Issue date: 1/25/07 Section: Aggielife

The Naked Trucker and his sidekick T-Bones, (Dave Allen and David Koechner) sat down with The Battalion to talk about their new Comedy Central show, character development and, of course, nakedness.

How did the naked thing come about?
DA: It was lazy character building, honestly. One day we wanted to do a song, so we did a trucker song. We were trying to figure out how we could make this trucker different. And we thought: 'Hey, let's make him naked.' And we just decided to see what would happen. But then it became a sense of, 'who cares?' He's kind of a hippie, living out a protest just by not wearing clothes. So he's free from the fashion, or as I like to say, fascism industry.

After being so successful with the live show, what made you want to do the TV show?
DK: Our drive has never necessarily been one specific goal. I always wanted to do a movie, but these characters have been in and out of development for the past few years. It's just that this was the first time to have the full opportunity to [pursue them].

What inspires your characters in the comedy in general?
DK: The quest for truth. I studied with Del Close and his quest was to always be truthful, so we try to bring truth to the characters, to make it smart and always trust our audience and treat them with respect. A lot of people in the press are missing those elements and dismiss our show as a redneck adventure. But we've tried to make these jokes smart. Our characters may seem less educated, they certainly aren't. As far as T-Bones goes, he's absolutely living for every moment. No matter what, he's going to win the situation.

How did you meet and decide you wanted to work together?
DK: We met for the first time when I did my one-year stint on SNL and [Dave] did two weeks guest writing. The following summer (1997) we were both cast in…"Spinal Tap." We were on a tour bus for three and a half months together and bonded over a lot of things together. We both grew up in the Midwest and had a lot of cultural background. Our characters really hit it off, and it's been a beautiful endeavor ever since.



What do you really wear behind that guitar, or are you really naked?
DK: Nothing! Of course he's really naked!

Many have said that the infamous Naked Cowboy of New York stole his idea from you, Dave, do you think this is true?
DA: I've heard that, and I've heard the reverse, and no one stole it; it's just our generation. He does his thing, and I do mine. We've never met. The one thing we have in common is that we wear barely any clothing and hold a guitar…he has better physique than me, though.

Continued...

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