Suicidal Tendencies at House of Vans
Ben Weinman with Suicidal Tendencies at House of Vans in July (more by Mathieu Bredeau)

'Two Minutes to Late Night' taping season finale w/ Ben Weinman, Dave Hill, Janeane Garofalo

Two Minutes to Late Night, the heavy metal talk show that tapes at Brooklyn metal club Saint Vitus, will tape its season finale on December 11. Guests include former Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist (and recently, briefly Suicidal Tendencies touring member) Ben Weinman, rocker/comedian Dave Hill, and comedian/Reality Bites star Janeane Garofalo. As usual, Mutoid Man are the house band. Tickets are on sale.

Meanwhile, Mutoid Man are playing a proper set at Saint Vitus on 12/1, and that’s with heavy metal drag busker Mrs. Smith (tickets). There’s also a Two Minutes To Late Night Comedy Hour at that show. Here’s more on Mrs. Smith from a Dangerous Minds profile:

Not long ago, L.A. producer/promoter/sonic hellraiser Sean Carnage posted a video to his Facebook page of a rather curious street musician called “Mrs. Smith.” It wasn’t immediately clear whether the performer was an aging trans woman with uncommonly conservative fashion sense or a cross-dressing man affecting a matronly vibe for laughs, but either way, s/he was absolutely KILLING IT on guitar, and the frisson of image and sound was as jaw-dropping as the guitar playing. Though it seemed to me like a one-note joke, a trip down a YouTube rabbit hole reveals that this isn’t merely a busker with a great hook for getting spectators to post phone videos, but rather a fully fleshed-out character with history and a backstory, a twisted and hilarious collision of Little Edie Bouvier and Monty Python’s Pepperpots.

The actor/guitarist who created Mrs. Smith—he asked that his real name be left out of this story to preserve the character’s mystique, a request I will honor—started her life sans shred, as an aging socialite who did a series of cat advice videos, though her own beloved cat, Carlyle, has long been missing. Smith grew an audience performing at the Emerging America Festival, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, and even starred in the bonkers musical Mrs. Smith’s Broadway Cat-Tacular!, which eventually landed at NYC’s 47th St Theater—not at all far from actual Broadway—in 2015.

Read more here and watch a Mrs. Smith video below.

2M2LN also released a new video with Hard Melissa (who also hosts the spinoff show Start Today) at Comic Con. The description reads: “A court-ordered therapist told Hard Melissa she had to make some friends so she went to New York Comic Con to try and meet some tough cookies for her crew. It didn’t work.” Watch below.

The last 2M2LN episode was a Fest special and featured War On Women covering Fugazi.

In related news, Dave Hill is also scheduled for the On the Moon Arts Holiday Party at Littlefield on 1/4; and Janeane Garofalo is also appearing at Improv Asylum on 11/21, E&C Studio on 11/23, ‘Everyday Decisions with Joe Firestone’ at Union Hall on 12/30, and 8 shows at Eastville Comedy Club.

Ben Weinman’s former Dillinger Escape Plan bandmate Greg Puciato recently announced a tour with his band The Black Queen, and DEP’s Liam Wilson is now busy with his band Azusa who just released their debut album Heavy Yoke last week.