Random question that came to mind just now. 
There was a thread here about which song would be the soundtrack to your murder spree, and someone said Yakety Sax. How do you top that??
I suppose if the song “Munumana” also tracks with funniness, then you have collaboration with whatever point of view. Meanwhile, “Raindrops keep falling on my head” isn’t inherently funny, except when Benny Hill sings it in his affected manner. Pretty much anything played along with “Yakity Sax” is funny.
I thought it was inherently funny long before I’d ever heard of Benny Hill.
I prefer the Chet Atkins version
Cool. Another chance to post this…
When played at that speed with those articulations, I think there is a certain jovial, wacky energy to it.
I admit that it sounded less wacky on guitar.
The Benny Hill rendition of the tune is inherently funny, yes. The Chet Atkins version, while clearly the same song, lacks the same lack of gravitas.
This.
I heard it long before Benny Hill and it’s always been associated with a humorous situation.
Trivia. That upbeat “circus theme” we associate with the entrance of the clowns is Entrance of the Gladiators/Entry of the Gladiators and is a military mach.
Great video. I think that answers this post.
Oh wow. Trivia I didn’t know I needed. Of course it’s a military march, now that I sit back and pay attention to the song itself.
I’ve not been able to confirm it but I heard decades ago the band master at Ft. Knox got into hot water. When visiting dignitaries would arrive he had the band play a stirring march. Unfortunately, one of them was a circus buff and recognized the tune: Here Come the Clowns.
Are you not entertained?
“Jovial, wacky energy” is a good way to put it. There’s a reason Benny Hill chose that piece of music and not some other. But I don’t know if we’d think of it as inherently funny if it hadn’t been used the way it has by Benny Hill and others. So I think it’s at least partly right that we have been conditioned to consider it funny. Benny Hill has ruined “Yakety Sax” in much the same way that Monty Python ruined Sousa’s “Liberty Bell March.”
Yakety Sax was inspired by Yakety Yak - by The Coasters which was a lighthearted, almost nonsense song.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakety_Yak
I stand by Yakety Sax being inherently humorous, though perhaps not actually funny without a visual element. Benny Hill is to be credited with combining it with the Keystone Cops chase and becoming associated with it, but I’m not sure it’s not a 100% original combination as I’m sure I’ve seen it earlier.
I’d say that it has become inherently “unfunny” from overuse. Filming a bunch of people running around chasing each other like idiots, speeding up the film and overlaying that song has basically become a cliché meant to tell the audience “this scene is absurd or funny”.
Of course the song was inherently funny, or else why would Benny Hill choose it as his theme?
Purrfect answer!
While not definitive, it would be interesting to play the song for those who have never seen the Benny Hill Show and ask their opinion of the song. Amusing, funny, hilarious? Inherently funny implies something that crosses age and cultural background.