Big Puns

Satiric hip-hop duo Rowan & Hastings calls it a day.


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Published: Apr 28, 2010

NATE DOGG:
Nathaniel Holt (top) discusses his amicable breakup with comedy
songwriter

soulmate Gavin Riley.

Neal Santos

NATE DOGG: Nathaniel Holt (top) discusses his amicable breakup with comedy songwriter soulmate Gavin Riley.

[ funny farewell ]

It ain't easy being half of a comedic hip-hop duo, but the naturally funny Nathaniel Holt of Rowan & Hastings doesn't make it look hard. Too bad he and other half Gavin Riley are calling it quits, bringing an end to their fence-straddling blend of hip-hop satire and goofy rhymes — for now, at least. It's been a while since they preformed together, but Rowan & Hastings simultaneously reunites and waves goodbye at Welcome to the Terrordome IV: The One Where Rocky Fights the Russian, featuring Secret Pants, Meg & Rob and The Sixth Borough.

City Paper: How did you and Gavin Riley meet and decide to do comedy together?

Nathaniel Holt: Gavin and I have been close friends since the sixth grade. We were both very class-clownish together, but our creative relationship started mostly in the hours after school when we would role-play in characters we had created, such as the wacky participants in a Roman Circus Maximus, or the Zandar-worshiping superheroes, The Red Diamonds.

CP: Can you describe a typical Rowan & Hastings show?

NH: Although it's true that our songs often have a sketch-like structure, we don't really do traditional sketches. The videos that accompany our songs make them more sketch-like, as do the songs' premises. We also improvise weird conversations with the audience between songs. We used to do this bit where I would rant about politics, and then Gavin would say, "Well let me play devil's advocate for a moment," which was followed by footage from the movie of the same name with Al Pacino screaming, flames shooting out of his head. That was kinda like a sketch. And I just ruined the punchline. We also dance spastically.

CP: Is this really goodbye?

NH: I have a little egg on my face. I can't say for sure that this will be our last show ever. We broke up as a songwriting duo a couple years ago, and we are moving away to new cities [Gavin to Baltimore, Nathan to State College], so this show will be our "Farewell to Philly" show, meaning our last show for any foreseeable future. But we are great friends, only 28 years old, and do not yet have arthritis, so it would be foolish to say we will definitely never play again. There are just no plans to continue this project. Why is this the case? Gavin caught me snuggling with his teddy bear, and never forgave me. At that very moment, he said, "That's it. I'm going solo."

CP: How do you guys fit into the Philly sketch comedy scene?

NH: The sketch comedy scene has really grown since I first moved to Philly [from central Jersey] in 2005. There are a lot of great groups now that have a tight-knit sense of community. We've always kind of been on the fringes of that scene, performing about half the time at comedy shows, the other half in music venues or the underground-music-house-party scene. That amphibious existence made us, I think, way weirder than most comedic hip-hop, and sillier than most underground hip-hop.

CP: Do you have a favorite weird thing about Philly, like a regular, toothless street performer, or rabid squirrel that lives by your apartment?

NH: My friends and I — Gavin included — are always on the lookout for the largest dead rat we can find. Philly is a great place for this hobby. It became a custom for one person to find a severely decomposed dead cat or possum, and then try to convince the others that the remains were in fact of rat origin. Investigative group field trips became a priority. Largest dead rat found: 10th and Oregon.

CP: Good to know. What was your first non-comedy related job?

NH: Drug Fair Pharmacy in New Jersey. If you need to reload an old-fashioned sticker-style pricing gun, I'm your man.

CP: Would you ever do a song about Wawa, or a local celebrity?

NH: Wawa, that's a good idea. Maybe a song about the computerization of sandwich-making? Gavin and I haven't written a new song in years, but he is a big fan of sandwiches. Maybe that love is strong enough to reunite the band.

CP: What are you guys planning on doing for your solo work?

NH: Gavin is working on a Choose Your Own Adventure album and live show, which, while still in development, is amazing so far. I have been acting for theater companies in Philly, and am currently breaking from that while I am out of town, hoping to resume again in the next couple years. I'm also working with a friend to create a songwriting folk duo whose characters are time-traveling unemployed dock workers from the year 2250.

(julia.west@citypaper.net)

Welcome to the Terrordome IV | Fri., April 30, 9 p.m., $10, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com

Comments

I am clearly upset. Do you really expect us to swallow this tripe of an interview as if? As if! Please return to what you as journalists do best, and leave the town I love AND it's inhabitants, alone. Alone. The second "alone" is for emphasis. The third one is for clarification of the second one. The nerve.

by The nerve! on April 30th 2010 12:55 AM