Bring hilarity to any show with these fun charts from our Shop site!
Let’s face it. Comedy is serious business.
Whether your show is comedically themed or runs the gamut from serious to silly, there’s always a place for laughter and fun in any show set. These charts can help bring levity to your show and keep your audiences coming back for more.
My Little Buttercup
from the Three Amigos
arranged by Dan Wessler | Difficulty Level: 3
This classic 1986 comedy saw three cowboy movie stars from the silent era of film journey to Mexico where they are mistakenly called upon to rescue a peaceful village from the clutches of a dangerous group of bandits. In one of the most popular scenes in the film, Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase), Lucky Day (Steve Martin) and Ned Nederlander (Martin Short) perform this lighthearted song that’s set in a shady cantina while bemused and confused members of the bandits look on in disbelief.
Performance idea: Groups who perform this song could easily set it up beforehand by preparing the audience for a song that promises to be something strong, macho, burly, the song for hardened rough and "tumble men" who enjoy the louder stronger side of life. When the song begins, they could immediately switch to the cheesy choreographed visual performance indicative of how the Three Amigos performed it in the cantina. Really have some fun with it!
TTBB Sheet Music + Learning Tracks
SSAA Sheet Music + Learning Tracks
SATB Sheet Music + Learning Tracks
You’re Welcome
from Disney's Moana
arranged by Wayne Grimmer
This song is more about having fun as the character Maui than slapstick. An adventurous teenager named Moana sails out on a daring mission to save her people. During her journey, Moana meets the once-mighty demigod Maui, who guides her in her quest to become a master way-finder. A humbled yet still-proud Maui ironically sings this fun and slightly haughty 2016 song You’re Welcome (written by the infamous Lin-Manuel Miranda) as a musical gesture of gracing a dejected Moana with his unwanted presence. This a cappella version is available in TTBB as a part of the larger collection of songs in the Magic in Harmony Songbook of Disney favorites.
TTBB Sheet Music + Learning Tracks
When I Grow too Old to Sing
Parody of "When I Grow too Old to Dream”
arranged by Don Gray | Difficulty Level: 1
They say comedy is all in the delivery. Targeted to an older ensemble and perhaps an older audience, this fun yet moving song is a parody of the classic song When I Grow too Old to Dream from 1934 (music by Sigmund Romberg, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein) and explores the impact the natural process of aging can have on the ability to sing the beautiful songs of yore. It is a versatile song, in that it can be performed more straight as a sentimental look to years ahead, or it can be performed tongue-in-cheek by incorporating character development and musical line-delivery indicating that “that unfortunate time has clearly already come” with deliberate foibles in a slapstick way. It’s up to you!
TTBB Sheet Music + Learning Tracks
Too Old
Parody of "Too Young”
arranged by Don Gray | Difficulty Level: 2
This song is a twist of the 1951 song Too Young, made popular by Nat King Cole, but with parody lyrics written through the lens of an older couple finding new love and having to be told that they are “too old” to fall in love. It is at times tongue-in-cheek, but overall this is quite a sincere message of the agelessness of love wrapped in a stirring and lovely melody with beautiful ballad harmonies. This a cappella version is available in TTBB and learning tracks are available!
TTBB Sheet Music + Learning Tracks
Get Up and Go
Parody of "Too Young”
arranged by Kevin Keller | Difficulty Level: 2
Following the same theme of the previous songs’ exploration of the perils of aging, this 1963 song written by legendary songwriter Pete Seeger sets a fun and silly tone right out of the gate with the lyrics “My get up and go has got up and went” and continues on from there with plenty of slapstick punchlines and opportunities for visual comedy. This song provides a fun, easy way for an older ensemble to immediately connect with an older audience who can relate to the lighter side of the everyday struggles of growing older. Watch a performance of Get Up and Go by Senior Quartet Champion Party of Five!
TTBB Sheet Music + Learning Tracks
I Love to Laugh
from Mary Poppins
arranged by Val Hicks | Difficultly level: 2
The timeless 1964 classic Mary Poppins features the song I Love to Laugh performed by legendary performers Julie Andrews, Ed Wynn, and Dick Van Dyke. It’s pure, silly abandonment as the gleefully afflicted Ed Wynn, with the aid of magic, floats helplessly and deliriously in the rafters of a house while the others look on and get swept up in the absurdity of the moment with all of them descending into uproarious laughter.
Performance idea: This song would provide ample opportunity for members of the group to use the song to showcase funny things they can do. Perhaps make a funny face, a funny picture, funny gestures to each other, a funny gag to play on one another, funny props, etc. Possibilities are endless for a song like this and it’s all up to you!
TTBB Sheet Music + CD Learning Tracks
About the author
Eddie Holt has been a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society since 2001 when he joined the Big Apple Chorus and got a taste for comedy quartetting while singing with his friends in Reveille, two of whom were members of the infamous Four Under Par.
After moving to Nashville, Eddie formed the comedy quartet Lunch Break in 2007 with three of his friends and had the good fortune of traveling all over the barbershop world sharing their unique brand of comedy with audiences for over a decade. He now regularly helps write parodies along with his new quartet mates in B-List, and writes parodies for his chapter Music City Chorus, working with the creative team to craft their medal-winning Star Wars set in 2018.
Eddie's latest long-term project has been working on the transition between using "hahas" to "lols" in text-based messaging to indicate he finds something humorous so as to stay current with online social trends.