The Henry Rollins Show

NYPress.com
TV SINNER
‘The Henry Rollins Show’ takes 30 minutes to heat

There’s a weird aura around Henry Rollins, the kind that comes with being an ex-punk rocker who winds up hosting the most mainstream form of entertainment, a celebrity talk show. At age 46, he’s graying yet oh so intense, uses the expression “right on” without a hint of irony and is as plugged into The Mars Volta as is Joan Jett. His entrancing, at times frustrating, second season of weekly shows continues through June 1. IFC airs the series on Fridays at 11 p.m. as if to target stoned freshmen and former club kids now stuck at home with their children. It’s a fitting demographic for a show that blends the basement meanderings of Wayne’s World with the extended jams of “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.”
Each episode begins with a segment called “Teeing Off,” wherein Rollins performs a liberal rant as if he’s main stage at the Nuyorican on Obvious Observation Night: “Our dot com presence has turned us into the peeper and the peepee.” Then he and his guest settle into some comfy chairs for a little chat. Unpolished and as earnest as can be, and with no studio audience to worry about, Rollins manages to keep Ben Stiller from being overly jokey and gets sincere conversations out of both Steve Buscemi (May 25) and William Shatner (June 1). Focusing in on Shatner’s pre “Star Trek” work, he strikes gold with the actor’s memories of an early Roger Corman film.

But, because one bombastic declamation is never enough, the interview segment is followed by another opinionated monologue. Sometimes it’s a cartoon version of Rollins amid slick animation. Other times Janeane Garofalo shows up on tape rambling on about the Internet or her dogs.

The best is saved for last as each week’s musical guest performs an unedited number. A bare-chested Iggy Pop is totally spellbinding leading his revived group, The Stooges, in a song from their new album. The Mars Volta rocks out for a full 13 minutes. And Peeping Tom tears up the joint with a human beatbox number. In your face, “American Idol.”

- Stan Friedman   May 16, 2007