History Main / BarbershopQuartetsAreFunny

* ''Theatre/TheMusicMan'': Upon recognizing the natural timbres of their voices are perfect for it, Harold Hill organizes the four members of the River City School Board into a barbershop quartet. Although the Board is meant to be collecting Hill's (non-existent) credentials, he manages to distract them by [[ThatRemindsMeOfASong mentioning a song]] that will cause them to burst into four-part harmony.

* ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'': After a two-year legal battle with coal magnate Bob Murray, John Oliver launches into a 1930's song and dance number including a barbershop quartet of seven-foot squirrels. Accusing a man of being a furry who has sex with squirrels? Strange. Having seven-foot squirrels do it in a barbershop quartet complete with period accurate costumes? Hilarious!

* A great deal of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbershop_Harmony_Society the Barbershop Harmony Society]] (''the'' biggest organization for barbershop singers, quartets or otherwise) are humourous and parodic in nature, such as a [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mjcIpSSk30E look at "Hello! Ma Baby"]] through the years.[[/folder]]

* A great deal of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbershop_Harmony_Society the Barbershop Harmony Society (''the'' biggest organization for barbershop singers, quartets or otherwise) are humourous and parodic in nature, such as a [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mjcIpSSk30E look at "Hello! Ma Baby"]] through the years.[[/folder]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barbershop_quartet2.png]]]]
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A Barbershop Quartet is a four-person (traditionally all-male) band which sing ACappella in four part harmony. Like most music they can be and often do get used for something other than their musical merits. Oftentimes, Barbershop quartets are used for comedic effect or as a way to deliver insults that may be too crude or outrageous to be said normally but somehow becomes much more acceptable when sung by a Barbershop Quartet.

[[quoteright:314:[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barbershop_quartet_2.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:314:Hilarity incoming!]]

* A great deal of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbershop_Harmony_Society the Barbershop Harmony Society (''the'' biggest organization for barbershop singers, quartets or otherwise) are humourous and parodic in nature, such as a [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mjcIpSSk30E look at "Hello! Ma Baby"]] through the years.[[/folder]

* A great deal of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbershop_Harmony_Society the Barbershop Harmony Society (''the'' biggest organization for barbershop singers, quartets or otherwise) are humourous and parodic in nature.

* ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap'': [[DefiedTrope Defied]] when David said that he didn't like how their singing at Music/ElvisPresley's grave sounds like "[[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] barbershop, [[GenreMashup barbershop]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raga raga]]." They just can't sing "Heartbreak Hotel" that well.

A Barbershop Quartet is a four-person (traditionally all-male) band which sing ACappella in four part harmony. Like most music they can and often get used for something other than their musical merits. Oftentimes, Barbershop quartets are used for comedic effect or as a way to deliver insults that may be too crude or outrageous to be said normally but somehow becomes much more acceptable when sung by a Barbershop Quartet.

Compare to GratuitousMariachiBand, another musical group that is often used for comedy.

* ''Theatre/TheMusicMan'': Harold Hill organizes the four members of the River City School Board into a barbershop quartet that bursts into four-part harmony at the slightest excuse.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': One episode has the prehistoric counterparts of [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Squidward encounter fire for the first time. In a parody of the "Dawn of Man" sequence from ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', the prehistoric [=SpongeBob=] very slowly realizes the potential usefulness of the fire as the OminousLatinChanting of "Lux Aeterna" by Gyorgy Ligeti plays - but the ominousness turns comedic when we see that the choral piece is being sung by a live-action barbershop quartet.

* In the episode "[=DeeDee=] be Deep" of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', [=DeeDee=] annoys Dexter by practicing her singing for a singing competition extremely loudly and very badly. Dexter gets her to let him use a machine on her to make her voice less annoying, but she messes with the controls causing her voice to become extremely deep, so deep in fact that she destroys things when she sings. At first she's sad because she doesn't win the singing competition but then she ends up joining a barbershop quartet.

** Another episode had them show up to sing about a vasectomy.

* ''Film/TheHauntedMansion'': The singing busts are a barbershop quartet of {{Living Statue}}s who repeat the words other people say as a song or go off on tangents from there, making any attempt at a sensible conversation with them impossible. They were portrayed by Disneyland's own barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans.

* ''Film/TheMuppets'': One of the skits the Muppets do for their telethon is a barbershop quartet rendition of [[Music/{{Nirvana}} "Smells Like Teen Spirit"]], including Beaker who hums his "meeps". Inexplicably it ends with them shrinking Creator/JackBlack's head with a hot towel.

* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkFpTEppQm8 [=DirecTV=] commercial]] features NFL star Peyton Manning (who has [=DirecTV=]) and his "really high-voiced" clone (who has cable). While the real Peyton is watching NFL games on his phone app in the comfort of the team bus, his high-voiced counterpart is singing "Camptown Races" in a school music room with his barbershop quartet, the Four Tunesmen.