Duets to Perfrom Funny Duets to Act
Comedy songs for music theatre performers
- By Darren Wicks
- January 19, 2017
If you intend to audition for a musical comedy or you need something light-hearted to perform, then it's a good idea to have a couple of funny songs in your repertoire. Comedy songs require strong acting skills and are a great choice to show off your ability if you're a character actor. In this blog post, I suggest over 50 comedic songs that are suitable for performances and auditions. There song suggestions for males, females, and some duets.
As a general suggestion, comedy songs are often best performed with a 'serious' approach, that is, avoid the temptation to overplay the jokes and let the writing speak for itself. Look at the context of the song, who is singing it, what motivates them, and who they are singing to. Another important element of in comedy is an element of surprise. Your goal is to surprise the casting panel, whether they've heard the song before or not.
Comedy Songs for Males
- Brush Up Your Shakespeare From "Kiss Me, Kate" Composed by Cole Porter
- Calm from "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum" (1962) by Sondheim
- C'Est Moi from "Camelot" (1960)
- Dentist from "Little Shop of Horrors" (1982) by Alan Menken
- To Excess from "Homemade Fusion" by Kooman and Dimond
- In the Arms from "The Adams Family" (2009) by Andrew Lippa
- It's A Lovely Day For A Murder (1940) From "Higher and Higher", by Rogers and Hart
- Les Poissons from "Little Mermaid" (2007) by Alan Menken
- A little More Mascara from La Cage aux Folles (1983) by Jerry Herman
- Mama Says (You Can't Back Down) from "Footloose" (1998) by Tom Snow
- Man Up from "The Book of Mormon" (2011) by Parker, Lopez & Stone
- My Unfortunate Erection (Chip's Lament) from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Music and Lyrics by William Finn
- My Girlfriend Who Lives in Canada from Avenue Q (2003) by Lopez & Marx
- I Really Really Love You (The Stalker Song) from Loesel & Burkell
- The Sensitive Song from "Cops" by Lawrence O'Keefe
- Shiksa Goddess from "The Last Five Years" (2001) by Jason Robert Browne
- Stupid Things I Won't Do from "The Royal Family of Broadway" by William Finn
- "Way Ahead of My Time" (The Caveman Song) from "Taxi Cabaret" by Peter Mills
- 'Why? 'Cause I'm A Guy' from "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" (1996), Composed by Joe DiPietro, Jimmy Roberts
- What Am I Doing? from "Closer than Ever" (1989) by Maltby and Shire
Comedy Songs for females
- Adelaide's Lament from "Guys and Dolls" (1950), Composed by Frank Loesser
- Always A Bridesmaid From 'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change' (1996), Composed by Joe DiPietro, Jimmy Roberts
- Don't Call Me Trailer Trash from "Cowgirls" (1996) by Mary Murfitt
- Find Your Grail from Spamalot (2005) by Idle & Du Prez
- A Hypochondriac's Song from "Out of My Head" by Ryan Scott Oliver
- I Want To Be Bad From "Good News" (1927), Composed by B.G. De Sylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson
- Library Song performed at The After Party
- Love is My Legs from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005)
- The More You Ruv Someone from Avenue Q (2003) by Lopez & Marx
- My New Philosophy from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967) by Gesner
- Not for the Life of Me from Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002)
- Nobody Does it Like Me from "See Saw" (1973) by music by Coleman & Fields
- One Hundred Ways to Lose a Man from "Wonderful Town" (1953) by Berstein, Comden & Green
- The Tale Of The Oyster Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929), Composed by Cole Porter
- That Dirty Old Man From "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" (1962) by Sondheim
- Miss Baltimore Crabs from Hairspray (2002) by Shaiman & Whittman
- She Didn't Say 'Yes' From "The Cat and the Fiddle" (1931) by Jerome Kern
- Sing Me A Song With Social Significance From "Pins and Needles" (1937), Composed by Harold Rome
- Shy From 'Once Upon A Mattress' (1959) by Mary Rodgers
- Stepsisters Lament from "Cinderella" by Rogers and Hammerstein
- When You Got It, Flaunt It from "The Producers" (2001) by Brooks & Meehan
Suitable for both males and females
- Sarah Lee from "And the World Goes 'Round" (1991) by Kander & Ebb
- I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today from Avenue Q (2003) by Lopez & Marx
- It Sucks to be Me from Avenue Q (2003) by Lopez & Marx
- Sixteen Bars from The Taxi Cabaret by Peter Mills
- Why do the Wrong People Travel by Noel Coward
- Poisoning Pigeons in the Park from "Tom Foolery" by Tom Lehrer (1959)
- Play With Your Food from "Honk!" (1993) by Stiles & Drew
Comedy Duets
- Anything You Can Do from "Annie Get Your Gun" (1946) by Irving Berlin
- But I Don't Want To Talk About Her from "I Love You Because" (2006) by Salzman & Cunningham
- Bosom Buddies from "Mame" (1966) by Jerry Herman
- Class from "Chicago" (2002) by Kander & Ebb
Darren Wicks
Dr. Darren Wicks is the founder of Total Voice Studio. He is a voice educator, jazz pianist and choral conductor. Darren is passionate about working with singers and mentoring teachers. With a career spanning 25 years, Darren brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his teaching. His experience includes work as a high school music teacher; a university lecturer, work with community music groups; studio teaching; school and community choirs; amateur musical theatre and teacher education.
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Source: https://www.totalvoice.com.au/comedy-songs/
Responses
WOW! Thank you SO much for your suggested list of comedy songs for singers. I am a voice and piano instructor at a studio in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada and am excited to look through all of these :). I really appreciate too that you have designated them for males or females or both as that save me a lot of time if I am not already familiar with the selection.
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