25 years of honoring the ‘Losers’

This band’s greatest hits were all written and made famous by someone else, but no one has played them better over the past 25 years.

Starting Dec. 6, The Loser’s Lounge — a New York institution — will mark a quartercentury of imitating musicians they “love” when they perform six shows over two nights at Joe’s Pub. The silver anniversary extravaganza will celebrate the music of songwriter Paul Williams.

“He fits the bill in so many ways — he’s written great songs for the Carpenters, Three Dogs Night, TV soundtracks,” Joe McGinty said. “The average person might now know he is like an Abba or David Bowie, but that’s part of what the show is about.”

McGinty formed the Loser’s Lounge in 1993, shortly after leaving new wave band the Psychedelic Furs, for whom he played keyboards.

Since then, the Loser’s Lounge has been joined onstage by singers and actors including Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Ronnie Spector, Cyndi Lauper, Parker Posey and Fred Armisen in tributes to artist like Barbra Streisand, Tom Petty, Prince and Stevie Wonder.

In some cases, the celebs in the audience came up unannounced to perform.

“(Harry) did a Burt Bacharach song with us pretty early on, that was around 1995, I want to say,” he recalled. “Parker Posey got on stage with us once . ... It’s not something you can expect to see, but it’s always a nice little surprise.”

This is the second time the Loser’s Lounge has honored Williams, who came to the show in 2001, which McGinty called “a great honor and a real thrill.”

Williams is probably best known for the love song “Evergreen” from the 1976 film “A Star is Born.” That hit earned the 78-year-old songwriter an Academy Award and a Grammy.

Though McGinty is a big fan of Williams’, he confessed he prefers the new Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper remake of “A Star is Born” to the 42-year old Streisand and Kris Kristofferson version.