The Grateful Dead's own biographer opens their official four-hour documentary by admitting it's really hard to love this band if you're not already a fan — which is a bold marketing strategy, like a restaurant with a sign reading "you probably won't like the food." Naturally, Mandy took the dare. Her spirit guide through the patchouli: Jeffrey Nicholas Brown — actor, Blue Man, drummer in numerous Dead cover bands, and a man who followed this band across the country in a van that smelled exactly how you think it smelled.What follows is a genuine attempt to explain the unexplainable: why a drummer would claim he can't keep time, why a sober fellowship called the Wharf Rats holds meetings at set break, why the peace-and-love band was secretly a heavily armed pirate crew, and why one backup singer splits the fandom like a papal schism. Also, Jeffrey invents a word so good Mandy may never recover, and a roadie explains that a skull with a lightning bolt means "bang." Press play.Guest SpotlightJeffrey Nicholas Brown is an actor, drummer, and Blue Man Group performer you've seen as Jake Hart on Nickelodeon's Henry Danger, Corbett Stackhouse on True Blood, and heard as Bronty on Disney's Doc McStuffins. An Evanston, Illinois kid who came up through Steppenwolf, the Piven Theatre Workshop, and The Second City (where a teacher first put him on the bus), he saw the Grateful Dead 27 times with Jerry Garcia and still plays their music in multiple cover bands. Catch him next in the Green Day comedy Nimrods, in theaters August 14.

Reference LinksWatch

Long Strange Trip — the official Grateful Dead documentary, streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Miss Americana
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Freaks and Geeks
Playboy After Dark
Grahame Lesh points out Phil Lesh's Real Housewives cameo on Watch What Happens Live

The Band and the Scene

Listen

More Make Me A Nerd

Follow Mandy on Instagram at @Mandy_Kaplan_Klavens and on TikTok at @MandyMiscast.Make Me A Nerd is a production of TruStory FM. Want your episodes ad-free and early? Join us at makemeanerd.com/join.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.