Category: - Dan Fiorella: Writer @ large

Dan Fiorella

Sketchy Tales: 12th Day of Christmas Edition

1/6/2019

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!

On the 10th Day of Christmas...

1/4/2019

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!

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

1/3/2019

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!

On the 8th Day of Christmas...

1/2/2019

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!

Sketchy Tales: New Year's Edition - Our Easy-to-keep New Year's Resolutions!

1/1/2019

Never throw anything out; that's one resolution I've kept! I wrote and re-wrote this bit quite a bit. It bounced back and forth between venues, radio and prose; as a skit and a Reader's Digest submission. Finally The Big Jewel used it. I had to expand it out somewhat to reach the word count, but it holds up and transferred well, since it was barely a radio skit to begin with. I guess I figured it would be done as a series of "black out" sketches, with the big intro, then recite one resolution then do it again later with another resolution. Oh, well...

We present this 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!

Our Easy-To-Keep New Years Resolutions!

Skit Happens: New Year's Edition : New Year, New Year

12/31/2018

Another song parody, one of those titles I'm shocked hadn't been done when I wrote this in 2011. Maybe it has been done since, but not by me. And it's not like there's a ton of New Year's song parodies around, either. But my radio peeps declined it, so here it is...

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 post-holiday rush!

New Year, New Year

Skit Happens: New Year's Edition - New Year’s Noisemakers

12/30/2018

This was a straight-up sound effects bit written for PHC. Weirdly, the file I have saved is incomplete, so I had to pull up a re-written version. Just substitute "GK" for "ANNOUNCER." It's from 2005, as my "use by" date was rapidly approaching. They last used a bit of mine in 2004, and this is for 2005 going on 2006, so it's definitely the tail end of my career there. But it's pure PHC, a gathering of sound effects for their SFX guy to go to town with. Tom Keith was as much a member of the show's cast as anyone else. They could be fun bits and I wanted to belong to the crew, too, so I'd churn these kinds of bits out thinking it would give be a head's up. It never did. Or even writing a New Year's sketch. How many of them are kicking around?

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!

New Year’s Noisemakers

Sketchy Tales: New Year's Edition - 24 Hour Planet LA Fitness World

12/29/2018

Yeah, I don't often do it, but every so often a skit is triggered by family things. A phrase, a word said, a point of view on some topic will give me an idea. My daughter was complaining how she had joined a gym that wasn't nearby and she didn't go often but they were still charging her the monthly fee. We told her to cancel, but it was a pain, she didn't feel like going over there to do it in person, maybe she might start going, etc., etc. That's all it took, and this commercial parody was born. And the gang over at ACN bought it, just in time for New Year's! So, we include it here as a holiday-healthy treat!

We present this comedy to remind you that my Christmas Comedy Caper, Lost Claus is available over at Amazon. So, get a jump on next year's shopping today!

Sketchy Tales: Christmas-ish Edition - Post-Christmas Ketchup

12/27/2018

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!

Leave it to the Prose: Christmas Edition - Other Things The Mayan Calendar Got Wrong

12/27/2018

There were a couple of New Year's Eves where people were worried that it would be the last. 2013, for instance, where the Mayan calendar ended it's configurations, so, naturally, everyone assumed time was up, because ancient civilizations could really be counted on for that type of information. I was deep into my "list" phase, where all my prose material came out as lists of something or other. I wrote up this bit and sent it to The Big Jewel, optimistically in 2012, figuring "what are the odds of the world actually ending?" I post it here, it links back to The Big Jewel.

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 mid-holiday rush!

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