Tag Archives: palin

Behind the Scenes of Sarah Palin’s Mock-Disney Trailer: Ice Skater Mom as President

NewTeeVee author Liz Gannes took us behind the scenes to this highly produced and funny mock trailer for a Disney-like film staring Sarah Palin. CollegeHumor.com produced the trailer (see “Sarah Palin Disney Movie“) after being inspired by Matt Damon’s remarks about Palin (see excerpt of those quotes in “F’ing Sarah Palin” satire).  

What made this video special for me is that it stared the adorable Liz Cackowski, a former SNL writer who hosts “The Jeanie Tate Show.” You can enjoy the web-only show by subscribing to YouTube chanel “Head in the Oven.” Or watch them all via this YouTube playlist!

Readers Digest Saved Me from Video Drought

Readers Digest and I have had a long history together…

  • We’ve spent many hours together (often on the loo, but that may be TMI).
  • I used to explain that I subscribed to the mini magazine because I wanted to monitor the pharmaceutical advertising (it’s my day job… I gotta know who’s advertising). The truth is I like the jokes and cartoons. Forbes and Managed Care magazine don’t exactly wake me up.
  • One year my mother-in-law got me a subscription! That’s love.
  • When my grandmother was alive, I sent her a large-print subscription. Years later after she died, Reader’s Digest sent a letter with the following on the direct-mail solicitation: “Granny Hanemann… we miss you.” My mom thought it was cute, because she missed her mom too. Decades later I still have it.
  • I attended a meeting at my day job a few months ago, and met one of the smartest direct-mail data analysts I’ve seen. He was from Reader’s Digest, but resigned a couple weeks ago and went to a competitor. Bummer.
  • I once sent a “life in a day” kinda story to the editors about my wife meeting Harry Connick, Jr. You see, Jo was a big fan, and when I saw Harry (a classmate of mine at Jesuit) outside a New Orleans diner, I asked if he’d pose in a picture with Jo as a surprise. He politely refused, and Jo overheard that and was indignant. “I can’t believe that man wouldn’t take our picture,” she said. I told her to look more closely at the guy, and explained that I was trying to take her picture with Harry Connick, Jr. Anyway, the Reader’s Digest editors called me and verified the story, but never ran it as far as I know… I could’ve used the cash too.

Well you can imagine how excited I was last month when I heard they wanted a Nalts video. Great timing since I’m on video 700, and “running shy of ideas” (hah). Readers Digest online is packed full of stories that make for good parody. We shot a few extras that didn’t make this cut, but they were a bit corny and made the video drag. I dig when a client sees value in brevity.

So here’s the video. I’m glad we got it launched while Sarah Palin and her lipstick pitbull gags are still topical. Ultimately it seems people were less interested in me riding a child’s bike, being terrified by a turtle, and trying to put makeup on the neigbors’ pit bull… and more interested with my wife and her freakishly perfect teeth. 🙂

A big thanks to those of you who have already made “Out of Video Ideas” the top #6 rated comedy of the day and #39th of the week on YouTube! That really helps assure advertisers that they can brand and still create fun content! I tried something new by launching it at night (I usually post in the morning), and it’s encouraging to see 7,000 people watched it as I slept).

You Don’t Have to Be Tina Fey to Get on CNN as Sarah Palin

I’m just proving that you don’t have to be Tina Fey (or LisaNova) to appear on CNN impersonating Sarah Palin. Yeah that’s me in drag (see Sarah Palin Exposed, which is almost at a half-million views).

My parents are so proud.

I usually don’t know my clips are going to be used on television until after it happens, so thanks to those of you who let me know. I got a call from a former client who was in Germany and said he was pretty sure he saw me in drag on CNN. Mom says Biden has to be next.

WifeofShayCarl (Katilette) dominates Palin holding baby and gun, and it can be seen on SxePhil/ShayCarl combination channel: BamBamKaboosh. ShayCarl used to call me a lot, but then he started getting close with Sxephil and now I just sit by the phone and stare.

Sarah Palin is F’ing Matt Damon

What do you get when you mash Sarah Silverman’s “I’m F’ing Matt Damon” with this recent AP News clip of Matt Damon droning about Sarah Palin’s character?

This little video musica I’m calling “Sarah Palin is F’ing Matt Damon.” If you like it, it’s mine. If you were offended as a God-fearing Democrat or Republican, the video is ZackScott‘s.

I hope we can all agree — whether you agree with Matt or not — we’re a smart enough America to decide how to vote without the help of a movie star whose comments are less about the issues and more about Palin’s character. After all… this isn’t the 1930s. We can find Palin’s history with a simple Google search. Or there’s always the National Inquirer.

That’s what this video is about. It’s a parody of an actor making political commentary. It’s as nauseating as Internet wannabe weblebrities doing lousy impersonations of the poor Alaska Governer.

willvideoforfoodwillvideoforfood

We think this is safe because it’s news clips and parody, so it’s protected under “fair use.” But if some maniac photographer comes out and DCMAs this clip, then see it on Metacafe. Or Google the title with “Nalts” and you’ll find it on another video-sharing site.

Best Sarah Palin Parodies, Spoofs and Satires

spoofs of sarah palinI’ll admit. As much as I laughed at LisaNova’s recent parody of Sarah Palin (Republican John McCain’s vice-president running mate), I also beat myself up. My own Sarah Palin spoof was done in haste as we rushed to visit the inlaws for Labor Day. So that gave me time for just one take, and sloppy editing. And I was so focused on getting the Tootsie/Dustin Hoffman part right, I let myself slip into a Southern accent instead of the Minnesota accent I was trying for.

But I felt better in seeing that I was among 10 videos and online parodies identified by Telegraph (a UK paper) in this article.

If I cared more, I would have marketed my video to a few pro-Obama blogs and discussion groups, but it seems as if they’re already starting to find it on their own (see Democratic Underground).

Cameos Important to Promoting Content

nalts on retarded policemanSomeone once said that a new blogger stays on his/her own blog, while a seasoned one comments and reads others. The same is true for video — appearing on other people’s videos is as important as making your own. Especially if that creator is more popular, more talented (which is mostly the case for me), or gets featured.

I was poking around via TubeMogul and was pleased to see the episode of “Retarded Policeman” in which I appeared has a 4.79 rating (out of 5), making this YouTube’s top-rated comedy of the week (and among the top of the month). It was also featured in YouTube’s comedy section (thanks YouTube).

This rating is surprisingly higher than The Retarded Policeman’s debut episode, according to TubeMogul, and tied with the recent episode with Michael Buckley (WhatTheBuck). See full honors below in “more.”

I think this tells us that the initial 24-hour period is most vital because it’s when the majority of the comments come in- and mostly from loyalists so they’re positive. Over time, other people find the content and rate the video down (although comment/rate far less frequently). I saw this with Mall Pranks, which has a fairly low rating now that it’s been paraded around on other sites. I’ve often wondered if it would help to turn off comments after the first several hours, although I suspect that would be penalized since the honor/rating is probably a function of views x rating (with an emphasis on the latter).

So what’s this mean? The power of collaborations and cameoss can grow your audience. In the past few days I’ve gone from 96 on the “most subscribed” to 90th, and added several thousand new subscribers (up to nearly 52K). This is due in part to MediocreFilms, part to MrSafety for his cheesy boob shout out. And the appearance in Matt Koval’s  YouTube-homepage-featured video (YouTube in 1985) helped too.

I just shot two clips for collabs last evening. Me laughing and pointing for Spricket24 (I have no idea) and another short clip for Brett the Intern. Hey- forget my own videos. I just want to be like ShayCarl and pop up in everyone else’s like Michael Caine in 1970s movies.

Parenthetically, ratings don’t always translate to views. My recent video impersonating Sarah Palin is the top rated comedy of the day (TubeMogul says it’s a 4.62 rating), but received <20K views (I kinda thought the pro Obama folks would viralinate this one). Comments were mostly kind — except for those that assumed I’m a flaming liberal just because I wanted an excuse to dress up in drag.

Oh now I’m getting obsessed with stats again. I think I’ll go immerse myself back in Gustav coverage.

Continue reading Cameos Important to Promoting Content