ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has reflected on the time when he and his bandmates were asked to co-star on an episode of the groundbreaking TV sitcom “Married With Children”, a show that happened to be a favorite of all the ANTHRAX members. The episode was titled “My Dinner With Anthrax”, and the band spent a week with the Bundy family at the iconic Sunset-Gower Studios in the heart of Hollywood, learning their lines, rehearsing and shooting the episode — and getting into a little hot water with the show’s producers when they took “Bud Bundy” (David Faustino) to see METALLICA.
On Tuesday (February 23), Benante took to his Instagram to share a couple of photos from the “Married With Children” set, and he wrote: “On this day in 90’something we met #thebundies – this was one of the hi-lights of my career . Spending a week with the cast and crew learning how to ‘hit your mark’ and of course deliver your lines.
“When I watch it back I have great memories of that time. Things were happening so fast, it was hard to grasp. On The last day we filmed the show, we actually did 2 . We thought the first one went great, the audience laughed a lot and we all #hit our marks . The writers and producers came down and decided to change some of our lines… OH SHIT! There was a different rhythm now but the new lines were funnier.
“We finished and went to the after show dinner. We all sat together with #edoneill at the head telling stories, it was so great. At one point #clinteastwood and #morganfreeman were sitting across from us and we were all freaking out. This is where it got crazy- Ed said to us ‘ hey guys, wanna go meet CLINT? He brought us to meet #dirtyharry himself and it was awesome. Many many drinks later we were shitfaced with Al Bundy. I don’t remember what happened after that… what a week”.
A synopsis of the “My Dinner With Anthrax” episode, which originally aired March 1992, reads as follows: “It’s Al and Peg‘s 20th anniversary, and Peggy wants only one thing from Al… Meanwhile Kelly and Bud win the ‘My Dinner With Anthrax’ contest, which means a house party with the thrash-metal band, but there will be no party unless they get rid of mom and dad first. The answer: tricking them into taking a Florida ‘vacation’ that turns out to be a time-share sales scam where the salesman won’t leave them alone.” Each member of ANTHRAX had a couple of lines to say in the show and the band performed “In My World”.
