Tag Archives: spoof

Online Video

Matt Laeur Joins Snuggie Cult

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Snuggie Cult!

GetSnuggie sells blankets you wear, so you stay warm but have your hands free. And they look like creepy cult robes.

So here’s, perhaps, my favorite video of 2009… The Snuggie Cult.

Even more ironically, Matt Laeur on the Today Show just said the following words to tease the segment: “Coming up next. A look at the Snuggie sensation. Why is it gaining a cult-like following?”

Peter Coffin, sir, if they don’t play your footage on this segment, shame on NBC. And to you, dear Today Show interns… don’t forget that YouTube is your ultimate contemporary b-roll source!

Online Video

Friday’s Lesson: Fake Puking Offends More Than Fake Blood

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It’s a parodox, but it’s one of those things we learn about humankind thanks to the “hot spot” insight tool available on YouTube. You see, now we know when people exit our videos relative to the norm of videos of that same lenght. The chart below shows that the “Videogame Violence & Your Children” parody was rather healthy. Until a certain part of the video when there was a fairly steep dropoff.

nalts pukes

  • Was it the blood?
  • Dora the Explorer’s arm getting shot off?
  • The Mario head?
  • The traffic accident in Frogger?

No folks. It was the oatmeal puke that did it. Let that be a lesson to you. Fake blood. No worries. Fake vomit? They’re gone. Or maybe it’s the difference between animation and video?

 

Online Video

The Golden Girls Election 2008 Parody Video

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What if each of the Golden Girls was played by one of the candidates. It’s worth exploring that through this hysterical video (found via Barely-Political.com’s blog, which called it the “funniest political video ever”).

See these sweet little old ladies with real audio overdubs by McCain, Bush, Clinton, Palin and Obama.


 

 

Online Video

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

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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!

book, Online Video

The Economic Recession Commuter Show (episode one)

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Yesterday my wife and I were finalizing our information for a financial counselor who will tell us that we’re too deep in debt, not saving enough, and have precious little buffer. So naturally I found myself humming this intro tune all morning. I shot half of this on the way in, and then wrote a little more at lunch and shot the rest on the way home.

I probably should have dumped a lot of it, and made it one show. But I grew too attached to parts that (in retrospect) are a bit slow. So now I have a few more minutes of footage for a sequel tomorrow… I think it will be better because Nalts gets more and more desperate. Trying to give blood, stealing from his courier packages, and driving off without paying for gas.

This video goes in the “it’s funny because it’s true” file. But at least I’m listening to the self-help audio tapes you hear throughout this video. Can you guess which ones they are?

Here’s episode 2.

P.S. I didn’t really get laid off yet! Why does everyone think that’s real?

Online Video

Best Sarah Palin Parodies, Spoofs and Satires

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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).

Online Video

Parodies of Annoying YouTubers

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Thanks to yesterday’s comments section (marquisdejolie) I’ve discovered YouTubeicide. It was going to allow it to be a quiet guilty pleasure since it’s somewhat macabre. But this parody of Michael Buckley (Whatthebuckshow) was simply too good to pass on.

Screw Retarded Policeman. I won’t feel like I’ve “made it” until these guys rip me a new hole.

Speaking of hole, I went to a friend’s mom’s funeral the other weekend. As I kneeled to pay respect to her, people noticed the 3-inch hole in my pants bottom. I’m talking about an L shaped rip that you could put a Rubick’s cube through.

Come to think of it, maybe that yellow square wasn’t corn in the toilet.

Making Videos, Viral Video

Help Make a Parody of Gina BMW Video: Cloth Skin is “Context Over Dogma”

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I haven’t seen a video so begging for satire in ages. It’s a BMW promotion for GINA — a new cloth-like exterior for cars. Who needs pesky, antiquated metal structure on their cars? Metal is so Neandorthal, dude. The first Terminator was big and clunky, but the next ones got smooth and sexy. Metal only gets in the way of fluid movements. Slow patient rivers can tear through mountains.

GINA is about flexibility, says the spokesman who was carefully selected to represent that bearded guy you used to work with… you know, the one that read Walden Pond and attend Corcoron exhibits on the weekends while you rode naked on a moped with your friends? “It’s about context not dogma,” he says. You know, I’m not even sure he said that but it’s quotable.

Let’s brainstorm a parody, okay? I’ll play the the bearded guy and wax philosophically about absolutely nothing to do with the car.

  • B-roll may include my car covered in a white sheet or newspaper.
  • The perplexed glances of people in public parking lots will be the most essential dynamic.
  • Maybe we see my kids making Gina with a glue gun and some of those press-on gem things from the 1970s. What were they called?
  • Clearly the new technology begs the question about safety, but the parody glides by the issue. It makes you almost feel stupid for wondering how screwed you’d be to crash a car wearing GINA. It’s too easy to show someone impailed by a guard rail. There has to be a subtly to the accident- like we’re not sure it even happened.

I’ll point back to this post when I’m done the video, so you can get credit for your contributions. But let’s be clear I aint sharing the YouTube revenue. That’s going to pay for the white sheet. 

P.S. BIG thanks to Jan for getting the new WordPress working on this blog! I was totally overwhelmed by the 235 steps required.

 

advertising, book, Nalts, Online Video, Video Advertising, Video Business, YouTube

The Best of Cats on Skateboards (YouTube Advertising)

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It’s the biggest myth of online-video advertising. If a brand advertises on YouTube it will appear with consumer-generated media that includes such content as cats on skateboarders. TVweek’s “New Media Minute,” hosted by Daisy Whitney, featured a recent interview with YouTube’s Jordan Hoffner to set the record straight (via WebVideoReport).

cats on skateboards on youtubeNaturally I couldn’t resist a parody that includes Hoffner’s “that never happens” quote in a montage of nostalgic ads mixed with cat’s skateboarding. Here’s hoping Hoffner can laugh at the parody. I’m a YouTube Partner (paid content creator), but I didn’t monetize this puppy, Jordan.

advertising, book, Making Videos, Online Video, Video Advertising, Viral Video, YouTube

Apple MacBook Air is Obsessed With Thin

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Apple MacBook Air commercial parodyLast night I got an e-mail from Mac that showcased the new Apple MacBook Air. The product is interesting and the spot was simple with a contagious song called New Soul by Yael Naim. Although I was already well into my nightly Ambien, I felt I couldn’t pass on a quick parody. About 19 minutes later, I uploaded “Apple MacBook Air Thin Obsession,” which parodies the ad.

My work HP computer (I wouldn’t treat my own so poorly) is watching the ad, and goes on a binge & purge diet. Fortunately my wife had taped a recent episode of Oprah which featured a tearful discussion about weight loss, which lent itself well to the portrayal of sadness the HP feels watching the new models. The parody culminates with my HP bent over the toilet, vomiting its optical drive.

I didn’t monetize the clip on YouTube, because it contains the original song and clips from Oprah. But it’s topical and seems to be well received, although clearly not “PC.” It’s currently the fourth highest rated comedy of the day on YouTube (which usually doesn’t happen within 8 hours), and we’ll see if it viralinates or gets pulled…

I suppose the lesson here is that what this clip lacks in polished production in editing it perhaps makes up for in topicality, quirkiness, and speed. Given that it took less than 20 minutes to conceive, shoot, edit and upload. It shows that there are other variables to viral that are more important… Like making fun of a society obsessed with beauty and thin, and capitalizing on what I’m sure will be a fairly intense media blitz by Apple.