Using song titles or lyrics as a punchline

[holyzombiejesus]

I was going to add this to that 'things that aren't ever funny' thread or even the 'pathetic attempts at comedy' but thought I should start a new thread really.

Tom Binns is playing my local and his whole act seems to be this. His character is a hospital DJ who talks about stuff like KY Jelly and then plays 'Love really Hurts Without You' or a dedication from a man to his dear wife who lost an eye and plays 'The One I Love'. It's just shit.

They also did it in the radio series of League of Gentlemen. I think Berniece started as a local or radio dj and she'd always play inappropriate songs to go with the news report.

Are there any good or remotely funny examples of this?

[BeardFaceMan]

I've only seen Binns on 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and what makes him even shitter is that he has to sledgehammer home every punchline, its not enough to just play the song as the punchline, he has to sing along to it too. Christ, imagine watching that for an hour.

[Rizla]

I thought this was about those jokes where the punchline is "It's a knick knack, Pattie Wack, give the frog a loan", or "Hans that do dishes can be soft as Gervaise" or "Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer". Nothing worse than some cunt revving one of them up. Even if it's Norm.

[lankyguy95]

If you're going to do it then commit, I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjthhoo65do

There is at least an element of creative thought involved in that game.

[holyzombiejesus]

I thought this was about those jokes where the punchline is "It's a knick knack, Pattie Wack, give the frog a loan", or "Hans that do dishes can be soft as Gervaise" or "Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer". Nothing worse than some cunt revving one of them up. Even if it's Norm.

The other similar thing I hate is people making up stories and using songtitles in there. Stuff like "It was Boneheads bank Holiday and Up in the Sky there was a rock and roll star." My sister used to write me letters like that when she was 14 and I fucking hated them, stupid cunting bitch.

[Dusty Substance]

There's a scene in The Tall Guy where, having just been dumped by Emma Thompson, a depressed Jeff Goldblum switches on the radio and Let The Heartache Begin is playing, so he tunes to a different station and Heartbreak Hotel is playing, so turns the dial again to a station playing Breaking Up Is Hard To  Do (a Neil Sedaka song but Philip Pope is the credited singer).

This scene has also reminded me a Looney Tunes short where Sylvester is resisting the temptation to eat Tweety Pie, doesn't even want to think about birds so he puts on the radio and the announcer says "That was 'Bye-Bye Birdie', and now 'When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along'". 

[DrGreggles]

I was going to add this to that 'things that aren't ever funny' thread or even the 'pathetic attempts at comedy' but thought I should start a new thread really.

PARKLIFE!

[BeardFaceMan]

There's a scene in The Tall Guy where, having just been dumped by Emma Thompson, a depressed Jeff Goldblum switches on the radio and Let The Heartache Begin is playing, so he tunes to a different station and Heartbreak Hotel is playing, so turns the dial again to a station playing Breaking Up Is Hard To  Do (a Neil Sedaka song but Philip Pope is the credited singer).

They did a good gag about that kind of thing in BASEketball, when Trey puts the radio on and a very specific and personal song starts playing.

[idunnosomename]

The Simpsons basically had this as an early running joke, sort of alongside the Moe prank calls

[thecuriousorange]

Is it common to do this with Tom Jones songs?

Spoiler alert

It's not unusual!

[close]

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Noni Goggins is seriously 111

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtDnm1o1y2o

[zomgmouse]

I think it's pretty funny in a knowingly naff sort of way

[Captain Z]

I was going to add this to that 'things that aren't ever funny' thread or even the 'pathetic attempts at comedy' but thought I should start a new thread really.

Tom Binns is playing my local and his whole act seems to be this. His character is a hospital DJ who talks about stuff like KY Jelly and then plays 'Love really Hurts Without You' or a dedication from a man to his dear wife who lost an eye and plays 'The One I Love'. It's just shit.

They also did it in the radio series of League of Gentlemen. I think Berniece started as a local or radio dj and she'd always play inappropriate songs to go with the news report.

Are there any good or remotely funny examples of this?

Sounds like his set hasn't changed at all since I saw him do this in 2008/9, and I get the impression from this forum that he'd been flogging it for a while even then.

About halfway through, someone in the audience shouted out "do

Spoiler alert

Search For The Hero

[close]

!" to which he could only reply "thanks for spoiling the final joke of the set, there". I'd be interested to know if that is still the case.

[Autopsy Turvey]

Even The Day Today isn't above this, with their This Is Our War soundtrack album featuring songs like Boom Bang A Bang and Disco Inferno.

The one that sprung to mind is Peter Kay's favourite about how Bob Marley likes his doughnuts, which is at least brief.

Can't believe someone's got a whole act based around pretending to be a hospital radio DJ, very 90s. Talk about choosing your targets.

[DrGreggles]

KYTV did one on their 60's special, where footage of JFK's assassination was accompanied by Clodagh Rodgers' Jack in the Box.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

^ That's actually quite funny, tbf.

[Tony Yeboah]

James Richardson reading out the Italian football scores with puns on Elvis Costello songs.

[idunnosomename]

you cant really go wrong with a Clodagh Rodgers reference

[sutin]

In Seinfeld, Jerry once exclaimed "oh help me Rhonda" to George.

[amateur]

There's a solid Springsteen lyric drop in The Sopranos:

Tony: Where the fuck you been? You're late.

Christopher: Highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive.

Tony: Oh, you're gonna get fucking cute now?

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

Sounds like his set hasn't changed at all since I saw him do this in 2008/9, and I get the impression from this forum that he'd been flogging it for a while even then.

Astonishingly, that hospital radio character/routine shows up in one of the old Lee and Herring radio shows from the 90s. So an extraordinary amount of time to be trotting out something so weak.

[non capisco]

There's a solid Springsteen lyric drop in The Sopranos:

At least they didn't have Silvio 'react' to it. Or did they? I can't remember!

[amateur]

At least they didn't have Silvio 'react' to it. Or did they? I can't remember!

They didn't. It's a fucking great delivery from Michael Imperioli though.

[famethrowa]

There's a scene in The Tall Guy where, having just been dumped by Emma Thompson, a depressed Jeff Goldblum switches on the radio and Let The Heartache Begin is playing, so he tunes to a different station and Heartbreak Hotel is playing, so turns the dial again to a station playing Breaking Up Is Hard To  Do (a Neil Sedaka song but Philip Pope is the credited singer).

It's a good gag, but completely ripped off from Better Off Dead from 4 years prior even using some of the same songs. Curtis you hack. (Though I enjoyed the Lloyd Webber parody)

https://youtu.be/WAhf6lPH-hg

[McChesney Duntz]

And Albert Brooks got there before either of them in Modern Romance. Goddammit.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Has anyone tried Oasis soup?

[Brundle-Fly]

Come on, one of the best punchlines ever is "Pardon me, Joe, is this the cat who chewed your new shoe?". Puns can be really funny but as long as the setup is as excruciatingly contrived as possible.

See the 'My wife is going to the Caribbean' subverted jokes too; more recently revived in the last series of Inside No.9 Episode 1.

[The Mollusk]

The Simpsons basically had this as an early running joke, sort of alongside the Moe prank calls

Didn't you hear Marge? They have no bananas! They have no bananas today!

[Captain Z]

Has anyone tried Oasis soup?

The importance of being ladle

[DrGreggles]

D'You Know What I Mean-estrone