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The Folksmen are a fictitious American folk music trio, conceived and performed by actors/comedians/musicians Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. Originally created in 1984 for a ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch, the Folksmen have subsequently maintained an intermittent public presence for more than twenty-five years. The trio is best known for its depiction in the mockumentary film ''A Mighty Wind'' (2003), but has also made a number of meta-performances on stage and television, often in conjunction with the same creators' fictitious heavy metal band, Spinal Tap. ==Film, television and concert depictions== Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer first appeared as the Folksmen on the November 3, 1984, episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. Guest and Shearer had both been regular cast members for some time, while McKean was appearing that night as a special guest. All three had previously worked together on comedy projects involving musical parody, including the ''Lenny and the Squigtones'' LP and a television pilot, ''The TV Show'', which marked the first appearance of Spinal Tap. The ''SNL'' sketch, entitled "The Folksmen Reunion," had a similar satirical intent, targeting the renewed interest in American folk music following then-recent reunions of such artists as Peter, Paul & Mary (1978), The Weavers (1980), and The Kingston Trio (1981). Introduced by Pamela Stephenson, the ''SNL'' sketch depicted the Folksmen as caricatures of semi-retired folk musicians: three conservatively dressed middle-aged men, spouting homilies and performing simplistic songs with cloying lyrics. In a 2009 interview, Shearer stated that the songs were intended to satirize "the fake folk music being written in office buildings in Manhattan’s Upper West Side." Guest, McKean and Shearer made a cameo appearance as the Folksmen in the 1992 film ''The Return of Spinal Tap'', which documented the latter group's real-life reunion concert at Royal Albert Hall in London. When the trio subsequently toured as Spinal Tap during 2001, they would occasionally perform in the guise of the Folksmen as an ostensible "opening act"; not all of the audiences appreciated (or even understood) this in-joke, with one appearance in New York City reportedly being booed by a restless audience. Of this twist, Shearer once stated: "You can think you're in control of the amusing notion of the wrong act opening for a rock band—but when you actually find yourself being the wrong act, it doesn't feel any better."〔Barbara Hoffman, "The Old Folkies at Home", ''New York Times'', Sep 20, 2003, p 25.〕 In a 2009 interview, Guest reflected further on the phenomenon: The line between fiction and reality had previously blurred when, in 1993, Guest, McKean and Shearer performed as The Folksmen at a genuine folk festival held at UCLA in Los Angeles, alongside such real-life folk artists as Arlo Guthrie, Joni Mitchell and Peter, Paul & Mary. According to Guest, the Folksmen went over "better than the other acts," while McKean recalled that "Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary looked at us and muttered, 'Too close, too close.'"〔 The Folksmen were incorporated into Christopher Guest's mockumentary, ''A Mighty Wind'' (2003), which depicted a reunion concert of three fictitious folk music acts, following the death of their mutual manager, Irving Steinbloom. The film included interviews with the band members (which established much of their fictional backstory), reconstructed vintage footage and album covers, and various original songs performed in rehearsal as well as the purported concert, ''An Ode to Irving''. To publicise the film, Guest, McKean and Shearer appeared as the Folksmen on a number of television programs, in which they performed songs and were interviewed in character. Between September and November 2003, the three fictitious folk groups from the film "reformed" to undertake a real-life concert tour of cities on the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle) and the East Coast (Boston; Philadelphia; New York; and Washington, D.C.). More recently, in April 2009, Guest, McKean and Shearer embarked upon the ''Unwigged & Unplugged'' tour to mark the 25th anniversary of the release of the film ''This is Spinal Tap''.〔Andrew Gans, "Guest, McKean and Shearer Launch 30-City Tour of Unwigged & Unplugged April 17", ''Playbill'', April 17, 2009.〕 This time, they appeared as themselves, performing songs associated with Spinal Tap, the Folksmen and various other film and comedy projects from their long careers. After touring thirty cities in the United States, the trio performed a special "One Night Only World Tour" concert at London's Wembley Arena on June 30, 2009, in which they performed (this time in full costume) as both Spinal Tap and the Folksmen. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Folksmen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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