Has there ever been a show designed around comedy?

[bobchilds]

It should be pointed out that the context of the Bridgemen and the original Velvet Knights (80s and 90s) was generally a field of much more serious and stifflly regimented corps. Other corps would always march out onto the field (as opposed to nowadays where most just walk out and set up). Corps would generally play a warm-up facing backfield for one minute (as opposed to nowadays, where this is often a "pre-show" with ambient music, acting, etc.). Body movement for the musicians was mostly marching, horn carriage, high mark time, etc. (as opposed to the current use of body movement, ballet steps, dancing, squatting, leaning, rocking, etc.). Uniforms used to be more military in style (we still have military elements, but unis are now much more like costumes).

So the difference between, say, Velvet Knights and the other corps was much more stark in contrast than VK would be with the corps of today. VK used to run wildly out onto the field, sometime play their warm up right at you. Their DM salute was loose and laid back. Their uniforms ranged from tuxes and tennies and ballcaps, to straw hats and Hawaiian shirts. Their music programming was sometimes choppy, other times they played full charts.

My point is that the VK and Bridgemen shows of old would probably blend in a lot more in the context of more recent shows. While corps of today may not be trying to be funny per se, they do incorporate certain elements that are VKish and Bridgemanesque.

[Lincoln]

From reading the Bands of America live blog (a team effort) for this year's Grand Nationals finals, I learned that in Mason's show, with a wedding theme, the female guard in bridal garb were married to grooms who were life-size inflatable dolls. The marriage turns sour, and the wives abuse and possibly kill their husbands.

Mason's show looked like a lot of fun. The only complete video of it I could find online was before the dolls were added. It's not quite the same without the dolls.

BOA did post this short video about the show:

http://youtu.be/ta2mNXtNfes

[gcurrier]

id love to see some PDQ Bach--1712 Overture--classical humor meets drum corps

[84BDsop]

id love to see some PDQ Bach--1712 Overture--classical humor meets drum corps

Impulse did tha a few years ago, I think...at least parts of it.

I've had various VK-ish shtick to that chrt in my head for years (I might even still have the write up and time checks I did).

Not sure would coule pull it off best of the big guys...Surf, probably.

But can you imagine if REGIMENT decided to do it up??? :laugh:

[Dave Scott]

There were several Midwestern senior corps that used to do such things as dropping spare shoes on the field (making field judges try to find who "lost" them).

Somebody else had a bass drummer who always smoked (as a joke) while performing on the field.

And then there was the Bellettes All-Girl Corps from Belleville, IL. Once, back in the 1960s, they performed their field show while wearing roller skates!

Correct city, but wrong all-girl corps. It was the Gabrielettes All-Girl Corps from Belleville, IL that performed on roller skates.

[2muchcoffeeman]

Humor either happens or it doesn't, but it needs to happen on its own. VK understood that for a show to be funny, the audience has to be let in on the joke. However, being "let in" doesn't mean to be force fed the joke and instructed, "Now you will laugh."

The OP asked if there have been shows "designed around" humor. I don't think even Bridgemen or VK did that. They certainly incorporated funny moments into their designs, more than other corps, but didn't build shows that were meant to generate laughs from first step to last.

Humor is the unexpected clash of contexts. Setting up the context is part where, as Michael says, the audience is let in on the joke. Someone on this thread observed that the loose, informal style of Bridgemen and VK was automatically funny because the rest of the activity was more military style. I think this is right. When the show lineup was 27th Lancers, Guardsmen, SCV, Phantom and Troopers, all Bridgemen had to do to get a smile was set up on the starting line. Merely by showing up they created a clash of context. These days, that military bearing is not as universal, so it would be more difficult today for a corps to create a humorous persona.

Humor is the most volatile form of communication. It's funny insofar as the audience buys into the premise, and in these hyperpolitical, hypersentivie times, there is precious little agreement on anything. The risks are high, especially for a show that would be built entirely around humor. If it flops, there's no amount of cleaning that will fix the show. It would be back to the drawing board, in July.

Still, there are (mildly) humorous moments to be found, even today. Skywhopper mentioned a few hidden gems (along with Spirit's not-so-hidden drinking scene) buried deep within some shows. Some other out-front light moments from the past season:

The repeated knocks at the door at Spirit's speakeasy

The "VAN" + (guard) drill set in SCV's Les Miserables show

The popped balloon in Bluecoats' Looking for America

Not ROFL material, granted, but effective.

[jjeffeory]

Ok.

Trying to answer the question, which is has there ever been a show designed around humor?

Lots of people have mentioned past Velvet Knights and Bridgemen shows, which are very funny, very well performed, et cetera.

I think Phantom Regiment's 1990 show, Dreams of Desire, was basically designed to satirize other corps of the time's shows. It fits the bill as well as the others mentioned in this thread... The music of that show was:

Dreams of Desire - 4th Movement (from Symphony No. 3) * The Elephant (from Carnival of the Animals)* Finale (from Carnival of the Animals) * Bacchanale (from Samson and Delilah).

Regiment ended up musically ( and visually to a much lesser extent) poking a little fun at many corps' recent shows at the time, especially their Midwestern family including Madison Scouts, Star of Indiana, and The Cavaliers. Even "funnier" is that they poked fun at themselves... Think about where they were at at the time. Regiment claimed the highest 2nd place score in DCI history at the time the previous year, and they were probably believed that they should have won. Something like this also happened to them in the 70's at finals. So, maybe this 1990 show was a little bit of a reaction to the previous year? It was a good show in a field of a very close top 6, and a classic version of Bacchanale which was so well received that it was performed again the next year...

I do remember a Drum Corps World write-up on the show. The article explained that if you listen carefully, you can hear musical snippets ad quotes of corps songs, recent music, and percussion quotes from other corps. I believe this was especially true during Carnival of the Animals. I feel that it was a pretty decent attempt at humor if you ask me. Hopefully some of you will remember this show, or take the time to look back at a interesting show, which was undefeated all the way through DCM Championships until Drums Along the Rockies in Denver that year.

Also, I remember that VK took great care to satirize other corps shows in THEIR1990 show as well.

Universal Studios / Hollywood Tour - Summertime (from Porgy and Bess) * School's Out for Summer *20th Century Fox Fanfare * Hooray for Hollywood * Singin' in the Rain (from Singing In The Rain) *Wizard of Oz * The Sea Hawk * Bottle Dance (from Fiddler on the Roof) * Keystone Cops * Slow Burn *The Summer of '42 * Born to be Wild

I felt that VK even managed to poke a little fun at the infamous Blue Devils soprano frak of 1988 ( during VK's "Singing in the Rain" solo ).

It would be amusing to see a corps do that to other corps today, as it would be fun, but it wouldn't be considered serious. I doubt a corps would bother trying.

Edited December 9, 2013 by jjeffeory

[JimF-LowBari]

Jeffs post reminded me of a rival of my corps who I later joined (go figure).... Hanover Lancers Sr corps ca 1975/76 had a concert number (can explain that to you younger folks) called "Strike Up the Corps". Yeah they played "Strike Up the Band" in between playing bits of other (more well known) corps. Whole thing ened with a couple of "rumps" al a Cabs which had people laughing out loud (at least on the recording I have somewhere).

Kicker was my HS Asst band driector was corps horn instructor and DM at the the time. And ####ed if this didn't sound like some of the the stuff he arranged for our band. He was known to "borrow" a chart or two from corps and having us play it a year later.

Edited December 9, 2013 by JimF-LowBari

[MikeD]

Impulse did tha a few years ago, I think...at least parts of it.

I've had various VK-ish shtick to that chrt in my head for years (I might even still have the write up and time checks I did).

Not sure would coule pull it off best of the big guys...Surf, probably.

But can you imagine if REGIMENT decided to do it up??? :laugh:

I'm not sure how well PDQ Bach would translate to a drum corps show, as much as I loved seeing him live, and reading his book.

Back in the mid 70's I was Asst Band Director at a HS in NJ. Our concert band did the PDQ Bach "Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion". While the kids loved playing it in rehearsal, at the concert it went over like a lead balloon...it just was not really very funny to outsiders...you really had to be in the know to "get" what he was doing. Grand Serenade just sounded like a lousy band chart when you did not understand the context.

[84BDsop]

I'm not sure how well PDQ Bach would translate to a drum corps show, as much as I loved seeing him live, and reading his book.

Back in the mid 70's I was Asst Band Director at a HS in NJ. Our concert band did the PDQ Bach "Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion". While the kids loved playing it in rehearsal, at the concert it went over like a lead balloon...it just was not really very funny to outsiders...you really had to be in the know to "get" what he was doing. Grand Serenade just sounded like a lousy band chart when you did not understand the context.

True....but 1712 is basically 1812 on crack. A number of the motifs were swapped around...pretty easy to hear Yankee Doodle...and 1812 is well enough known to the general public for the humor to come across.....far more so than Grande Serenade.

Edited December 9, 2013 by 84BDsop