In Defense of Ska Ep 32: Ian Fidance (The Ska King of Comedy, Crank Yankers, The Last O.G.)

Why is it that most stand-up comedians pretend that they hate ska? We all know that they’re big nerds, so why don’t they relish in their dorkiness and not put on some big show that they’re cynical, sophisticated tastemakers too intelligent for ska! Oh well, at least not every comedian is this insecure. New York-based comedian Ian Fidance—the ska king of comedy—is an unabashed lover of ska music and he wants you to know all about it.

Fortunately for us in the ska community, Ian is out there, gigging every night all over the country. He also appears in and writes for several TV shows like Crank Yankers and The Last O.G. And whenever he gets a chance, he is trying to convince his fellow comedians and TV actors to give ska a chance. And occasionally, he is successful. 

On this episode of In Defense of Ska, we try to understand why the comedy world is so negative about ska. We also learn all about Ian’s old ska band and discuss why the music is so important to him. And he gives us the dirt on what Dave Attell and Nikki Glaser think about ska. 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.