Ashley Frieze on the prevalent tropes in his chosen genre

‘I’m sorry, I can’t book you, I already have a musical comedian on that night’. It seems that there’s some sort of assumption that musical comedians are all doing the same sort of thing.  Music and lyrical craft can elevate ideas above the ordinary, but to what extent is that a free pass for pedestrian ideas, and to what extent are we all using a common playbook?

I’ve recently released two musical comedy albums where my input is lyrics, and the music and performance is AI generated. I’ve spewed out a ton of new material in a very short timeframe. To do this, I’ve had to come up with ideas quickly. Looking at patterns in what came out, I’ve come to wonder whether there might be some route one musical comedy forms, and whether there’s something inherently predictable and samey about them.

Therefore, I’d like to share a catalogue of common tropes that I’ve started to spot within musical comedy (especially when I’m being self-critical of my recent output).

That there’s a trope, doesn’t mean there isn’t an inspired version of this technique that’s artistic and funny. Let’s not be too reductive here. However, this list might also be used as a litmus test on whether an idea is all that fresh.

So here we go:

Lyrical mangling: change a word in an existing song, or keep certain words but put them in a new context. This is at the heart of parody songs, though you can use it to write a new song such as Cat Out Of Hell on my latest album. I utterly love how Friz Frizzle does this in their set with such joyful lateral thinking. Rob Deering’s Wake Up Little Suzie is brilliant recontextualisation that gets me every time. Comedians use wordplay. It’s cool.

The old switcheroo. It’s A but B. Apparently, I come up with a lot of ideas about this, things like The Video Pirates of Penzance – it’s The Pirates of Penzance but not that sort of pirate. Or Someone To Swipe Right on Me - it’s Gershwin, but written in 2024. This is the creative side of making comedy music. We ask some what if questions and then try to create the outcome.

Uncanny performance. This artist is not usually known for this work. I believe Daniel Kitson summarised musical comedy as ‘How would Bob Dylan sound if he sang a song that’s unsuited to him?’. I mean… ouch! I know I do this with my Ed Sheeran sings Incy Wincy Spider routine (sorry, not sorry). To some extent, this is also the One Song To The Tune Of Another joke that’s so brilliant on I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

Musical ick. I’m being rude in song form. The musical platform can elevate crudeness and base humour into something funnier, and it can also temper it. You can get away with more disgusting phrases if you sit them over a song, though I’m reliably informed that my How Deep Is Your Spot (which is also a lyrical mangling song as well as a gross out comedy) did make one listener genuinely queasy. To some extent, the shape of a song challenges you to come up with more florid language and imagery. Duncan Oakley’s Roller Skating Naked In Te Park, along with Monty Python’s Isn’t it Awfully Nice To Have A Penis are fine examples of deft language, naughty imagery, and surprisingly good clean fun! 

On its head. The opposite of something that exists already. This is a specialised version of the old switcheroo. In That’d Really Impress Me  on Monkey Paw Cowboy, I asked what Shania Twain would actually be impressed by. On the new album, She’s Always Annoying To Me is the opposite of Billy Joel’s original hit. It’s a really transparent formula, but it’s also a handy writing prompt.

Surprise! The song does something that music doesn’t normally do. This includes songs which are musically broken or ridiculous in order to get a laugh from the audience. Often it’s a song that stops earl…

Party Trick. It’s funny showing off. Comedians are performers and love to show off. The party trick song is the musical comedy equivalent of a good act-out from a non-musical comedian. I have a song called 30 Seconds where I sing long notes. Mitch Benn used to recreate a whole cast of characters singing Perfect Day as featured on a BBC charity single. My view is that if you’ve taken the time to learn how to sing and play, you’re probably allowed to entertain an audience with it.

Looking back over this list, it’s easy to imagine musical comedy becoming too formulaic. I’m slightly reassured, though, that not everything I’ve produced in my recent rapidly-written albums can be so easily categorised.

However, as with everything, it’s not necessarily the material, but the soul and delivery of it. I may be guilty of doing all of the above, but I’m not feeling too ashamed, and neither is my army of AI singers.

• Ashley Frieze’s second AI album - Monkey Paw Too is available on all streaming services, under the pseudonym of The Incredible Jukebox (Amazon Music |  YouTube Music | Spotify | Apple Music). He says he plans to get down to releasing an album of his own music, ‘once the AI overlords let him’.

Published: 24 Sep 2024