Conan O'Brien/Max Weinberg mormon song

[Bernard Gui]

Check this out and let me know what you think.

Conan and Max take on Orrin Hatch's Chanukah song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yns1-2VszuY

Bernard

[Zakuska]

All good fun.

[frankenstein]

i just watched it in an airport and I laughed out loud...and I am a member of the LDS Church.

[mnn727]

I think it was another example of why I don't watch Conan O'Brian - He's just not funny.

The song is just plain wrong in a number of spots and promotes incorrect stereotypes.

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

I figured it was something that I shouldn't feel bad about. I had to wonder why Orrin Hatch was doing a song about Chanuka though. The only thing that did bother me is that Orrin wasn't trying to be funny. I guess that in and of it self might be offensive to some people.

[LeSellers]

I had to wonder why Orrin Hatch was doing a song about Chanuka though. The only thing that did bother me is that Orrin wasn't trying to be funny. I guess that in and of it self might be offensive to some people.

Hatch has written dozens, perhaps hundreds, of songs.

What songwriters do is write songs about things that interest them. Hanukkah interested him.

As far as I could tell, his Hanukkah song was respectful of the tradition, and even celebrated it. Only a total jerk would object to someone's being interested enough in a different tradition to write a supportive song about it. A complete anti-social kumquat would respond by writing a song that lampoons the first writer's culture.

He who takes offense when none is intended is a fool. He who takes offense when offense is intended is still a fool.

Lehi

[Bernard Gui]

My daughter says I need to lighten up, but I found the skit offensive.

Linking Mormons to Big Love, the bit about "We don't know what you believe,

what you think, or what you drink..." pretty much says it all about Mr. O'Brien

and Mr. Weinberg. I wonder if Weinberg has issues with Jews making Christmas

albums (Babs Streisand, Kenny G, Barry Manilow, ) or writing Christmas songs (Mel Torme, Irving Berlin,

Johnny Marks)? If one looks around, one can even find Weinberg making merry with Christmas music

and arranging Christmas songs.

OK, time to lighten up.

Bernard

[juliann]

If you google it, you quickly find out that he was asked to do it by a prominent newspaper columnist who was jokinh that Jewish songs were written by Christians so it was time for a Christian to write a Jewish song. He writes about it and explains the story behind the song. It was kind of cute. Recording it was a collaboration of ethnic groups that was actually rather meaningful.

[LifeOnaPlate]

I thought the Conan song was innocuous, worth a few chuckles, and pretty darn harmless and nice.

[Bernard Gui]

If you google it, you quickly find out that he was asked to do it by a prominent newspaper columnist who was jokinh that Jewish songs were written by Christians so it was time for a Christian to write a Jewish song. He writes about it and explains the story behind the song. It was kind of cute. Recording it was a collaboration of ethnic groups that was actually rather meaningful.

Are you talking about Hatch or Weinberg?

I found Hatch's song to be respectful and sincere, where the Tonight Show song

bordered on mocking and bigotry. Were it to be reversed...Mormons making fun of

Jews...we might all be singing a different tune.

OK...I'm lightening up. Tomorrow.

Bernard

[handys003]

I thought it was very funny. You gotta learn to laugh at yourself and your creeds. Seriously people life is too short and hard not to have some laughs or else why would HF permit these emotions.

[Bernard Gui]

I thought the Conan song was innocuous, worth a few chuckles, and pretty darn harmless and nice.

When it comes right down to it, I'm still angry that Conan O'Brien sits in the seat occupied by Steve Allen,

Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson. To me, he's like an ant floating down the Mississippi River on a leaf yelling,

"Raise the drawbridge! Raise the drawbridge!"

Could I get some lightening up lessons from you?

Bernard

[Bernard Gui]

I thought it was very funny. You gotta learn to laugh at yourself and your creeds. Seriously people life is too short and hard not to have some laughs or else why would HF permit these emotions.

That's why he made little people.

Bernard

[handys003]

That's why he made little people.

Bernard

As in Gollum?

"Losssst! My Precioussss is losssstt!"

My Preciousssssss!

"Losssst! My Precioussss is losssstt!"

[juliann]

Are you talking about Hatch or Weinberg?

http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/21863/eight-days-of-hanukkah/

After five or six Christmas songs, I asked, him,

[MorningStar]

I thought it was funny. If it were meant to be mean spirited, it would've been a lot worse. The Children of the Corn part cracked me up! Same with Harrison Ford in Witness being Mormon.

[maklelan]

The idea for Conan's skit actually came from a group of Jewish bloggers. They heard about Hatch's song and started trying to figure out a way to do a song for Mormons as a kind of thank you. That had a song and a few verses written, and a producer for Conan came across it and asked to use it for the show. They said sure. The music was changed to more well-known Jewish traditional song, and some lines referencing polygamy and the like were removed, and they got a mix of people to do the tap-dancing (one Jewish person who brought a big brown wig that they thought maked them look more Mormon). It was done as an honest gesture of gratitude in the spirit of Conan O'Brien's self-deprecating humor. The story is here.

[LifeOnaPlate]

Awesome, yo.

[Mordecai]

I thought this was hilarious and shared it with my family.

[mtomm]

Had no problem with it. Thought parts of it were funny.

[Freedom]

well I just watched it with my wife and kids and we all liked it. He said it like it is. He knows nothing about mormons but he sang a song anyways. I didn't see him as promiting stereotypes, he was more making fun of the stereotypes.

[LifeOnaPlate]

I didn't see him as promiting stereotypes, he was more making fun of the stereotypes.

Bingo!

[Bernard Gui]

Which brings me to the real thing I've been thinking about after seeing this skit....

When does parody, sarcasm, humor, step over the line to stereotyping and bigotry?

For example, The Vatican Rag written and sung by comedian/mathematician Tom Leher (Jewish American).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer

As all Leher's songs, the lyrics are clever and funny, and he shows a moderate understanding of Catholic theology

and history. Does it cross the line?

Another big news story of year concerned the ecumenical council in Rome, known as Vatican II. Among the things they did in an attempt to make the church more commercial was to introduce the vernacular into portions of the mass, to replace Latin, and to widen somewhat the range of music permissible in the liturgy, but I feel that if they really want to sell the product, in this secular age, what they ought to do is to redo some of the liturgical music in popular song forms. I have a modest example here. It's called The Vatican Rag.

First you get down on your knees,

Fiddle with your rosaries,

Bow your head with great respect,

And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Do whatever steps you want, if

You have cleared them with the Pontiff.

Everybody say his own

Kyrie eleison,

Doin' the Vatican Rag.

Get in line in that processional,

Step into that small confessional,

There, the guy who's got religion'll

Tell you if your sin's original.

If it is, try playin' it safer,

Drink the wine and chew the wafer,

Two, four, six, eight,

Time to transubstantiate!

So get down upon your knees,

Fiddle with your rosaries,

Bow your head with great respect,

And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Make a cross on your abdomen,

When in Rome do like a Roman,

Ave Maria,

Gee it's good to see ya,

Gettin' ecstatic an'

Sorta dramatic an'

Doin' the Vatican Rag!

Bernard