FunHouse Radio

Novelty Records, Parodies, Weird Covers, Outsider Music, Oddities, Mashups, Comedy, Nonsense & Cringe.

Songs About Food – A Delicious Menu of Music – Don’t Look if You’re on a Diet!

Posted on 2023-08-16 by Wacky Alex

Welcome to The FunHouse Diner. Here’s our menu. It’s all food for the soul, really. Take your time perusing. We have many great options for you to consider. My name is Wacky Alex and I’ll be your server today. Can I get you started with a beer or wine song?

We asked our social media communities to come up with songs about food. They delivered, big time! There were so many submissions that we needed to establish some rules to create this menu of music.

No commercial jungles
The song must actually be about real food that people eat. This does not include what animals, zombies, cartoon witches or monsters eat.
No metaphors. No songs that just mention food but are really about something else entirely.
Candy is not food but cookies and pastries are.
Only one song per artist.

If you have more ideas for this menu, feel free to leave a comment.

BEER AND WINE

“Pump Ab Das Bier” by Werner Wichtig – Parody of “Pump Up The Jam” by Technotronic

“Red Red Wine” by UB40 – Written by Neil Diamond

APPETIZERS

“Potato Chips” by Slim Gaillard & His Baker’s Dozen

“Airport Shrimp Cocktail” by The Alton Brown Trio

SOUP AND SALAD

“Chicken Soup For The Rapper’s Soul” by The Whitest Kids You Know

“Beef Stew” by Obie Plenty

“Let’s Make A Salad” by Kenny King

TODAY’S SPECIAL

“All You Can Eat” by (The) Fat Boys – From the movie Krush Groove

MAIN COURSE

“Cheeseburger in Paradise” by Jimmy Buffet

“Two Triple Cheese Side Order of Fries” by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen

“Lasagna” by Weird Al Yankovic – Parody of La Bamba a Mexican folk song made famous by Ritchie Valens

“Raining Tacos” by Parry Gripp & BooneBum

“My Mother’s Brisket” by Rick Moranis

“Fish Stick Sandwich Burrito” by Robert Benfer

“Eat Steak” by The Reverend Horton Heat

“You Must Give Me Beef” by Powered By Satan

“Hold Tight (I Want Some Seafood Mama)” by Fats Waller

“The All Chicken Restaurant” by Art Paul Schlosser

SIDE ITEMS

“Call Any Vegetable” by Frank Zappa

“Buttermilk Biscuits” by Sir-Mix-A-Lot

“I Love Onions” by Laurie

“Toast” by Heywood Banks

DESERTS

“Savoy Truffle” by Ella Fitzgerald – Cover of the Beatles / George Harrison

“Cheesecake” by Louis Armstrong

“Chocolate Chip Cookies” by Wise Guys (English Version)

Snopp Dogg Bit Somebody Hard – The No Shizzle Truth Behind Snoop-Speak

Posted on 2023-06-12 by Wacky Alex

The first time I heard Snoop Dogg say “Fo Shizzle My Nizzle”, I knew he didn’t come up with that himself. My theory is that he heard a classic disco song playing on the radio called “Double Dutch Bus” by Frankie Smith. He’re a clip from YouTube. Decide for yourself.

I guess it’s not a big secret because discogs reports, “His classic “Double Dutch Bus” popularized his nonsensical form of slang that influenced later rappers like Snoop Dogg and E-40.”

In the HipHop world the term “bite” means to borrow an phrase or an idea from another artists, usually a rapper. That’s why I used it as click-bait.

Frankie Smith released a very similar sounding song as a single back in 1973. It was called “Double Dutch” without the “Bus”. From what I can tell the song failed to chart at the time. (citation needed)

In 1980, He re-cut the vocals and modified the lyrics, releasing it as a 12 inch single, with his original 1973 track on the flip-side. The clubs started to play the record and it ended up at Number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.

So the question remains, Did Smith come up with this kind of jibberish/code speak or did he learn it from someone? I think he heard the kids in his neighborhood doing it back in the early seventies. So we may never know who really invented “Snoop-Speak”.

An Odd Continuity Error – White Uhura And Black Sulu on Peter Pan Records – Fascinating

Posted on 2023-02-07 by Wacky Alex

The role of Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, a beautiful and talented bridge crew-person of African descent was originally played by the iconic Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek. She’s made countless appearances in the franchise as the character.

It’s hard to imagine that Lt Uhura could be portrayed as a Caucasian woman but here we have it. Wrap your heads around it. It also seems that the role of Chief Helmsman Sulu is depicted as a Black or perhaps Pacific Islander.

In 1975, Peter Pan, a long-time children’s record publisher, created eleven Star Trek stories. These took the form of both 7 and 12 inch vinyl records and often with a read along comic book.

Presumably, a Black voice actor was not hired to play Uhura. Rather than have a White voice actor perform a Black character, they simply depicted the character as White instead. The ethnicity of the voice actor playing Sulu, however, is unclear. None of the original TV series actors did voices for these recordings. With these unexpected changes, it get’s a bit uncanny. You might think we’ve been zapped over to an alternate universe.

The story on the actual record is charming or course. We won’t spoil it for you.

If you liked this episode, check out the CHDanhauser YouTube Channel . They uploaded several of these about two years ago. I’ve checked out a few and they are all pretty good. I can only assume that none of these are considered official cannon.

It’s Been Nearly 40 Years Since The Shmenge Brothers Retired From Polka Music

Posted on 2023-01-24 by FunHouse Radio

The Last Polka is a mockumentary film. It was written by and starred John Candy and Eugene Levy. It was produced for and first broadcast on the HBO cable TV network in 1985. A limited number of VHS copies were produced as well.

In a similar fashion to VH1 Behind The Music, The Last Polka follows the life, careers, and then the final concert of Yosh and Stan Shmenge, brothers from the fictional country of Leutonia. Somehow they become the biggest polka duo in the world at the time.

One scene has The Shmenges performing an outdoor stadium Michael Jackson salute concert, complete with glitter outfits, sequin glove, and a polka version of “Beat It”.

The Shmenges were originally created as characters for the television series Second City TV. SCTV performers including Rick Moranis, Catherine O’Hara, and Robin Duke appear in the film.

How I Accidentally Attended The Release Party for “Sandwiches” by Detroit Grand Pubahs back in Y2k

Posted on 2022-12-30 by Wacky Alex

I am still trying to confirm all the details but this is what I believe to be true at the moment.

Sometime back in the year 2000, I was 25 years old and very much enjoyed going to nightclubs. I had previously visited the now legendary nightclub in Hamtramck Michigan called The Motor and I liked the place.

I don’t remember why I decided to go there again that particular night. I think I was just bored of the other places that I frequented at the time. I went alone.

When I got there, it looked like a party was wrapping up. The song was on the speakers. I had never heard it before. I didn’t know anything about Detroit Grand Pubahs.

There was a table with a large club-sub sandwich. Most of it had been eaten. I’m talking about the kind you might get at a work lunch. Something like this photo.

I had no idea what was going on exactly. It was not until much later when I encountered the song online that I pieced together that I might have inadvertently attended its release party!

The song ended up on the dance music charts in both the US and UK. Then they made the goofy video you see at the top of this blog.

The track makes use of a pitch-shift effect on the vocals that produces a chipmunk-like voice. For that reason alone it made it to rotation here at FunHouse Radio.

Cats -vs- Christmas Trees – Precious Fur Babies Capable of Malicious Destruction – The Worst Crime Scene Photos We Could Find

Posted on 2022-12-03 by Wacky Alex

Unfortunately for humans, a Christmas Tree is irresistible to a cat. They are attracted to the wires, shiny ornaments, ribbons, garland, and the tree itself. To them this is a jungle gym playground designed for cats. They get to climb, chew, bat at things and stare blankly into reflective ornaments. They get to perch and hide. They simply love it.

Many folks believe that cats actually enjoy knocking things over and causing chaos. They seem to enjoy enacting destruction. This blog will not offer any advice on that subject. Here is the inevitable results in the battle between Christmas Tree and cat.

There are endless examples of cats engaging with trees on the web. If you want to see more just check out the source links below. For this blog, we looked for knocked-over trees only. If you have a photo like these to add, send it to us in discord.

SOURCES

https://www.artzabox.com/a/blog/ways-to-cat-proof-a-christmas-tree
https://www.boredpanda.com/cats-christmas-tree-destroying/
https://www.reddit.com/r/cat/
https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/what-christmas-looked-like-the-year-you-were-born/
https://www.reddit.com/r/catsinxmastrees/
https://www.kktv.com/content/news/Cats-ruin-Christmas-tree-408071055.html
https://www.sadanduseless.com/festive-fights/
https://www.youtube.com/@sushiandrunt

All of these images were found on the websites listed above. If you own any of these photos and would like them removed please let us know.

The WKRP Thanksgiving Turkey Drop Stunt – Old Time Radio Style

Posted on 2022-11-24 by Wacky Alex

Here we have a classic bit from the 1970s hit TV Show, WKRP in Cincinnati. The viewer may have been watching TV but they never get to see what the newscaster sees. Instead the viewer is invited to be a radio listener. The listener has to use their imagination. It’s called “Theater of the Mind“.

To help you visualize, we’ve created this with Photoshop.

In the sequence, reporter Les Nessman (played by Richard Sanders) is dispatched to local shopping center. The program director had arranged for a number of living turkeys to be thrown from a helicopter onto the shopping area. He was hoping the stunt would help promote the radio station, under the impression that these turkeys would just fly away. Needless to say, turkeys raised as human food can not fly. Something else entirely occurred. the Hindenburg disaster was referenced.

The show was trying to save money by not showing the turkeys falling from the sky and onto the crowd of people below. They needed cheep because they were already paying a fortune to licence all the rock music heard on the show. Still, it would have been great to see the mayhem described actually appear on the screen.

In the weeks leading up to the episode’s first broadcast, producers ran ads in local newspapers. Here is an example that we found.

“U Can’t Botch This” by Micky Mouse & Friends – Parody of “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer – It’s Goofy

Posted on 2022-11-18 by Wacky Alex

Today is Micky Mouse’s Birthday. He turns 94. We’ve got a crazy tune here to celebrate. It’s ironically called “Can’t Botch This”. It’s the only good track on an otherwise cringey kid’s album called Mickey Unrapped, released in 1994 back when he was still in his 60s.

As far as the album goes, they botched it. They really really botched it.

Unlike the rest of the album however, The Disney cartoon gang actually sounds believable performing this song. It cracked me up and I bet you will enjoy it too.

Happy Birthday Mickey!