As part of the ongoing 50th anniversary celebration of late Beatle George Harrison‘s landmark triple-disc 1970 solo album All Things Must Pass, director Lance Bangs gathered a group of more than 40 actors, musicians and comedians to film the first-ever video for one of the collection’s most beloved songs, “My Sweet Lord.”
The cameo-stuffed seven-minute clip — executive produced by Harrison’s son, musician Dhani Harrison — finds metaphysical special agents Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer searching high and low for… something. Tasked by Star Wars icon Mark Hamill with finding “something out there,” the pair of psychic detectives set off on a search across Los Angeles that has them bumping into dozens of familiar faces.
Their quest begins in a mind-bending library full of mysteriously warped books, where they run into comedians Natasha Legerro and Moshe Kasher, before hitting the streets, where they encounter a number of Easter eggs — including a street sign that read “Must Pass” — and bump into Harrison’s pal ELO mastermind Jeff Lynne, Late Late Show bandleader/comedian Reggie Watts, actor/singer Darren Criss, comedian Patton Oswalt (playing a movie theater ticket-taker) and “Weird Al” Yankovic (manning the theater concession stand.)
Armisen and Criss snoop around the theater with their flashlights, revealing an audience packed with stars including Rosanna Arquette, David Gborie, Sam Richardson, Atsuko Okatsuka, Brandon Wardell, Harrison’s former bandmate Ringo Starr — who teaches accomplished drummer Armisen how to properly pound the skins — Eagles member Joe Walsh and Jon Hamm.
Hamm sends another dozen agents to help with the search, among them: Brett Metter, Anders Holm, Dhani Harrison, Rupert Friend, Angus Sampson, director/actor Taika Waititi and comedy duos Eric Wareheim and Tim Heidecker and Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome, as well as Alyssa Stonoha, Mitra Jouhari, Sandy Honig and the late singer’s widow, Olivia Harrison. Also appearing the clip are street artist Shepard Fairey, director Bangs, comedian Paul Scheer and dozens of others in the movie theater audience (see the clips credits for the full list.)
“Making this was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,” director Bangs said in a statement. “The approach was to represent the song visually while these agents and inspectors kept missing the metaphysical wonder around them. Images are choreographed to the sounds of vocal melodies, guitar strums, drum patterns, chord changes. George threaded a sense of humor through all of his videos, so we kept that spirit and filled the cast with friends and admirers of his music, many coming from the current comedy landscape. I tracked down vintage prime lenses from some of the films George’s HandMade Films had produced, and I hope that viewers can feel a sense of wonder and searching while they watch it, and that the song continues to add to all of our lives.”
Check out the “My Sweet Lord” video below and see some of the celeb’s tweets.
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It’s the 50th anniversary of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” so I & a bunch of friends all got together for a new video for “My Sweet Lord.” Watch the whole beautiful thing at https://t.co/WFtCjGBUxq! pic.twitter.com/hzP5F2E87M
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 15, 2021
Was asked if I wanted to be in a new music video for “My Sweet Lord” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of @GeorgeHarrison’s seminal album “All Things Must Pass” … UUH DUHH OBVIOUSLY. pic.twitter.com/QBzitNL75Z
— Darren Criss (@DarrenCriss) December 15, 2021
FINALLY I get to cross “be in a George Harrison music video” off my bucket list! https://t.co/5jGscvxed7 pic.twitter.com/eOz5buZYZm
— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) December 15, 2021
In celebration of @GeorgeHarrison’s “All Things Must Pass” 50th Anniversary, I joined in with over 40 other musicians, actors, and comedians to shoot the first official music video for “My Sweet Lord.” I had a lovely time. Watch the video now at https://t.co/RyRiMu4gqu pic.twitter.com/Z5dW99IbPZ
— Jeff Lynne’s ELO (@JeffLynnesELO) December 15, 2021
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