Dr. Demento Funny 25 of 2005 - My Predictions

Well, it's coming to that time of year again -- 42 weeks in, not many weeks left. Ladies and gentlemen, get your Christmas shopping done now!

It also means pretty soon Dr. Demento will be playing the Funny 25, the year's 25 most requested demented bits of audio (mainly songs, some comedy sketches) on his syndicated radio show. Yeah, it's early; it's not even Hallowe'en yet, but I have a pretty good idea of what will probably happen with this year's countdown.

Unfortunately, this year was a Star Wars year, so there will be a lot of Star Wars-centric tunes (*yawn*), ditto an unnecessary movie version of the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And of course, one of the biggest dweeb-inducing things ever, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, BBC radio series that became a series of books I highly enjoyed actually, spawned a movie, so I wouldn't doubt we'll see a bunch of Hitchhiker's Guide songs requested by overweight pimply-faced bachelors who go around calling themselves Zaphod.

And as usual, probably the usual pollution of The Great Luke Ski. He's always there to jump on the bandwagon when a new movie comes out or when a new cartoon is all the rage, usually giving us lame parodies. However, I will say I love his new "Sex Kittens From Mars" production -- the singers are good, the lyrics are quite witty, and the harmonies are well done. I doubt we'll see that chart this year unless it gets an absolute slew of requests between now and December.

Without any further Apu, here's what I predict the Funny 25 will consist of. Keep in mind I calculated this in the middle of October. I did this very systematically. If a track hit #5 on the Funny Five, I awarded it 1 point; 2 points for #4, 3 points for #3, 4 points for #2, and 5 points for #1. I know that Dr. Demento also factors in points for other things like what's happening on the Billboard charts, what's going on in our crazy world, etc., so I did my best to give "power points" to popular artists, popular pieces, cultural relevance, and of course, the number of times an entry appeared on the Funny Five. Here are my predictions; I doubt the top five will be much different:

25. "Great Idea For A Song," Worm Quartet
24. "Stealing Like A Hobbit," The Great Luke Ski
23. "eBay I Need Your Lovin' (Weird Al Vs. Four Seasons)," D.J.B.S.
22. "Wet Dream," Kip Adotta
21. "Aliens Really Stink," UFO Phil
20. "Swift Kick In The Rear," Dan Hart
19. "Dead Puppies," Ogden Edsl
18. "Cows With Guns," Dana Lyons
17. "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!," Napoleon XIV
16. "Fish Heads," Barnes & Barnes
15. "Anakin," UFO Phil
14. "A Trip To The Chocolate Factory," Whimsical Will
13. "Viagra In The Waters," Camille West
12. "Silo Inferno," Krooked K
11. "Ti Kwan Leep/Boot To The Head," The Frantics
10. "Dumbledore," Steve Goodie
9. "Spam," Sudden Death
8. "The Dolphins/So Long And Thanks For All The Fish (reprise)," Neil Hannon
7. "Alone Again," Henry Phillips
6. "I Got Crabs From Darth Vader," Robert Lund
5. "Vader Boy," The Great Luke Ski
4. "Epithets," Paul and Storm
3. "Army Careers," The Frantics
2. "Girlfriend," Henry Phillips
1. "Inner Voice," Sudden Death featuring Worm Quartet

There ya have it. I doubt "Inner Voice" will budge -- it's been #1 many times this year, and also, note that I placed Worm Quartet's 2004 smash "Great Idea For A Song" at #25. If Dr. Demento did the same, this year's countdown will start and end with something involving Worm Quartet. Neat, eh?

I predict that Henry Phillips' latest hit, "Alone Again," will rise to the top 5. "Army Careers" will probably stay in the top 5, what with the massive popularity The Frantics have, that they recently reunited, and that the topic matter in the punchline of that sketch is, unfortunately, very topical and "funny because it's true." Sudden Death's "Spam" suddenly stopped getting played near the end of the summer, so I doubt that will move up any time soon.

Any questions?