Make ‘Em Laugh: The Beloved Genre of Comedy Music

Art By Matthias Gat

Comedy is a beloved art form that’s been around for centuries. Tracing back to the ancient Greeks, humanity has enjoyed happy endings, sex jokes, lewd satire, and more. The genre of comedy music can be simply defined as music that is humorous. The genre consists of comical lyrics, parody, homage, allusions, and improv. While a lot of things can be considered “humorous,” genre purists in comedy music tend to exclude songs and albums that fit into a different genre. A lot of this genre is aimed at adults – putting goofy and explicit lyrics to pop music in order to express the artist’s funny bone.

The genre has many popular and recurring artists. My top three and some of the most recognizable comedy artists are Weird Al Yankovic, The Lonely Island, and Garfunkel and Oates.

Weird Al Yankovic

Alfred Matthew “Weird Al” Yankovic got his start at 16 sending homemade tapes of his work to the Dr. Demento Radio Show based in Southern California. He was further exposed to the music industry during his second year at California Polytechnic State University, becoming a disc jockey for the school’s radio station KCPR. He initially adopted the “Weird Al” persona for the station, but later released his song mocking a Southern California local landmark, “Take me Down,” under the same name. With a bit of luck on his side, he was launched into success with “Another One Rides the Bus,” a parody of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.” Yankovic produced hit after hit, including his highest charting single “White & Nerdy” in 2006. Yankovic has now released fourteen studio albums, with highlights including “Word Crimes,” and “Polka Face.” His most recent release came out earlier this year with “Polkamania!” Weird Al’s performance persona and his ability to find rhythm and rhyme in new ways to create his parodies has been a large part of his popularity, landing fondly with nerds and kids growing up before the turn of the century. 

The Lonely Island

The Lonely Island is a comedy group made up of three random guys from California, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone. Their music differs from Weird Al’s in the genre as it falls into humorous situational comedy rather than parodies and covers. They met in junior high and regrouped after college to follow their dream of making short films. In 2005 they landed positions as writers on Saturday Night Live. Samberg was also a featured cast member. Their unconventional approach to sketches added an entirely new segment to the typical program that is now known as “SNL Digital Shorts.” Their time on SNL didn’t stop them from pursuing other ventures, as they wrote and produced four studio albums (Incredibad, Turtleneck & Chain, The Wack Album, and The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience), and two feature films (Hot Rod, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping), as well as their own independent projects. Their songs balance themes of sex, current events, and all sorts of ridiculous things. Their most recent single, “Sushi Glory Hole,” appeared on SNL on October 5th, 2024 despite the group being focused on independent projects for the last four years.

Garfunkel and Oates

Garfunkel and Oates is a comedy folk duo made up of Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel) and Kate Micucci (Oates). Both were involved in music from a young age in Pennsylvania but were fully acquainted later in life during a Doug Benson show, having recognized each other from auditions. The two became fast friends and began performing as a duo in 2007. The name, combining the names of two infamous musical duos, was inspired by a Hall and Oates performance at the Hollywood Bowl and Garfunkel’s “silver-medalist” status in Simon & Garfunkel. They leapt to popularity with their song “Fuck You” and its release on YouTube in 2009 due to its short, homemade feel. Their debut studio album, All Over Your Face, was released in January 2011 featuring “This Party Took a Turn for the Douche.” They were then featured on Comedy Central’s The Half Hour before releasing their second studio album, Slippery When Moist, in February 2012. Balancing their music careers with comedy and acting, Garfunkel and Oates released their song “The Loophole” in 2013, their third studio album, Secretions, and were featured on multiple episodes of The Big Bang Theory – even writing “If I Didn’t Have You (Bernadette’s Song)” for an episode. 

Comedy music offers something that most other genres don’t: social commentary and pop culture in a fun and silly manner. Artists within the genre create music in a way that lightly mocks the seriousness of the music industry. They are entirely authentic, a thing many artists within the industry strive to be, and in doing so aren’t afraid to be embarrassed by the goofiness they put out into the world.