From the Archives: Micky Dolenz
Here's The Thing with Alec Baldwin
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 8.4K Ratings
🗓️ 10 March 2026
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Micky Dolenz was a successful child-actor, but he became a full-fledged star at 20 in 1966 as the exuberant singer and drummer of The Monkees -- or rather, as the actor playing that character. At first, the band was a creation of NBC and only existed on the show The Monkees. For the first season, much of the backing music was played by a studio band. Eventually, that changed, and The Monkees' transition from a TV band to a real band is a fascinating story of hard work, perseverance, and marketing genius. Dolenz brings all the energy and humor he showed on The Monkees to this episode of Here's the Thing, telling Alec about the dynamics among the bandmates, his years as a successful TV producer in the UK, and what it's like touring -- and recording -- as a member of The Monkees 50 years after the end of the show.
Originally aired June 16th, 2020.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.9 | Here we come. |
| 0:08.0 | Walk down the street. |
| 0:10.8 | We get the funniest looks from everyone we meet. |
| 0:16.6 | Hey, hey, with my monkeys. |
| 0:19.0 | And people say we monkey arrive. |
| 0:20.6 | Hey, hey, it's Alec Baldwin. And people say we monkey around. Hey, hey, it's Alec Baldwin. |
| 0:21.9 | And you're listening to Here's the Thing. |
| 0:24.8 | This song shaped my childhood and that of millions of other Americans. |
| 0:30.9 | Do what we like to do. |
| 0:33.3 | The voice is Mickey Dolans. |
| 0:36.4 | There's always something new. Hey, hey, with the monkeys. The voice is Mickey Dolan's. |
| 0:57.0 | It's 1966 the year Timothy Leary tells America to turn on, tune-, dropout. TV executives know they need to make programming that reflects the times. Enter the monkeys. Hey, that's a groovy button. |
| 1:03.6 | What does it say? Love is the ultimate trip. Oh, that's a nice thought. That's a groovy button. What |
| 1:07.5 | does it say? Save the Texas Prairie Chicken. It was Save the Chicken, |
| 1:11.9 | not stop the war. NBC wasn't about to risk a boycott of Bonanza, after all. But the misadventures |
| 1:18.8 | of four shaggy musicians in Malibu managed to be subversive anyway. The grown-ups were stiff, |
| 1:26.0 | the sets were psychedelic, and the long-haired bandmates just |
| 1:29.6 | wanted to be loved. Artistically, the show used new wave film techniques and brought the audience |
| 1:35.9 | in on the jokes two years before, Laughan and Monty Python. |
| 1:40.7 | Hey, wait, wait. How do I get in if the door's locked? |
... |
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