File this under Things I Thought I’d Posted Already About and Then Found Out I Didn’t: Over the past few years, I’ve made a number of appearances on the improv talk show The George Lucas Talk Show, brought to you by the brilliant and hilarious team of Connor Ratliff, Griffin Newman, and Patrick Cotnoir. If you’ve somehow managed to miss seeing it come across your social media feed, the show features Ratliff convincingly playing “filmmaker George Lucas” interviewing very real celebrities, while Newman chimes in as a dead-on Watto and producer Cotnoir provides all other necessary support. It’s been going on since 2014, and the celebrity guest list just gets better and better with each passing episode.
Sometimes, however–and this is all part of the fun–he has on fans and other types of non-celebrities . . . like me. Ratliff told me that he uses my 2016 biography of George Lucas as part of his “show Bible” and from time to time, while in character, he’ll mention “my biographer Brian Jay Jones,” which makes me both incredibly happy and weirdly giddy at the same time. And so, I’ve been delighted to jump into the fray the several times I’ve been asked, as the show is an absolute blast and I hope they keep doing it forever.
That’s all preface to telling you that in 2024, a team of documentarians released a really terrific film about the show, and Connor, called I’m George Lucas: The Connor Ratliff Story. At the moment, it’s available for download and streaming–but I’d really encourage you to invest in the 2-disc Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber which gives you not only the documentary, but tons and tons of extra features. Among those bonus features is more audio commentary tracks than you’ve ever seen anywhere else–Patrick Cotnoir actually wanted to set an official Guinness Book of World’s Records record for most commentary tracks, and I’m pretty sure he did so, since there are fifty-seven audio commentaries on this thing.
One of them is even by me. When Patrick asked me last year if I wanted to participate, my answer was, of course, um, yes, and I had a great time doing it. It’s the first and probably only time I will ever get to do a movie audio commentary–and as someone who has watched a lot of films with commentary, I didn’t want to disappoint. So I tried to tell stories about the real George Lucas that were relevant to what was being talked about on screen–including similarities between Connor’s story and Lucas’s own–as well as giving my impressions of having been on The George Lucas Talk Show.
And here’s one of the first things I talked about when it comes to being on the show: Connor Ratliff is absolutely committed to the bit. If you’re waiting for him to break character or even to wink knowingly at the audience, it’s not going to happen. He’s terrifyingly good; when he started giving me hell about writing in my biography about Lucas’s alleged lack of . . . um, enthusiasm in the bedroom, I stammered apologetically like I was being interrogated by the real George Lucas.
I also quickly learned to leave the funny to the professionals. I tried for a bit to be clever but quickly found I was in over my head. These guys are good at this stuff. They’ve got the funny under control; my job was to be the straight man.
Anyway, all this and more can be found in my commentary track–but there are plenty of others to choose from, too, including tracks from actual comedians like Chris Gethard, Bill Corbett, and Lane Moore. And for Muppet fans, you’ll also find a track by Craig Shemin and Stephanie D’Abruzzo.
I’m really proud to have been part of this in even a small way, and I’m delighted for the team at TGLTS, who keep right on regularly bringing you the funny. Check out the documentary, catch it live in New York if you can, or spend some time on the show’s YouTube Channel. You’re gonna love it.
Brian Jay Jones 