Comedy Analysis: Comedy in Music

'Weird' Al Yankovic in 2010

Humour in music is one of the oldest forms of humour. Ever since the dawn of music, it has been
used to tell humorous stories, and over the last decades this has only increased. Especially with the rise of the internet and sites such as youtube.com and blip.tv where users can upload and share their own content the amount of humorous songs and parodies has sky-rocketed.

A prime example of a comedian singer who had made his breakthrough through Youtube, is Bo Burnham. This young talent started in 2006 and signed a four-record deal with Comedy Central Records only two years later. His songs often feature controversial subjects such as disability, white supremacy and homosexuality. Often in a satirical form.

A musician who has made his living from musical comedy and became famous through parody songs featured on Dr. Demento's radio show is “Weird Al” Yankovic. He has parodied famous songs both older and contemporary hits, including Eat it (a parody of Michael Jackson's Beat it), Perform this way (a parody of Lady GaGa's Born this way) and Amish Paradise (a parody of Coolio's Gangster Paradise). Also he has written his own original work (Albuquerque, Trapped in the drive-thru, Skipper Dan) and several polka-remixes of then-contemporary hits.  Weird Al differentiates from many other parody-artists in that he gets permission from all the original artists to parody their song.

Another example of a comedy group that became famous through Youtube is the Key of Awesome. This ensemble makes parodies of contemporary hits, sometimes with a direct link to the original artist (such as their parody of Adele's Someone like you which is about Adele's problems with her boyfriends) as well as original songs, usually about a film or television series (such as The Dark Knigh is Confused about the Dark Knight). Their songs are generally not politically motivated or controversial but they are generally entertaining and have gained the group a strong following.

Even well-known artists have been known to produce comedy songs. An example is Neil Patrick Harris, who has made a Youtube-series titled Neil's Puppet Dreams which often includes humorous songs about a variety of subjects. Also the band Lonely Island has gained stardom by making comedy songs, often in collaboration with famous artists such as Akon, Michael Bolton and Justin Timberlake.

Humour in music has been around for centuries and is not going anywhere soon. A welcome source of entertainment, easy to take with you in the car, it is an enjoyable form of comedy.