BBN Live
The house band

Lenny Static & the Interference

Lenny Static plays a pink keytar and has never once taken off his sunglasses. The Interference are a drummer whose face is an old television, an upright bass and a trumpet. They play the theme, the walk-on, the stings and the play-off. The band does not talk. The band only plays. When the band is not playing, the band is not on screen, which Lenny says is a union thing.

Lenny on keytar, the TV-headed drummer, the bassist and the horn player on the bandstand

The lineup

  • Lenny Static · Keytar, bandleaderPink keytar, purple suit, sunglasses since 1987. Lenny counts the band in with a single raised eyebrow. He believes every song is improved by one more chord, and he is usually right.
  • The Drummer · DrumsHis face is an old television set. Mostly static, occasionally a test pattern, once (briefly) the weather. Keeps perfect time. Nobody has asked him his name; it feels rude now.
  • The Bassist · Upright bassThe calmest person in the building. Holds the whole room together with four strings and an expression of total peace.
  • The Trumpet · TrumpetPlays the stings. All of them. The big ones, the sad ones and the one after a joke that did not work, which he plays with real feeling.
What they play

The book

  1. The theme

    Horns, organ, bass and drums, with a little chiptune keytar on top. It plays the open while the announcer reads it.

  2. The walk-on

    Skip comes through the stage door. The band hits it. The audience stands up on its own timing.

  3. The stings

    Four of them, for the jokes that land, the ones that land sideways, and the ones Hank tallies.

  4. The applause vamp

    A loop for as long as the crowd keeps clapping. Lenny can keep it going for a very long time.

  5. The play-off

    The end of the night. "Stay dry, everybody."

House rule: the band is only on screen while it plays. Lenny calls this "a union thing". There is no union.