Directed by Rob Reiner and largely improvised by the main players Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer.

David St. Hubbins

• [Asked what his epitaph should be]: "Here lies David St. Hubbins... and why not?"
• [After the disastrous "Stonehenge" concert]: I do not think the problem was that the band was "down". I think the problem was that there was a Stonehenge monument on stage that was in danger of being crushed...by a dwarf!

Mick Shrimpton

• I used to say "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" As long as there's sex and drugs, I can do without rock and roll.

Dialogue

[Nigel plays the piano]

Marty DiBergi: It's pretty.

Nigel Tufnel: Yeah, I like it. I've been fooling around with it for a few months now. Very delicate.

Marty DiBergi: It's a bit of a departure from what you normally play.

Nigel Tufnel: Yeah, well, it's part of a trilogy, a musical trilogy that I'm doing in D... minor, which I always find is really the saddest of all keys, really, I don't know why. It makes people weep instantly to play [plays and sings]

Nigel Tufnel: It's a horn part.

Marty DiBergi: It's very pretty.

Nigel Tufnel: You know, just simple lines intertwining, you know, very much like — I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really. It's like a Mach piece, really. It's sort of...

Marty DiBergi: What do you call this?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, this piece is called "Lick My Love Pump."

Marty DiBergi: Why don't you make ten a little louder, make that the top number and make that a little louder?

Nigel Tufnel: [pauses] These go to eleven.

Marty DiBergi: David St. Hubbins... I must admit I've never heard anybody with that name.

David St. Hubbins: It's an unusual name. Well, he was an unusual saint. He's not a very well-known saint.

Marty DiBergi: Oh, there actually is, uh... there was a St. Hubbins?

David St. Hubbins: That's right, yes.

Marty DiBergi: What was he the saint of?

David St. Hubbins: He was the patron saint of quality footwear.

Songs and lyrics

Big Bottom:

My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo. I love to sink her with my pink torpedo! Big bottom, big bottom, talk about bum-cakes... my girl's got 'em. Big bottom, drive me out of my mind. How can I leave this... behind?

The larger the waistband, the deeper the quicksand

Cast

• Rob Reiner - Marty DiBergi
• Christopher Guest - Nigel Tufnel
• Michael McKean - David St. Hubbins
• Harry Shearer - Derek Smalls
• R.J. Parnell - Mick Shrimpton
• David Kaff - Viv Savage
• Fred Asparagus - Joe "Mama" Besser
• Ed Begley Jr. - John "Stumpy" Pepys
• Danny Kortchmar - Ronnie Pudding
• Tony Hendra - Ian Faith
• June Chadwick - Jeanine Pettibone
• Bruno Kirby - Tommy Pischedda
• Fran Drescher - Bobbi Flekman
• Patrick Macnee - Sir Denis Eton-Hogg
• Billy Crystal - Morty the Mime
• Dana Carvey - Mime Waiter
• Howard Hesseman - Terry Ladd
• Paul Shaffer - Artie Fufkin
• Anjelica Huston - Polly Deutsch
• Fred Willard - Lieutenant Hookstratten