Minimum Wage: Hamburgerology 101

Since their 1999 Mid Atlantic Harmony Sweeps win and being named Audience Favorite at the National Finals, Minimum Wage hasn't been content to flip burgers and offer to supersize our fries. The five a cappella singer-actors (added: Elena Meulener, who plays Piercy, the company's only burger girl) have won BackStage mag's Bistro award for Outstanding Musical Comedy Act, have had major TV appearances including The Fox Network, Comedy Central, and America's Funniest People (Grand Prize Winners). And, with the songwriting help of Rockapella's Sean Altman and the direction of Samrat Chakrabarti (Five o'clock Shadow/The Hyannis Sound) they produced a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway musical, named of course "Minimum Wage: Music, Mayhem & Hamburgerology 101." Some of the best material from the show is on this CD, the MW theme song is as sharp as ever, and the hilarious "Grill" is a literally hot "boy meets grill" doo-wop-flavored love song. The rousing "Balls," which sings of grabbing one's life by the, let's just say short hairs, is the funniest song on the CD; while the prize of their Sweeps performance, "The Last Cowboy Song," a whip-cracking lament about the annoying tendency of cowboy underwear to keep "riding up my rear," is happily included. The fascinating and never-ending "L'Histoire du Burgoire" and the manic "Connecticut," which seems to have been transplanted to South America, round out our list of favorites. 9 winners by one of the best laugh-out-loud comedy a cappella groups on the planet!