Modern Media Parodies of Gilbert and Sullivan

We didn’t get to watch the “Animaniacs” patter song that I was talking about so let’s take it to the blog! The “Animaniacs” episode is actually called “HMS Yakko” as a parody of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S Pinafore. They have many patter songs and all are pretty comical. One of there songs is entitled “I am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual”. Others are very informational educational ranging from the U.S. capitals to the nations of the world. The choice of patter song for an educational purpose is genius, because as Professor Smaldone told us it fits a lot of information into a small window. Another patter song that I enjoy is from the show “Scrubs.” This show has a completely musical episode and one of the songs is actually set to the tune of Modern Major General. I had not realized this until class today when I recognized the melody from the video we watched. I definitely will enjoy this ranting patter song more now because I know what inspired it. Obviously Gilbert and Sullivan have had a profound impact on music and on pop culture, I just didn’t really know how much of an impact they have had on me until today.