If you can’t be good, be really bad, but entertaining.
If you’re completely tone-deaf, there’s always “Institutionalized.” 
“Loving You” or “Hot Child in the City” are usually safe choices.
Sing Roxanne by The Police then follow it up with Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm by the Crash Test Dummies to show off your range.
In addition to all the other good advice here, don’t worry too much about how good or bad you are-- you’re only one of a lot of amateur singers going up there, and you’re likely not the worst. Nobody’s really going to be judging you; it’s not like you’re facing a barful of music critics, just people out to have fun and enjoy the evening.
That said, one time my sister dragged me to karaoke there was this one guy who was absolutely terrible-- he had an off-key, mumbly voice, and he kept going up there. He actually chose “The Day The Music Died” for one of his many songs, which listening to him sing seemed to last approximately 2 hours. So another piece of advice-- don’t be that guy. Or, if you are, don’t choose a song as long as “The Day The Music Died”.
Seeing you posted 12 hours ago though, it must be over by now. Looking forward to hearing how it went.
Not a bad idea. I could do a killer “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart” with an old friend. I haven’t seen or heard from her in 15 years, but she was my go-to partner when we knew each other and the crowd wanted us to do it.
Please don’t. I hosted karaoke once, and had to deal with the jerk who screamed “Rox-annnnnne!” and had no idea what the rest of the lyrics were. He stood there like an idiot until it came time to scream “Rox-annnnnne” again.
Doesn’t karaoke show you the lyrics? Maybe I’ve been doing them on the easy setting…
Is “The Day The Music Died” “American Pie”?
It does, but that only works if you can read. I doubt that the guy I was mentioning could read.
D’oh, right, that’s the song I meant.
Ring of Fire is a good choice. Even better if you get the whole table to go with you like I did! Then you can lip sync.
Yes, but that’s not a suggestion for a beginner. Why? It’s long, and if you are unsure of yourself, it might be torture for both you and the audience, as you try to get to the end. Stick to things that are short and sweet if you are a beginner.
As an aside, I could get away with doing Harry Chapin’s “Taxi.” A very long song, but very easy to do, for both tenors and basses, but there was that falsetto part in the middle. I’d take my flute up with me, and play the falsetto part on it. I’d suggest that unless you can pull off a gimmick like that, you leave the longer story songs alone. Engage the audience, as I did with my flute; don’t bore them because you’re out of tune for seven verses.
Yeah, I have a pretty good idea of my limits here, and not singing last night gave me a good idea as to the music selections of this particular crowd - 70s and 80s, some 90s, a surprising amount of Disco. The slowest song may have been Let’s Stay Together.
It (usually) does … but when I’ve done karaoke oftentimes the highlighter is late or early (or a mixture of the two) and occasionally just wrong. So if you aren’t mostly familiar with the song you’re singing, you won’t be able to keep up because you won’t know when to start singing or how long to hold notes or even what the tune is to the part of the song that you don’t know. So, you end up way, way off, or just sitting and waiting to the part of the song that you know. Or some floundering combination of the two.
If you want to ride the audience’s emotional roller coaster from “Wooo! Yeah!” to “Get the **** off the stage!” in eight & a half minutes, grab your best partner and sing Paradise by the Dashboard Lights.
Waiting till everyone gets drunk is the usual tip
If everyone is drunk, you can’t go wrong with You Never Even Called Me by My Name at least around here where David Alan Coe fans are common. Stay away from his song Cum Stains On The Pillow, though.
Great advice!
The same crowd will appreciate Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother by Jerry Jeff Walker. And this is another song that’s great for audience participation.