Gene Frenkle

Fictional cowbellist

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20081114/ENT/811140302/1005

More cowbell! Jimmy Fallon is the star of PowWow

By Mark Hinson • DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER • November 14, 2008

Actor-comedian Jimmy Fallon, who will take over Conan O'Brien's late-night spot on NBC in March, is a man who has stared in the eyes of madness and lived to tell.

In 2000, when Fallon was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live," he played a supporting role in one of the show's classic moments — the "More Cowbell!" sketch.

"Everybody quotes it now, but . . . when it first aired it came on at the end of the show," said Fallon, who is the star of this year's Florida State University PowWow. "It was kind of a throwaway piece that no one thought would work."

He played the drummer in Blue Oyster Cult, the '70s rock band best known for its Top 10 hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." The bit was a spoof of VH1's "Behind the Music" documentary series and mocked the day BOC recorded "Reaper" in the studio. Christopher Walken played the record's producer, Bruce Dickinson, and frizz-haired Will Ferrell played fictional BOC cowbell artiste Gene Frenkle.

"It wasn't that funny in dress rehearsal (in front of a live audience)," Fallon said. "It didn't get many laughs. It was kinda flat. No one was up for it."

When it went live, though, Walken caught fire.

"Every time he came out of that control booth, Walken was nailing every line," he said. "Even Christopher Walken was doing an impression of Christopher Walken."

Ferrell, not to be upstaged, turned on the afterburners.

"Will was wearing a totally different shirt than in rehearsal" — one that exposed his flabby, furry belly, Fallon said.

"You don't really see it on tape, but at one point Will's glasses flew off his head. I ran to pick them up and handed them to him. When I looked up, I got to see the eyes of an insane man. They were the eyes of madness. I just lost it."

He had to turn from the camera and bite down on his drumstick.

"I only laugh (and break character) in the skits that Will's in," Fallon said. "He was always trying to make me laugh. In a hot tub scene, he was punching me underwater. He would wait for the live show and then just (bleep) with you. . . . But he never broke character."

Unlike other cast members from "SNL" who've bad-mouthed the show after their tenure was over, Fallon had nothing but nice things to say about his run from 1998 to 2006.