Funny Songs: CNR

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Happy Labor Day, America! I got a call from the fence installers’ office and I told the lady, “It’s Labor Day, you shouldn’t be working.” She assured me she was on vacation while doing her phone calls. No need to “work” today, because here’s someone you KNEW would be here on this list of funny songs. And here he is! CNR - Weird Al Yankovic The problem with Weird Al, of course, is picking ONE song. I had that problem with a couple of people on this list. So why did I pick this instead of a really popular Weird Al song, especially given that this is a spoof of the band the White Stripes, whom I don’t particularly care for? A few reasons. One, there’s a Dead Milkmen song called “Serrated Edge” (didn’t make the final cut on the list), which is about the same subject matter as this song: adoration of Charles Nelson Reilly. Now, I have to tell you that I never cared for him as an actor. When I was little I thought he was doing nothing but impersonating Paul Lynde (and poorly at that), and that opinion hasn’t changed as an adult. I fast-forward through his scenes in the DVDs of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. The Dead Milkmen song refers to him as “just another B actor on the late, late show,” and that’s about it. Most people know him as a Match Game panelist (where he was also annoying). So the notion that there’d be not one but TWO songs turning him into a super hero is funny in itself. In this song, Weird Al takes all those Chuck Norris jokes and superimposes them on Reilly, with riotous results. Add the fact that the creators of JibJab made the video, where they could bring Yankovic’s absurdities (“he had a third nipple on the back of his neck”) to “life,” and you have a classic Weird Al song. Not a specific parody of any one song (Picky Wedia says it’s based in some part on the White Stripes’ song “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” and I’ll take their word for it), Weird Al nevertheless captures a lot in this comical look at someone most of us never gave a second thought to. CNR Written by Weird Al Yankovic Recorded by Weird Al Yankovic From ALpocalpse, 2011 Giddy-up, Gene!