What have been some of the more unusual anecdotes that you've witnessed or have been part of since your affiliation with the Residents?
Flynn:
One of the odder things that immediately comes to mind [is] the first time the Residents toured. Their career has kind of broken down in different ways: the first 10 years they never left the studio; they did exclusively studio stuff. The next 10 years were more devoted to video and performance with continuing studio stuff.
So their first tour was based on an album, a series of albums called "The Mole Trilogy." Then the show was called "The Mole Show" and it was about a series of underground people that were forced to migrate from their home. And they had Penn Gillette of Penn and Teller, who was the narrator of that show.
And his role was really sort of antagonistic towards this artsy-fartsy show. And so ultimately what happens is that during the show, Penn has a total breakdown. The show stops. He has to get drug off the stage by the stage manager and then ultimately he gets brought back on stage handcuffed into a wheelchair, to have to be forced to watch the rest of this, you know, crazy show.
But anyway, what happened was that the climax of the show is like a big war that happens on stage between these moles, the underground people, and the chubs, the overground people, you know. And in the process of doing this war, the lights are flashing, smoke envelopes the whole stage.
Well, a fan -- that may not be the right word -- a deluded audience member came up on stage and started choking Penn Gillette, who is handcuffed into a wheelchair. And because the stage is covered with smoke, nobody could see it. And you know, poor Penn is sitting there completely freaking out, before finally enough of the smoke clears that somebody can see this guy and go out there and tear him away and drag him off.
