Interview: Kyle Gordon
If you’ve recently found yourself pining for Weird Al Yankovic, The Lonely Island, and/or Adam Sandler’s classic, song-heavy comedy albums from the 1990s, you’re in luck: Kyle Gordon is returning to Asheville to scratch your music-parody itch. The New York City-based comedian will play The Grey Eagle on Friday, April 18, in support of his new album, Kyle Gordon Is Wonderful, released two weeks ago.
The 31-year-old has been satirizing music genres and doing impressions on social media for several years. But it was his 2023 video for “Planet of the Bass,” a Real McCoy-esque spoof of the strange Eurodance wave that briefly took the U.S. by storm in the mid-’90s, that truly put him on the map.
Though it may not have realized it, the universe was just waiting to be charmed by his character DJ Crazy Times, an oversexed and overenthusiastic European sporting heavily cargo-pocketed black pants, a half-inch-thick gold chain, and an accent from some former Soviet satellite. (Sample lyric: “Sex, I’m wanting more / Tell the world, stop the war!”). As catchy as it is hilarious, “Planet of the Bass” rode Instagram’s algorithm to the very top before breaking through to the mainstream and earning Gordon/DJ Crazy Times coverage in NPR, Variety, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and GQ, which dubbed it “the unlikely song of the summer.” It even landed Gordon a cameo on the Simpsons.
By then he’d already been signed by BMG, but the label no doubt appreciated his viral success in the leadup to his debut album release, Kyle Gordon is Great, the following March. Kyle Gordon Is Wonderful, also released by BMG, is his second effort.
Gordon’s pitch-perfect parodies span an impressively wide range of genres, including but not limited to Irish drinking songs, ’70s bossa nova, grime, emo, ’50s rock’n’roll, Americana, Ja Rule-style R&B/hip-hop, and, most recently, nu metal. Every video he creates features a made-up character (such as DJ Crazy Times) who embodies Gordon’s appreciation for and mockery of each genre he tackles, turned up to 11 (to reference another classic of the music parody canon).
Dedication to the smallest details is a hallmark of each production. In the video for “Crawl to Me,” the character Mikey Pyro, lead singer of the fictional but highly plausible nu-metal band Stool Sample, sports a backwards fitted New Era baseball cap, Jason-mask-emblazoned T-shirt vest, and black wrist straps. Additionally, many of the scenes are shot through a fisheye lens, the genre’s cinematic signature. The song’s music alternates between turntable scratches and pedal-effect-soaked power chords as Mikey angrily growl-demands, a la Korn singer Jonathan Davis, the listener “crawwwwwwl toooo mayyyyyyyyyyyy.”
On the softer side, there’s also his character Kody Redwing, of Kody Redwing and the Broken Hearts, a satire of the overly affirming, banjo-infused folk rock so omnipresent in the mid-2010s. (The internet has helpfully dubbed this genre “stomp clap hey!” music.) “We Will Never Die” combines the musicianship of The Lumineers, Of Monsters and Men, and the like with the lyrical depth of fun., resulting in an uplifting anthem that makes you want to sprint to your nearest smashburger joint while rocking your Warby Parker tortoiseshells (which, for the record, this humble writer also owns). The press release for the song proudly declares “We Will Never Die” to be “well suited to play over a commercial for a Ford Fusion or ring out in the aisles of your local Kohl’s.” (Though if the popularity of Noah Kahan and his peers is any indication, this genre will likewise never die anytime soon.)
Ahead of his upcoming show at The Grey Eagle, Asheville Stages recently caught up with Gordon to discuss his songwriting process, his next target for parodying, and whether world peace is truly possible.
Photo by Mia Aguirre
Adam Rosen: How involved are you in the actual music production of each song? I assume you have some sort of musical background.
Kyle Gordon: So, for the first album I had written almost all those songs many years ago and had been playing them at live comedy shows around Brooklyn. “Planet of the Bass” was really the only song on that album that I wrote specifically for the album. On this new record, I was less beholden to testing the material live in front of live comedy audiences, so I was freer to focus more on the songwriting and, therefore, write songs that were not guitar based.
It varies song to song, but generally I'll write the song with the chords, melody, and lyrics, and then I'll take it to my good friend Brooks Allison to help arrange a better-produced demo version. He is an incredible collaborator because he not only is a talented musician, but he's also a super hilarious comedian and writer (and currently a staff writer on The Tonight Show). Then I take that demo version to my producer Jamie Siegel who is the one who truly brings the songs to life. He helps me so much with doing the production, but also with arrangement and mixing. He is the reason the songs sound as incredible and polished as they do.
AR: Are there any genres that you’ve stayed away from because they seem too hard to parody?
KG: Absolutely. When I choose a genre to parody, I feel they need to have two elements: clearly identifiable sonic tropes and clearly identifiable lyrical tropes. So, there are many genres that have the former, but if they don't have the latter, then there isn't really much room for comedy. There are definitely a few that come to mind, but I don't want to name them because maybe if I dig a bit deeper, I'll be able to find something worth exploring.
AR: From [bossa nova lothario] Antonio Frankfurt to [British grime artist] Albie Wobble to DJ Crazy Times, your characters feel completely, delightfully random. How do you decide what genre you’re going to take on?
KG: I've always been pretty obsessive about pop music, so a lot of the music is stuff that I've explored or nerded out about in the past. In particular, genre as a concept has always interested me. Back in college, I used to have a radio show where I'd play a different theme or genre every week. And, by the way, one show I did was themed around UK Garage/2-Step, which is where I first discovered much of the music that would inspire “Selekta” [the Albie Wobble track].
AR: Do you ever accidentally mix up your characters? For example, has DJ Crazy Times or Kody Redwing ever shown up while filming a video for a different character’s song?
KG: Well, luckily, most of them are pretty distinct, so I don't have that problem too often. But I will say it's been really fun doing the Albie Wobble London accent, so sometimes I'll just keep speaking in that voice for longer than I should because I just really like doing it.
AR: Who’s your favorite character?
KG: I know it may seem like a cop-out, but I don't really have a single favorite character. I'm usually drawn to whatever the most recent characters I'm doing or writing are because those are the ones that are most fun at the moment. So, to give you an answer, right now I'm really enjoying Mikey Pyro from Stool Sample — my Y2K nu-metal/rap-rock character.
AR: Why do you think “Planet of the Bass” blew up so big? Is it because of ’90s nostalgia or something else?
KG: I think there were a number of factors. ’90s nostalgia absolutely contributed. I think the song was really poppy and catchy, and the absurdity of the lyrics were funny and compelling. The butchered English really makes people do a double take and pay attention.
AR: What made you think to yourself one day, “What the world needs is a ’90s Eurodance parody”?
KG: Why not? Often people will comment on my videos, "Who asked for this?" I love that. The fact that no one asked for it makes me more excited to make it.
AR: Have any artists in the genres you’ve parodied or their fans gotten mad at you?
KG: No, not really. It's been super awesome to see my music embraced by the fans of the genre I'm parodying. The clearest example was my pop-punk/emo parody. That community was so cool and totally got what I was going for.
AR: Why do you prefer musical comedy over standup and other forms of comedy?
KG: I view my own musical comedy as an extension of my character work. Each song really starts with a character. If I don't have a character I can build a song around, I don't really pursue it. I love playing characters, and I think I'm my funniest and most comfortable performing when I can be someone else. I don't really gravitate toward standup because I don't think I'm as compelling of a performer when I'm being myself.
AR: What were you doing for work before you became a full-time comedian?
KG: I had many many jobs. I was a bartender, a line cook, an assistant, customer service rep — the list goes on.
AR: What genres can your fans look forward to you parodying in the future?
KG: Klezmer.
AR: Of all your characters, which one is most similar to the real Kyle Gordon?
KG: The dumb ones.
AR: Lastly, in these troubled times, is world peace still possible?
KG: As long as I'm still around, world peace is always possible. And I will never die, so there's no need to worry.
IF YOU GO
Who: Kyle Gordon
When: Friday, April 18, 7 p.m.
Where: Grey Eagle Music Hall, 185 Clingman Ave., thegreyeagle.com
Tickets: $31.83-$42.13
(Photo by Mia Aguirre)
