Ted Leo, Ben Gibbard and Patton Oswalt Visit the Best Show

Some very special Friends of Tom came down to the WFMU studios last night to aid the cause.  Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, head Pharmacist Ted Leo and comedy superstar Patton Oswalt helped raise over $50,000(!) in three hours.  How'd they do it?  With the power of song.  And laughter.   Patton's nick-naming used car salesman routine had the web pledges coming in so fast, the computer actually broke!  And how many phone champions does it take to fix a computer?  Three.

Here's Ben singing Death Cab's "You Remind Me of Home" and the Monkees' "Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow":

Ted upped the ante with Blondie's paean to the next town over, "Union City Blue," the Gorch's "Chain Fight Tonight" and his own "Bottle of Buckie":

And then they teamed up for what Tom rightly dubbed "the worst song in the world"  Neil Diamond's "Porcupine Pie":

And here's Tom, Ben, Ted & Patton bringing it all home with ABBA's "Take A Chance On Me""

Thanks to Evan Savitt for the videos.  Want more?  Pitchfork was in the house and posted some great photos.  And remember, there's still time for YOU to take a chance on WFMU.  The Marathon rolls on through Sunday.  Send a pledge!

Comments

[Fatherflot]

I can never get your videos to play properly. I've got the latest version of flash and it works for other apps. Anyone else having problems with the video?

[Peter from Seattle]

Yeah, I can get half of the videos to load properly, but if there are more than 4 or 5 on a page, only the first few work. Firefox 2.0.0.20 - vista 32-bit if there's an IS person reading these.

That said, I love Tom and The Best Show, but I feel like he needs to invest in some fabric softener or something. He keeps touching his shirt like it doesn't fit or something. A man should feel comfortable if he wants to perform at 100%.

[Reggie]

Fontastic!

[doron]

Sorry to hear you are having problems with the video. Please drop me an email with your contact info and I'd like to troubleshoot it with you:

http://wfmu.org/email.php?id=146&return=%2F

The video has tested fine on multiple browsers and OS's so I'd definitely like to find out why you are having trouble.

[Fatherflot]

Doron:

I just reinstalled the Flash player via Firefox and now it works. Funny thing is that before this I was supposedly up to date with Flash and it worked on other sites. Whatever. This seems to have solved the problem for the moment. Thanks for the offer to help.
Rock on.

[boil]

Great performances, lots of love, thanks for posting it.

[dimestore]

I would just like to say that "Porcupine Pie" is not the worst song in the world. That distinction goes to Paul McCartney's "Temporary Secretary".

thank you.

[Michael1701]

Why are people crying about this. IT PLAYS FINE! Quit crying and GO HOME. America. Love it or leave it!