It’s not an album and it’s not a song, but we’re not here to complain about a 19-minute comedy sketch. After teasing us yesterday, the Postal Service — the supergroup of Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, and electronic musician Jimmy Tamborello — reunited for a video supporting HeadCount’s “Make Your Vote Count†campaign on October 7. They’re not telling you who to vote for, but “Sheila from HeadCount†(who looks an awful lot like Martha Kelly) will remind you to drop your absentee ballot off at an early voting location to make it count. Instead, we’re just watching for these absurd auditions for new Postal Service members, because “Dave from Sub Pop†(a.k.a. Jon Daly, who Sub Pop adamantly insists in a press release does not work for the label) thinks the band needs more energy — around 40 members, or “two-and-a-half Polyphonic Sprees.â€
And did they ever get a response for these auditions. Rock icons like Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Duff McKagan (who, yes, is in Guns N’ Roses), Huey Lewis (on harmonica), Rick Springfield (who needs this gig after losing his money at a floating casino) all came out to join the real ’00s rock icons. Lewis even offered Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis a spot in the band, although he declined. Vanessa Bayer got an offer as well, for her soft-spoken performance; Aparna Nancherla did not, though, for a rendition of Hamilton’s “Aaron Burr, Sir†in which she sang both parts. Big Freedia failed to convince the band to twerk, and Frank Schøttendt (a.k.a. Tim Robinson) couldn’t convince them to let the 18 arsonists whose band he manages join, either. Shabazz Palaces’ Ishmael Butler gave his best Gibbard impersonation, TV On the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe pled with Tamborello for a Dntel collab, and Lewis just had the best facial expressions throughout the whole thing. We did get some pretty faithful Postal Service covers from Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner, Caroline Polachek, and the Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs. Postal Service covers comp, maybe? And speaking of covers, stick around through the end for a late appearance by Anne Hathaway, who accidentally performs Iron and Wine’s cover of “Such Great Heights.â€