NOTE: You will receive the Zoom link one week, and again 1-2 days, before the class. We also keep an eye out for late registrants. Please contact olli@sfsu.edu with any questions.

Screenwriter David Misch (“Mork and Mindy,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” “Funny: The Book”) presents a multimedia course which explores the world of musical satire in a variety of genres, cultures and eras, especially America since 1950. We’ll cover Horace and Juvenal, opera (the first comic opera was written by a pope – Clement IX, if you’re keeping score), “Yankee Doodle,” slave satire, Gilbert & Sullivan, the Gershwins, the Beatles, Randy Newman, Monty Python, Spinal Tap, “Saturday Night Live,” “Spamalot” and “South Park.” 

No background in music is necessary; in fact, because satire is often dependent on social and historical events, this course is as much cultural history as musicology. As Tom Lehrer, the musical Crown King of caustic cultural commentary, said: “If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worthwhile.” 

This class contains satire of contemporary issues, including adult material. 

This class meets two times for 1.5 hours each.