Smothers Brothers
His music doesn’t really show it, but Chris Isaak is one funny dude, in a band of funny dudes. We saw him live, and he’s funny onstage, too. We’ve been waiting impatiently for his tv show to come out on dvd - it’s apparently being held up because there are so many performances of copyrighted material on the show. If it ever comes on tv where you are, watch it. It is seriously entertaining (“I don’t need a lawyer to do the job of a two-by-four!”).
Seconded.
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks are still out there playing, and are as clever as ever. His songs have always made me laugh, but in concert, he’s hilarious! Highly recommended.
It’s makes a difference whether we’re talking about musical acts that try to be humorous vs. comedy that’s done in musical form–or simply parody/satire, for that matter. Spinal Tap wasn’t really a musical effort, in as much as the music wouldn’t be all that memorable out of context. (Although by the same token they paid a good amount of attention to the musicianship so that it wouldn’t distract from the actual humor.) You couldn’t compare that to Weird Al, just as you couldn’t compare Tom Lerher to the Capital Steps (:rolleyes:).
Most accomplished musical acts are annoying at best when they put the humor before the music.
Fred Eaglesmith is laugh out loud funny. My favorite of his songs is When, Exactly, Did We Become White Trash?
The Dead Milkmen are one of my favorite bands of all time. They are quite funny.
Schaffer the Darklord is a “nerdcore rapper” and I think his rhymes are hilarious! Better than MC Chris, who I find annoying.
Speaking of funny rappers, Eminem is funny when he’s not being scary or deep.
I thought Bruce McCulloch’s (of Kids in the Hall) album Shame-Based Man was GREAT. It’s a mix of skits and songs but if the OP can mention Cheech & Chong, we can mention this one too.
I don’t think Eric actually contributed anything musical - he certainly didn’t sing or play, and I’m mostly sure Innes did all the writing. They’re pretty awesome, though.
Similarly Mike Flowers - I particularly recommend the Velvet Underground Medley, and Wonderwall.
I’ll also second Tom Lehrer and Flight of the Conchords…
Moxy Fruvous has kind of faded into obscurity a bit, but in the late 90s, they did some real good stuff - King of Spain, My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors, etc.
If you enjoy humor based around classical music, check out Igudesman & Joo