Ookla the Mok is a filk band fronted by Rand Bellavia and Adam English (b. 1970). The two met as undergraduates while attending Houghton College in 1988, and the majority of their performances have been at science-fiction conventions or in their hometown of Buffalo, New York. The band is named after a character from the Ruby-Spears Productions cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian, created by Steve Gerber. They provided the theme song to Disney's Fillmore!, and scored the feature film, Bite Me, Fanboy! They have won four Pegasus Awards for excellence in filk music, and the 2014 Logan Award for Outstanding Original Comedy Song ("Mwahaha"). Ookla the Mok had the most requested song on Dr. Demento's syndicated radio show in both 2012 ("Tantric Yoda") and 2013 ("Mwahaha"). Two of their songs ("Stop Talking About Comic Books or I'll Kill You" and "F. People") have appeared on Dr. Demento CD compilations. On April 20, 2024 Rand Bellavia and Adam English were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame. Although Ookla the Mok has released many songs about more universal topics like relationships and lost love, they are best known for "filk" songs that cater to the interests of listeners at science fiction and comic book conventions, where the band makes the bulk of their public appearances. For example, their song "Arthur Curry" from Less Than Art pokes fun at Aquaman and the way his super-powers do not seem to compare favourably with the rest of the Super Friends. Another example is "Stop Talking About Comic Books Or I'll Kill You" from Super Secret. "Song of Kong" from Smell No Evil takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the relationship between King Kong and Godzilla. "W.W.S.D.?" from oh okay LA asks its listeners to ask themselves "What would Scooby do?". "Mr. W" from the same album paints a nightmare scenario of Mr. Worf being in command of Star Trek's starship Enterprise. "Spot The Cat" from Dave Lennon sets to music a poem originally read by Star Trek's Data (written by Clay Dale). Tribute songs about celebrities Gary Coleman, Michael Jackson, Cher, and Sting also appear on oh okay LA. A song in the 2013 album vs. Evil is dedicated to the Marvel Comics character Kang the Conqueror.
This is one silly hell of an album. That doesn't mean I didn't like it though. Filk is a genre I never even heard of, but I think it has a new fan!
Filk? Alright we're just making up genres at this point. Quite possibly the geekiest thing I've ever heard in my life. So geeky that it makes TMBG sound like death metal. I see the appeal, but it's not something I'd ever listen to on my own.
Someone has defo put this on as a joke!