Star Kid is a musical theater troupe started out of the University of Michigan. They uploaded a musical parodying Harry Potter in 2009, that was only intended to be seen by the immediate families of the members of the students as they were graduating.
They soon joined a class that includes Peter Hollens, Studio C, Brizzy Voices (which I've interviewed), Postmodern Jukebox, Kurt Hugo Schneider, Kaboom Production, Scary Pockets, Barely Productions, and Max Frosh (I'm probably missing dozens) of creators who win the YouTube algorithm lottery but step up to the task by managing to be inventive and fresh to deserve audience loyalty for years.
They've managed to finance many more musicals, sketch shows, and web series at this point and have been going for some 15 years and counting at this point.
I'm going to count down my 21 favorite moments from my Team Stsarkid Experiencee, and hopefully, it will spark some debate. I also have a background in sketch writing, so I bring some of that analysis to it.
21. Christmas Electricity, VHS Christmas.
Jamie Lynn Batty’s out-of-left-field take on the ghost of Christmas past that I’m guessing is inspired by Olivia Newton-John’s music video Physical (?) takes the silver for commitment to the premise, but Christmas Electricity is the best thing about this show. James Tolbert looks like he's having the time of his life in the Christmas Present. Besides, it's kind of a given that if you have a catchy chorus, and you repeat it over and over again, it will get stuck in your head. It’s infectious enough that you could even see Scrooge crack a smile in-universe (which he does!), and bonus points, that moves the plot forward as well.
20. Lost Without You, Trail to Oregon
How debatable is it that Jamie Lynn Beatty is the best pure singer in the company? I haven’t really had any interaction with the rest of the fandom, and I am not the worlds' foremost expert on assessing vocal talents, but it seems like JLB is trying out for American Idol every time she flexes her vocal chords. If you wanted an older reference, you could see her as the Ruby Keeler character in 42nd Street, where the theater manager 1930s-style frantically tells her before going on that she’s got to succeed because the whole company right is riding on her. If JLB, had one song to save her life on, it feels like this one (although please debate me!). Other than a little bit of very clever fourth wall breaking (Cletus and the Bandit King want to sing their own musical number in the back?! Haha), it’s an entirely straight song that doesn’t add to the humor of the show. But comedic musicals need to change the rate of funny, so this works really well.
19. Nintendo, Airport for Birds
This is a case of humor often working, because it keys into hyper- specific) to our experiences. We probably never even voice it out loud to our own selves but yes, we did choose our friends as children based on who had cool toys. I know, I sure did, as my parents didn't buy the newest video game systems or ninja turtle collectibles as fast as other kids' parents. The humor of this moment is that sort of “yes, that’s totally me!” catharsis although it is heightened to comedy extremes. Unless you’ve actually had a date to Burger King, then God help you. This also has further fourth-wall breaking (a trademark of Starkid) that works wonderfully when Meredith can hear Brian singing. It's also great to see further group numbers in the sketch shows. I'm unclear as to the degree to how well everyone (say, the more sketch-focused members, or the dancers) can sing solos, but they're all clearly capable of not detracting from a group number vocally, so it's a good way to show off group harmony.
18. Alfred and Bruce’s dysfunctional relationship, Holy Musical Batman
The idea of Bruce Wayne being a stunted child has been notably done before (most notably in a collaboration between College Humor and Pete Holmes a decade ago), so it loses some points for familiar territory, but comedy is about a way in which we all can relate to, like the Nintendo example. I’m sure it's struck everyone that that the two have kind of a codependent relationship. I don’t know, would Adam West have really have been able to have his costume ironed or his Batmobile in such pristine condition without Alfred doing the grunt work?
Chris Allen nails down the Michael Caine impression which helps make the skewed elements of this parody so effective. Holey Musical Batman doesn’t entirely work for me because of the tonal whiplash. I get it because Batman itself has gone through so many degrees between the pitch-black 2022 pitch and the ultra-camp of the 1960s, and comedy can be mine from those contrasts. This was sent one such case where the warmth of the Alfred Batman relationship was punctured by these “F you” shouting matches, that broke up the mood. However, it was funny as hell.
17. The Bandit King’s Brazenness Around his Child Bride, Trail to Oregon
I can think of few funnier lines from the entirety of everything I’ve watched than “It’s not what it looks like, I was just trying to have sexual relations with your daughter.”
The bandit king’s warped view of love is simply hilarious and manages to walk the fine line of what TV Tropes refers to as crossing the line twice. It’s so absurdly offensive. It just goes back to being funny again.
There are also world-building elements to this as it shows he has a warped view of love. He doesn’t acknowledge his existing lover, he clearly has no handle on how to speak to a woman, and hilariously calls her “child bride.” There’s so much to unpack with this guy.
That it leads to Rachel Slogan’s show-stopping mama bear monologue is just icing on the cake.
16. High school is Killing Me musical number, Nerdy Prudes Must Die
It’s certainly darker than I would expect high school melodrama to be if you pay attention to the lyrics but then again, this is supposed to be a series that does genre shift towards horror midway through each installment. What stands out about this to me is that it really feels like Broadway level choreography and vocal arranging. The way that a plot is actively moving to a certain level of dialogue and the characters of Stephanie, Peter, and Grace are jumping back-and-forth between the Greek chorus is extremely impressive. It also sets the stage for a sweet, although marginally lopsided romance between the school nerd and the school rebel. Just don’t get any false expectations, nerds, but doing your crush’s homework will get you anywhere with her.
15. Bank robbery in an extremely loud space, Airport for Birds
In the sketch, a been customer wants to get a new credit card and the noise becomes so gradually overwhelming and that a robber comes in, takes the customer hostage, gets chased down by police, and no one in the bank even notices. Physical comedy isn’t always about tripping over banana, peels or throwing pies at each other’s faces. Sometimes, it’s the small things like a slow acceleration in intensity does the four bank tellers manage to pull off, while chaos emerges around them. Meanwhile, the sketch’s lead actor (sorry, I can’t ID him, he’s the balding one who’s not Joe Walker) appears to have suffered some serious trauma which some might also call Crossing the Line Twice humor.
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