Spinal Tap, Simpsons, DVDs And CDs: Harry Shearer Pimps Them All

Harry Shearer is a busy man these days. Besides working on regrowing his infamous Derek Smalls handlebar moustache for a Spinal Tap reunion show at London, England's Wembley Stadium on July 7 as part of the global Live Earth concert series, he's playing a few shows supporting his wife Judith Owen's new Here CD, recording his own Connect The Dots album, flogging his new Now You See It DVD and, of course, providing the voice of Mr. Burns and other characters in the upcoming Simpsons movie.

None of this convergence is intentional, but Shearer isn't complaining about the publicity storm he finds himself in. "It just turned out to be a happy coincidence that I'm delighted to take advantage of."

Now You See It is a two-hour collection of Shearer's past Saturday Night Live and HBO material, and features the first DVD appearance of the infamous "Men's Synchronized Swimming" skit featuring Shearer, Martin Short and Christopher Guest. How does one get SNL material issued on a non-SNL branded release? Apparently it's easier than expected.

"I wrote a cheque," says Shearer.

Depending on your perspective, Spinal Tap have either played Canada twice or four times, most recently in Montreal in 2001. They played Halifax, Barrie, Ontario and Vancouver on Canada Day in 1992 as part of Molson's Great Canadian Party promotion.

What does Derek Smalls remember of those Canada Day performances? Was it entreating then MuchMusic VJ Erica Ehm to dance onstage? Judging whether Sass Jordan was better at spitting than singing?

"One of my key memories of that was the night before in St. John's [Newfoundland]," recalls Shearer. "We were at a restaurant and for the first and only time in my life I had cod tongue, which I liked.

"It's finger food. It really is like little fried things, but they're great. So I remember Canada Day for cod tongue.

There's little hope of Tap touring this year, but they're leaving the door open for their upcoming 25th anniversary and eligibility for inclusion in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. When asked if they could become the first "fake" band to be inducted, Shearer laughs.

"That's a matter of opinion," he says, followed by an observation on current performers. "We looked around and saw all these other bands that were playing with a lot of tracks and thought, 'Well this is goofy, we've come to the point where the fake band is the only one that's actually standing up there playing.' You know, so who's fake?"

Owen has been part of past Spinal Tap performances and describes her role as "an absolute cow back-up chick." Her new album features K.D. Lang as a guest vocalist and an unusual cover of Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" — which she and Shearer (on bass, of course) entertained a crowd at The Drake with to end their whirlwind Toronto promotional appearance last month.

As for The Simpsons Movie: Green Day appearance? Bart nudity? Character deaths?

The lawyers have apparently spoken.

"I really can't tell you anything about the contents of it," Shearer says. "We're, you know..."

Despite my best efforts to get Shearer to slip up, his lips remained sealed on the subject. But at least I tried.