From 1999 to 2004-ish, I was one of the contributing writers for Garrison Keillor's renowned radio show "A Prairie Home Companion." I learned a lot of things there, mostly how to spell 'prairie." It was a solid gig and I'm proud of my work there. But, like any other job, there were...things... This sketch is a sequel, as many of my Christmas bits were. When my kids were little, we went through a major Barney phase. So I wrote a bit called "3 Tenors Sing Barney," which involved most kids songs. I liked it. So, come Christmas, it was just a matter of switching up the songs to the sillier songs of the holidays. I really thought this would work for PHC, what with it being opera and them being on Public Radio and all. They didn't go for it. Maybe they didn't have enough tenors working on the host back then. It's really not something to retool at this point. So, anyway, buy my book, Lost Claus. It's a stocking full of merriment!
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This sketch may have been rejected in more formats than any other sketch I've written. It's a massive, epic, pop culture undertaking that probably was never going to get off the ground. Even the title came uneasily. I finally settled on "Christmas Corral" because it sounded like "Christmas Carol" and I thought corral sounded like I had to "round-up" a bunch of characters. It was a stage sketch that no group I knew had the resources to perform. It was a radio skit, where I figured having people voice multiple characters might make it viable; however it was too pop-culture (so forget PHC) and too long (forget ACN). Then I pitched it to both Mad and Cracked, thinking it might work as a comic story. Both passed on it. So, it just sat on my hard drive...until now! Enjoy this wacky, silly sketch! We present this holiday comedy to remind you that my Christmas Comedy Caper, Lost Claus is available over at Amazon. So buy your copy today and avoid the holiday rush! A Christmas Corral
From 1999 to 2004-ish, I was one of the contributing writers for Garrison Keillor's renowned radio show "A Prairie Companion." I learned a lot of things there, mostly how to spell 'prairie." It was a solid gig and I'm proud of my work there. But, like any other job, there were...things...
This bit I've posted before, as part of my usual countdown to Christmas (and beyond) but it's a very special bit. This would be the second week in a row that I got something on the air, so I was feeling pret-ty cocky. The show was still in New York and still open to Christmas bits so, I sent in "12 Days," which I nicked from my script "Christmas Carol," where some kids to a parody of the song during a pageant.
I was just floored when I heard it produced for the first time. Yes, GK rewrote some of it. And he certainly reworked the song performance, starting from 5 and working up from there. It saved some of the comedy surprises and, more impressively, got the whole audience to sing "Five Onion Rings" just the right number of times; not so many as to get bored, but enough that it grew and got louder as they reached the end. And the audience really sounded like they were having fun. Just wished I could have been there. Another special thing about this one skit is that the online credit reads "(c) 1999 Dan Fiorella" I have full credit on it, even though he re-wrote some of it (mine was a lot more food oriented). The on air credit is ...fake names..."with some help from Dan Fiorella, Laura Levine and Laura Peterson..." which is nice, yet still demeaning. We helped some fake guys who everyone assumes is GK because he's too modest to take credit. Oh, well... The thing of it is, the computer disc where I saved the first season of submissions to PHC got corrupted. I can't access it and I don't remember what else I submitted. And back then I was so paranoid about using up memory on my desktop, I always saved things to disc. So, that kinda backfired on me. Two PCs later, the emails didn't survive the transfers, so I don't have them to refer to either. And frankly, my record keeping was a bit spotty at the time. I thought I had the links to all the bits posted, but I can't find them. Even then, it would only be a research tool, as none of the original links are still up, but they would have given me dates on the shows. I just happened to find an old email with the old links to the first 4 bits but on that email, the next bit isn't until May, 2001. Though that long a gap seems possible, it seems long. But for now, on Dec. 18, 1999, Prairie Home Companion preformed my version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
Well, time and Yuletide wait for no man (that's a line from my book). This is Little Christmas, Three Kings Day, The Epiphany, the Twelfth day of Christmas. Screw it, I'm going to wind up the holiday season by repeating myself. Here' s the Prairie Home Companion production of my song parody, the 12 Days of Christmas!
If you liked this bit of holiday fun, you'll love my book, Lost Claus, the story of a tough PI and an elf who have to save Christmas. It's over at Amazon. Buy a copy today! Yule be glad you did!
Technically, this is a real version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Technically. But the Muppets put their own spin on it. I remember watching the special when it was on. Back in the days when networks did new Christmas TV specials. It's a lot of fun. And here's the thing; it's a record. You can't see the Muppets but it totally works, like Charlie McCarthy on the radio (google it). If you liked this bit of holiday fun, you'll love my book, Lost Claus, the story of a tough PI and an elf who have to save Christmas. It's over at Amazon. Buy a copy today! Yule be glad you did! There once was a show called Second City TV. Then it became SCTV. And then a couple of characters created on the show took off (inside joke) big time! For a while Bob & Doug McKenze were everywhere; TV, SNL, movies, music charts and the radio! They had a hit "song" off their hit album, "The Great White North." Lesser known was this bit that was on the record as well, to be played only for the holidays. It instantly went on my Christmas mixtape! The Great White North version of 12 days. If you liked this bit of post-holiday fun, you'll love my book, Lost Claus, the story of a tough PI and an elf who have to save Christmas. It's over at Amazon. Buy a copy today! Yule be glad you did! This was a goofy bit I remember hearing on the radio years ago. So naturally I had to seek it out on the web. And there it was. This is some groups lip-synch of it, but the song works as it starts as pure parody and then veers off into outright comedy but remaining in the perimeters of the song. If you liked this holiday bit, you'll love my book, Lost Claus, the story of a tough PI and an elf who have to save Christmas. It's over at Amazon. Buy a copy today! I'll be glad you did! This may be the first time I heard a parody of 12 Day of Christmas. I recongnzied the voice, it was that "Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder" guy. I listened to this and started to realize that it was possible to play around with standards and such and have fun with them. I mean, this is a rough song to parody, you're either going to go the distance or not. It's like deciding to do a parody of "A 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall." A some point, people are just going to lose interest. But Sherman committed, he cheated when he could and he plowed right through! Good for him! This bit of Holly-Jolliness is brought to you by "Lost Claus" the snappy Christmas comedy mystery! It's a Christmas-tery! Leaping Yule Logs, Santa's missing! And only one man can find him, Nick Flebber, PI. Get your copy today at Amazon! It's more fun than a barrel of elves!
You know what's a really hard niche to fill? The Post-Christmas time. I mean, technically, you've entered the Twelve Days of Christmas, but face, nobody is going to be singing that song after Christmas day. But there was chance to address the post-holiday blues. I lifted some lines from my script "Christmas Carol" and merged it into the standard Prairie Home Companion template. I was always happy when one of my PHC bits got selected, I felt like I had cracked the code somehow and was now able to be part of the Minnesota Mafia. I wasn't; the next week it was like I was starting from scratch all over again. But, there were enough moments like this that kept me going...
This edition of Skit Happens is brought to you by "Lost Claus" the snappy comedy mystery! Leaping Yule Logs, Santa's missing! And only one man can find him, Nick Flebber, PI. Get your copy today atAmazon!
Do I have any business writing a Kwanzaa song parody? See a need, fill a need. I saw a lacking of graduation songs, so I wrote a couple. And did we really need a bunch of new Christmas song parodies? Not really, but I did them anyway! Sure, maybe trying to merge Kwanzaa with an old Englebert Humperdink bassa nova song was an iffy idea at best, but now that the holiday is here and I have a blog to fill, we'll post it! Ha! This edition of Skit Happens is brought to you by "Lost Claus" the snappy Christmas comedy mystery! It's a Chris-mystery! Leaping Yule Logs, Santa's missing! And only one man can find him, Nick Flebber, PI. Get your copy today at Amazon! Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa(to "Quando, Quando, Quando") So, it's not just Christmas time Happy Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa Getting presents is just fine Not just Angola currency Got no tree or holly wreath Happy Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa No mistletoe to stand beneath But we got all our first fruits. Celebrate for eight days Every day just has a theme Let me show you my maize Or give you a brand new book. Seven principals so bright Happy Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa Seven days of candle light But it's not like Hanukkah! |
Dan FiorellaFreelance writer, still hacking away. Archives
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