Watch Conan O’Brien’s Star Wars Cantina Band Documentary
Finally, Figrin D’an And The Modal Nodes are getting their due. The band also known as the Cantina Band, famous for their hit song “Cantina Band” and their raucous performances at the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine, are the subject of the new music documentary Original Blowhards: The Story Of Figrin D’an And The Modal Nodes, which airs tonight on Conan.
You see, this weekend is Comic Con, and Conan O’Brien is celebrating with a mockumentary honoring the fictional band of dome-headed aliens seen (and heard) in an iconic scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The clip features a mix of real and fictional talking heads including the Doobie Brothers’ Michael McDonald, who reveals that he’s on the original demo for the song, and Paul Rudd, who appears as “record executive/douche” Sethey Boone.
Fun fact: the “Cantina Band” song was actually a #1 hit single in real life. In 1977, Meco released a disco version of the song mixed with John Williams’ main Star Wars theme and R2-D2 sound effects, and that version reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August, going platinum and outselling the release of the official Star Wars theme by the London Symphony Orchestra. As talent manager Shep Gordon says in Conan’s doc: “They looked like testicles with eyes, but they sounded like heaven.” Watch below.
It’s also worth noting that Paul Rudd’s appearance references his long-running Mac And Me joke with Conan.