Are "real" commercials allowed?
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Stavro Arrgolus:
We have quite a lot of fake commercials in the archive and they get used on shows to break up song sets every now and again.
The rules for them are slightly different, but not much. This goes back to that whole 'comedy vs. novelty' thing again. A song can be either, but it has to be reasonably obvious that a fake commercial is meant as a joke because listeners hate commercials or anything that interrupts their entertainment - so yes, they have to be funny or at least obvious that they're fake.
SNL has lots of good fake commercials - 'Colon Blow' & that sort of thing. They count. And they don't have to be parodies. Often, the best ones are entirely original.
If it would surprise the listener on one of our shows & get a laugh, then it's all good.