Film, Television And Video Cameos

Alex Lifeson in Come on Children, 1972

Filmed in 1970 or '71, this reality film contains the oldest known recorded performance of Alex Lifeson (on video, no less!). In the film, Alex performs "Run Willie Run", a Rush original written in 1969, on acoustic guitar with an unknown co-star providing the vocals. In another scene he plays a Hendrix tribute ("Star Spangled Banner") for a group of the kids. Although Alex doesn't speak much in the film, in a scene late in the film he argues with his parents over his decision not to go to college!
"It was ten kids living on a farm together for ten weeks and the interaction between them, and the cameras were always on, like reality TV before reality TV. Allan King was the filmmaker and he had made a few films like that...I auditioned for it and there were about three hundred kids who went up for it. It didn't turn out the way Allan invisioned it would. We weren't very interesting so nothing really happened with it. It kind of flopped as an idea. It shows up on TV occasionally; I've seen it, it was on a few months ago. I was going through the channels, and there I was and it was really shocking. It was nineteen-seventy. I was seventeen at the time." - Alex Lifeson, "Closer To The Art", Classic Rock, October 2004

Geddy Lee in Heart Of Gold, original airdate Dec 12-14, 1982

This three part documentary which aired on the CBC was narrated by Donald Sutherland. Click here for a clip of Geddy's interview. The book Heart Of Gold - 30 Years Of Canadian Pop was also published to compliment the documentary, which includes a Rush feature.

"O Canada", Geddy Lee performing the Canadian National Anthem at the 64th Major League Baseball All Star Game, Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland, July 13, 1993 (click here to view the performance)

"It was a tremendous thrill for me. I've been asked on a couple of occasions to sing National Anthems, and I always was holding out to throw the first pitch - I thought that would be more fun than actually 'working'. But when they called and asked me to do the All Star Game, espeically at Camden Yards, such a beautiful place and such a special game, and I'm big baseball fan as a lot of people know. So it was a great thrill for me and it was probably the most nervous I'd ever been before doing a concert. And I was appreciative of somebody from one of the networks before I went on that it was going live to like 80 countries, and they told me that just before I walked out. Which was a nice thing to be reminded of before you go to sing acapella at a microphone!" - Geddy Lee, "Rockline", January 24, 1994
"It was so weird, it was so nerve wracking. I don't know whether the lady who told me that 80 million people were watching was the reason I was nervous, but going out there accapella just to sing to this echoey environment was definetly not easy. But it was thrilling to turn around and see all these great ball players, having to wait for you to finish!" - Geddy Lee, WMMR Interview, December 18, 2000

Alex Lifeson guest star on Trailer Park Boys, the television series, May 18th, 2003

"Closer To The Heart" (season 3, episode 5): "Bubbles is so devastated about not getting tickets to the RUSH concert that Ricky decides to bring Alex Lifeson (played by Alex Lifeson) to the park to perform a private concert." One scene of the episode was filmed during the October 22nd, 2002, Vapor Trails concert at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, as actor Mike Smith, who portrays Bubbles on the Nova Scotia, Canada, based comedy series, was filmed playing the part of a Rush roadie. As he walked on stage to hand Alex a new guitar, Geddy told the crowd "he is a new guy." The final scene of the episode features Alex and Bubbles playing "Closer To The Heart" on acoustic guitars.
"I was a bit nervous up there. I mean, it's dark, and I can't see, and I'm stepping over cables and stuff...Alex is a big fan of the show...Alex came to us and asked to do a cameo. The director was like, 'No, but why don't we write a whole episode based around you?' And he was totally into that. So we flew him out to Halifax and we shot with him for three days and had really great times. He's a really amazing person." - Mike Smith ("Bubbles"), TorontoStar.com, October 28, 2002

Rush on Rolling Stones' Four Flicks DVD, November 11th, 2003

Released after the Rolling Stones' "Licks Tour", under the "Extras" section of the first documentary disk is a section on the SARS benefit concert titled "Toronto Rocks", with excerpts of interviews with Geddy and Alex, and clips of Alex meeting Burton Cummings of The Guess Who and Neil being greeted by Stones drummer Charlie Watts.

Alex Lifeson (aka "Big Al") guest interviewer on Primus' Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People DVD, released October 7, 2003

The "Brown Album" portion of the DVD has an area called "Horrible Swill" which contains an interview of the band performed by one "Big Al", wearing black rimmed glasses and fake crooked teeth. In addition, the "Attic" area contains a "pictures" section which includes a photo of Les Claypool and Geddy Lee fishing. Yet another scene backstage has Les showing the camera his bass autographed on the headstock by Geddy Lee, as Les says "Geddy Fucking Lee" and points to the autograph. Known to be Rush fans, Primus included the intro to "YYZ" in two of their tracks, "John The Fisherman" and "To Defy The Laws Of Tradition", released on separate albums in 1990 and included on They Can't All Be Zingers: Best of Primus. Primus toured with Rush on the Roll the Bones and Counterparts tours, and bass player Les Claypool also performed on one track of Alex Lifeson's solo project, Victor. For their 2000 Antipop tour they sold a concert t-shirt with artwork similar to the 2112 cover. Their third DVD, Blame It On The Fish, includes a 30-min. mockumentary set in 2065, where a 102 year-old Les Claypool reminisces about the band, and mentions Rush and/or Geddy lee on three separate occasions. The Rick Mercer Report

Geddy Lee interviewed in Ringers: Lord Of The Fans, January 21, 2005

A documentary celebrating fans of Lord Of The Rings, the documentary includes an interview with Geddy Lee and a brief glimpse of Geddy live on stage is seen during the trailer.
"Geddy Lee, bassist and lead singer for the seminal rock group Rush, has granted an exclusive interview to the producers of the feature documentary, Ringers: Lord Of The Fans. His heartfelt comments on the power of J.R.R. Tolkien's stories make it easy to understand how the world of Rock & Roll was forever changed by The Lord of the Rings. The fine connections between these two art forms is sharply drawn by Mr. Lee, as he explains the wonderful influence of Middle-earth on his early songwriting..." - TheOneRing.net - September 29, 2004
"As the scope of the film broadened to include the worlds of music and fantasy literature, efforts to secure interviews with the best and brightest of those worlds were met with 'Yes, I'd love to!' from all quarters...Rock legends Geddy Lee (RUSH) and Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead) quickly came on board, explaining first-hand how the Rock scene shifted under the weight of Tolkien's high-fantasy influence....The heartbeat of RINGERS is in its Rock soundtrack, and the director wanted nothing less than wall-to-wall music. [Editor Arnaud Gerardy] carefully edited to the rhythm of Led Zeppelin's 'Ramble On' and RUSH's 'Rivendell'..." - TheOneRing.net, January 10, 2005

Geddy Lee interviewed in Metal: A Headbangers Journey, September 14, 2005

"Journeying through America and Europe, following tours and attending open-air metal fests, the filmmakers document people's opinions about the scene. Fans weigh in, as well as metal gods including Rush's Geddy Lee..."

Geddy Lee guest star in "Fire Eye'd Boy" video from the eponymous third album by Broken Social Scene, October 4, 2005

Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie supergroup from Toronto. In the video, Geddy Lee spoofs an American Idol judge.

Alex Lifeson on The Golf Channel's Personal Lessons, July 3rd, 2006

The debut episode of The Golf Channel's "Personal Lessons" featured Golf Pro Rocco Mediate and his friend, Alex Lifeson. During the episode, they play a round of golf, along with an amateur partner, at Tuscany Reserve in Naples, Florida (where Lifson has a second home, also home of The Ritz-Carlton, Naples...).

Alex Lifeson cameo in The Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty, October 6th, 2006

Trailer Park Boys fan Alex Lifeson is seen in a cameo role as a police officer in the film, which also includes many Rush references. Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee also perform on the soundtrack, and as part of the film's promotion, Lifeson hosted a Canadian TV special titled "Trailer Park Boys 101". For more information regarding the soundtrack, click here.
"When it came to making the movie the producers thought it would be appropriate, in view of everything that's been going on in Florida, that I play the role of a cop in the movie. Gord Downey from The Tragically Hip and I play partners. Geddy and I are also a part of the Big Dirty Band on the soundtrack. What song did we do? 'I Fought The Law', that was kind of appropriate too." - Alex Lifeson, Classic Rock, July 2007

Neil Peart in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie, April 13, 2007

Peart voices a miniature of himself (a watermelon seed) who plays the drums. The film's website includes an animated music video of the Hunger Force performing in concert with Neil Peart on drums.
"'I'm a cheap device for exposition,' Neil Peart says over the phone from California, establishing two things straightaway. One: he knows his function in his role in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Two: He's a comedy buff, who goes on to explain that he's quoting an old SCTV parody of Fantasy Island. Absurd decisions typify the Aqua Teen creators...So when looking for big names to lend a voice to their show, they asked not for an animation veteran but instead for the drummer for Rush. "We get lots of offers over the transom, of course - lots of things that someone would like us to be involved in, or to buy from them," says Peart, clearly in a lighthearted mood. But when it came to this movie, 'Somebody in the office had an open mind.'...he's a watermelon seed who plays the drums, and he gets to perform a supernatural ritual called the Drum Solo of Life...'My solo (in Rush shows) is nine minutes long, so I just gave them a bunch of 30-second clips to choose from that sounded spiritual.'" - Toronto Star, April 15, 2007

Neil Peart in Adventures Of Power, January 20, 2008

Neil Peart makes a cameo appearance in this comedy about one man's quest to prove his worth by winning an "air-drumming" competition. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008, had its theatrical release on October 9, 2009, and DVD release on January 25, 2011. The DVD holds over 60 minutes of bonus features including a 25 minute interview and Power drum-off with Neil Peart. Often compared to Napoleon Dynamite crossed with Spinal Tap, the film is part comedy, part drama, with economic hardship and the need to prove one's worth juxtaposed against...air drumming! For Rush fans, this film holds a treasure trove of goodies. The film includes a flashback scene where young Power is inspired to become a drummer after hearing "Tom Sawyer" on the radio. In addition, adult Power's bedroom is plastered with Rush and Neil Peart posters, and during one of the more hilarious scenes onlookers criticize Power for daring to air drum Neil Peart "without a stool". The coup de grâce comes at the end of the film, when Neil Peart himself has a rare cameo as the judge of the final air drumming competition; he must judge the performance of the most difficult air drumming song ever: "Tom Sawyer".

Rush in I Love You Man, March 20th, 2009

I Love You Man director and co-writer John Hamburg is a long time Rush fan, and used to play Rush covers in his band. When writing the script, he chose Rush as a bonding device for the lead characters played by co-stars Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. The film is full of Rush sightings, including a scene which takes place at a Rush concert with a cameo by the band. The film also includes a scene where Jason Segel and Paul Rudd perform "Limelight", a performance which is included on the I Love You Man Soundtrack, along with the original Rush versions of both "Limelight" and "Tom Sawyer". A source close to the band reported the concert scene was filmed the week of May 11th, 2008, while the band was in L.A. during the second leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour. Check out this extended 4:13 clip of Rush performing "Limelight" for the film, with additional footage not found in the final release.
"When I met (the band) and I was explaining the scene to them, I was so hypersensitive that they would enjoy themselves and not feel as if we were making fun of them because we were not at all. So I was explaining it to them, like, 'Jason and I are dancing around and we're really, really excited, and Rashida [Jones], her character is weirded out by us but she's kind of bored because we're totally ignoring her. So that's what's going on in the scene. We're way into it and she's kind of bored.' And Geddy Lee said, 'So it's just like any one of our concerts.' (laughter)" - Paul Rudd, ComingSoon.net, March 19, 2009
"I would say probably my favorite scene thus far is when we go to a Rush concert, and I'm trying to be down because I love my husband, and I want to support him in his endeavor. But Rush is just, as much as they're really great music, they're not 'geared' towards women necessarily, so I feel left out very quickly even though I try to join in - to the point where they're being super intimate with each other and, without even knowing it, Paul is physically pushing me out of the scene. Which made me laugh very hard...we've been listening to the same song for two days straight, and the thing that's good about it is that it's really complicated. And I feel like most songs, you'd want to shoot yourself in the head after two days straight of listening to it. But I still like hearing it, because there's all these, like, weird changes in time signature; it's like weird and cool. I actually do like it. And the guys [from Rush] are like the coolest guys I've ever met. That makes it easier to like them, per se." - Rashia Jones, ComingSoon.net, June 8, 2008
"It was a blast, we just played the same song over and over again. It came at a tough time, because we were on tour and that was our day off. It was nice that it was such fun, because we were pretty beat." - Geddy Lee, Entertainment Weekly, March 20, 2009

Geddy Lee in This Beat Goes On and >Rise Up, August 27, 2009

Geddy Lee is interviewed in this CBC Television documentary duo chronicling Canadian pop music in the 70's and 80's.

Alex Lifeson in Suck, September 11, 2009

Alex Lifeson is one of an all star cast of actors and musicians who appear in this Canadian vampire rock and roll comedy film which premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Lifeson has a cameo as a U.S. border officer; click here for a collage of Lifeson's scenes. The film's trailer can be seen here.
"Alex Lifeson should just fuckin' quit Rush and be an actor, he's so funny. He did all these little things, like playing with the typewriter and other subtle things that were so funny. I kept saying, 'Dude, be an actor!'" - Writer/Director Rob Stefaniuk, Now Magazine, September 9-16, 2009

City Sonic Project - Geddy Lee At Massey Hall, September 15, 2009

One feature of the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival was the City Sonic Project, pairing Canadian music artists with award-winning Canadian filmmakers to create 13 short documentary films about the artists' connection to places where their musical lives were transformed. Director Bruce McDonald follows Geddy Lee on a tour inside Toronto's legendary Massey Hall, culminating with Geddy's memories of the making of All The World's A Stage (note: in the film, Geddy reminisces first playing Massey Hall in 1975; in fact, it is believed that Rush first performed in Massey Hall on October 24th, 1974). The film can be seen here with production stills here.

Alex Lifeson cameo in Trailer Park Boys 2: Countdown To Liquor Day, September 25, 2009

"Of course, there's the de rigueur appearance by Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, here playing a drunken, undercover cop posing as a transvestite in a gay-prostitute alley (centered around a Chip Wagon that serves alcohol -- man, Halifax is one weird town). The character may indeed be the same cop Lifeson played in the previous Trailer Park Boys movie, showing his true colours." - Edmonton Sun, September 25, 2009

Neil Peart on The Late Show With David Letterman, June 9, 2011 (click here for a video of this performance)

"Peart admits that when he was approached to be part of Drum Solos Week, his initial reaction was, 'I don't know...it's not really my thing. But then I thought, Hey, a drum solo on TV - sounds great! I'd be very honored to be the ambassador to drum solos.' Only now there's the TV time factor, and it's got Peart's fertile mind running in circles. The show's producers have asked the renowned sticksman to keep the razzle-dazzle down to 'three, maybe four minutes,' says Peart. 'My regular live drum solo is about eight and a half minutes, so I decided I'd have to do a mental edit, accelerate the changes and minimize the improvisational parts and so on. At the rehearsal, during my first attempt, I had it down to about four minutes and 50 seconds, and the producers were giving me these worrisome looks.' Peart's second run-through was more acceptable: 'I got it down to about four minutes and two seconds...So all I have to do tonight is play that four-minute-and-two-second version of the solo, settle down and play the tempo and the end properly, and I'll be happy.'" - MusicRadar.com, June 7, 2011

Geddy Lee cameo in Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, February 12, 2012

Sunday February 12th, the CBC broadcasted a 100th Anniversary film adaptation of Stephen Leacock's "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town" (click here to view the episode). Geddy Lee has a cameo in the film: he is seen in a barber chair with a towel over his head throughout the film, which he finally removes during the credits to reveal himself. The television movie was filmed in September 2011.