When parodies are better than originals

 

At one time, MTV was the station viewers would flock to for their favorite artist’s new music video. Music videos were the beacon of the channel’s very existence. However, today the channel is merely a place where angsty teens and 20-somethings can watch real-life melodrama instead.

As the world continues to move toward the age of when content is measured more by Internet hits than substance, musicians are beginning to adapt. More performers seem to be opting for the shock and absurdity factors over conveying what the songs’ original intentions were.

But in an age in which people are looking for 15 minutes of fame, parodies of songs have now become better than the originals.

“What Does My Girl Say?”

SNL

“Saturday Night Live” (SNL) is known for its ability to make fun of everything from bizarre everyday situations to celebrities’ poor conduct in public. But it’s no secret that since the late ’90s and the era of Will Ferrell, SNL’s” ability to bring the laughs has drastically reduced.

Not since Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg’s “D*** in a Box” in 2006 has an SNL sketch garnered as many laughs and as much buzz as last month’s “What Does My Girl Say?,” a spoof of the popular, yet confusing, Ylvis Internet hit, “What Does the Fox Say?”

Though many have tried to outdo the Norwegian comic duo’s epic hit, SNL finally succeeded with the help of actress Kerry Washington. The best lines come from Washington, especially when she finds photos on her boyfriend’s phone and asks, “Who that, who that, who that b—-?”

The song blends the nagging of a real-life girlfriend and combines it with the nagging sensation one experiences listening to the original song, and is just as engaging and hilarious as the original.

“Bound 3”

James Franco and Seth Rogen

Though shows such as SNL and Jimmy Kimmel have been making music video parodies for years, it seems as though celebrities are now joining in on the fun.

Less than a week after Kanye West launched the video for “Bound 2” on “Ellen,” actors James Franco and Seth Rogen took time out of filming their movie “The Interview” to recreate the ridiculousness that is West’s video, shot-by-shot.

Last week, West was on New York’s Power 105’s morning show, “The Breakfast Club,“ where he explained his video was meant to be a joke. His explanation was more confusing than the video.

“I wanted to take white trash T-shirts and make it into a video,” West said. “Yes. I wanted it to look as phony as possible. I wanted the clouds to go in one direction, the mountains to go in another, the horses to go over there, I wanted to show that this is the ‘Hunger Games,’ this is the type of imagery that’s being presented to all of us, the only difference is there’s a black dude in the middle of it.”

He then added, “I ain’t got a problem with looking stupid.”

Well, it is good to know that he has no problem with looking stupid because even with his explanation, he continues to.

If comedy and phony was what he was going for, he should have enlisted the help of Franco and Rogen to begin with. The thought of those two actors, as opposed to West and his fiancee Kim Kardashian, having sex on a motorcycle in front of a green screen is far more appealing and entertaining. Really Kanye, nobody wants to see that. And there are those who already kind of have, so just let them envision your face and body instead of Ray J’s.

Rogen’s hairy back and sexual glances were the best part of the video, a complete contrast of the vacant performance given by Kardashian. Really, West would have gotten more emotion from a blow-up doll. That would have been even more entertaining.

“Wrecking Ball
(Chatroulette Version)”

Steve Kardynal

Though YouTube-spawned comedian Steve Kardynal’s videos tend to generate viewership in the millions, he has never reached as many hits than with his Chatroulette-infused parody of Miley Cyrus’ recent hit “Wrecking Ball,” which had more than
58 million hits at the time of print.

There have been many who have mocked the overexposed video by Cyrus, but Kardynal, with the help of unsuspecting Chatroulette users, has created a parody even he may have a hard time topping.

This is not the first time Kardynal has used Chatroulette to parody a video, but it is certainly his best.

Cyrus intended the video to be a cathartic form of expression in dealing with her breakup with Liam Hemsworth in which she bares not only her soul but also her body. This would have been fine, however, if you throw in suggestively licking a sledgehammer and straddling a wrecking ball naked, it is hard for many to resist making fun of it.

There are so many things that Kardynal did right in his parody that makes it better than the original. From authentic viewer reaction to a hairy man suggestively licking a sledgehammer to even the decision to leave in the moment he fell off the wrecking ball, Kardynal’s version is more entertaining than the original.