Henry Phillips didn’t always want to be a comedian. He started out in show biz as a serious singer/songwriter. However, to get people to pay attention in the coffeehouses and other small venues, he would drop in silly lyrics. “I’ve been writing melodies since I was 8 years old and didn’t have any content for them,” he says. “So, when I started doing comedy songs I said I’ll just take these songs that I don’t have any lyrics for and put them in there.”
Musically inspired by everyone from The Who to Death Cab for Cutie, Phillips carefully chooses the genres for his satire. “It’s easier to do with music that takes itself very seriously,” he says, “because then you get an irony.” The biggest challenge is keeping the songs funny throughout. While Phillips doesn’t parody existing songs, he does admire the master of that form. “Weird Al (Yankovic) does it the best, I think. It’s amazing,” he says. “(His parodies are) just as funny at the end as (they are) at the beginning, which is the hardest thing to pull off. As a comedy songwriter once you set up the joke, you have to ask where do you go from there?” Henry Phillips performs at Go Bananas in Montgomery, Thursday-Sunday. Showtime is 8 p.m. with additional 10:30 shows Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $8-$12.
