[spoiler] CNR (White Stripes Style Parody)

[louietheweaselfaceddogboy]

I've never actually known much about Reilly:
He's flamboyant.
He's a comedian.
He makes a noise when he straightens his tie.

But I know a song about him doing superhuman feats would be really freakin' funny. Because it isn't like Charles at all.
I like to do my homework for Al songs anyway.

If Al only made this song while he was still alive, I'm sure he'd find it funny.

[amzo39]

I think the researching is kinda good, because it's "smart" humor, you know?

[TMBJon]

Amerah nails it yet again.

Jeremy, it's not that the song will have that much to do with CNR as being the reason you'd want to "research" aka watch videos of him on YouTube. It's because once you see the kind of flamboyant, oddball kind of guy CNR was all the time on Match Game, it becomes all the more funny to say that he's done all the things listed in the song.

[Kevbo1987]

I hate when people make this argument. I mean yeah, I guess you could still find it funny but you'd be missing the point of the song. Why not do a bit of research? It's like when people were saying a year after SOL came out "Wow I just listened to Trapped In The Closet and it makes Drive-Thru wayyyy funnier!!!" No kidding.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I think it's extremely important to do some research into Charles Nelson Reilly. Otherwise, it will be exactly like listening to a parody without having heard the original song. Sure, it will be funny, but you won't really get the joke.

What I was saying is that if people are too lazy to look at a couple of Youtube videos to at least get an idea of who Charles Nelson Reilly was, they will probably still find the song funny.

[Bruce the Duck]

I still think "getting" the Chuck Norris Facts reference is more important than knowing about CNR. I know who CNR is and I've seen tons of Match Game episodes. But to go back to the comparison I made earlier, I had no clue who Brian Boitano was when I first heard the South Park song, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the song at all. I did have a vague feeling that I was missing something about the joke, but I still appreciated the song just fine. For people who don't know much about CNR, I imagine it will be no different.

[WAYFan]

I agree with Amerah and Kevbo, it's like what Al kept on saying in the TWAS commentary: "It's a learning experience...if kids don't know who Yoko Ono is, they can go to their parents and ask, 'Mom, Dad, who's Yoko Ono?'" I'm sure this isn't the first time peeps have had to do research on a subject to get the joke. I like the fact that Al's done plenty of research himself that he could write stuff like this, so the fact that fans of his might have to shouldn't really be a problem. (I mean, if Al used his research on CNR to write this song, we can sure use that kind of thing to understand it.)

[CB Johnny]

What we haven't taken into account is the distinct possibility that Al's opening lyrics can clue the audience in enough on who CNR is. Its all about context.

[WAYFan]

Oooooooh, hadn't thought of that. I hope that's the case!

[Killingsworth]

I'm personally not one to start griping this much when a song like this comes out...unless it's REALLY an inside joke that only Al and a few other people might get, I really don't see the need to heavily scour Wikipedia and/or YouTube in the name of "research" if I have a vague idea that I kind of know at least one thing about the subject matter of the song...like when Skipper Dan came out last month, I wasn't one of those complaining that "if you don't work for Disney or haven't been on the Jungle Cruise, then the song is totally irrelevant to you and you may never find it the least bit funny"...to me, it was more of a song about the general human condition than anything else...I haven't been to Disney World, but still, I think I got the joke...as for Craigslist, I've only heard maybe one or two songs by the Doors and none of them stuck out to me... and I've never been to the site, but I've seen it used as comedy fodder so many times that I had a vague impression of what the themes of the song might be...anyway, my point was just that I don't really feel the need to do "research" on a Weird Al song because he always tries to broaden his appeal no matter what age group it might target because Al wouldn't try to exclusively pander to a very small select group of people...

[CB Johnny]

What I haven't seen in any complaint for Skipper Dan is the abundance of theater/film culture references. Its always about the Jungle Cruise ride itself.
I enjoyed theater and film for years and I still needed to learn who Olivier, Annie Lebovitz, and the show "Speed the Plow" was...but I just put things into context.