In The Beatles, he was the first guy fired. In The Who, he was the "crazy" one who died.

In Spinal Tap, he sat in the back until he blew up or otherwise expired. And on The Muppets, you never knew if Animal was keeping a beat or contemplating a killing spree.

Whatever role the man or woman behind the drum kit might play in the real world of pop, metal or indie rock, in the movies they're always the same — a bit gonzo, a little off in the head, and always wearing that face. It's not "guitar face." It's something altogether more frightening.

"Oh, you know it," says John C. Reilly, an actor who can play most any instrument ("Walk Hard," "A Prairie Home Companion"), but plays the drums as the spoiled, delusional Dale Doback, live-at-home loser, in the new comedy "Step Brothers." "It's a facial representation of all the artistry and physical agony and passion you're putting into those sticks. Your mouth is open. Your eyes all big and wide. You know, like Keith Moon!"

"Dude, you can't play drums with a straight face," says Rainn Wilson, the title character in "The Rocker," opening Aug. 20 — a particularly goofy drummer finally living the rock dream when he's pushing 40. "You can't play drums and look calm, cool and collected."

It's not just the face, which Moon (of The Who) perfected.

"The drummer's always the butt of the jokes," Reilly says. "Something about them, the extreme concentration and facial contortions that they show, just makes 'em funny."

Wilson, an Emmy nominee for "The Office," goes a bit further.

"Drummers are idiots," Wilson says, riffing on his character, Robert "Fish" Fishman. "Drummers are people who like to hang out with real musicians. They like to sit behind them and make loud noises and weird faces. There's a certain baboonish quality to drummers."

That's cold.

And it's not true, says Don Coffey of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based Superdrag.

"And even if it were true, you'd never get me to admit it," laughs Coffey, drummer for indie rockers known for such CDs as "Last Call for Vitriol." "I mean, some of us are goofballs. Not as many of us in indie rock. Keith Moon? For all his nuttiness, he was the greatest showman. People would come to shows just to see what he'd do.

"But believe me, we drummers look at the same movies as everybody else. We just make sure we're not living down to how the movies portray us."

Wilson isn't hearing that. He's on a roll, a rock 'n' roll.

"I started drum lessons three weeks before we started shooting," Wilson chortles. "I know! How embarrassing is that?"

You can't learn to drum in three weeks, Coffey retorts. So don't you kids go thinking that it's easy, no sir.

"I knew I'd never look like an expert, but if you can hit the cymbal in the right spot and twirl your sticks between beats, you've got it," Wilson says. "That's the secret to heavy metal! You don't need to be able to keep a beat. Just make sure you know those stick tricks!"