You're tuned to the good stuff
The Bjelland Brothers
SKETCH-O-VISION
A VERY GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME.
The setup
Watch on YouTube
Watch onYouTube
The premise
Here’s the bit.
Dan and Jeffrey Bjelland, a washed-up Minnesota duo, take the stage in front of a nearly empty hall and start with the only song anyone remembers, a chorus about sending a bottle of sparkling apple juice to a listener's house. Between rounds of the chorus they ask for the house lights, politely spin the sparse crowd as quality over quantity, and cheerfully note how few people showed up. They then walk the audience through the song's origin, a romantic gift they had forgotten to mail, and complain about the money lost on a three-day tour with two bought buses and a hired chef. Before long they coax the crowd into a singalong, announce the chorus is the only song on the program, and keep repeating it with growing enthusiasm.
The funny people
Meet the cast. 2
Say it with us
Highly quotable.
I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house. Did you get it?
There are not that many people here tonight.
You know, we could have rented them, but I was just being show-offy in front of my new assistant.
A little extra
Notes from the archive.
Bryan Cranston hosted this episode of Saturday Night Live, with Kanye West as musical guest.
Script
Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.
- 00:04
Jeffrey Bjelland
Good evening, everybody. Hello. Thank you all for coming. Are you ready, Dan?
- 00:10
Dan Bjelland
I am always ready. Always ready for such a lovely audience. They look so beautiful tonight
- 00:19
Jeffrey Bjelland
Two three.
- 00:20
Dan Bjelland
I sent a bottle of sparkling Apple juice to your house Did you get it? I sent a bottle of I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house Did you get it?
- 00:41
Jeffrey Bjelland
Sounds so good
- 00:42
Dan Bjelland
I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house Did you get it?
- 00:52
Jeffrey Bjelland
Oh, remember this song
- 00:54
Dan Bjelland
I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house Hello Did you get it? Thank you all so much for coming tonight It means so much to me and my brother Jeffrey
- 01:07
Jeffrey Bjelland
It sure does. Can you all see us? People in the back Turn the house lights up a little
- 01:14
Dan Bjelland
We want to see the crowd. Huh, look at that. There are not that many people here tonight
- 01:22
Jeffrey Bjelland
No. This is what professional singers describe As lightly attended
- 01:29
Dan Bjelland
There are pockets of people I see a nice little crowd right over there. Hello It's about quality, not quantity
- 01:35
Jeffrey Bjelland
Still, a few more people would be nice. I see whole sections that are empty
- 01:41
Dan Bjelland
Whole sections, but that's okay. This is our hometown
- 01:43
Jeffrey Bjelland
It is
- 01:44
Dan Bjelland
And you know what? We love you I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house Did you get it? I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house Did you get it? You guys remember that song?
- 02:10
Jeffrey Bjelland
Oh, we sure do.
- 02:11
Dan Bjelland
It's our only hit song. Isn't that amazing? Came out in 1979.
- 02:17
Jeffrey Bjelland
God, are we that old already? I still look the same, don't I?
- 02:22
Dan Bjelland
No comment on that one. Oh. Sounds so lovely. Yes, I'd like to say
- 02:31
Jeffrey Bjelland
I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house. I think they just work here. Hello. Did you get it?
- 02:42
Dan Bjelland
This song hit the top 2,200 on the Minnesota charts. How about that?
- 02:46
Jeffrey Bjelland
To sing our name up there on the Bjelland brothers' printed local music trade magazine? Oh, we were shocked. Especially since the song was written fairly quickly, believe it or not.
- 02:58
Dan Bjelland
It's true. You see, I had sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to a woman I was very interested in.
- 03:05
Jeffrey Bjelland
Very interested.
- 03:08
Dan Bjelland
And I didn't hear back from her as to whether or not she got it. Not a word. I was very depressed for about a year until one day I walked out into my garage and saw a bottle of sparkling apple juice sitting underneath the table saw. It turns out I forgot to send it.
- 03:21
Jeffrey Bjelland
He's very forgetful. There are a lot of rap presents sitting out in his garage.
- 03:27
Dan Bjelland
But you know something, people? Hello? We got this whole beautiful song out of this experience, didn't we? I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house And did you get it? Say hello to our band, they've been working so hard on this three-day tour
- 03:50
Jeffrey Bjelland
We have, thank you, yes. Oh, we lost a lot of money on this tour. A lot of money. That's right
- 04:00
Dan Bjelland
We bought two buses. Do you have any idea how much a bus costs? You know, we could have rented them, but I was just being show-offy in front of my new assistant. So, so dumb.
- 04:12
Jeffrey Bjelland
We also hired a chef.
- 04:14
Dan Bjelland
Stupid. You guys look like a very good crowd. Very good. You guys want to sing along?
- 04:19
Jeffrey Bjelland
Oh, perfect idea. Bring it down. Bring the music down just a little bit, guys. Sounds so nice.
- 04:25
Dan Bjelland
I sent a bottle of apple juice sparkling Did you get it?
- 04:46
Jeffrey Bjelland
Bring it back up
- 04:48
Dan Bjelland
I sent a bottle of apple juice to your house, did you get it,
- 04:57
Jeffrey Bjelland
this is the only song we're doing tonight
- 04:59
Dan Bjelland
I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house
- 05:05
Jeffrey Bjelland
Oh, we love you, Minneapolis.
- 05:07
Dan Bjelland
Did you get it? I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house.
- 05:16
Jeffrey Bjelland
Thank you. Thank you so much.
- 05:18
Dan Bjelland
Did you get it? I sent a bottle of sparkling...
The rabbit hole continues
One more couldn’t hurt.
More from across the archive.
