Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine

Richard Cheese
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine performing live in 2011
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Lounge, comedy, retro swing
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Coverage Records, Surfdog, Oglio
Website	richardcheese.com
Members	Richard Cheese (Mark Jonathan Davis) Bobby Ricotta (Noel Melanio) Frank Feta (Brian Fishler) Billy Bleu (Ron Belcher)
Past members	David Adler Christopher Monaco Louis Allen Todd LeValley Chuck Byler Jeff Novack Michael Bordelon

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine is a cover band and comedy act, performing popular songs in a lounge/swing style, reminiscent of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Tony Bennett. Lounge singer Richard Cheese is a character created and portrayed by Los Angeles-based actor/comedian Mark Jonathan Davis.

Davis developed the Richard Cheese lounge singer idea in the mid-1990s while working as a producer at KROQ in Los Angeles. Davis portrayed a character named "Paul The 55-Year-Old Intern" on the Kevin & Bean morning show, and Paul recorded a single called "Paul On 45," which was a humorous medley of KROQ songs arranged in a swing / big band style.

Davis pitched this idea as an album concept, and the band's debut album Richard Cheese: Lounge Against the Machine ("Featuring 16 Swingin' Covers Of Alternative Standards") was released in 2000 by Oglio Records. Since 2000, Davis's Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine band has subsequently released twenty albums.

Cheese's second and third albums Tuxicity and I'd Like a Virgin were independently released in 2002 and 2004 by Cheese's own label, Ideatown Entertainment (later renamed to Coverage Records).

From 2004-2006, Surfdog Records released three new Richard Cheese CDs: Aperitif for Destruction, The Sunny Side of the Moon: The Best of Richard Cheese, and Silent Nightclub. Surfdog also re-released Tuxicity and I'd Like A Virgin on their label in 2006.

Beginning in 2007, Cheese returned to releasing his own albums through his independent Coverage Records label, about one each year: Dick at Nite, Viva La Vodka: Richard Cheese Live, OK Bartender, A Lounge Supreme, Live At The Royal Wedding and its companion behind-the-scenes album The Royal Baby Album, Back In Black Tie, and a Christmas album, Cocktails With Santa.