Editing Harry Shearer (section)

===Spinal Tap===
Shearer co-created, co-wrote and co-starred in [[Rob Reiner]]'s film ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' (1984).<ref name="avclub"/> Shearer, Reiner, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest received a deal to write a first draft of a screenplay for a company called Marble Arch. They decided that the film could not be written and instead filmed a 20-minute demo of what they wanted to do.<ref name="ign2"/> It was eventually greenlighted by [[Norman Lear]] and [[Jerry Perenchio]] at [[Embassy Pictures]].<ref name="ign2"/> The film satirizes the wild personal behavior and musical pretensions of [[hard rock]] and [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] bands, as well as the [[hagiographic]] tendencies of [[rockumentaries]] of the time. The three core members of the band [[Spinal Tap (band)|Spinal Tap]]—[[David St. Hubbins]], [[Derek Smalls]] and [[Nigel Tufnel]]—were portrayed by McKean, Shearer and Guest respectively. The three actors play their musical instruments and speak with mock English accents throughout the film. There was no script, although there was a written breakdown of most of the scenes, and many of the lines were ad-libbed.<ref name="ign2"/> It was filmed in 25 days.<ref name="ign2"/>

Shearer said in an interview that "The animating impulse was to do rock 'n' roll right. The four of us had been around rock 'n' roll and we were just amazed by how relentlessly the movies got it wrong. Because we were funny people it was going to be a funny film, but we wanted to get it right."<ref name="thejc"/> When they tried to sell it to various Hollywood studios, they were told that the film would not work. The group kept saying, "No, this is a story that's pretty familiar to people. We're not introducing them to anything they don't really know," so Shearer thought it would at least have some resonance with the public.<ref name="avclub"/> The film was only a modest success upon its initial release but found greater success, and developed a [[cult following]], after its video release. In 2000, the film was ranked 29th on the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Laughs|list of the top 100 comedy movies in American cinema]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx |title=AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Laughs |date=June 14, 2000 |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=April 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615021804/http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx |archive-date=June 15, 2008}}</ref> and it was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/film/titles.html |title=Films Selected to The National Film Registry, Library of Congress 1989–2008 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |year=2009 |access-date=April 30, 2009 |archive-date=April 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407133410/http://www.loc.gov/film/titles.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Derek Smalls 2019 by Glenn Francis.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Shearer as "[[Derek Smalls]]" (2019)]]
Shearer, Guest and McKean have since worked on several projects as their Spinal Tap characters. They released three albums: ''[[This Is Spinal Tap (album)|This Is Spinal Tap]]'' (1984), ''[[Break Like the Wind]]'' (1992) and ''[[Back from the Dead (Spinal Tap album)|Back from the Dead]]'' (2009).<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/spinaltap/discography |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=May 1, 2009 |title=Spinal Tap: Discography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309202710/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/spinaltap/discography |archive-date=March 9, 2009 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> In 1992, Spinal Tap appeared in an episode of ''The Simpsons'' called "[[The Otto Show]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season3/page22.shtml |title=The Otto Show |access-date=May 1, 2009 |author1=Martyn, Warren |author2=Wood, Adrian |year=2000 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=July 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709072011/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season3/page22.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> The band has played several concerts, including at [[Live Earth]] in London on July 7, 2007. In anticipation of the show, Rob Reiner directed a short film entitled ''Spinal Tap''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/this-is-climate-change/2007/04/26/1177459821738.html |title=Spinal Tap reunite |work=[[The Age]] |date=April 26, 2007 |access-date=April 30, 2009 |location=Melbourne |archive-date=November 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131116080408/http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/this-is-climate-change/2007/04/26/1177459821738.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2009, the band released ''Back from the Dead'' to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of the film.<ref>{{cite news |title=Spinal Tap to return with new album |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/feb/04/spinal-tap-record-new-album |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=February 4, 2009 |author=Michaels, Sean |access-date=April 30, 2009 |location=London |archive-date=September 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922222843/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/feb/04/spinal-tap-record-new-album |url-status=live }}</ref> The album features re-recorded versions of songs featured in ''This Is Spinal Tap'' and its soundtrack, and five new songs.<ref name="Erlewine">{{cite web |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |title=Review of ''Back from the Dead'' |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/r1575008 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=August 18, 2009 |archive-date=January 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104035201/http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1575008 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Sandy |last=Kaczmarski |title=''Unwigged and Unplugged: Spinal Tap Unwiped'' |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sandy-kaczmarski/unwigged-and-unplugged-sp_b_209526.html |work=[[Huffington Post]] |date=May 31, 2009 |access-date=August 18, 2009 |archive-date=November 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106183322/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sandy-kaczmarski/unwigged-and-unplugged-sp_b_209526.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The band performed a one-date "world tour" at London's [[Wembley Arena]] on June 30, 2009. [[The Folksmen]], a mock band featured in the film ''[[A Mighty Wind]]'' that is also made up of characters played by Shearer, McKean and Guest, was the opening act for the show.<ref name="bbcworldtour">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7985487.stm |title=Spinal Tap announce 'world tour' |date=April 6, 2009 |work=[[BBC|BBC News]] |access-date=April 7, 2009 |archive-date=April 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409093944/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7985487.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>