The Postal Service sit through a slew of chaotic auditions in a new get-out-the-vote PSA for HeadCount’s Make Your Vote Count campaign.
The video was directed by Tom Scharpling, who helmed a similar clip the Postal Service released in 2013 to mark the 10th-anniversary reissue of Give Up. In the new clip, the band is once again joined by Dave from Sub Pop (a fictional and overzealous employee, played by comedian Jon Daly) who wants to add an additional 40 people to the Postal Service (“Like two-and-half Polyphonic Sprees!”) and embark on a massive, mask-less fall tour to get the word out about voting.
Although Ben Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis quickly ax that idea for all the obvious pandemic-related reasons, Dave still convinces them to sit through the auditions he organized. The procession of talent includes Huey Lewis playing harmonica, Big Freedia promising to teach Postal Service fans how to shake, comedian Aparna Nancherla fumbling through Hamilton’s “Aaron Burr, Sir,” Slash trying to convince Dave that Duff McKagan is a member of Guns ’N Roses, and Rick Springfield begging for the gig after revealing he sunk all his money into a floating casino that, well, sunk.
The clip also includes snippets of actual Postal Service covers performed by Japanese Breakfast, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Susanna Hoffs, Caroline Polachek, and Kenny G. At the end of the clip, Anne Hathaway appears and starts singing an incredibly slow version of “Such Great Heights” for her audition, but quickly stops herself and cracks, “Oh that’s the Iron and Wine version.”
From Rolling Stone US
