Tag Archives: satire

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Best Parody of Oscar Trailers: Meet BritAnick

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This is so clever, and well executed. It’s a spoof of every moment of every trailer you’ve seen for Oscar-Award-Winning movie trailers. But it’s self aware. Thanks to George from YouTube for including it in his e-mail footer.

Folks it’s content like this that makes the viewer in me very excited, and the creator hope that my 15 minutes aren’t completely done.

BritAnick (pronounced to rhyme with Titanic) are not new to YouTube (see channel), and are Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, and they met in Atlanta and have a manager. But to be clear, they’re at this moment far, far less popular than me on YouTube. Okay?

The reality is that I like to see people like this zoom past me. It’s not great for my ego, but it’s inevitable and deserving. Let the shakedown continue. Or as one YouTube employee says, “the popularity race is representing a marathon, where the distance between the popularity grows as the race continues.”

Did I mention I’m a sprinter at best?

And, yo, Brian or Nick… ready for a collab so you’ll remember me when you get to the top? What? You haven’t heard of a collab’s ability to propel your popularity on YouTube? Oh you should read this crap.

Online Video

Google Goes Funny With YouTube Upload: Pigs Fly, Hell Freezes Over

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When I saw a YouTube house ad for “how to upload a video,” I had written a scathing blog review (in my head at least) before the video even loaded. Then I was in for a surprise.

It was funny, edgy, self depricating, and informative. I’m unable to criticize it. It basically taught people how to upload without insulting their intelligence: an almost impossible creative assignment given the simplicity of the upload task. More importantly, the video armed itself for the inevitable scathing comments (“hey dipshit, if they can’t figure out how to upload, you can probably assume they’ve got no useful video to share”), by having some fun with the concept.

Might I suggest the creators of this raise their hand for a round of applause? Comment below. Go ahead- we’re proud of you and would like to give you a gold sticker.

Now we’ll need a book to accompany this. “Idiot’s Guide for Upoading YouTube Videos” (a companion guide for how to refresh a browser screen, or double click a mouse).

Online Video

Auto-Tune The News (Favorite Video of the Year)

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This absolutely is my favorite video of 2009. I’ve watched it at least 25 times, and my family is going crazy. Meet “Auto-Tune the News,” and this recent clip: “Murdered with a Spoon.” (Lot of details about the creators below).

Isn’t it just so perfectly imperfect!? Do you walk away singing the intro melody over and over? Do you just savor the 7 seconds of ambiance before the beat? The singing is practically perfect (that’s the Gregory Brothers, who can be found on YouTube’s Schmoyoho‘s channel or via Barely Political). The Bronx-based gang uses autotune to create singing news anchors, and then lays down beautiful beats and vocals to accompany them. Visit their websites and you’ll find a cool and fresh sound that’s not what you’d expect from the voices behind the clips.

The clips are quirky and repetitive, and the musicians are plopped into the news clip with a wonderfully amateur use of green screen. I hope they NEVER lose that touch: the glowing green hues, the chopped graphics, the deliciously low-budget glory. But don’t assume production was rushed. Little treats are hidden for faithful viewers… the Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, the recurring “shawty” references, the weathered monkey suit (passed from the Gregory brothers grandfather), funny titles, and Katie Couric’s regular cameos. Best of all, the hands that appear awkwardly in front of the victims… featuring cowbells. Honestly- I want to bear hug the brain that conceived this.

Hats off to the Gregory Brothers and the soulful Sarah Fullen Gregory. The crew has amazing and diverse musical talents, and the commentary on current events is playful and quirky. We see the odd media circus parodied without an apparent left or right-wing agenda or even mild sarcasm. Absurdity is celebrated not criticized.

Thanks to Barely Political, NextNewNetwork and Ben Relles for helping me find these cats. Please don’t teach these guys how to use Green Screen any better, because the rough edges make it quirkier and accessible. Five big-ass stars, and I’m crossing my fingers for a Balloon-Boy melody. And I’m counting down the seconds for when this channel jolts past me and others on YouTube!

Online Video

MTV Cribz Satire Gives LisaNova Last Laugh on MadTV

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In a spoof of MTV Cribz, LisaNova takes you through her teen cribz with her “giant ugly bitch face” friend Jasmine (Kassemg with a remarkable ability to stay cross-eyed).

Lisa Donovan is showing MadTV (a show that had her for only four episodes) that she is having the last laugh.

This episode of the new “TheStation” also shows that high-production qualities can sometimes not get in the way of good comedy. See Ceciley Jenkins (a real actress!?) playing a slave, while the amateurs secure the key roles. A statement about the medium called YouTube?

This video doles out calculated repetition like Steve Martin’s classic sugar-pour, drops recurring gags in the style of Green Acres, and proves that even a 2-second cameo can have you steal the show.

TheStation chose to release outtakes on TheStation2 (a secondary channel that already has 140K plus subscribers- TheStation has 400K) before the release of this video… giving hard-core fans a bonus and “inside edge.”

Still not sure TheStation is a sustainable play, but I’ll be laughing until it folds or “jumps the shark,” and hoping it lasts as long as the latter. At the least, I think this will springboard LisaNova (and perhaps some of her accomplaces) into something bigger… and certainly give broadcasters a cause for curious concern.

Online Video

Video on How to Survive Swine Flu (parody)

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This helpful video gives you free advice on detecting symptoms of the “swine flu,” and gives you some survival tips for handling the pandemic. Naturally it’s one of my videos, and it’s meant as humor.

If the YouTube version doesn’t load, here it is on blip.tv. This video is public domain- use as you wish.

The swine flu, of course, isn’t funny. But the paranoia, hysteria and panick behavior is fair game.

In the next week, we’ll see non-stop media coverage of the pig virus, and every network will have cool graphics and visually-compelling stories. Then by Friday we’ll be sick of the news, and it will give way to humor (after all, “comedy is tragedy plus time”). I’m just getting a jump start, you see.

If you’re really concerned, visit the CDC.gov website.

lady performs lude act with pig
lady performs lude act with pig

…

Online Video

Parody of Billy Bob Thorton’s Radio Flip-Out

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I was making $16,000 a year for the Georgetown Courier, when our photographer got news that Pierce Brosnan was shooting Live Wire. The determined photographer convinced the doorman at the Watergate to ask Brosnan if he’d let her take his picture. Then she asked if I wanted to cover the story. What a break! Brosnan’s handlers told me NOT to ask about James Bond, however. At the time, Brosnan’s Remington Steele contract forbid him from being the next Bond, and that was a touchy subject.

How do you think I opened the interview? How can you NOT ask about something so important to him? I did it delicately by asking him why it was so important as to not be discussed. And then he spilled the beans.

I’m reminded of that story when I watched the Billy Bob Thorton video, where his handlers must have insisted to the show’s producers that the topic of Thorton’s film career not come up. How can it NOT come up? Really? Are you now a rock star only, Billy Bob, in your post Angelena days?

But really, should Billy Bob Thorton be blamed for flipping out on Canadian Interviewer (QVT/CBC Radio) Jian Ghomeshi?

No way. It’s the interviewer’s fault. Here’s my experience with the SAME guy (Ghomeshi) last year. He made me so mad I was fixin to kill him with this lawnmower blade. Hmmm.


Footage used with permission by QVT and CRC Radio (I called their media team on commute home and spent hours more than you might think on this stupid video. The tension builds up around 6 minutes in the actual clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWS6q…

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

Sarah Palin to Provide “Cringer” Quotes during Vice President Debate. Video Parodies Begin to Stew.

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sarah palin paper maskWell it’s time to ready the cameras for the inevitable parade of Sarah Palin parodies based on tonight’s Vice President Debate! We’re having friends over, and I’ve already purchased 16 Sarah-Palin paper masks (and only 8 Biden ones, as I don’t expect them to be as popular).

What’s going to be the great Sarah Palin quote tonight? The one that echoes through YouTube, like these classics (courtesy of Toronto Star, it’s the “Best of Palin on YouTube.” A free piece of cheese to the first comment below that documents the first “cringer” from tonight’s debate. So while you’re watching, be sure to hit this post and transcribe the most moronic statement you hear. And a verbatim transcript of her entire portion will not qualify even if everything’s a “cringer.”

Thanks to Keith (below) for this lovely site… it generates Palin quotes!

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.