Jack Black: comedian, performer, musician...failed Elliott Smith cover artist? The Goosebumps star recently recalled an awkward performance from a 2013 Elliott Smith tribute concert in Los Angeles, calling the embarrassing incident a "fiasco."
"One of my favorite musicians of all time was Elliott Smith. He was a genius," Black explained to Off Camera host Sam Jones in the clip below. "So they were doing this tribute to Elliott Smith a couple of years back. They wanted me to do 'Say Yes' so I rehearsed for hours and hours in my car trying to memorize it. I wrote it down, I did everything in my power to get it right."
"We got there and it was my turn. And my brain just froze. I got to a line and my mind thought 'What if I don't remember the next line?' and so I beefed it and said 'Sorry everyone, we're going to start from the beginning. I know no one else has f*cked up their songs, I f*cked up mine, though. But that's OK, take it from the top," he said.
The School of Rock actor continued to detail that the New Moon singer's family members, including his sister, were in attendance. He felt the urge to perfect the performance, which he refers to as almost like a "memorial service," no matter how many times he had to restart the song. Black sheepishly admitted it took a total of nine efforts and eight failed attempts to perform the popular Either/Or track with the correct lyrics.
"Everyone just erupted with applause and cheering because I made it through. It was such a catastrophe. It was a fiasco," Black recalled.
Recently, the Tenacious D frontman discussed his love and appreciation for Elliott Smith during a radio interview, divulging that he once met the "Miss Misery" singer at a Radiohead gig, just weeks prior to his death. According to NME, Smith was apparently trying to duck out ahead of the headlining band after watching Supergrass, the supporting act.
Smith's rise to fame and life in the crippling limelight was recently depicted in the documentary, Heaven Adores You.
