Outside of his plays, Iconis often hosts cabaret events where his Production Posse, who are known as "Iconis and Family," sings some of his original songs. The "family" also produces a yearly Christmas show at 54 Below, "The Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza," where they perform sketches and sing holiday songs.
Joe Iconis's works include:
- The Black Suits
- The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks
- Things To Ruin: The Songs of Joe Iconis
- Bloodsong Of Love
- Be More Chill
- Love in Hate Nation
- Broadway Bounty Hunter
- Punk Rock Girl
- Album
Tropes in Joe Iconis's works:
- Author Appeal:
- He is a big fan of B Movies, which inspire the tone of several of his productions, such as Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and Punk Rock Girl.
- His works often incorporate old school rock and roll and other retro elements.
- The Blank: The titular character of "The Actress" literally "belts her face off" in her audition, which turns out to be beneficial to her career. Her lack of facial features serves as a metaphor for how people want her to lose her identity in becoming an acclaimed performer.
- Blatant Lies: "The Song" is a Break Up Song in which the singer's now-ex-girlfriend implores him to not write a song about her. He promises, but given that the song exists (and the fact he immediately asks if she'd be mad if he wrote a nice song about her), it's clear he didn't mean it, and she can tell right away.
- Bungled Suicide: The bridge of "Try Again" has the disgruntled artist jump off their building, only to fall safely onto a fire escape they didn't realize was there. The chorus then alters the song's "if you don't succeed, try again" chorus by insisting that this is one case where you should not try again.
- Camp: His musicals are deliberately unsubtle and often very silly in tone, with over-the-top costuming and dancing and lots of hammy performances.
- Cats Are Snarkers: The cat in "Party Hat" is incredibly unamused with his owner dressing him up and dancing with him, and spends most of the song complaining about her in a deadpan tone.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Most of his works includes at least one character, usually the Plucky Comic Relief, who's very spacey and has odd interests and ideas.
- Disco Dan: The singer of "Yesterdays / I Can't Relate" enjoys old records and other fads from decades ago, which prevents him from relating to his more modern peers who find that strange.
- Do Androids Dream?: The robot singer of "Flesh and Bone" yearns to be human so he can feel real emotions. After the bridge, he begins rusting in the rain as his battery dies, and the amount of fear he feels gives him newfound pride in his self, as it means he is capable of feeling and living in his own way.
- Driven to Suicide: "Broadway, Here I Come!" is about a wannabe Broadway performer jumping off the ledge of a building and falling onto Broadway (as in, the literal street) as a metaphor for the trials of trying to succeed in the theater industry.
- Fan Music:
- "Helen Sharp" is based on the titular character of Death Becomes Her, exploring the story's themes of jealousy and the competitive nature of being an artist.
- "Lydia's Song" is sung from the perspective of Lydia from Beetlejuice.
- "The Nurse and the Addict" is based on Misery, sung from Paul Sheldon's perspective as a Love Martyr.
- "Norman" is inspired by Norman Bates from Psycho.
- "Haddonfield (15 Years Later)" is based on Halloween (1978), as told from the perspective of the Shape himself, Michael Myers.
- Friendly Skeleton: The titular character of "My Best Friend's a Skeleton," who pals around with the human singer, cracking skeleton puns and almost never fighting.
- Homemade Inventions: The robot singer of "Flesh and Bone" is cobbled together from junkyard scrap, with a tea kettle head and a thimble eye.
- Ignored Aesop: In "Old Flame," after the singer shoots the man whose house she broke into while trying to kill her ex-lover, she cites another Oprah quote: "When you can't let go of the past, that's when the innocent get hurt." However, she doesn't think this lesson applies to her — "I'm not living in the past. It's the past that lives in me."
- Insecure Love Interest: "Lisa" has the singer list his faults while acing bewildered that his titular love interest still likes him so much, and doubting that she's not just lying about it all.I try and I try to change myself
But my backs against a wall
And I don't deserve all the coolness of her
I don't deserve Lisa at all - Introverted Cat Person: "Party Hat" is about a young woman who doesn't have many friends or go outside much, and instead entertains herself by dancing around with her cat.
- Literal Metaphor: In "The Actress," the eponymous character "belts her face off" in her audition... as in, her face literally falls off.
- Loser Protagonist: The lead characters in most of his stories tend to be very socially awkward and pathetic. This also extends to his music, such as the singer of "Jeff," a depressed pervert who spies on a "naked Koreannote girl" and then humiliates himself by approaching her at her door.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Iconis has several songs about struggling artists, particularly songwriters, many of which come across as semi-autobiographical. Some examples are "Try Again," "The Song," "Album," and "All The Mistakes That He Made About The Girl."
- Nerds Are Sexy: "Nerd Love" is about a cool guy named Jason flirting with a nerdy girl named Katrina by complimenting her bad skin, health problems, and geeky interests, as apparently all of that turns him on."Nothing gets me off like nerd girls
Baby, baby, baby, I just gotta admit
Sure, Daphne had the tits and the hair
But that don’t compare to Velma’s acerbic wit." - Nerdy Inhaler: In Joe Iconis's song "Nerd Love", one of the things that gets the singer (who has a fetish for nerdy girls) hot is when the girl uses her inhaler."Nothin's quite as rad as asthma, baby, come on!"
- Never My Fault: The singer of "Old Flame" gives no apology for breaking into a stranger's house trying to kill her ex-lover, claiming "self-defense" when she shoots the man for grabbing her and then blaming said ex-lover for the whole ordeal by making her so upset in the first place.
- Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Invoked in The Black Suits song "Blue Hair." Lisa dyes her hair blue to piss off her boyfriend Chris and make herself look cooler to his friend John. She confesses near the end of the song that she doesn't feel very cool, but she'd like her hair to be.
- Pet Dress-Up: "Party Hat" is about a lonely young woman putting the titular hat on her cat and throwing a pretend party with him in her apartment. The cat isn't thrilled about this, but agrees out of pity and respect for all she does for him.
- Sand In My Eyes: The singer of "Albuquerque Anyway" from Things To Ruin insists, "Nah, I’m not crying it’s just my dust allergy" to his friend who's moving away.
- Stepford Smiler: "Ammonia" is about a housewife tolerating an abusive husband and troubled daughter by huffing ammonia while they're out of the house. After an afternoon of naked existential panicking in her kitchen, she puts the bottle away and puts herself together when her husband and daughter get home, asking about their day and insisting hers was fine.
- Trans Tribulations: Downplayed in "Him Today, Gone Together," about a trans woman in the process of transitioning. While most of the song celebrates this journey, the singer still expresses fear and uncertainty about leaving her "male" identity behind.
- T-Word Euphemism: In "Nerd Love," Katrina insists that liking Twilight does not make her "the N-word"... as in, "nerdy."
- Woman Scorned: "Old Flame," written for Betty Buckley, is about an older woman who still holds a grudge against her ex-lover after all these decades and plans to finally kill him.
