Loudon Wainwright III is a legendary singer-songwriter who recently wrote a song about a dog. Before we get to that dog, let’s pause for a moment on Loudon. He’s released 22 studio albums, was the “singing surgeon” on M*A*S*H, and was tagged as one of the many “new Bob Dylans” that peppered the music magazines in the early ’70s. That’s for you older readers.

For our younger readers, Loudon is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright.

Now, with pedigrees and such out of the way, let’s get to the dog. He’s a grizzled old fella, just like Loudon. In the video, Loudon takes him for a walk in the great big country of New York City, and he sings the praises of both. He walks him in Central Park in a tux with a cummerbund and a bottle of champagne and a cigarette, he bends down to pick up his poop, he plays banjo with him on a street corner, and he generally just enjoys all that goes into having a dog in the city, which primarily means walking the dog around and seeing all that great NYC humanity pass by you.

And then the video goes delightfully off the rails, right into dogs-playing-poker territory, where it takes a seat and goes all in. Loudon is crazy old guy. Have a look:

Do you have any idea how secure you have to be in your legacy to bring Dogs Playing Poker to life, with puppets? Bill Murray might not even do that.

“Man & Dog” is released in advance of Wainwright new album, “Haven’t Got the Blues (Yet),” which comes out Sept. 9.

Via the New Yorker