Silly Songs With Larry - Introduction

Introduction

Typically a Silly Song is introduced with a static picture of Larry and the words, "And now it's time for 'Silly Songs with Larry', the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a Silly Song," which is voiced by an unseen narrator. However, this format is used loosely; sometimes it is renamed, adapted to the context of the episode, or eschewed altogether. Not all episodes have a Silly Song: most notably, the LarryBoy episodes lack this segment. The Silly Song always appears in the middle of an episode, usually at a cliffhanger moment, or between two separate segments.

The Silly Songs have proven to be a very popular part of the show and has also prompted the release of several "sing-along" videos that feature compilations of these segments culled from other episodes, wrapped with new material that threads them into a fresh context. To date there have been three of those:

• Very Silly Songs (1997)
• The End of Silliness? (1998)
• The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown (2001)

The Silly Songs almost always take place on the familiar countertop which opens and closes most episodes. The background scenery appears as a stage set, behind which electrical outlets and ceramic tile can be seen.

Sometimes a Silly Song is interrupted for comical effect. This first occurs in the very first Silly Song "The Water Buffalo Song" (Where's God When I'm S-Scared?), where Archibald Asparagus stops the song to tell Larry that, contrary to his lyrics, everybody does not have a water buffalo and that he fears "nasty letters" complaining about said lack of water buffalos. In "The Dance of the Cucumber", the song is halted when Larry's increasingly personal Spanish taunts towards Bob makes the tomato lose his temper.

On a few occasions, the song is stopped and replaced before it can even begin. When this occurs, the brief images that are shown of the original song are intentionally more outlandish than usual, leaving the audience to wonder what it might have been. In Madame Blueberry, the title card depicts Larry in a coonskin hat and caught in a bear trap, but his intended song never begins when Archibald cancels the segment in favor of "Love Songs with Mr. Lunt". In Lyle the Kindly Viking, the title card shows Larry in a clown costume with a hula hoop accompanied by cheery carnival music, but Archibald interrupts and introduces "Classy Songs with Larry" in its place. This time, Archibald cuts off the announcer midsentence.