7 Sitcom Theme Songs Sung By Their Stars That Aren’t ‘Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs’
Despite the popularity of his iconic opening number on Frasier, Kelsey Grammer isn’t the only sitcom superstar who can play himself on or off at the top or bottom of every episode. Others have heard the blues a’callin, and we’ve got them pegged.
“Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs” isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but even the song’s detractors can’t deny that the ditty is ingrained in the brains of every sitcom-watcher who ever wandered across NBC on a Tuesday night in the 1990s. The theme song of Frasier is as synonymous with the show itself as the titular role is with Grammer’s career, and over 30 years after he first recorded the crooning closing number, he’s still singing it on Paramount+ — and, for some reason, on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Throughout TV comedy history, many other stars have sung their own theme songs with varying degrees of brainworminess. Here are a small handful of such sitcom tunes…
The Brady Bunch Sang ‘The Brady Bunch Theme Song’
Few sitcom intros are as iconic as the opening of The Brady Bunch, in which the boys and girls of TV’s most beloved blended family all sing in unison while their floating heads stare at each other with their signature glazed-over expressions on that nine-space grid.
Judi Dench Sang the Theme Song for ‘A Fine Romance ’
The bigger fun fact here for sitcom fans who didn’t happen to grow up in the U.K. during the 1980s is that Dame Judith Olivia Dench did four seasons of a sitcom about an introverted, middle-aged couple in middle-U.K. with her actual husband, the late Michael Williams, playing her on-screen hubby.
The Muppets Opened ‘The Muppet Show’ With A Song-and-Dance
The stars of The Muppet Show didn’t just sing their own theme song — they also danced their own theme song, introduced their own theme song and played in the orchestra for their own theme song during what must have been the puppeteers’ most arduous day of filming.
Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton Did A Duet on ‘All in the Family ’
Back in the 1970s, all a sitcom needed to do to get the show started was sit the leading couple down at an out-of-tune piano and have them belt a Gilbert and Sullivan-esque showtune over some B-roll of Queens. Those were the days…
Waylon Jennings Sang ‘Good Ol’ Boys’ on ‘The Dukes of Hazzard ’
One may argue that The Balladeer on The Dukes of Hazzard doesn’t count as a star of the show, but when that narrator is none other than outlaw country legend Waylon Jennings, one would be wrong. “Good Ol’ Boys” was just one of 16 songs Jennings wrote that reached No. 1 on the country music charts.
Basically Every Disney Channel Star on Every Disney Channel Show
Hannah Montana is the apotheosis of Disney’s strategy to double-dip on TV and music stars by simultaneously marketing their teens and tweens in both mediums, but in the 2000s, they tried this with every single stage kid in their stable. Only a few managed to twerk their way out of The Mouse’s claws.
The Fresh Prince Rapped for ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’
Will Smith the rapper was tailor-made to transition into Will Smith the sitcom star while staying on the beat. His lyrics were as clean as his looks, and his hooks were fresher than anything we’ve heard from a sitcom theme song before or since. Shout out to DJ Jazzy Jeff for co-writing the iconic song without ever getting half the recognition he ever deserved.
