Here’s some classic Van Halen humor that’s well worth revisiting.
Back in 2006, the cult comedy web series Yacht Rock turned its attention to Van Halen with Episode #9, “Runnin’ with the Devil” — offering a completely fictional (and hilarious) account of how the young band convinced producer Ted Templeman to produce their debut album.
For those unfamiliar with Yacht Rock, the series debuted in 2005 on Channel 101 and presented wildly fictionalized “behind-the-scenes” stories about the musicians responsible for the smooth Southern California sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Hall & Oates and others were all fair game.
Naturally, Van Halen doesn’t exactly fit into the world of “smooth music” — and that’s the whole point of Episode #9.
Set in 1977, the episode finds David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen determined to get Doobie Brothers producer Ted Templeman to produce their hard-rock debut. Their solution? Put a curse on him that makes him unable to tolerate the sound of Michael McDonald’s voice.
The plan works, sending Templeman straight into the arms of Van Halen.
Meanwhile, in an absurd subplot, Kenny Loggins loses his car keys and gradually gets everyone in the recording studio involved in the search.
There are some familiar faces in the episode, too. Ted Templeman is played by Dan Harmon, who would later create Community and co-create Rick and Morty. Whose Line Is It Anyway? regular Jeff Bryan Davis takes on the role of David Lee Roth, while Tyler Spiers plays Eddie Van Halen. Drew Carey even makes a cameo appearance.
And although virtually everything happening onscreen is ridiculous, the episode is built around a very real piece of Van Halen history: Templeman had already established himself producing the Doobie Brothers before discovering Van Halen and producing the band’s landmark 1978 debut.
The soundtrack appropriately includes “Atomic Punk,” “Runnin’ with the Devil” and “I’m the One,” along with the Doobie Brothers’ “Echoes of Love.”
Twenty years after it first appeared in the summer of 2006, Yacht Rock’s version of Van Halen history is still pretty damn funny — making this the perfect time for a 20th-anniversary rediscovery.
And we’re apparently not the only ones who think it has held up. Just last year, Australian producer Harvey Sutherland included Yacht Rock among his “10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)” for The Guardian, calling the series “endlessly quotable” 20 years later. He singled out this very episode for special praise: “The episode where Van Halen hypnotize Doobie Brothers producer Ted Templeman to help them make I’m the One is pure mania.”
Watch Episode #9, “Runnin’ with the Devil,” below: