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Comedy music or musical comedy is a genre of music that is comic or humorous in nature. Its history can be traced back to the first century in
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, moving forward in time to the
Medieval Period
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
,
Classical and
Romantic eras, and the 20th century. Artists in the 20th century include
Allan Sherman
Allan may refer to:
People
* Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name
* Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker
* Allan (footballer, born 1989) (Al ...
,
Frank Zappa,
Tiny Tim,
Barenaked Ladies,
Randy Newman, and
"Weird Al" Yankovic. Artists in the 21st century include
Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "ten ...
,
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's come ...
,
The Lonely Island
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'').
The three ...
,
Ninja Sex Party
Ninja Sex Party (often abbreviated as NSP) is an American musical comedy duo consisting of singer Dan Avidan and keyboardist Brian Wecht. They formed in 2009 in New York City and are currently based in Los Angeles. They are also known as two th ...
and
The Axis of Awesome
The Axis of Awesome was an Australian comedy music act with members Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis, that performed from 2006 to 2018. The trio covered a wide variety of performance styles, and perform a combination of original ...
.
Comedy music is often associated with
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
, due to the subversive messages it displays.
This informative nature of comedy music also contributes to the improvement of learning inside and outside the classroom.
Forms of entertainment like musical theatre often incorporate comedy music as well.
To create comic effects in music, Composers have developed several principal
compositional techniques, including the use of comic text, musical parody, and unexpected juxtapositions of syntactical elements among others.
Comedy music can be further categorized into several types, such as
parody music
Parody music, or musical parody, involves changing or copying existing (usually well known) musical ideas, and/or lyrics, or copying the particular style of a composer or performer, or even a general style of music.
In music, parody has been u ...
,
novelty song
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wit ...
,
comedy rock
Comedy rock is rock music that is comedic in nature. Oftentimes it is mixed with satire or irony.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd Edition. ...
, and
comedy hip hop
Comedy hip hop or comedy rap, is a subgenre of lighter hip hop music designed to be amusing or funny, compared to artists who incorporate humor into their more serious, purist hip hop styles.
Satirical hip hop is a variant of comedy hip hop d ...
. Awards dedicated to comedy music include the
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, the
, and the Musical Comedy Awards.
Comedy-music relationship
Comedy is a form of art that addresses comic or humorous situations, or even serious ones with a light or
satirical approach. Music is also a form of art, and it is concerned with the
rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
,
melody, and
harmony of
vocal,
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
, or mechanical sounds.
One similarity between comedy and music is the way they both evoke psychological and emotional effects in their listeners, without them fully understanding the specific reason for their emotions of hilarity. Comedy in entertainment is also established as musical codes set up and confirm the audience's understanding of the symbolic meaning of a scene, before subverting that understanding to play with the audience's response.
Thus, a multi-faceted musical experience has the ability to elicit emotions such as humor and comedy in its listeners. This type of musical experience can be identified as comedy music.
History
Ancient Greece and Rome
The first uses of comedy in music can be traced back to the first century in ancient Greece and Rome, where poets and playwrights entertained with
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
s and
wordplay
Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phon ...
.
The origins of
comedy play
Comedy is a genre of dramatic performance having a light or humorous tone that depicts amusing incidents and in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity. For ancient Greeks and Romans, a comedy was a stage-play with a happy endin ...
in ancient Greece are first recorded on
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
in the 6th century BCE, on which illustrations of actors dressed as horses,
satyr
In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exa ...
s, and dancers in exaggerated costumes are painted on.
Another early origin are the explicit sexually humorous poems of
Hipponax in the 6th century BCE and
Archilocus
Archilochus (; grc-gre, Ἀρχίλοχος ''Arkhilokhos''; c. 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Greek lyric poet of the Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the ea ...
in the 7th century BCE.
The third origin are the
phallic songs sung during
Dionysiac festivals, as mentioned by
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
.
Playwrights of comedic theatre include
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...
and
Menander whose works mocked politicians, philosophers, and fellow artists.
Medieval Period
In the Medieval Period,
minstrel
A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer ...
s,
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...
s and
court jesters would continue performing comedic music, some satirical, accompanied by musical instruments. Court jesters in particular would display their wit and humor through songs, jokes, and physical comedy as a way to offer critique on society and authority, working in public squares or officially hired as licensed fools to work directly under the king or queen.
Classical and Romantic eras
In the Classical and Romantic eras, composers like
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
,
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
, and
Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
would place comic passages side by side with the more serious sections to bring out the contrast between them.
This technique is called
juxtaposition
Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two elements close together or side by side. This is often done in order to compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc.
Speech
Juxtaposition in literary terms is the showin ...
, which is a basic element of comedy.
20th century
Progress in comedy music continued over years, until
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
entertainers of the early 20th century added lyrics to musical numbers.
In 1923, one of the first comedy music hits '
Yes! We Have No Bananas
"Yes! We Have No Bananas" is an American novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn published March 23, 1923. It became a major hit in 1923 (placing No. 1 for five weeks) when it was recorded by Billy Jones, Billy Murray, Arthur Hall, Irving ...
' sung by
Eddie Cantor was released.
In 1924
Billy Rose asked,
"Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?". In 1958 the song was rereleased as, "
" by
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scot ...
, the ''
King of Skiffle
''King of Skiffle'' is an album by Lonnie Donegan. A CD version of the album was released in the United Kingdom on 18 February 1998 by Castle Music. The CD was also released by Pickwick under the title ''The Best of Lonnie Donegan''.
The fir ...
''.
In the 1940s,
Spike Jones
Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...
created songs with a comedy technique of replacing several musical notes with humorous sound effects.
Followed in 1951,
Stan Freberg released a series of cover songs that addressed the issue of
commercialism in that age.
The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of numerous comedy music artists whose careers went on for decades. These artists include: Allan Sherman, Frank Zappa, Tiny Tim, and Randy Newman. Particularly in 1970, the radio host
Barret Hansen – better known as Dr. Demento – appeared. He played tracks sent in by amateur artists, one of which was a 16-year-old 'Weird Al' Yankovic.
Yankovic released his
first album in 1983, which eventually led to a 14-album contract that he did not complete until 2014. For over four decades, he released multiple hit parodies and originals, which made him a major player in the genre of comedy music and the counterculture associated with it.
In 1994,
The Actors' Gang
The Actors' Gang is an experimental theatre and nonprofit group based at the Ivy Substation in Culver City, California. It was founded in 1981 by a group of actors, including Tim Robbins, now a member of the board and Artistic Director of the tr ...
members
Jack Black and
Kyle Gass
Kyle Richard Gass (born July 14, 1960) is an American musician, comedian and actor best known for co-founding—and being a member of—Tenacious D, a Grammy-winning comedy band. He also co-founded the bands Trainwreck and the Kyle Gass Band, ...
formed the iconic
comedy rock
Comedy rock is rock music that is comedic in nature. Oftentimes it is mixed with satire or irony.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd Edition. ...
duo
Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "ten ...
and went on to release their
debut album in 2001.
21st century
A popular 21st century musical comedy act is
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's come ...
, a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
duo composed of musicians
Bret McKenzie
Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie (born 29 June 1976) is a New Zealand musician, comedian, music supervisor, and actor. He is best known as one half of musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. In the 2000s, the duo's c ...
and
Jemaine Clement
Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement (born 10 January 1974) is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician and filmmaker. He has released several albums with Bret McKenzie as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, and created a comedy series of th ...
, which became the basis of the self-titled
BBC radio series (2004) and then the
HBO American television series (2007–2009).
At the turn of the millennium, the band
Steel Panther formed in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
with songs, live shows and videos parodying the stereotypical
glam metal
Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam ...
genre and lifestyle of the 1980s.
In 2001,
The Lonely Island
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'').
The three ...
formed in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
with members
Akiva Schaffer
Akiva D. Schaffer (; born December 1, 1977) is an American film director, comedian, actor, and writer. He is a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island along with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. He began his career with The Lonely Island maki ...
,
Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2005 ...
and
Jorma Taccone
Jorma Christopher Taccone (; born March 19, 1977) is an American comedian, director, actor, and writer. He is one-third of the sketch comedy troupe The Lonely Island, with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. In 2010, Taccone co-wr ...
, who starred in a series of
SNL Digital Shorts
An ''SNL'' Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. The origin of the Digital Short brand is credited to staff writer Adam McKay, who created content for the show in c ...
featuring songs like
Motherlover,
Dick in a Box
"Dick in a Box" is a song by the American comedy group The Lonely Island featuring American singer Justin Timberlake. The artists wrote the song with Katreese Barnes and Asa Taccone, who both produced it with Jorma Taccone. ''Saturday Night Li ...
,
I'm on a Boat
"I'm on a Boat" is a single (music), single from The Lonely Island's debut album ''Incredibad''. It was also featured as a ''Saturday Night Live'' SNL Digital Shorts, Digital Short. The song features Contemporary R&B, R&B singer T-Pain. The song, ...
,
I Just Had Sex
"I Just Had Sex" is a song by American comedy hip hop group The Lonely Island featuring American singer Akon and producer DJ Frank E. It was released as the first single from The Lonely Island's second album, '' Turtleneck & Chain'', released ...
and more.
Through the rest of the 2000s, a movement of
comedy rock
Comedy rock is rock music that is comedic in nature. Oftentimes it is mixed with satire or irony.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd Edition. ...
acts started to take place in
Australia with bands such as
The Axis of Awesome
The Axis of Awesome was an Australian comedy music act with members Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis, that performed from 2006 to 2018. The trio covered a wide variety of performance styles, and perform a combination of original ...
,
The Beards,
The Kransky Sisters
The Kransky Sisters are an Australian musical comedy trio created, written and performed by Annie Lee (Mourne) and Christine Johnston (Eve) initially with Michele Watt (Arva – 2000 til 2006) and later with Carolyn Johns (Dawn – 2007 onwards) ...
and
Tripod
A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...
.
When musician
Matt Farley discovered the only songs from his band Moes Haven that were getting any plays had more-comedic titles, he switched his focus to novelty songs in 2008. Since then, Farley has written over 22,000 songs about potty humor, celebrities, food and more under band names like The Toilet Bowl Cleaners, Papa Razzi and the Photogs, The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man and The Hungry Food Band.
Taking
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
and
synth-pop influence in the more comedic direction, the duo
Ninja Sex Party
Ninja Sex Party (often abbreviated as NSP) is an American musical comedy duo consisting of singer Dan Avidan and keyboardist Brian Wecht. They formed in 2009 in New York City and are currently based in Los Angeles. They are also known as two th ...
formed in 2009 with members
Dan "Danny Sexbang" Avidan and
Brian "Ninja Brian" Wecht who went on to record
five albums of original material, three cover albums and one re-recording album. Ever since their album
Under the Covers, NSP has been backed by the band
TWRP. For three albums, they collaborated with animator and internet personality
Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson to create the
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
themed side project
Starbomb
Starbomb was an American musical-comedy group composed of Dan Avidan and Brian Wecht of musical-comedy duo Ninja Sex Party together with Flash animator and Internet personality Arin Hanson and "space rock masters" TWRP, a Canadian music group ...
.
In 2010, rappers
Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and
Lloyd "Epic Lloyd" Ahlquist created the web-series
Epic Rap Battles of History
''Epic Rap Battles of History'' (ERB) is a YouTube web series and music project created by Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The series pits historical and pop culture figures against one another in a rap battle format. ...
, a show that pinned famous figures both real and fictional in
rap battles
Battle rap (also known as rap battling)Edwards, Paul, 2009, p. 25. is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults and wordplay. Battle rap is often performed or freestyled spontaneously in live ...
against each other. It has ran for seven seasons, featuring stars like
"Weird Al" Yankovic,
Snoop Dogg,
T-Pain and more.
The beginning of the 2010s saw
Nerf Herder
Nerf Herder is an American rock band from Santa Barbara, California, formed in 1994 by Parry Gripp (vocals, guitar), Charlie Dennis (bass) and Steve Sherlock (drums). They describe themselves as a " geek rock" band, and are known for simplist ...
front man
Parry Gripp
Parry P. Gripp (born September 22, 1967) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the pop punk band Nerf Herder from its formation in 1994. Gripp has written numerous novelty songs for children, and ...
starting to release a long series of successful
children's music songs such as "It's Raining Tacos", "Black Hamster" and "Do You Like Waffles?" dealing with themes of animals and food, gaining him the nickname "the
"Weird Al" Yankovic of
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
".
Associations
Counterculture
Counterculture is associated with comedy music due to the individual natures of comedy and music. Comedy often contains progressive and subversive messages that intend to provide listeners with information about issues,
Injustice
Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but n ...
s, and other topics that are important to the artist.
Music has the ability to explain political issues in a way that is easily acceptable for a wide range of listeners.
Both comedy and music have the power to create movements and spread ideas, allowing them to effectively advocate counterculture through the ages, one of them being the challenge of
authority.
'Weird Al' Yankovic spread his message about the privilege of the upper class through his comedy music song, titled '
First World Problems':
Kevin Bloody Wilson
Kevin Bloody Wilson (born Dennis Bryant; 13 February 1947) is an Australian musical comedian who performs comical songs with his heavy Australian English accent and often including sexual themes. He has won one ARIA Music Award.
Early career ...
's song – '
Living Next Door to Alan' – is about an indigenous family claiming land neighboring the millionaire
Alan Bond:
Education
Comedy and music have both been found to improve the effectiveness of learning inside and outside the classroom.
Comedy improves short-term issue
recognition
Recognition may refer to:
*Award, something given in recognition of an achievement
Machine learning
*Pattern recognition, a branch of machine learning which encompasses the meanings below
Biometric
* Recognition of human individuals, or biomet ...
, and can improve a student's learning by attracting and holding their attention for a longer duration of the class, also ensuring their continued motivation and engagement.
Music improves a student's
vocabulary
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
and
comprehensive skills, simultaneously encouraging them to think
creatively.
An example of the implementation of comedy music in education is the incorporation of parody songs to learn the English language.
Entertainment
In the 1920s and 1930s, musical theatre is a form of entertainment that often incorporates comedy.
In a musical setting, rhetorico-musical techniques contribute in creating comedic effect, and an example of this is
aposiopesis
Aposiopesis (; Classical Greek: ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent") is a figure of speech wherein a sentence is deliberately broken off and left unfinished, the ending to be supplied by the imagination, giving an impression of unwillingne ...
, which is the device of suddenly breaking off in musical speech for dramatic or emotional effect.
Another contributing aspect to it is dance – particularly
tap dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perf ...
. Musical comedies differ from book musicals as they focus more on comedy and dance rather than on drama and character development.
This era's musical comedies include works created by brothers
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
and
Ira Gershwin, and these musicals are: '
Strike Up the Band', '
Lady, Be Good', '
Oh, Kay!', '
Girl Crazy
''Girl Crazy'' is a 1930 musical by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. Ethel Merman made her stage debut in the first production and co-lead Ginger Rogers became an overnight star. Rich in song, ...
', '
Crazy for You', and '
Of Thee I Sing
''Of Thee I Sing'' is a musical with a score by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical lampoons American politics; the story concerns John P. Wintergreen, who runs for President o ...
'.
Principal techniques
To create comic effects in music, composers have developed the following principal compositional techniques.
Comic text
The use of comic text or funny words immediately conveys humor. This can be traced back to 13th century
Motets, but it is the 18th century
opera buffa
''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
that first explored deeply all the aspects of verbal comedy. An example of this is
Mozart's
Le nozze di Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...
composed in 1786.
Musical parody
Musical parodies satirize certain styles or particular works of music. An example of this is Mozart's
Ein musikalischer Spass composed in 1787, which parodies the style of incompetent composers and
Siegfried Ochs
Siegfried Ochs (19 April 1858 – 6 February 1929) was a German choral conductor and composer.
Life
Born in Frankfurt, Ochs first studied medicine and chemistry at the Polytechnikum Darmstadt (today the Technische Universität Darmstadt) and at ...
's variations on '
Kommt ein Vogel geflogen' that models the style of particular composers for each variation.
Juxtapositions of syntactical elements
The use of unexpected juxtapositions of syntactical elements include changing the lengths of
phrases
In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
, startling turns of melody and
dynamics, and contrasting textures. An example of this is a minuet from Haydn's
Symphony No. 104 composed in 1796, where rests and a crescendo of the
timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...
interrupt the regular flow of music.
Musical description
Musical description includes animal or even nonsensical sound effects that illustrate certain events or situations within the music piece. Examples of this are the bird calls in Beethoven's
Pastoral Symphony
The Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the ''Pastoral Symphony'' (German: ''Pastorale''), is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and completed in 1808. One of Beethoven's few works containing explicitly programmatic con ...
composed in 1808, the bleating of sheep in
Strauss
Strauss, Strauß or Straus is a common Germanic surname. Outside Germany and Austria ''Strauß'' is always spelled ''Strauss'' (the letter " ß" is not used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland). In classical music, "Strauss" usually re ...
's
Don Quixote
is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...
composed in 1897, and sound effects that illustrate hunting or market scenes in
Medieval Italian caccie.
References to particular styles
Inclusion of
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
or
popular
Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group.
Popular may also refer to:
In sociology
* Popular culture
* Popular fiction
* Popular music
* Popular science
* Populace, the total ...
music techniques in certain passages creates humorous effect. Examples of this are the clumsy folk-like dance technique incorporated in the last movement of Haydn's
Symphony No. 82 – nicknamed The Bear – composed in 1786 and
Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
's use of the
Shimmy
A shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still, except for the shoulders, which are quickly alternated back and forth. When the right shoulder goes back, the left one comes forward.
History
In 1917, a dance-song titled "Shim-Me-Sha ...
in his Suite 1922 for Piano.
Incongruency
The use of incongruency creates contrasts between music styles and techniques, and this is done with parodistic intent. An example of this is Haydn's
Symphony No. 60 – nicknamed Il Distratto – composed in 1774.
Orchestral devices
The use of unusual orchestral devices creates the element of surprise. Examples of this are the tuning of violins in the last movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 60 composed in 1774 and the use of
col legno
In music for bowed string instrument
Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound.
Despite th ...
in the last movement of
Berlioz's
Symphonie fantastique composed in 1830.
Allusions to a famous comic character
The descriptive use of music can be used to
allude
Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...
to famous comic characters. Examples of this are
Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
's
symphonic poem on
Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...
composed in 1913 and Strauss's depiction of
Till Eulenspiegel
Till Eulenspiegel (; nds, Dyl Ulenspegel ) is the protagonist of a German chapbook published in 1515 (a first edition of ca. 1510/12 is preserved fragmentarily) with a possible background in earlier Middle Low German folklore.
Eulenspiegel is a ...
composed in 1895.
Texture, dynamics, rhythm, and melodic design
The use of unusual effects of texture, dynamics, rhythm, and melodic design creates comic features within the music piece. Examples of this are the exaggerated large intervals of the
bass voice
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gu ...
in 18th century opera buffa and the two
Sopranos showing off their high register singing in Mozart's
Der Schauspieldirektor
' (''The Impresario''), K. 486, is a comic ''singspiel'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, set to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian ''Schauspieldirektor''. Originally, it was written because of "the imperial command" of the Holy Rom ...
composed in 1785.
Keys and modulations
The use of strange
keys and distant
modulations respectively create
dissonance and distant harmonic movements. These musical devices create a subtle humorous effect. Examples of this are
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
Madrigal
A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance music, Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque music, Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The Polyphony, polyphoni ...
s and
Motets and
Baroque Cantatas.
References to past styles
References to past styles and techniques are presented in a new context, and this is played with the assumption that the audience is familiar with the referenced style and technique. An example of this is the referencing of 18th century forms and instrumentation by
Neoclassic composers
Stravinsky and Hindemith in the 20th century.
Quotations of musical materials
Musical quotation Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work (self-referential), or from a different composer's work (appropriation).
Sometimes the quotation is done for ...
s are blended together in vertical and horizontal orders to form a
medley. In the Renaissance era, this type of musical composition is called the
quodlibet
A quodlibet (; Latin for "whatever you wish" from '' quod'', "what" and '' libet'', "pleases") is a musical composition that combines several different melodies—usually popular tunes—in counterpoint, and often in a light-hearted, humorous m ...
. In the Romantic era, they are often medleys performed in Operas. Examples of this are C. Hopfner's
operetta for men's voices – Das Gastspiel der Lucca – composed in 1875 and
Charles Ives's
Holiday Symphony
''A Symphony: New England Holidays'', also known as ''A New England Holiday Symphony'' or simply a ''Holiday Symphony'', is a composition for orchestra written by Charles Ives. It took Ives from 1897 to 1913 to complete all four movements. The fo ...
composed in 1913.
Movement titles
Composers like Haydn and Beethoven often use specific movement titles to identify their work as humorous, labeling them as '
scherzo
A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often re ...
', which means 'joke'. An example of this is the scherzo from
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
's
Symphony No. 4 composed in 1878.
Tempo modifications
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...
modifications not only sets the pace of music, but also imply mood and style. An example of this is Haydn's symphony finales in the late 18th century, where tempo modifications are used to display character.
Notation
![CordierColor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/CordierColor.jpg)
The use of visually uncommon notations has been employed in the complex
polyphony
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...
of the late 14th century,
puzzle canons of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and
aleatoric music
Aleatoric music (also aleatory music or chance music; from the Latin word ''alea'', meaning "dice") is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the ...
of the 20th century. An example of this is
Baude Cordier
Baude Cordier () was a French composer in the style of late medieval music. Virtually nothing is known of Cordier's life, aside from an inscription on one of his works which indicates he was born in Rheims and had a Master of Arts. Some schol ...
's 'Belle bonne' heart-shaped manuscript composed in the late 14th century.
Genre designations
The use of specific terms in genre designations identifies certain types of music as humorous. Obvious designations include opera buffa, while subtler ones include terms like
canzonetta
In music, a canzonetta (; pl. canzonette, canzonetti or canzonettas) is a popular Italian secular vocal composition that originated around 1560. Earlier versions were somewhat like a madrigal but lighter in style—but by the 18th century, especial ...
, chansonetta, and operetta. An example of this is Schumann's use of the term '
humoresque
Humoresque (or Humoreske) is a genre of Romantic music characterized by pieces with fanciful humor in the sense of mood rather than wit.
History
The name refers to the German term ''Humoreske'', which was given from the 1800s (decade) onward to h ...
' to designate humorous music, as demonstrated in his own work –
Humoreske – composed in 1838.
Performance styles
Composers make fun of certain performance styles through the use of parody. Examples of this are
Victor Borge
Børge Rosenbaum (3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), known professionally as Victor Borge ( ), was a Danish-American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the North America and Europe. His ...
who made fun of conventional classical music by mimicking well-known pieces of music and
Anna Russell
Anna Russell (born Anna Claudia Russell-Brown; 27 December 191118 October 2006) was an English–Canadian singer and comedian. She gave many concerts in which she sang and played comic musical sketches on the piano. Among her best-known works a ...
who satirized
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
.
Texting of instrumental works
Satiric texts are incorporated within instrumental works to convey humor. An example of this is a vocal arrangement of Mozart's
overture to
Die Zauberflote
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inc ...
that begins with "Vivat Carl Maria Weber".
Chance
The use of chance to combine phrases in musical composition is known as ars combinatoria. In the 20th century, this genre is called aleatoric music or chance music. An example of this is
John Cage's
Music of Changes
''Music of Changes'' is a piece for solo piano by John Cage. Composed in 1951 for pianist and friend David Tudor, it is a ground-breaking piece of Indeterminacy (music), indeterminate music. The process of composition involved applying decisions m ...
composed in 1951.
Soggetto cavato
Soggetto cavato Soggetto cavato () is an innovative technique of Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez that was later named by the theorist Zarlino in 1558 in his '' Le istitutioni harmoniche'' as ''soggetto cavato dalle vocali di queste parole'', or literally, a ...
is a technique that substitutes syllables from
solmization
Solmization is a system of attributing a distinct syllable to each note of a musical scale. Various forms of solmization are in use and have been used throughout the world, but solfège is the most common convention in countries of Western cultur ...
for letters, creating a
musical cryptogram
A musical cryptogram is a cryptogrammatic sequence of musical symbols, a sequence which can be taken to refer to an extra-musical text by some 'logical' relationship, usually between note names and letters. The most common and best known examples ...
. An example of this is the use of the letters ASCH and SCHA Schumann's
Carnaval composed in 1835.
Types
Parody music
Parody music
Parody music, or musical parody, involves changing or copying existing (usually well known) musical ideas, and/or lyrics, or copying the particular style of a composer or performer, or even a general style of music.
In music, parody has been u ...
is a subgenre of comedy music that incorporates comic or satirical features, and is a reinterpretation of the original it is based upon.
Bart Baker
Bart Baker (born May 5, 1986) is an American entertainer, web-based comedian, video producer, singer, rapper, and parody artist. He is best known for making parody videos of notable songs, for which ''Billboard'' dubbed him one of the most prolif ...
parodies
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated Flow (rapping), flow in her rapping, alter e ...
's song – '
Anaconda
Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus '' Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized.
Description
Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used ...
' – by replacing original lyrics with new ones:
Peter Schickele
"Professor" Peter Schickele (; born July 17, 1935) is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, but which he presents as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also hosted ...
composed and performed music allegedly written by the fictional
P. D. Q. Bach
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. Schickele's music combines ...
, the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family.
Novelty song
Novelty song
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wit ...
is a subgenre of comedy music that is humorous, unique, and original, sounding different from everything else being played in the media.
Based on the main character's catchphrase,
Bob the Builder
''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. The series follows the adventures of Bob, a building contractor, specialising in masonry, along with ...
's theme song is titled '
Can We Fix It?':
Comedy rock
Comedy rock
Comedy rock is rock music that is comedic in nature. Oftentimes it is mixed with satire or irony.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd Edition. ...
is a subgenre of comedy music that focuses on
Dissent
Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...
ing humor, a merge of youthful silliness and
rebellious instincts.
Stephen Lynch sings about the death of his grandfather in his song, titled '
Grandfather
Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...
':
Comedy hip hop
Comedy hip hop
Comedy hip hop or comedy rap, is a subgenre of lighter hip hop music designed to be amusing or funny, compared to artists who incorporate humor into their more serious, purist hip hop styles.
Satirical hip hop is a variant of comedy hip hop d ...
is a subgenre of comedy music that incorporates humor in the
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
lyrics and in the music itself.
The Lonely Island
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'').
The three ...
released their first comedy hip hop song – 'Ka-Blamo!' – in 2001:
Awards
Grammy Award for Best Comedy album
The
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album acknowledges both spoken word and musical comedy albums. It is presented by the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...
of the United States, and is first awarded in 1959 until the present day.
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
The
recognizes musical or comedy films. It is presented by the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is a nonprofit organization of journalists and photographers who report on the entertainment industry activity and interests in the United States for media (newspaper, magazine and book publication ...
of the United States, and is first awarded in 1952 until the present day.
Musical Comedy Awards
The Musical Comedy Awards is an annual competition that acknowledges the United Kingdom's up-and-coming as well as established artists in the musical comedy genre.
It is first set up in 2008 by founder Ed Chappel.
See also
*
Novelty song
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wit ...
*
Outsider music
Outsider music (from " outsider art") is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who su ...
*
Victor Borge
Børge Rosenbaum (3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), known professionally as Victor Borge ( ), was a Danish-American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the North America and Europe. His ...
, "The Clown Prince of Denmark", famous for his own mixture of comedy and music.
References
{{Comedy footer
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
Music genres
Music and humour