Derek Smalls is the bassist for Spinal Tap, the mock metal group created by Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Rob Reiner in 1979. The quartet later expanded their joke into the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap, which attracted such a cult following that the group was able to "reunite" for an album called Break Like the Wind in 1992, which was followed by a tour.
After Break Like the Wind, Shearer -- who portrayed Derek Smalls -- Guest and McKean put Tap on ice. They reunited in 2003 to play the Folksmen -- a parody of the Kingston Trio -- for Guest's comedy A ...