"This is the f--- 'em tour," joked veteran comedian Harry Shearer, standing in front of a packed audience at Visions Cinema in Dupont Circle. When Shearer isn't recording voices for his famous personalities like Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Principal Skinner on "The Simpsons," performing concerts with Christopher Guest's comedy troupe for their latest film, "A Mighty Wind," or broadcasting his political radio show entitled "Le Show," he's speaking to audiences across the country, fielding questions about his new film "Teddy Bears' Picnic."
"Picnic" employs several comedians like Michael McKean, Fred Willard and John Michael Higgins who have been featured with Shearer in recent Christopher Guest films, such as "A Mighty Wind." The movie debuted March 2001, but critics did not receive it well initially.
"I began to lose faith in the film after the initial response," Shearer told those in the crowd during the question and answer session at Visions Cinema. The Los Angeles Times said flat-out that they weren't going to write a piece about the film when it debuted, Shearer said, however he added that the film eventually found its audience overseas. "The Aussies loved it. People are fascinated with American culture and how America is run."
"Teddy Bears' Picnic," written and directed by Shearer, proves to be a far cry from the Guest comedies the ensemble cast usually stars in, but Shearer is proud to bring his low-budget comedy to several theaters across the country.
"Teddy Bears' Picnic" is a movie about a group of socially elite, rich and powerful white American men who, once a year, take a retreat in the forest. These elites include military generals, corporate figureheads and famous personalities (such as Alan Thicke of TV's "Growing Pains" appearing as himself), and together they compose the Zambesians, based off an actual annual event, shrouded in secrecy, held by a club of global elite called the Bohemians at Bohemian Grove in Northern California. Characters in Shearer's film don red and white robes and perform secret ceremonies that involve worshiping a giant pelican and a clock representative of time.
While the antics in the film are bizarre to say the least, they fail to provoke a huge reaction from the audience. One feels detached from the characters; mainly due to Shearer's script problems they don't seem believable as the global elite.
Surprisingly, Shearer brought up longtime collaborator Christopher Guest before any audience members during the question and answer session, while describing the similarities between his film and Guest's. "We're both interested in reality, or at least how people really are, and that's funny," he said.
"Teddy Bears' Picnic" employs elements of Christopher Guest's previous films in its character study of a quirky, semi-realistic ensemble cast. However, the lack of improvisation in "Picnic" marks the key difference. While actors improvise the dialogue in Guest's films, Shearer's film is entirely scripted, which seems to limit the talent involved. Usually uproarious personalities like Fred Willard, playing potential Republican presidential candidate Senator Roger Dickie, seem contained and underutilized in "Picnic."
However, Shearer's satire of the media shines through. "I'm not a journalist, I'm in television broadcasting" remarks television anchor Katy Woo in the film. The media's part in covering the cryptic goings-on at the Zambesian Grove seems even more inappropriate than the ceremonies of the Zambesians themselves. As soon as some photographs of a few Zambesians can-can dancing in drag surface, the news is all over it. Hours later, a forest fire monopolizes the headlines and the amateur footage of the Zambesian Grove is so two hours ago. Shearer's criticism of the news media serves as the pith of the film, the rest seemingly dead weight.
The majority of the question and answer period consisted of questions concerning "Teddy Bears' Picnic," however the most consistent tangent was Shearer's political radio show. Shearer mentioned politically savvy comedians Michael Moore and Al Franken and his politics came through, not only in his film, but in his responses to several questions. After he said that local D.C. station WAMU 88.5 dropped his show on Sept. 10, 2001, Shearer added, "I've still never heard that aspect of the conspiracy."
When an audience member asked about Shearer's creative involvement on "The Simpsons," he answered with more aversion to the topic, plainly stating that: "'The Simpsons does what it wants, and I do what I want, and that's the way it's going to be."
Shearer proved to be an interesting speaker whose past collaborations make him an important figure of pop culture, both in the realms of film and television. While "Teddy Bears' Picnic" musters occasional laughs despite its lack of luster, Shearer's experience is unquestionable.
