One-man Comedy Songs??

[aces25]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 11:08pm

Hi,
I'm looking at a funny one man comedy song, realtively clean in humour. Broadway would be great. Funny and performing like. For a coffee house..

Or if you know a song that isn't Broadway that is funny, even playable on the guitar, let me know. Something a stand up comedian might do.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 11:48pm

I'd look into the work of Mike Rayburn. He's not on Broadway but I saw him perform years ago and he's incredibly funny.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 12:16am

A good clean comedy number, albeit a little corny, is "Confession to a Park Avenue Mother" from Herman's Parade.
Cole Porter also has a lot of great comedy songs, that are only occasionally slightly dirty:)

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 12:19am

Stephen Lynch has a few.

[Bryan With A Why]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 1:00am

Definitely second the Cole Porter suggestion. Although "The Tale of the Oyster" was originally written for a woman, I've seen it in various male compilation books and have used it to great effect!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 8:49am

If you are good at quick change characterizations, I would recommend "The Late Late Show" from Do Re Mi.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 9:05am

There's always Tom Lehrer, with "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and others!

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 9:29am

How about 'I Am Aldolpho' from Drowsy Chaperone? I know the song calls for a couple of lines from the Chaperone, but you could probably work around that.

[sally1112]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 11:28am

How about "I Wanna be a Producer"
or "Betrayed" both from the Producers.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 11:38am

Buddy's Blues can be done solo.

[HaveToFinishTheHat]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 11:41am

Look up Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel Rant. It is more of a comedy routine than a song, but he does sing. And play guitar. It is about how he hates the cello part for Pachelbel's Canon in D and how he can't get away from the song (err chord progression really). Hilarious, actually. Not that you would want to copy his routine, but it might give you some ideas!

www.robprocks.com/

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 12:18pm

If you're doing a coffee house setting, "Taylor the Latte Boy" can be adapted quite well for a male, which also increases the humor. John Tartaglia's version is one of my all-time favorites.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 12:25pm

Checkout: Tom Lehrer, The capitol steps, Mark Russell, and (Live at the Crystal Palace - Aspen has multiple albums that are hard to find except for ordering direct)
All the above are originally piano accompaniment, so you would have to arrange it for guitar.

For guitar based comedy songs checkout: Tom Paxton, Peter & Lou Berryman, Christine Lavin, Steve Goodman.

Peter & Lou:
1. "Your state name here" making fun of travelling musicians that try to win the audience over by mentioning their state in a song.
2. "Don't use the F-word with your mother" could be sung by a man defending his wife
and so many more...

Steve Goodman:
1. Vegematic - About a guy who falls asleep with the TV on and what happens 4 to 6 weeks later.
2. "Talk Backwards" a tongue twister song about talking backwards.
3. "Watchin' Joey Glow" your son exposed to radiation.
So many more...
If you want to make fun of Cubs fans he has "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request"

It has been so long I can't remember the names of Tom Paxton and Christine Lavin songs to recommend.

I am sure all the funny songs of The Chad Mitchell Trio, The Limeliters and Kingston Trio could be done solo. There are dozen of possibilites there.



Updated On: 3/7/08 at 12:25 PM

[singingbackup]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 3:36pm

For sure Tom Lehrer....also Howard Crabtree's WHEN PIGS FLY, especially the Patriotic Finale (The Color Out of Colorado as it's sometimes called)


Lehrer has:

Vatican Rag
Poisoning Pidgeons
Maschotism Tango
National Brotherhood Week
Smut
Don't Drink The Water
So Long Mom (I'm off to drop the bomb)




It was done as a musical review some years back called ThomFoolery, so sheet music might exist.

[luceecool]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 5:27pm

What about "A Miracle Would Happen" or "Shiksha Goddess" from The Last Five Years?

[WickedOne2]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 5:45pm

Great Big Stuff from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels could work, you may need to clean up few words depending on your crowd.

[JKlock]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 5:47pm

check out Stephen Lynch's cds. If I remember correctly a majority, if not all, of his songs are done on guitar-mainly acoustic. And they're all very funny!

[WickedOne2]

Posted: 3/7/08 at 5:49pm

Yeah, Stephen Lynch's material is really funny... I also though he was great in The Wedding Singer.