In Defense of Ska Ep 77: Jon Daly (Those Who Can't, Kroll Show, Bob's Burgers, Big Mouth, Family Guy)

Recently, comedian Jon Daly noticed there was a cruise line with some 90s ska bands as its entertainment. It got him thinking...what if ska came back, and it was from a ska cruise. This silly thought inspired him to write the song, "Bring Back Ska," which is featured on his new musical comedy album, Ding Dong Delicious. 

This isn't Jon's only run-in with ska. He also played Skaat, the lead singer of Skaffirmative Action, on the TV show Those Who Can't. His band is played by members of The Aquabats, and Jon crams as many ska puns into every one of his scenes as is humanly possible. So with all of this in mind, we invited Jon on the show to talk about ska. 

Jon, it turns out, doesn't have an encyclopedia knowledge of the genre, though he "knows enough about ska to make fun of it." We have a good time discussing Skankin' Pickle, Operation Ivy, Sublime, No Doubt, Fishbone, Hepcat, The Specials, Madness and Buck-O-Nine. But we also talk about lots of non-ska artists, including Kenny G, Billy Joel, Man Man, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Led Zeppelin. 

During the conversation, we also talk about why Captain hats are creepy, how the movie Swingers impacted people's perception of ska, Sublime conspiracy theories, which band is the most Nu-Metal, his arch-nemesis John Daly--the golfer, and which band needs to record a ska song NOW. (Hint: It's Shannon and the Clams) 

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.