Holy Shit, it’s Rage Kage!

So I finally got around to seeing Jacob’s Ladder a few nights back. I saw the tail end of it in the early 90’s on HBO and thought it looked pretty freakin’ cool but it was never on again. I’ve wanted to see it for a few years now, but it’s kind of hard to find. None of my local video stores had it despite there being a new special edition DVD, and I didn’t really want to buy it without seeing it first.

Anyway, in order to help my friend Larry get a free iPod, I signed up for a trial of Blockbuster Online, and it was the first movie I picked.

Great movie if you like psychological horror what-the-fuck-is-real movies. Highly recommended.

Watching the credits (which I do because I’m a film snob), I recognized a familiar name. A couple actually, but the big one for me was Kyle Gass. If that name means nothing to you, you may as well stop reading now. You won’t give a fuck. But the enlightened among you will recognize that as the full name of KG, 50% of Tenacious D. He was listed as Tony. Thing is I didn’t remember a Tony in the movie.

Anyway, I scanned through the movie again looking for Kage. There’s a scene where Jacob Singer (played by Tim Robbins) has a fever of 106 degrees. His girlfriend rounds up all the neighbors to help her throw him in a bathtub filled with ice. One of those neighbors, apparently named Tony, is KG. He had no lines and is onscreen for maybe 5 seconds total. It’s strange that he was credited, considering that Macaulay Culkin had a bigger part, multiple scenes with actual lines and shit, and was never credited.

After the whole ice-bath scene plays out, Jacob awakes to a doctor looking down on him. His doctor is Lewis Black, then unknown but now semi-famous for his stand-up and his appearances on The Daily Show. He actually had a line: “You’re a lucky guy Jake. You must have friends in high places.” This line is ironic, but you’d have to see the movie to understand.

Also in the movie are a pre-Pulp Fiction Ving Rhames, a pre-Seinfeld Jason Alexander and a pre-ER Eriq Lasalle. But who gives a shit about them, that was totally fucking KG helping with the ice!!!

Anyway, now if I ever have the good fortune to meet the underrated half of the D, I know exactly what I’ll say: “I loved you in Jacob’s Ladder!”

KG and another guy

KG, Tim Robbins and that other guy

KG looks worried

Lewis Black

Some credits