“We started the show because we want to do film, like a lot of people,” Rains said. “If you don’t have many opportunities to make your own stuff, you just kind of create your own opportunities out of thin air, and that’s basically what we did.”
Thagard and Rains said they chose to produce a variety show because it was an easier way to become engaged with more people. While it’s not necessarily easy to produce a variety show, it is easier to produce than a fully scripted show.
“The variety show format also allows us to do different or strange things,” Thagard said. “We can do music and interviews and skits. Whatever particular ideas we have during the week, we have enough leeway to do them. It’s also easy to explain to people and sponsors what the show is.”
The skits appearing on the show are primarily written by Thagard and Rains, and they said they are inspired by everyday events.
“I guess we have this idea of this alternate reality of West Alabama,” Rains said. “We translate weird things that happen to us into that universe.”
Some of the skits appearing on the show started as one-off jokes between Thagard and Rains but then evolved into actual skits.
“I really like absurd concepts that we can make something out of, but the goal isn’t to be off the wall for the sake of being off the wall,” Rains said. “The more time we can spend with a concept on screen, the better I think it is.”
The show has featured both local and regional bands. The bands play a set of songs and then sit down for an interview with the host of “Tuscaloosa Monorail,” Zach Travis.
“There are a lot of different avenues for bands to get on the show. We don’t really have a single way we do it,” Thagard said. “We definitely have not had a dearth of interest from bands. I think people especially in Tuscaloosa are looking for outlets of local music that aren’t always there, so people who play music are really happy to work with us.”
Dead Balloons, a Birmingham-based band featured on “Tuscaloosa Monorail,” has been together for seven years and plays a brand of garage rock.
“We went into ‘Tuscaloosa Monorail’ and played a really tight set, and it was really cool,” said Sam Sanders, the drummer for Dead Balloons. “My favorite part of the experience was sitting down and doing an interview with Zach Travis. He asked us a bunch of awkward and weird questions, and I tried to answer back as awkwardly as possible. It was fun.”
The band said the production crew acted professionally but was still able to put them at ease.
“They were really professional, but also really relaxed, and made us feel relaxed,” said Chris Seifert, the singer of Dead Balloons. “They are in the space where they do what they do. They are very comfortable in their space. They know what they’re doing.”
Thagard and Rains create a new episode every other week. The most time-intensive part of creating the show is shooting the skits, Rains and Thagard said.
“Tuscaloosa Monorail” airs Saturdays at 3 a.m. on CBS 42 WIAT. There are two episodes left in this season, and season three will premiere in August 2015.
