Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorn. Lance Bangs made his name as a filmmaker documenting

Indy Rock bands. He'd share homes with them, follow them on tour. When you're doing that

for months at a time with bands who aren't famous yet, you're sort of taking a gamble

that anybody's going to want to see your film.

You know, like in Athens, I was living with Jeff Mangum and NutriMoco Tell when they

were writing and recording an airplane over the sea. And I knew like this is crucial material

and I wish everyone was hearing this and getting as much out of this emotionally as I am

and would go make sure that I was at every event to shoot and film and document it. And

I like, as time has gone on, I felt like, yeah, like I was right about that. I was right

about that, like that there aren't a whole lot of times that I spent six months in the

band with a band that didn't end up being worthwhile for my life or that experience.

It's Bullseye.

Coming up, I'll talk to Lance Bangs. He'll tell me what made him want to document a bunch

of up-and-coming stand-up comics with his new TV show, Flop House.

Nobody's turning down sets or open microformances to go hang out with a serious fiance. They're

just all about making, making, making, working, trying things out, experimenting, learning

what didn't work, making, making traveling somewhere else to try things there.

We'll talk about the unique challenges of filming idiotic stunts for Jackass. But first,

I'll talk to Tau Wenn. Her new album, A Man Alive, explores the relationship she has

with her father. She's had to consider whether or not she wants to reconnect with him while

she still can.

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