Declan Patrick MacManus, known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist. In 2003, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Costello number 80 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Nicholas Drain Lowe is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica.
Ronald Eldon Sexsmith is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has since recorded seventeen albums. He was the subject of a 2010 documentary called Love Shines.
"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed that it was originally written to be sung by a Sunday school choir for Thanksgiving, or as a drinking song. Although it has no original connection to Christmas, it became associated with winter and Christmas music in the 1860s and 1870s, and it was featured in a variety of parlor song and college anthologies in the 1880s. It was first recorded in 1889 on an Edison cylinder; this recording, believed to be the first Christmas record, is lost, but an 1898 recording also from Edison Records survives.
Saturday TV Funhouse is a segment on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by SNL writer Robert Smigel. 101 "TV Funhouse" segments aired on SNL between 1996 and 2008, with one further segment airing in 2011. It also spawned a short-lived spinoff series of TV Funhouse that aired on Comedy Central.
Adam Lyons Schlesinger was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was a key songwriting contributor and producer for Brooklyn-based synth-pop duo Fever High. He also wrote songs for television and film, for which he won three Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the ASCAP Pop Music Award, and was nominated for Academy, Tony, and Golden Globe Awards.
Leslie Feist, known mononymously as Feist, is a Canadian indie pop singer-songwriter and guitarist, performing both as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock group Broken Social Scene.
The Colbert Report is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a caricature of televised political pundits. Furthermore, the show satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor. The Colbert Report is a spin-off of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, where Colbert was a correspondent from 1997 to 2005.
"Oliver's Army" is a song written by Elvis Costello and performed by Costello and the Attractions, from the former's third studio album Armed Forces (1979). The song is a new wave track that was lyrically inspired by the Troubles in Northern Ireland and includes lyrics critical of the socio-economic components of war. Costello had travelled to Northern Ireland and was influenced by sights of British soldiers patrolling Belfast. Musically, the song features a glossy production and a keyboard performance inspired by ABBA, creating a juxtaposition between the lyrics and music that both critics and Costello have pointed out.
Parokya ni Edgar is a Filipino band formed in 1993, composed of Chito Miranda, Gab Chee Kee, Buwi Meneses, Darius Semaña, Dindin Moreno, and Vinci Montaner. The band is known for its original rock novelty songs and often satirical covers of popular songs both foreign and local. The band is adept at playing in various musical genres.
"She" is a song written by Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer and released by Aznavour as a single in 1974. The song was written in English as a theme tune for the British TV series Seven Faces of Woman.
"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" is a 1974 song written by English singer/songwriter Nick Lowe. Initially released by Lowe with his band Brinsley Schwarz on their 1974 album The New Favourites of... Brinsley Schwarz, the song was released as a single and did not chart.
Oobu Joobu was a radio show created, directed and presented by Paul McCartney. It was described by McCartney as "wide-screen radio". The program aired in 1995 on the American radio network Westwood One and its name was inspired by a BBC production of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Cocu. Because the show's material included demos, rehearsals, live performances, and unreleased recordings of Paul McCartney, many of the programs have been bootlegged. Now, The Beatles Channel on Sirius XM often plays Oobu Joobu clips.
"Me and My Shadow" is a 1927 popular song. Officially the credits show it as written by Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer, with Jolson and Dreyer being shown on the sheet music as being responsible for the music and Rose the lyrics. Al Jolson was often given credits on sheet music so he could earn more money by popularizing them, but he played no actual part in writing this song. Jolson never recorded the song although he did use it in the touring version of "Big Boy" in 1927.
More Twisted Christmas is the third Christmas album by Bob Rivers & Twisted Radio, released in 1997. Whereas the first two albums in the Twisted Christmas series featured some original songs, spoken word comedy and instrumentals, all of the songs on this album are direct parodies, either Christmas-themed parodies of popular songs or parodies of Christmas songs.
Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special is the third Jeff Dunham special. It was taped at Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 7, 2008 and premiered on Comedy Central on November 16, 2008. It was released on DVD November 18, 2008.
"Fishsticks" is the fifth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 186th overall episode of the series, it was originally broadcast on Comedy Central in the United States on April 8, 2009. In the episode, Jimmy writes a joke that becomes a national sensation, and Cartman tries to steal the credit while rapper Kanye West, believing himself to be a "genius", becomes frustrated due to his failure to understand the joke.
Adam and Joe was a radio show on BBC Radio 6 Music presented by Adam and Joe – comedians Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish. The show began in October 2007 and ran for three hours in a Saturday morning slot, originally from 9:00am to 12:00pm before moving to 10:00am to 1:00pm. After a hiatus from 26 December 2009, the series returned for three months on 2 April 2011. The show also briefly returned in late 2012, with Edith Bowman replacing Joe Cornish as Adam's co-presenter.
"Brilliant Mistake" is a song written and performed by new wave musician Elvis Costello that was first released on his 1986 album King of America. Written about Costello's experiences in America, the song features introspective lyrics and a performance from the Confederates, who performed on the track after his usual backing band the Attractions could not perform to Costello's liking.
"New Lace Sleeves" is a song written by new wave musician Elvis Costello and performed by Costello and the Attractions for his 1981 album Trust. The first version of the song was written by Costello in 1974 and featured post-war themed lyrics that were largely scrapped in the final recording. In the final version of the song, Costello included lyrics about seduction and power. Musically, the song was performed at a slower tempo and features a band performance praised by Costello. Pete Thomas notably performed a drum beat inspired by songs from Devo and Stevie Wonder.
