The scenario is enchanting in a wonderfully weird way: Across the table from me sit Garfunkel & Oates -- not Art, and not John, but actress-comedienne-musician combo platters Riki Lindhome (the magnificent "Garfunkel") and Kate Micucci (the sensational "Oates") -- and they're earnestly debating the relative merits of the pop song on the café's sound system: Matthew Wilder's immortal classic, "Break My Stride."
Opines Kate: "I love this song so much!" (She begins singing along: "Ain't nothin' gonna break-a my stride...") Counters Riki: "Actually, this song might have the worst lyrics in history. And the chorus has nothing to do with the verse." Kate (unabashedly bopping): "It's such a great song, though!" Riki: "He's like, 'I'm going on a boat to China, and I gave my laundry to some girl' ... it's like a list of crap that doesn't make sense, and then he's got this interesting chorus, but I was thinking: 'If you have this good chorus, why did you like totally blow it?'"
Welcome to the world of Garfunkel & Oates -- in this case, the day after their smashing performance of "Pregnant Women Are Smug" on The Tonight Show, followed by a star-studded comedy benefit for Haiti, "Night of 140 Tweets" -- the latter offering a sneak peek of their newest song, concerning the alleged mysteries of ... erm ... giving a man manual pleasure. As Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" fills the café, Kate intones: "Hand job, bland job, I-don't-understand job." Thematically, these ladies do not pull punches. Our lunch arrives, and we reflect upon all manner of pop personae, from Brian Wilson to Lady Gaga to our respective Lindsay Lohan sightings (coincidentally, all during her bleached-blonde phase).
Lindhome and Micucci have got it going on. They're fresh...exciting -- bringing an unusual combination of solid musicianship, lilting voices and brazen wit. How does it work? Both women confidently declare themselves "right-brain" (via online tests), with Kate being "extreme right-brain" and Riki as the group's "right-brain perfectionist." Illuminating their process, Kate continues, "We'll have a lyric, and Riki will push it further; she'll make sure that it's right." Then Riki responds, "And Kate will write the hook part; she'll write the chorus that sticks in your head."
Their chemistry is undeniable. After only a couple of years playing together, on the L.A. club circuit as well as in their addictive, homemade "couch videos," G&O are enjoying a spike in popularity, evinced by sold-out shows, millions of YouTube views (their pro-freedom/anti-idiocy "Sex with Ducks" -- inspired by Pat Robertson's imaginative likening of erotica male and mallard -- even landed them on CNN), and, thus far, a couple of TV appearances with Jay Leno. (They like him. So do I. Deal.) You can also find their videos right here on Huffington Post.
Part of their unique appeal comes from a straight-up lack of pretense. For instance, the hilarious "puffy painted hummingbird turtleneck" from the duo's awkward-holiday-gift exposé "Present Face" was rendered in precise verse by Riki from a real-life experience with her well-intended Aunt Lorna (bless her). Meanwhile Kate, an accomplished graphic artist, created the fine replica garment for the video. With G&O, life's quirks get appraised, and stuff gets done. Usually hilariously -- and yet in a very feminine way. So, with folky and funny well established, what about the female thing?
"For us it's not conscious," offers Riki. "But what is deliberate is that we try to go, 'What do we think is cool?' When we go, 'What would they like?' we're like, no-no-no. So it ends up naturally being female -- but it isn't a conscious thing. At the same time I am surprised about how many men are in our audience."
"I don't think of us as being girls writing," adds Kate. "We just write what we think." When I ask about any noteworthy feedback from their adoring fans, she deadpans: "Noteworthy? How about that girl who named her boobs after us? She was very proud of it."
The tunes rule, too. Via Kate's ukulele, synth, "keytar" and glorious kazoos, plus Riki's powder-blue guitar, flute and occasional lone maraca, Garfunkel & Oates are reinventing the art of song with homespun pizazz. Kate brings the Carole King (via her mom's copy of Tapestry), and Riki the Bel Biv Devoe (via mainstream urban radio). Riki defers to Kate's genius for finding a hook, and Kate relates, "I'll hit upon a melody -- there's this one magical room where we keep the keyboard, and whenever I sit there, something happens. I start to play something that I've never played before. I know this sounds crazy, but this happens every time I'm there. So we'll start with that melody, and then be, like, 'What are the twenty ideas that we've been talking about lately?'"
"And we'll use that as a jumping-off point," nods Riki.
"We have our strengths that just kind of come together really nicely," adds Kate.
Strengths, indeed. Outside of G&O, Lindhome appears in films such as Million Dollar Baby, Changeling and the remake of Last House on the Left, and Micucci's appearances as ukulele girl "Gooch" on Scrubs are complemented by a recent turn in When in Rome. Lindhome's zany indie film "Imaginary Larry" got them writing together, and both cultivate solo music careers as well, with Micucci recently scoring an audiobook of Paul Zindel's poignant The Pigman, as well as putting on her monthly "Playin' with Micucci" show (I attended my first one this week, and if I start raving about that, we'll need another article). The two also hope to write "radio songs" for other performers, and meanwhile I ask which song they'd prefer to be their own first #1 hit.
Riki references a friend's philosophy: "'I would rather be nine people's favorite thing, than a hundred people's ninth favorite thing.' And that is exactly how we feel. The thought of a #1 single is not really something we aspire to. We have a niche thing, and we want to find, like, the 'you' in every city -- who goes, 'John Donne!' and is, like, 'Yes!' But I guess if we had a #1 single I'd want it to be 'This Party Took a Turn for the Douche,' because it's fun, and we get to rap it."
Kate ponders this for a moment, then agrees: "I think if I were to daydream about pulling up at a stoplight and someone's rocking one of our songs in their car, it'd probably be that one."
Garfunkel & Oates are currently recording these songs and more for their first CD, may come to your town eventually, and can be experienced live in New York City this Friday and Saturday night, at Comix. And if you're Down Under (or you stockpile the frequent-flyer miles), scope this.
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