What the heck is comedy music?

Alright... So, I'm going to try again to make a go of this blog thing. Seems I always get to busy with other things and sometimes forget to to communicate with the world. :)

So where to start... Well, maybe by defining a little bit about what I do. The world of comedy music brings up a lot of questions with people who don't know much about it. We are a comparitively small subsect of the comedy world, but there are the stars (Stephen Lynch, Weird Al, Adam Sandler) that people know.

Basically I break it down into three different types:

Parody - This means using someone else's songs and writing new, funny (hopefully) lyrics to it. Weird Al is the king of this. On one level, this is an easy task because the music and arrangement are done for you. On the other hand it's really difficult to write a GOOD parody that actually elicits laughter and doesn't sound hokey. Parody has never been my style and I stay well away from it. Why? Because I'm a music artist before a comedian. The music part is of utmost importance (and enjoyment) to me as a writer.

Novelty Songs - These are songs that are quirky, but not neccessarily funny. The lyrics will fall outside the normal love/social issues/psychological whining of the average songs you hear on the radio. They might be about dinosaurs or cucumbers. While they may have some funny lines, they're more about being different. A good chunk of what you hear on Dr Demento falls under this category. Musically they can fall between the very simplistic and the very complex, ie. Frank Zappa. Unfortunately, the term "novelty song" oftens connotes a throwaway quality. Like, "Oh, it's just a little joke". Yeah, ok.. Tell Zappa that. While I've written some songs that can fall into this category, I don't call them novelty songs. I call them my "Fun, but not Funny" songs. "Afrodizzyac" (one of my current Roadside Attraction favorites) is an example of this type of song. But it's certainly not throwaway material. It's actually one of the more complex and difficult songs in our repertoire.

Comedy Music - This is where most of my concentration is these days. Comedy music uses the principles and techniques of standup comedy, but in a musical form. So, there's setups, punchlines, act-outs, surprise elements, rule of 3 runs, hard "k" sounds. All the different ideas that regular standups use to make you laugh. Just surrounded by music. I find it a difficult and challenging medium since, not only does it have to be funny, but it has to rhyme and make musical sense as well. Each song is a new puzzle to work out. "LCW" and "Asshole" are two of my songs that fit in this category pretty well.

I try to make the message of my comedy pretty clear - That's life just isn't that serious and there's always someone more screwed up than you. But sometimes I write straight music as well. Pieces to sort out the more serious aspects of what goes on in my head. "Share My Pixie Dust", "Judgment Day", "Dead City Support Club" and the like. Those are a different discipline of their own, but right now I'm into the comedy stuff. :)

So I hope that gives you a little more insight into my art and what it's about. More to come. :)

Gotta go write now. :)

Phil Johnson
Roadside Attraction
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

P.S. You can hear samples of all the songs mentioned here on my website.

P.P.S. Don't forget to pick up a copy of our new DVD "Raising A Rockus" while you're there!