Jon Benjamin - Jazz Daredevil - ＂Well I should have...＊Learned how to play piano＂

What this video is

Released November 23, 2015 on Sub Pop Records, this promotional video accompanies one of the most self-aware comedy-music projects of the decade. H. Jon Benjamin, a celebrated voice actor with no formal piano training, recorded a full jazz album to satirize jazz improvisation's mythology of spontaneous genius. The project received coverage from NPR's All Things Considered and Stephen Colbert, sold out two vinyl…

Why it matters

Represents a landmark in comedy-music hybridity and anti-skill performance art. By deploying the visual grammar of a sincere jazz documentary, the video foregrounds the gap between jazz's aspirational mythology and the reality of Benjamin's complete incompetence, generating comedy through the…

The director

H. Jon Benjamin is an American comedian and voice actor best known for voicing the titular characters in the animated television series Archer (FX) and Bob's Burgers (Fox). He has an extensive background in alt-comedy and voice performance, and released his…