Sheldon Mashugana
Sheldon Mashugana brings Thanksgiving to life with “It’s Turkey Day,” a hilarious comedy song featuring Crystal Carr, a turkey chase, Dallas Cowboys football, and plenty of outrageous humor. In this interview, Sheldon discusses the inspiration behind the track, his creative chemistry with Crystal, his growing catalogue of holiday songs, and his plans for future music and comedy adventures.
1. “It’s Turkey Day” celebrates Thanksgiving through a hilarious story involving a turkey chase, a Dallas Cowboys game, and plenty of fart jokes. What inspired you to write a song about Thanksgiving Day itself, and how did the idea for this particular adventure come together?
Last year I was walking on Thanksgiving around the block and thought there was no real song about the actual day of Thanksgiving. So I wrote the song in 30 minutes in my head then I put it down on paper. My manager Chris Jones introduced me to Crystal Carr the singer, and she was delighted to work with me on the project. She helped me with the lyrics and with Justin Pierce and her computer, put together the music for it.
2. The track combines your comedic spoken-word performances with Crystal Carr’s upbeat melodic vocals. How did you and Crystal develop this combination of comedy and music, and what makes your creative chemistry work so well?
We are both easy to work with and she loves Sheldon. So, it was easy to figure out how we can make it a funny song for Thanksgiving. I decided to add The Dallas Cowboy’s to it, since it’s Americas team and they always play on Thanksgiving. But ultimately, we eat a lot of food on Thanksgiving, thus the poot and toot. LOL.
3. You’ve described Sheldon Mashugana as a character who brings happiness and laughter to a world full of problems. How important is comedy to your musical identity, and do you see your songs as another way to give audiences the same feel-good experience as your comedy films?
I never thought about singing a song with Sheldon. My wife Danette asked me to do it for Surfin Bird instead of doing it myself. So I experimented on other music and came up with Sheldon singing as another way to make people happy. My films will always be there and be funny to all.
4. “It’s Turkey Day” features doubled-up lyrics to create a distinctive sound, alongside your signature humorous interjections. What was the recording process like in Atlanta, followed by mixing at Justin Pierce Music in Dallas, and how did these techniques help bring the song’s personality to life?
Recording was easy, we went to the recording studio and Crystal went first with the song and doubled up gobal gobal. Then I came after it, to record something goofy. I had no idea what I was going to do until I starting doing it. Then in Dallas Justin Pierce finished the song with edits. I originally had it with a lot of really goofy things sprinkled all over it, however I decided it was over kill.
5. With “Monster Mash” recently released and your version of “Jingle Bells” scheduled for November 1, you’re building a catalogue of holiday-themed comedy songs. What attracts you to holiday music as a source of inspiration, and can we expect Sheldon Mashugana to turn more celebrations into musical comedy adventures?
I currently have 3 more songs for next year to do. I also have 3 movie scripts for Sheldon to shoot. But we do one thing at a time.
6. Beyond music, you’ve created 18 slapstick comedy films on YouTube and have upcoming television work in Santa Fe. How do you balance these different creative projects, and what would you most like audiences to discover about Sheldon Mashugana as your musical and entertainment career continues to grow?
Well, I’m not getting any younger, so as we pace ourselves with Hollywood studios loving this character, the sky is limit on Sheldon and what he will be doing. I schedule my films and songs as I go. I’m not in a hurry to do them. I just mark them down and do them one at a time. This is for songs and films. I would like to do some of these songs live on a talk show, or doing it at Macy’s parade in New York on Thanksgiving or even at cowboy stadium.