"Who's Johnny" is a dance-pop

Dance-pop

Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...

 hit recorded by El DeBarge

El DeBarge

Eldra Patrick "El" DeBarge is an American R&B/pop falsetto singer and was the focal point and lead singer of the family group DeBarge throughout the early to mid-1980s....

. Released in 1986 off the Gordy

Motown Records

Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...

 label, the single was used for the film Short Circuit

Short Circuit

Short Circuit is a 1986 comedy science fiction film starring Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg and directed by John Badham. Fisher Stevens, Austin Pendleton, and G. W...

and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 and number one on the Hot R&B Singles chart

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

.. It was the only solo #1 single DeBarge released after he left his surname-based family group in the same year.

"Weird Al" Yankovic

"Weird Al" Yankovic

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

 recorded a parody for his Polka Party!

Polka Party!

Polka Party! is the fourth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1986. The album is the third of Yankovic's to be produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer...

album called "Here's Johnny

Here's Johnny (song)

"Here's Johnny" is a song by parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of "Who's Johnny" by El DeBarge. It appeared on Yankovic's fourth studio album, Polka Party!...

" about The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....

announcer Ed McMahon

Ed McMahon

Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...

.

In 1990, German singer Adams Hambüger-Hatt released a German version of the song titled, Wer ist Johnny.

Music video

The video features El Debarge singing in a courtroom, where a judge is presiding over Number 5's trial, attended by Stephanie Speck and a NOVA security guard. They play a VHS tape, labeled "Short Circuit", containing various clips from the movie. Number 5 wreaks havoc in the courtroom (only his robotic hand is visible to the viewer) with his various hi-jinks, including giving the prosecuting attorney a pair of funny-nose glasses

Groucho glasses

Groucho glasses, often called funny glasses or beaglepuss, are a novelty disguise that caricature Groucho Marx. Typically consisting of black horn-rimmed glasses with attached eyebrows, large plastic nose, and bushy moustache, Groucho glasses were marketed as early as the 1940s. Groucho glasses...

, turning up the ceiling fan to create a windstorm of papers, and swapping the judge's normal gavel for an exploding one and calling the fire department, resulting in the judge being sprayed with water. Stephanie and El Debarge sneak out at the end, covering the camera with a slate on their way out. The prosecutor, still wearing the trick glasses, pops up to deliver the last "Who's Johnny?"