THIS SONGIFIED GROOMING MALFUNCTION BELONGS IN THE COMEDY MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Earlier this year, a nation of eager Netflix-natives welcomed the original series, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with open hearts. Before the show even began, however, those watching were greeted by a familiar sound—that of The Gregory Brothers, the audio rascals who got their big break autotuning the news. They were brought in to work on the show's opening scene, giving it their signature sound. Now that the group has wrought the world's first "songified" sitcom theme, it's only right that they claim a spot in CollegeHumor’s Comedy Music Hall of Fame, as well as promote the broadcast around it.
"The Gregory Brothers are more than just comedy musicians; they're artists," says Sam Reich, head of video at CollegeHumor. "What they do isn't, or is rarely, jokes. It's making something very funny out of existing material. In doing that, they created a whole new category of comedy music and viral video, which inspired other great remixes, such as Bad Lip Reading and Music Videos Without Music."
The particular niche of The Gregory Brothers speaks to the surplus of subgenres within musical comedy at the moment, which is what makes The Comedy Music Hall of Fame possible. Once the realm of Weird Al Yankovic, and only Weird Al, the intersection of humor and harmony is now flourishing far beyond parody. (Of course, there still is room for Weird Al, who had a #1 album in 2014, and who will indeed be on hand for the broadcast.)
CollegeHumor has long supported videos with a musical bent—its most popular original video of all time is a "Gangnam Style" parody. After someone in-house riffed on the idea of a hypothetical Comedy Music Hall of Fame, the wheels were set in motion to actually brought one to life. IFC joined in as a creative partner, acts like Tenacious D and Steel Panther got on board as performers, and comedian Paul F. Tompkins agreed to host.
A teaser for the show, premiering exclusively on Co.Create, finds Tompkins suffering a grooming malfunction as he prepares for the show, only to have his outburst songified by The Gregory Brothers. Watch the video below, and watch the Comedy Music Hall of Fame when it airs both on IFC and CollegeHumor Friday, June 19.