2024 Jurors
Fan Jurors
Austin Roelofs
Austin Roelofs (he/him) was born and raised in Los Banos (“The Bathrooms”), California, where he developed an ear for harmonic accompaniment and an affinity for the off-kilter (and parentheticals). In his formative years he was a collaborator with this award’s namesake in multiple media (e.g., music, movies, cookies) (i.e. they spent countless hours making delightful things), but he stands on his own bona fides: he is a professional rock star (i.e., a geologist) and makes it a priority to explore, appreciate, and create silly, silly music (is there another kind?).
Lukas Café
Lukas Café (he/they) aka ThatLuckyPanda is a transmasculine musician/artist and has been an avid fan of comedy music ever since he could recognize music by name (which, to be modest, was quite early on). Lukas is most notably active in the Ninja Sex Party fandom, covering many an NSP song and cosplaying many a Ninja Brian over the past year. His YouTube channel is home to most of his original music and comedy covers, as well as his more popular fan edits of Game Grumps’ 10 Minute Power Hour, recently passing the milestone of 3,000 subscribers.
Lukas’ aforementioned affinity for music extends beyond their quickly-learned skills and abilities, striving to ultimately showcase their joy through editing videos, covering songs and sometimes just shouting it from the rooftops (albeit unfavorable to their neighbors). Fully independent, Lukas records, produces, and edits everything he does with his guitar, a smartphone, a pair of earbuds and the occasional adrenaline rush. There is no stopping Lukas from doing what he loves… except for a part-time job and a damn good nap.
Lily Hirsch
Lily Hirsch (she/her) is a writer, musicologist, and book reviews editor for the Journal of Musicological Research. She is the author of Weird Al: Seriously (Rowman & Littlefield in 2020; expanded in 2022), with a foreword by Dr. Demento; and Taking Funny Music Seriously (University of Indiana Press, 2024). Sometimes, she also tries to be funny—in Slackjaw, Belladonna, and Frazzled.
Musician Jurors
Carrie Dahlby
Carrie Dahlby (she/her) has been appearing in comedy songs for almost 2 decades, and has been creating her own comedy music almost as long. She is known for being the first woman to appear on The FuMP, and for appearing in the songs of many other FuMP artists. She has been nominated for a Logan Award on 2 occasions, and emceed the awards ceremony twice. She is honored to be a juror for the 2nd time (2 is her lucky number, as you may have guessed). You can find her music at her Bandcamp page.
Il Neige
Garrett “Il Neige” Snook (he/him) is an LA based songwriter, best known for his viral parody hit “Look At This Pokesnap.” His parodies and originals walk the line between silly and sincere, covering topics ranging from Nintendo, to the Meme-ification of Christmas, to…okay, so it’s mostly Nintendo, with influences including Green Day, Weezer, and whichever Ska Band is playing in Anaheim tonight. His most recent project is “Rock That Pokemon,” an ongoing series that attempts to immortalize all 1000+ of the little buggers through song. You can find him on YouTube or wherever you stream music.
Gail Gallagher
Gail Gallagher (she/her) is a singer-songwriter, producer, composer, improv music director, and music educator. She is also a lifelong comedy music fan. Gail has worked as a music director in the Chicago sketch and improv scene for over a decade and she’s excited to bring that experience into being a juror. As a singer songwriter, Gail creates “genre bending musical theater folk rock” that blends whimsy and wisdom. Her comedy songs include “The Dog Song” and “Actual Human.” In 2020 she released her first album, Power of the Unnamed Passion. You can find out more about her work at www.gailgallaghermusic.com
Permanent Juror
Dr. Demento
Dr. Demento (he/him) is the on-air name of Barret Hansen, the longtime host of The Dr. Demento Show, a syndicated radio show in the U.S. that features novelty and comedy records. Hansen studied music at Reed College in Portland, Oregon and at the University of California at Los Angeles. He first used the Dr. Demento moniker in 1970, in his early days as a Los Angeles disc jockey. By 1974 he was nationally syndicated, playing rare novelty songs from the past and present, from Spike Jones and Tom Lehrer to Frank Zappa and Weird Al Yankovic. Hansen is also an avid record collector and expert on the history of recording who has produced several compilations, mostly for Rhino Records. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. (from Infoplease.com)
The Dr. Demento Show is radio’s weekly two-hour festival of “mad music and crazy comedy” available for streaming on the internet. It is a free-wheeling, unpredictable mix of music and comedy. Along with legends like Spike Jones, Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Monty Python, and Frank Zappa, the Doctor plays new funny songs sent in by amateur and professional singers and comedians. (from Dr. Demento.com)
Chairperson
Ian Bonds (Insane Ian)
Insane Ian (he/him) is an active member of the comedy musician collective known as The Funny Music Project (aka The FuMP) as both a performer and fan of comedy music.
As a comedy musician, II loves video games. He plays them, he reviews them, he collects them, he even writes comedy songs about video games (among other nerdy subjects). Just one look at Ian’s Bandcamp page makes it obvious that Insane Ian is a comedy music juggernaut that cannot be stopped. Very recently, Ian hit a milestone in his career a long time in coming, as he had the #1 most requested song of 2015 on “The Dr. Demento Show”, the name-mangling Brit-tribute, “Benedict Cumberbatch”, sitting firmly atop the Doctor’s year-end Funny 25. With a sharp wit, sarcastic smirk, and a bit of self-deprecation, he’ll bring his unique sound to anyone who won’t tell him to shut up…and even a few that will.
As a comedy music fan, Ian is the admin of the official Dr Demento fan group on Facebook, as well as running all the press things for the FuMP. Double I has been nominated for several Logan Awards over the years but has yet to win one, which has earned him the nickname “Rap Game Susan Lucci”. Ian is now the permanent chairperson of the awards.
