The Ones Behind The Songs: Meet ‘Tony from Lansing’

Hi Idiots.

Allow me to formally introduce you to someone you have heard daily for years but may not have realized. Someone who you hear every day before everyone's favorite game Dumber Than The Show. That's right, today we're meeting the man behind numerous DTTS intro songs like "Cowboy", "California Love", and "Beat It". Everyone, meet Tony R, or his alter ego Tony from Lansing. 

There were a couple of things I have always wondered about and that I assumed others would also be curious about. I had the pleasure of meeting Tony at our Grand Rapids Live Show this year and he was very kind to me. So without further ado, meet Tony.

Who are you?

Hello! I'm Tony R. from Lansing, MI. I have an associate's degree in audio/radio and a bachelor's degree in professional communication. I got an early interest in music listening and singing to the oldies my parents listened to, and then brought up to speed by my two older sisters. Music played a larger role as I found my way into playing drums with some friends in high school.

Why did you start making the songs?

Being a fan of Weird “Al” Yankovic as a kid, the idea of shifting established songs to a completely different meaning was a challenge I enjoyed. I was interested in radio as a career, and much to the benefit of everyone, my job didn’t turn out that way.

However, while I was in college taking radio courses and working at the college’s radio station, I used the Internet-only station to be creative, and it came out in parodies. Additionally, I wrote a parody for my girlfriend about a dog who just up and died, and put it to Boyz-II-Men’s “End of the Road.” She performed it in her speech class and won Best Parody.

My first entry for FBHW intros came in 2019 when I made the Gummi Bears intro, and since then, I've created nearly 100 intros. I'm still debating on what to do for the 100th entry, so if you have input, feel free to reach out.

What is the songwriting process like and how long does it take to make a song?

The process begins when I hear a phrase on the show, or notice some recurring element, so I attempt to build an intro around it. Usually, the phrase or element triggers a song in my head, which then leads to me writing it out based on the established lyrics.

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After the song is written, I’ll go find a backing track without vocals. Sometimes it’ll be on YouTube, other times will be through a pay-per-track service. On occasion, I’ll even record it from scratch at home if I can’t find a good backing track. Then the track is edited to fit the vocals and fit for time.

How long does it take? To quote the great Hot Wings, “It depends.” It depends on how quickly the synapses are firing, if the song lends itself to being parodied, if there’s a good backing track, and how my voice is holding up. But we’ll say on a good day, if all goes well, I could have a completed song over six hours. This is why @nophinsteve usually gets emails from me around midnight.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Inspiration comes from anywhere. I’ll be at work and a song pops into my head, or I’ll hear someone in a meeting utter a phrase that triggers a song because my mind is always either: A) looking for the joke in the situation, or B) connecting to a song. Inspiration has also come from FBHW fan offerings, and I may take up their offer to make their idea into a song (some are fully written, some are concepts)

If you'd like to learn more about what Tony does when he isn't making goofy songs for a radio show, he plays drums in two cover bands The Knock-Offs (60s-now pop & rock) and Moth Duster (90s acoustic pop & rock). He also has a podcast called "There Is A Better Podcast" available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Be on the lookout for an interview with another DTTS Intro legend very soon!