Hilarious Songs Sung By Real People

Music can be thought provoking. Music can be awesome. But in many cases music can be hilarious in the proper context. Whether the song was made for a theatrical display of comedy, a movie for children, or an animated segment for a show that specialized in immature content, music has the ability to make people let their guard down and relax. In the satirical musical The Book of Mormon by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, a hilariously ironic song about religion could easily solicit laughs among listeners. Muppet Treasure Island, like most movies made by Jim Henson Productions, had actor Tim Curry sing a rousing song about being a pirate, which had some funny segments during certain verses. Adult Swim, an adult-oriented segment for Cartoon Network also included a skit on their show Robot Chicken where Weird Al sang a song that glorified a tradition that involved different people celebrate the act of stomping on a weasel as a tradition.

Religion can be awkward. Being a missionary for a religion can be awkward as well. In the theatrical production The Book of Mormon created by Matt Stone and Try Parker, the plot involved to Mormon missionaries were sent to Uganda in an attempt to convert a Ugandan village to Mormonism. Like another show made by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, South Park, the two missionaries had the satirical experience of having a miserable time flying to Uganda. After having a terrible time reaching their destination, all of their luggage was stolen. When one of the villagers asked the two missionaries about what happened and the two missionaries explain, the audience got to hear the song Hasa Diga Eebowai. What was hilariously ironic about this scene was that the translated version of Hasa Diga Eebowai was basically insulting God and saying that when life gave you problems, blame God for everything. In typical South Park fashion, Hasa Biga Eebowai was a satirical melody based on The Lion King's song Hakuna Matata, or as it was translated into English, no worries. This made the song really funny because The Book of Mormon made what sounded like an optimistic song, and turned it into something that nobody would ever sing in public.

Tim Curry was many things as an actor. In the 1996 film Muppet Treasure Island, he was a pirate. In this adaption to the book by Robert Louis Stevenson Tim Curry played Long John Silver, the somewhat affable pirate who befriends Jim Hawkins, the main protagonist of the story. When the movie got to the point where Long John Silver and several other members planned to commit a mutiny against Kermit the From, the captain of the ship, Long John Silver decided to kidnap Jim in the process. In the song Professional Pirate Long John Silver and the pirates attempt to convince Jim to join them by saying that being a pirate was not so bad. The viewer got to see all of the pirates behave in an overly friendly manner by showing Jim that being a pirate could be fun and exciting. Plus there were some jabs at other, more honest jobs, like one character saying that they could have been a lawyer, but that character had too much heart for that job. Professional Pirate was a fun song that made the viewer laugh and not think of the villains of the movie as villains for a little while.

Traditions were made to celebrate special moments in life. Traditions usually result in yearly events that people perform to show respect to a specific tradition. In a season 2 segment of Robot Chicken, Weird Al Yankovic sang a song satirizing the idea of traditions. Titled Weasel Stomping Day, Weird Al pokes fun of traditions by singing about a tradition where stomping random weasels to death was treated like a holiday. People had to wear silly hats, people did pointless things like spread mayonnaise on the ground, and the song basically had people of various age groups murder weasels by stomping on them. And the only justification as to why a day like this existed was that it was tradition, so all the weasel murder was automatically justified. Plus it look fun. The funny thing about Weasel Stomping Day was that it portrayed a gruesome act as a festive time of year, and for a show like Robot Chicken that made this song an appropriate song to make a music video.

Songs can be hilarious in different contexts. Hasa Digga Eebowai was a song that used The Lion King's song Hakuna Matata as a song about looking to the bright side of things, but in a more raunchy manner. Professional Pirate was funny because the villains of the movie acted genuinely friendly and the viewer could not help but laugh at their attempt at recruiting the main protagonist. Weasel Stomping Day was funny because its poking fun of a holiday that advocated weasel murder through a happy sounding song was disturbingly hilarious for the viewer.