Comedians Who Are Also Serious Musicians
Some comedians aren't joking when they pick up an instrument. From Steve Martin's bluegrass Grammys to Tim Minchin's musicals, the comics who are legitimately great musicians.
Plenty of comedians sing a silly song now and then. These ones are the real thing: award-winning musicians who also happen to be very funny.
Steve Martin
He played the banjo in his early stand-up act as part of the joke. Decades later, he became a respected bluegrass musician, recording and touring with the Steep Canyon Rangers and Edie Brickell. His album The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.
Tim Minchin
The Australian-British comedian built his career on witty, piano-driven comic songs, then wrote the music and lyrics for Matilda the Musical, a hit on London's West End and Broadway, and the stage musical Groundhog Day.
Jack Black
Half of the comedy rock band Tenacious D with Kyle Gass. The duo's songs are jokes, but the musicianship is real. Tenacious D won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance for their cover of Dio's "The Last in Line."
Bo Burnham
Started on YouTube with comic songs as a teenager. His pandemic special Inside (2021), written, performed, filmed and edited alone in one room, was mostly songs, and won a Grammy for its song "All Eyes on Me."
Flight of the Conchords
Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, the New Zealand duo, turned folk-parody songs into an HBO series and a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. McKenzie later won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets (2011).
Reggie Watts
A comedian whose act is built on live looping, beatboxing and improvised songs, and a former bandleader on The Late Late Show.
Why music and comedy mix
Both are about rhythm, timing and surprise: hitting the downbeat at exactly the right moment. Many comedians started as musicians, and many musicians are funnier than they get credit for.
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Photo: Danny Knicely Tim O'Brien Franklin Park Arts Center Round Hill VA February 2012 by Reed George, CC BY-SA 2.0.