TV's biggest prick. And finally, a Turtle by any other name would be called Neil, however Turtle is far more intrinsic to the Entourage story than Neil is to Z Rock.

Neil is by far the weakest and most forced of the characters. The unneeded comic relief, throwing out dick jokes for a funny, though cheap, laugh. I say unneeded because the four leads (I'm counting Dina here) are just so damn comedicly strong. Three of my personal favorite bits are Paulie's imagined imitation of Gilbert Gottfried's son, Paulie's Kramer (from Seinfeld) impression, fabled enterance & all, and Joey's man crush on wrestler Chris Jericho.

Why It's So Damn Great

I want to stop for a minute because I don't feel I'm doing the show justice in my summation, and really words just can't. It's a show you have to watch and watch not once. And no, it isn't in the least bit a ripoff of Entourage, though the parallels are unquestionably there.

What works best is that there's such a refreshingly natural chemistry amongst our three leads. You feel it's a shear consequence of their personal history, and could never have been pulled off otherwise. Again, I don't know how scripted this "semi-scripted" series is. Obviously they didn't randomly happen upon Frank Stallone's van for sale, but if even a quarter of the dialogue is written, those writers have many prosperous years ahead of them in this industry. Because it's the dialogue more than anything else that endears these characters to us. And their interplay with each other is again (for lack of a more fitting word) natural and symbiotic. Rarely has the phrase "the sum of the parts is greater than the whole" been more appropriate.

But we can't ignore Koplitz here, she simultaneously exudes both attraction and replusion in such a way that, while I'm sure I want to put things inside of her, I'm not sure what things those are, nor where I want to put them. A vile and tasteless sentiment no doubt, but one that I'm sure would make, if not the actress, then at least the character, blush.

Because that's what kind of show this is.

There's sex. There's language. There's nudity. And there's a whole hell of a lot of Rock 'n Roll.

And lest I forget the show's biggest star, there's the city. This show is unapologetically New York. It's Allen-esque (as in Woody) in it's love affair with the city. Another parallel to Entourage's love affair with Los Angeles. I'm no New Yorker, but this show makes me wish I was. I actually googled Hill Country after a recent episode, just to see if the place was real.

And if that doesn't do enough to explain this show to you, maybe this will:

 The above being my favorite activity excerpt from the downloadable Z Rock Activity Book. Just like that other prolific New York favorite, The Wu-Tang Clan, Z Rock is for the babies!

Watch it now. Thank me later.

- Lenny