‘Only Murders in the Building’ Never Told Billy Joel That They Were Licensing This Song Just for A Gag
Unlike seemingly every other celebrity of his generation, singer-songwriting legend Billy Joel never begged to be featured on the mystery-comedy Only Murders in the Building, but if he did, maybe the show wouldn’t have turned his masterwork and his hometown into a punchline.
The ongoing fourth season of Hulu’s breakout hit about an unlikely group of homicide investigators, podcasters and neighbors has already treated its audience to a slate of A-list guest stars that any crowd-pleasing comedy series would envy. Thus far, Meryl Streep has made her reappearance as Martin Short’s struggling actress lady friend, Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis and Eva Longoria have played themselves as another true crime investigator trio, and, in the most recent episode, “Valley of the Dolls,” Melissa McCarthy appeared as Steve Martin’s estranged younger sister whose creepy Long Island home serves as the hideout for the protagonists amidst mounting danger.
And, since the episode takes place on Long Island and Only Murders in the Building apparently has the budget of an island nation, the Only Murders producers thought it fitting that the episode should be scored by none other than the Piano Man himself, whose seven-plus-minute epic “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” is relegated to the role of McCarthy’s novelty doorbell sound.
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Only Murders showrunner John Huffman spoke to Vulture about the choice to use such an iconic and expensive song as a punchline that mocks Joel’s people, admitting that, when his team cleared the song through the “appropriate channels,” they never actually told the musician or his representatives that “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” would be the butt of the joke.
Hopefully Joel already has a bottle of red and a bottle of white in him when he hears the news.
In “Valley of the Dolls,” McCarthy’s character Doreen is, in every way, an over-the-top stereotype of middle-aged women living in Long Island — besides, perhaps, in her peculiar obsession with collecting dolls. It’s only fitting, then, that, whenever a visitor or an absentee older brother arrives at her door, the doorbell should greet them with the tinny sound of the opening chords from “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” one of the most Long-Island-y tunes that Oyster Bay’s biggest star ever wrote. “Someone should get that,” Short’s character Oliver remarks upon one such ringing, “before we have to hear it again.”
While the use of “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” and the entire character of Doreen may seem like one big dunk on the people of Long Island (specifically Joel himself), Huffman insists that the episode and the song use are a loving parody — at least, that’s what he’ll tell Joel’s manager should they call. “It’s very tongue-in-cheek winking for me,” he explained. “I lovingly poke at Long Island throughout the show, and I hope people enjoy the silliness of it and the jokes that come with it. Anyone from the city and anyone especially from Manhattan, as our trio is, feels that way about Long Island.”
Hoffman made a point to mention that he, himself, has relatives who live in Long Island, claiming that he understands and respects their culture immensely. “Billy Joel is universally beloved, in my experience, in Long Island, and it’s sacrilegious to think otherwise,” Hoffman proclaimed. “Doreen and her husband, Big Mike, have that in their house because they think it’s the coolest thing ever. I would think they knew all of the lyrics and sang it the first day they met.”
Still, Hoffman admits that Only Murders in the Building didn’t exactly explain that they wanted to use “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” as a joke about Long Islanders when they cleared the song with Joel’s representatives, hoping that this will be an “ask for forgiveness, not permission” kind of situation between him and the music legend. “I hope Billy won’t be too surprised,” Hoffman said of the gag. “With the craziest and greatest cast of any half-hour comedy show I’ve seen, I can only hope there is goodwill coming from the Billy Joel side of things.”
But, if Joel is upset with how Hoffman used his touching love song to his people as a joke, maybe the two men can talk it over in their old familiar place, Hoffman and Joel, face to face…
