Benny Grunch & the Bunch have been a New Orleans novelty fixture under that name since 1964 — the first incarnation, the Dirty Virgins, dates to 1961. Frontman Benny Grunch (the stage persona of Benny) started the Christmas tradition in 1990, when the band spent a night at Ultrasonic Studios with local personality Bobby Lombard and recorded four holiday songs as a cassette. It sold out immediately, and every year or two the band has added songs: the CD now runs to some 27 tracks, all parodies and originals stuffed with New Orleans in-jokes.
The hits read like a local dialect lesson: "The 12 Yats of Christmas," "Ain't Dere No More" (the Katrina-era anthem about a city that disappeared), and "Ain't No Place to Be on Mardi Gras Day." December is all Grunch — 27 gigs in December 2016 alone, in matching elf suits at Rock N Bowl and holiday shows across town. The band proper is bass, guitar, drums, and longtime singer Kathy Savoie, who joined in 1965.
Beyond Christmas the Bunch play year-round party gigs — French Quarter Fest's Jackson Square stage, the King Cake Kickoff, and a devoted circuit of regulars who come for the camaraderie as much as the songs. It's yat humor at its warmest: a band that treats New Orleans like one big inside joke everybody's in on.