About the Band
When the band first formed in the cellar of McPhilbob’s parents’ home, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. They believed that nothing happens by chance and that God had given them a soapbox for a reason to impact the lives of people around the world. Above all, their ultimate goal was to glorify God in everything that they do. They believed that they are the greatest band of all time because they represent the greatest of all time, Jesus Christ.
Memom & the Punk Monkeys is the greatest band of all time. McPhilbob is the founder and lead vocals, Billie Jim Titus on drums, Jeremy Philip Smith on electric guitar, Wee Willy Willerson on bass guitar, Fando on background vocals and acoustic guitar.
MPM was founded in 1901 by the original McPhilbob.
Every generation, a child of each band member is named as a successor to carry on the band legacy.
Each band member must join the band at 18 and remain in the band until they are 42.
The original band members were born in 1883. The life expectancy for a man born in 1883 was 42.
The band members switched in 1925, 1949, 1973, 1997, and 2021.
The Real Story of Memom & The Punk Monkeys
Memom & The Punk Monkeys is all about family. Every family has inside jokes and idiosyncrasies. When you spend so much time together with a group of people it is bound to happen. Someone says something that is humorous without trying, and it sticks with you. In adversity, a funny saying might help us cope with the reality of what is happening. Perhaps our family is filled with people that see life a little differently than others. Some families view sarcasm as their favorite hobby. Or, let’s face it, our family is filled with a bunch of clowns. Whatever might be your particular case, you know what I’m talking about. We’ve got family jokes.
Small Beginnings
My wife and I have a very similar sense of humor; goofy with a good helping of sarcasm and wit and enough intelligence to know we’re dumb. You put two people together like that and things happen. You get phrases like “Splendiferous Bootiferous” and my wife calling everyone with “pants” on their name (e.g. Daveypants). It started before we began dating and continues to this day with no ending in sight. Along the way, we’ve picked up six victims…I mean children…that not only blessed our lives in so many ways but added to the source material for our humor.
Nickname Everyone!
Along life’s journey, I stumbled upon a TV show one night as I was at work called “Lost”. In the show, there is a character who almost never calls anyone by their real name. He has nicknames for all of them. Some are sarcastic and mean but others were descriptive like “Doc” or “Freckles”. The humor of it really fit with what came naturally to myself and my wife (e.g. Carynpants). Thus began our descent into nicknaming our children.
Watch it, Punk!
Somewhere along the line, I started jokingly telling my kids, “Don’t be punks,” as any kid who grew up in the 80’s knew you shouldn’t be. I also called my kids “little monkeys” as many other parents do as well. One day, in some inspired moment the two joined together. “Hey you little punk monkeys, let’s get to work on cleaning the house.” (I did not find out until later that this is a name of a British band. No relation.)
Who is Memom?
My children like to speak fast, much like their mother. Sometimes phrases or whole sentences can be condensed down into, what seems to the untrained ear, a single word. I noticed that several of my children had picked up a grammatically incorrect word mashup, “Memom”. I realize that some of your grandmothers might be called Memom, and that’s cool. But that is not what they were saying. They would say, “Memom going to the store.” “Memom watched TV.” I began asking them jokingly, “Whose Memom?” every time they said it. Of course, knowing my speed talking children, I knew what they were saying. “Me and Mom are” or “Me and Mom were” is what they were communicating in their shorthand speed talking way.
The Greatest Band of All Time
One day as the kids and I were joking around, somehow “Memom” and “punk monkeys” came together and we thought, “That would be a funny name for a band.” And so, our family band came into being. Over time we would make jokes about the band and what some album names or songs could be. Then the joke became, “we should make a Facebook page.” We made the Facebook page. Then we joked about how we should make a website. We made the website. Then we joked that we should make merch to sell. We made the merch. And so, you have the birth of what is now the completely fictional band Memom & The Punk Monkeys. A family joke that took on a life of its own.