Are we in a Golden Age of comedy music right now? If we are — and “Weird Al” Yankovic playing Madison Square Garden for the first time ever this July suggests we just might be — certainly social media is one reason why.
Both a ticket-sales blessing and a time-consuming curse in the stand-up world, social media loves comedy almost as much as it loves music. But put them both together — as Morgan Jay has in crowd work clips from his live shows and Kyle Gordon, OCT, and the Wolves of Glendale have with their colorfully demented videos — and you have something that sparkles and explodes like fireworks.
None of these acts are remotely alike, which is why they are presented in alphabetical order instead of ranked. Jay sings about relationships and takes his Auto-Tuned mic into the crowd. Gordon delivers parodies of a wide range of millennial music icons, from My Chemical Romance to Limp Bizkit to Cobbie David Guetta. OCT create green-screen fantasias that will give you the munchies; and the Wolves graft detailed absurdities to loud guitars. And while those performers are relatively new voices in the comedy music world, established performers like Bridget Everett, Riki Lindhome and Reggie Watts are out on the road with very different — and very funny — things to say.
So while the world awaits another Flight of the Conchords reunion, another The Lonely Island video drop on Saturday Night Live, or an unlikely sequel to Fred Armisen’s 2007 Complicated Drumming Technique DVD — was he serious when he said he’d recorded an album of 100 sound effects for the Drag City label? — these 15 funny people are carrying on the work of making you laugh while carrying a tune.
