GREENSBORO — When reading Lil’ Mikey Roohan’s bio on his MySpace page, it’s hard to not appreciate his honesty.
“Lil’ Mikey Roohan sounds just like Dave Matthews — he is very unoriginal. If it’s popular … he copies it. He has no soul, no heart, no passion. He’s in it for the money, the beer and the girls.”
It is this same sense of brazen, self- deprecating humor that laces many of his zany comedy songs as both a comedian and singer-songwriter. It’s also what gave him an honorary comic throne on the Howard Stern show, where fans know him as “Little Mikey” — a raunchy, lust-laden-song-parody man, whose graphically funny songs are played almost daily on the program and typically involve Stern’s news anchor, Robin Quivers. Most have titles unfit for print.
In 2007, the Stern show offered a contest, inviting its audience to send in their best parodies. Roohan submitted a song and made it to the final round, which led to future opportunities on the show.
“It started out as a way to get on the air because they play a Robin song every day before the news. ... I might have been in love with her at one time, but now all my love is for my girlfriend,” Roohan says.
Originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., Roohan moved to Michigan when he was 4 (“I couldn’t afford to live (in Brooklyn) by myself!”). At 18, when his parents divorced, he and his mother moved to North Carolina.
“My mom was like, 'I’m going somewhere warm.’ And I said, 'All right, I’ll probably join you,’ ” he says. “I like the patience people have down here. ... If a stoplight turns green, you can (sit) for four minutes before someone honks their horn. In New York, it’s like a millisecond later.”
He began writing both earnest and comical songs in 1990 and eventually began playing publicly. But he soon came to a realization about his song-writing style.
“The first song I ever wrote was a comedy tune called 'I Wanna Be Your Bar of Soap.’ After that, I wrote a lot of serious songs in the vein of Poison and Motley Crüe,” he says. “But, I noticed that audiences weren’t responding to my serious songs, so I would have to play funny songs.”
Recently, he has been in the process of trying to make a personal appearance on Stern’s radio show near the end of February, and he is also planning to travel to Charlotte on Feb. 3 to show off his comedic musical wares at the “America’s Got Talent” auditions (on which Stern was recently announced as a judge).
“I’m going to hook up a drum set to my feet and play a bass drum and a snare drum. Kind of like that idea that (local Greensboro musician) Adam Thorn stole from me,” he says with a laugh, adding, “I’m just kidding! Make sure you type in the laughter, so he knows it’s a joke.”
Roohan also has many other irons in the fire, including playing in the local folk/country band Lil P (The Painted Skulls) and a pop-music performance at the Bowery Ballroom in New York with Stern show writer Benjy Bronk. Even with this seemingly relentless schedule, he still nurtures a love and appreciation for the simplest aspects of his musical comedy vehicle.
“As long as I entertain, that’s my goal. I’m not satisfied until you’re entertained,” he says. “I wouldn’t say it’s my full time job. … I’m also trying to start a business where I write songs for strippers, … (and) I’m still looking for a part-time job in radio or a kitchen.”
Contact David Locklear at lockdown10@gmail.com
