“I’m watching Axis of Awesome and it is AWESOME with an A+”, tweeted Hollywood comedic actor Ashton Kutcher to his 10.8 million followers 2 years ago.

From crowds as small as just 7 executives from 20th Century Fox in Hollywood to 500 teenagers in Amsterdam, the 3 Aussies who form Axis of Awesome have managed to deliver their brand of catchy music with an amazing sense of humour, for the last 6 years. People in Singapore got to find out what the fuss was all about at TAB, on May 18 and 19, as part of The Axis of Awesome World Tour, which began in 2006.

Frontman Jordan Raskopoulos, keyboardist Benny Davis, and guitarist Lee Naimo have played at some pretty weird places. “We’ve performed in the middle of the Sinai Desert to several hundred troops from Australia, Columbia, Fiji and Canada,” the threesome proudly described their bravest endeavors to UrbanWire.

The “fabled ruby” they found in the Amazon that “grants … [them] the power of comedy at any time,” must have really worked in making them the self-described ‘most tolerated musical comedy trio’ in Australia, and apparently in Singapore too.

The “4 Chords Song” is easily one of the band’s best loved numbers.

It makes sense that the more often a joke is told, the less funny it gets. Yet it seems The Axis of Awesome is immune to this rule. Their songs, complete with humour subtly intertwined into their lyrics, as expected, didn’t fail to throw the audience off guard the moment they heard the punch line, even if for the umpteenth time!

From their crooning of “This could be about anyone, but it’s for you … non-specific girl,” to “The Holy Ghost is a ghost – and he haunts churches at night,” Even the viral “4 Chords Song” they performed had the crowd of 50 over jumping with excitement. Santiago Barona, 34, a member of the audience who had watched the guys for a whopping 4 times, described it as “always … [being] the show’s best part!

How do Jordan and Benny manage not to laugh at their own funny lyrics?

Jordan stares at Lee before asking him “what the f*** was that?” as he sings a line that makes no sense, “Like catching a rat and releasing a dove.”

No comedy band is complete without funny antics, and the ‘awesomest’ of them all, is no different. Benny, who we later, halfway through the concert, learn is Jewish, gave a war cry in fluent German halfway through singing, “The Language of Love”. Lee, an avid Hannah Montana fan who loves her wigs most of all, was no less comical – he took off his own headpiece on stage, which apparently no one knew was a fake! “Best $4 I’ve ever spent! And Jordan, thanks for your back hair,” he later declared. Jordan, the man who fears a robot invasion more than not being funny, he told UrbanWire,  got so into the mood that he ripped his shirt open in the middle of a song, getting inviting cheers and shouts from onlookers.

 

You don’t need hot pecs to get the crowd wild. Jordan revealed a broad chest with brown baby curls during the show.

Of course, no Axis of Awesome show is complete without their trademark jokes (mean as they may be), about Benny’s short stature. “We were all playing miniature golf one day, which, to Benny, is just golf,” a line from Jordan, seems relatively mild compared to words that follow. After his German war cry, Lee gave the disclaimer that “It’s okay for Benny to scream because he’s 1/16 Jewish,” to which the “half-Jewish” Benny protested.

The trio was incredibly cool with being poked fun of [nope, poor Benny wasn’t the butt of all the jokes, but he had to be the center of all the laughter]. Jordan went on, “But he’s 1/8 of a man!” UrbanWire couldn’t resist and even took a shot at the height jokes, and asked Benny if he could ride a roller coaster with a height requirement of 1.65 metres. We got our answer later when Jordan sang, “Benny’s still too short to go to Disneyland!” Of course the magnanimous Benny had a wide and hearty smile plastered on the whole time. “Just a free tip, the punchier the line, the funnier ridiculing my height becomes!”

The only criticism they’ve ever received about their show was that they “have some un-sexy dance moves… Benny Davis dances like an infant at a wedding,” Jordan claimed during the show. It hasn’t stopped them from taking on, albeit badly, genres such as disco, hard rock, death metal and even dub step, with awkwardly choreographed, unsynchronized moves for certain parts of their song playing in the background, a breath of fresh air next to the over-rehearsed and slick steps of many professional singers out there.

“There is definitely no genre the Axis won’t do, so long as “it serves the jokes,” apart from “traditional Irish music” perhaps. “Yuck!” Perhaps that’s why comedy “will never be as cool as serious music, [since] comedy is a form that a lot of the time relies on not being cool to be funny,” chimes the boyish keyboardist aptly. Still fans like Santiago dare to hope for even more! “I’m sure they can totally destroy country music,” he shared.

 

Jordan and Benny bringing the house down as they catch the heat to their rap - “Can You Hear The F***in’ Music Comin’ Outta My Car”

 

Lee's about to play the song he’d waited all evening to do, "Ode to KFC".

Photos Courtesy of A.J.Azmi.

 

Who knows if they’d be planking at home or “drinking too much cough medicine”, if the men weren’t in the Axis today, our aching sides are blessed that they are.