Music to Make You Laugh - Monday Music Review
Stop me if you heard this one…. What do you call a piano that can’t stop laughing?
A Yama-hahahahahaha
According to author George R. R. Martin, “laughter is poison to fear”. Never have we needed to laugh as much as we do now – to defeat fear, to combat boredom, to uplift the heart.
For those that know me personally, you know how much I am a fan of puns, especially musical puns. Here is a collection of some of my favorite musical jokes.
Maybe musical puns aren’t your forte (sorry, can’t help myself). You can find humor woven through all types and styles of music. Maybe it’s the words of a song, the whimsy of the composition, or the musician themselves. Here are two of my favorite funny songs and two of my favorite comedian musicians.
Make ‘Em Laugh
You can’t talk about funny musical songs without bringing up the song from the 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain, Make ‘Em Laugh. Sung by the incomparable Donald O’Connor, this song and dance will delight children and adults. Fun fact – the musical number was so taxing that after he was done filming it, Donald O’Connor ended up in a hospital bed for a week due to exhaustion. However, an accident ruined all the film – so he had to perform the whole number again! But when you watch this, I’m sure you’ll agree, his hard work paid off to create one of the most amazing and iconic musical theater numbers ever.
That’s What Little Kids Do by Jim Stafford
I first saw Jim Stafford perform this song on a tape of the Smother’s Brothers Variety Show that my parents had. Growing up, I always found this song funny – I mean, he says “piddle in the puddle” – what’s not funny about that? But now, as an adult, I appreciate the deeper meaning of the song. I love that humor and music can both deliver profound truths in gentle and unassuming ways.
PDQ Bach
Where to start with PDQ Bach? According to Wikipedia “P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer invented by the American musical satirist Peter Schickele, who developed a five-decade-long career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family.” As a pre-teen, I would fall asleep to Shickele’s CD , WTWP Classical Talkity-Talk Radio, where they play all Pachobel all the time ( by the end of the album, the host of the radio show ends up having a melt down having to listen to Pachobel’s canon one time too many).
He also creates his own instruments like the tromboon (a “hybrid” from the parts of a bassoon and a trombone; it has all the disadvantages of both) or Tuned Cardboard Tubes Bonked on the head….
He also composes humorous musical pieces and parodies like Oedipus Tex, Fanfare for the Common Cold, and the Knock Knock Cantata.
And then one of the quintessential PDQ Bach songs – Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 where he narrates the game like a sports announcer.
Victor Borge
And now we arrive at probably my favorite comedian-musician or maybe he’s more of a musician-comedian. He was a Danish concert pianist who became well known for blending piano music and jokes. One of his trademarks was to get “distracted” every time he started playing a song – talking to late audience members, chastising soloists when they rested their hand on the piano, or discovering he had his music upside down. In fact, he became well known for never finishing a piano piece during a concert or if it looked like he was about to finish, he would morph the song into Happy Birthday to end. It frustrated and delighted audiences simultaneously. Two of his most well-known acts within his show were Inflationary Language and Phonetic Punctuation.
With Inflationary Language, Borge marveled at the fact that words in the English language containing numbers didn’t rise with inflation like money and prices. So he would demonstrate how to “inflate” the English language – “before” would become “be-five”, “wonderful” becomes “two-derful”, and “lieutenant”, “lieu-elevenant”. You know what, it’s just better to let Victor demonstrate….
In Phonetic Punctuation, Borge would add sounds to all punctuation marks to make it “easier” to understand someone when they are talking. I don’t know about adding clarity to our speech, but phonetic punctuation certainly added laughter and enjoyment to our evening.
If you want to watch more Victor Borge, I highly recommend purchasing a DVD of one or more of his concerts. They are a great source of levity and something the whole family can watch together. Just be prepared to laugh…a lot.
“A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing.” ~Laura Ingalls Wilder
Leave a comment telling me which was your favorite song or act.