Derek Smalls (beloved funnyman Harry Shearer), the celebrated Spinal Tap bassist whose sound has inspired a generation of artists and changed the course of music history forever, catches up with Paul Shaffer in an all-new episode of the AXS TV original series Paul Shaffer Plus One—airing Sunday, October 27 at 8pE/5pP.

In this exclusive first look, Smalls shares his surprising thoughts on the band’s groundbreaking 1984 documentary This Is Spinal Tap, which provided an unflinching and uncensored look at the band’s life both in the studio and on the road. Though critics around the world heralded the project as a tour de force in documentary filmmaking, Smalls and his bandmates were slightly less enthusiastic. “The hatchet job, I call it. We never had control of it,” Smalls says. “I’m going to be scientific about this: 93.97% of the time, we found our way to the stage straightaway. You never saw that in the film.” Smalls doesn’t shy away from casting blame on director Marty DiBergi, whom he feels was intentionally trying to make the band look ridiculous. “What does that say? What does that say to you? He had an agenda!” Watch it here.

Paul Shaffer Plus One airs every Sunday at 8pE/5pP, only on AXS TV. Next week, R&B trailblazer Smokey Robinson joins Paul in studio on November 3.

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