Have you ever wondered where the name Puscifer comes from? Maynard James Keenan has finally answered it for you.
Back in the day, Puscifer was only a concept for comedy sketches rather than an actual music project.
The band’s first public ‘appearance’ happened on November 3, 1995, during the premiere episode of Bob Odenkirk’s sketch show Mr. Show, In a rockumentary-style skit, Maynard wore a wig and, a trucker hat and portrayed ‘Ronnie Dobbs.’
In an interview last year, the singer revealed that the band kind of started out as a joke and the comedian Bob Odenkirk’s role in it was big. He said:
“The name ‘Puscifer’ came up even before we did Mr. Show, when I was working with [comedian] Laura Milligan in a comedy club in Los Angeles. Puscifer was one of the fake bands we’d get to play at shows. There were lots of little things happening behind the scenes long before the first full-length – we even printed t-shirts and stuff. Puscifer didn’t really fully realize itself as a project until I started working on the Underworld soundtrack with Danny Lohner.”
‘What Is Puscifer?’
10 years before this interview, Odenkirk was involved in another work of Puscifer.
Odenkirk started by asking:
“What is Puscifer?”
He then wondered if it’s something related to anatomy that both men and women have and if it’s something you should get checked out:
“It’s part of a lady, right? Men have it, too? Is it something you should have checked out?”
These questions were a part of the promotion for Puscifer’s concert film/mockumentary called ‘What Is…’ which came out on DVD and iTunes on November 26th, 2013.
For the people who still haven’t seen the show, Keenan suggested watching the documentary first because it ties in a lot of background information with the live footage. He also mentions Andy Kaufman as a comedic influence.
You can see Puscifer’s first appearance on Mr. Show below.