Funny Times | |
---|---|
Studio album by | |
Released | 29 November 2010 |
Recorded | 2009–2010 |
Genre | Comedy, pop |
Length | 45:43 |
Label | Island [1] |
Producer | Harry Hill |
Singles from Funny Times | |
|
Funny Times is the first comedy studio album released by the British comedian Harry Hill. It was released on 29 November 2010. The album was originally due to be entitled Sergeant Peppers II, but due to copyright issues, it was later retitled Funny Times. It is perhaps best known for the song "Ken!", about Ken Barlow, a character on the television soap Coronation Street played by William Roache.
Adam Kennedy of the BBC wrote, "As a television personality, Harry Hill is a rare breed, entertaining the masses with unrestrained wackiness while sneaking more mischievous references below early evening watershed radars. His debut full-length musical foray pulls a comparable trick, obscuring occasionally caustic wit beneath surface silliness. Despite distancing Funny Times from his best-known Technicolor vehicle TV Burp, Hill himself admits the album envelops similar themes. That’s inevitable, given the former doctor’s devotion to dissecting the slowly decaying corpse of popular culture-slash-television. But certain targets warrant further ridicule beyond 30-second TV gags, selected here with deadly accuracy. The Disappointment Song demonstrates that knack pithily, ripping into Sarah Jessica Parker and co’s big screen excursions with barely-concealed zeal. Nobody is safe, either, from gardeners-turned-tedious chatshow hosts to family members.
"Expectedly random guests – ABC’s Martin Fry, William ‘Ken Barlow’ Roache, Bruce Forsyth – garnish moments between Hill's politely narked highs. And trusty newsreader John Craven announces the genuine peak: Never Be Holly Willoughby Symphony is a geeky timewaster's letter to the eponymous presenter, offering to take her out to a ludicrous array of family-friendly UK attractions. Essentially Eminem's Stan lectured in British etiquette, it pauses only to insult her "tiny" husband. Hill's eye for the ridiculous is tempered by completing rhymes that many musical comedians would only dare allude to. Nothing is left to the imagination in Phone Up Yer Mum certainly, Hill advising us "Be a good son and phone up yer mum, ‘Cos one day she’ll be dead", before trading off subtle nuances of such conversations with commendable attention to detail. Repeated spins will, naturally, send you barmier than Hill, particularly closing Brucie ballad I'm Not Anyone and flagship scally-dissing number I Wanna Baby. As a one-off trip through a madcap brain, however, Funny Times splits a few sides and then some." [2]
Matthew Keith Hall, known professionally as Harry Hill, is an English comedian, presenter and writer. He pursued a career in stand-up following years working as a medical doctor, developing an offbeat, energetic performance style that fused elements of surrealism, observational comedy, slapstick, satire and music. When performing, he usually wears browline glasses and a dress shirt with a distinctive oversized collar and cuffs.
Poodle Hat is the eleventh studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on May 20, 2003. It was the fifth studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop of the early-2000s. The album's lead single, "Couch Potato", is a parody of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem. The single failed to chart, although the album's song "eBay" eventually peaked at 15 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles in 2007.
"I Wanna Be Sedated" is a song by American punk rock band Ramones, originally released on the band's fourth studio album, Road to Ruin (1978), in September 1978. The B-side of the UK single "She's the One" was released on September 21, 1978. The song was later released as a single in the Netherlands in 1979, and in the U.S. in 1980 by RSO Records from the Times Square soundtrack album. It has since remained one of the band's best known songs.
Lennon is a four-CD box set compilation, featuring highlights from the solo musical career of John Lennon. It was released in 1990 and is not to be confused with the 2015 box set of the same name, which comprised Lennon's eight original studio albums on vinyl LPs.
"I Just Wanna Love U " is a song by American rapper Jay-Z, released as the first single from his 2000 album The Dynasty: Roc La Familia. It was produced by the Neptunes and features a chorus performed by Neptunes member Pharrell and Pennsylvania rapper Omillio Sparks, both of whom remain uncredited. The video for the song, directed by David Meyers, features cameos from rappers Lil' Kim, Lil' Cease, Damon Dash, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Jermaine Dupri and actor John Witherspoon.
Greg Laswell is an American musician, recording engineer, and record producer from San Diego, California. He attended Valley Christian High School in Cerritos, California. He has released 7 studio albums: Good Movie in 2003, Through Toledo in 2006, Three Flights from Alto Nido in 2008, Take a Bow in 2010, Landline in 2012, I Was Going to be an Astronaut in 2014, Everyone Thinks I Dodged A Bullet in 2016, and Next Time in 2018, as well as several EPs and special singles. Many of his songs have been featured in films and television shows.
Luke Caswell, known mononymously as Cazwell, is an American rapper, record producer, and songwriter. He has released the three studio albums Get into It in 2006, Watch My Mouth in 2009 and Hard 2 B Fresh in 2014, along with videos and singles.
Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham is an American actress, singer, dancer, and activist. She played Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017). Her film credits include The Parent Trap (1998), 17 Again (2009), The Roommate (2011), Honey 2 (2011), Addicted (2014), and All Eyez on Me (2017). In music, Graham has released two extended plays and four studio albums.
The Gregory Brothers are an American musical quartet, specializing in comedy music and auto-tuning recorded speech through their YouTube channel Schmoyoho. After the success of their songs "Chrissy Wake Up" and "It's Corn" in the summer of 2022, NPR reported that they "are responsible for some of the biggest viral songs of the past decade."
All of Me is the third studio album by British rapper and singer Estelle. It was first released on 24 February 2012 in Ireland, 28 February in the United States and 12 March in the United Kingdom.
"Born Free" is a song by English Tamil recording artist M.I.A., released alongside an accompanying short film/music video of the same name from her third album, Maya. XL Recordings and Interscope Records/N.E.E.T. released "Born Free" as a digital download from the album on 23 April 2010, with the music video released on 26 April 2010. "Born Free" was written and produced by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam and Dave "Switch" Taylor. The artwork for the single was released on 25 April 2010.
Screaming Bloody Murder is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Sum 41, released on March 29, 2011, after many delays. It is the band's second album produced by frontman Deryck Whibley. It is the band's last album to be released on Island Records before they had fulfilled their contract with the major label in 2016 and their first album not to be released on Aquarius Records, which they left in 2010. The album has received mixed reviews.
"In Love and I Hate It" is a song by British-Norwegian boyband A1, released as the third single from their fourth studio album, Waiting for Daylight.
Welcome Back is an album by American singer/songwriter John Sebastian, released in 1976. It reached number 79 on The Billboard 200 chart. Two singles were released from the album with the title song "Welcome Back" reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It also reached number 93 on the Country Singles chart. The second single, "Hideaway" peaked at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100.
O.K. Ken? is the second studio album by the blues band Chicken Shack, released in February 1969. O.K Ken? reached number 9 in the UK Albums Chart, three places higher than its predecessor, 40 Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed and Ready to Serve.
A Friend in London was a Danish pop rock and rock band that represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, with the song "New Tomorrow" and took fifth place in the final with 134 points. The group announced their split in 2014.
"Baby You Don't Wanna Know" is the second single from Sum 41's fifth studio album Screaming Bloody Murder, officially released as a Canadian radio single on June 15, 2011, and later worldwide, along with a music video, on August 3, 2011.
Kara Collection is a compilation album by South Korean girl group Kara. It was first released in Japanese on September 5, 2012 in four different editions: two CD+DVD, a Regular edition and a digital Deluxe edition.
"I Want to Drag You Around" is the third single from the band Blondie's tenth studio album Ghosts of Download. It was released officially along with the rest of the album in May 2014, although it was released before that as a free digital download with tickets to the 2013 North American No Principals Tour under the title "Drag You Around". It was announced in March 2014 as the third single from Ghosts of Download, and was BBC Radio 2's Record of the Week from 19 April 2014.
"Baby, It's OK" is a song recorded by German group Follow Your Instinct featuring Romanian recording artist Alexandra Stan for their debut studio album, Animal Kingdom (2016), and the latter's Alesta. It was made available for digital and physical consumption on 16 August 2013 through Epic Records, Sony Music and Cat Music in Germany and Romania. The recording was written by Harry Wayne Casey, Davon Dixon, Patrick Greska, Addis Mussa, Manuela Necker, Andrei Nemirschi, Prodan, David Ritter, Marcian Alin Soare and Rainer Wetenkamp, while production was managed by Greska, Mussa, Ritter and Wetenkamp. Musically, "Baby, It's OK" is a dance song that samples elements of KC and the Sunshine Band's "Give It Up" (1983).