''The Chris Isaak Show'' is an American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

that follows a fictionalized version of the life of

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rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. He is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song "Wicked Game", as well as other songs such as "Blue Hotel", "Baby D ...

. The show portrays Isaak and his band members as everyday people with everyday problems. The series was produced for the

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

channel from 2001 to 2004, and was filmed in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

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, Canada, which stands in for the show's home setting of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. The series featured Isaak and several members of his band, Silvertone, portraying themselves. Other roles were portrayed by actors, including Jed Rees as Isaak's

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

. Rees (who had studied piano, though much of his character's keyboard work is performed by a session player) was hired in place of Isaak's actual keyboardist Brett Tuggle (a part-time band member) to add some comedy to the show. Other characters featured on the show include Yola Gaylen, Isaak's manager and her colleague, Cody Kurtzman. The final regular character, Mona, appears lying nude on her stomach on a revolving circular bed in the basement of Bimbo's, a club Isaak frequents. Through an optical illusion created with mirrors she's made to look as if swimming in an aquarium, and being called a mermaid (despite having human legs). Only once does she sit up, revealing her

toplessness Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness. Expose ...

.Season 2, Episode 12 "Farm Boys" She typically talks only with Isaak, acting as his conscience or a sounding board for him. Currently, the entire series remains unreleased to DVD due to music licensing costs.

Cast

- Himself *

Kristin Dattilo Kristin Dattilo (born November 30, 1970) is an American television actress, known for playing manager Yola Gaylen on ''The Chris Isaak Show'' from 2001 to 2004 and detective Barbara Gianna in season 3 of ''Dexter''. Early life Dattilo was bo ...

- Yola Gaylen; ''manager'' *

Jed Rees Jed Rees (born March 8, 1970) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles in movies such as ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999), '' The Ringer'' (2005), ''Deadpool'' (2016), and '' American Made'' (2017). Early life Rees studied music for two years in co ...

- Anson Drubner; ''keyboardist'' * Kenney Dale Johnson - Kenney Dale Johnson; ''drummer'' *

Rowland Salley Rowland Salley (born November 2, 1949) is an American musician, sometimes called Roly Salley. He is a bass guitarist and vocalist for Chris Isaak's band Silvertone. His best-known tune is "Killing the Blues", which has been covered by John Prin ...

- Rowland Salley; ''bassist'' * Hershel Yatovitz - Hershel Yatovitz; ''guitarist'' * Greg Winter - Cody Kurtzman * BobbyJo Moore - Mona *

Jennifer Calvert Jennifer Calvert (born 7 December 1963 in Ontario) is a Canadian actress with many years' experience on stage and primarily UK television. She trained at RADA and is most famous for her role in children's comedy drama ''Spatz'' in the 1990s. She ...

- Vivian (Season One) *

Michelle Goh Michelle Goh (, born 9 September 1973), is a Singaporean actress and entrepreneur. She left MediaCorp in 1998 and has been staying in Canada for 10 years. Acting career Goh was approached by Eric Khoo while dancing at Zouk, a Singapore ni ...

- Debbie Fung

Episodes

Season 1 (2001)

Season 2 (2002)

Season 3 (2004)

References

External links

* 2000s American sitcoms 2001 American television series debuts 2004 American television series endings English-language television shows Cultural depictions of American men Showtime (TV network) original programming Television series by CBS Studios Television series based on singers and musicians Television shows filmed in Vancouver {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub