Summary: In the early 1960's, a then-little-known TV producer who worked with Harpo Marx skyrocketed to fame with his song parodies. Thanks to parodies of popular tunes like "Frère Jacques" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," Allan Sherman strongly resonated with American culture at the time, and particularly among Jewish Americans. And although Sherman found fans in Frank Sinatra and John F. Kennedy, he unfortunately found himself away from the spotlight due to his voracious appetite for women, alcohol, and food. In his new book Overweight Sensation: The Life And Comedy Of Allan Sherman, writer Mark Cohen chronicles Sherman's swift rise and fall. Interview Highlights Mark Cohen, on who Allan Sherman was and why he's important: Allan Sherman appeared on the pop music scene as one of the unlikeliest stars we'd had in a long time. In 1962, he released his first album which was called My Son the Folksinger. That was during the folk music revival that was very popular in the late '50s and early '60s. Sherman parodied the American folk song. The essence of the parody was that in the place of the great heroes of the songs, whether it was a western song like "The Streets of Laredo", or the nursery rhyme Frère Jacques, or the great "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Sherman took these songs and inserted the lives of the people he grew up with, who were first generation American Jews. It turned out to be an unexpected and enormous hit. On Allan Sherman being the first of his kind: There was definitely signs that this was coming. Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner had produced their first 2000 Year Old Man album in 1960, and even a second one the following year. They were critically praised but did not do well commercially. Jackie Mason was an up-and-coming comedian, he was already on Ed Sullivan and doing well. But the kind of response that Allan Sherman got to singing songs like "Sarah Jackman" which was the great radio hit of his first album, that was really something new. On the title of the biography: He used his weight in his own comedy, so I didn't feel bad about creating a title like that. One of his greatest songs is "Hail To Thee, Fat Person" where he wrote about some of his own travails with weight. He was a man of completely unregulated appetite for: food, very unorthodox sexual engagements, liquor. He smoked. He really was not trying to live a very long life. He wasn't a moderate individual in any way. So the pun occurred to me of "overweight sensation" and "overnight sensation." I think it's fair and funny and hopefully appropriate to the subject in that way. On Sherman's lasting influence: Well the most obvious answer is, of course, "Weird Al" Yankovic, whose made a career out of song parodies. He's been very open of claiming Sherman as an antecedent. More interestingly, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Jason Alexander -- that whole Seinfeld gang. Rick Moranis, the comic actor from Ghostbusters. Paul Reiser, the comedian who had the hit show Mad About You. All of these people can be found on the internet or in journalism talking about Sherman and their enjoyment of Sherman. Larry David was invited to be a guest of honor at a Boston Pops concert. He chose to sing "Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max" by Allan Sherman. When I speak with people of certain generations, the person they refer to as one of their great comic early loves is Allan Sherman.
