Political satirist Randy Rainbow offers his riff on the Jonas Brothers recent #1 hit, "Suckers," as he skewers Trump supporters for their blind allegiance.
The segment with dueling Lindsey Grahams is cute, but my favorite moment is incorporating Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's now famous 'clapping' at one of the Donald's State of the Union addressed.
Cute way to start the week. By the way, did I mention Randy is nominated for an Emmy Award in the short form category? Congrats to Randy!
What better way to start the week than new Randy Rainbow?
In his latest parody, Randy puts his twist on the opening number from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. But in this incarnation, instead of "Belle!," Attorney General William Barr gets the satire treatment with "Barr!"
Growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, Rilan knew he wasn’t like the other kids as he spent his time acting, singing, dancing and listening to 70s glam rock and 80s synth pop artists like David Bowie, Prince and Boy George.
When the time came to begin his journey as an adult, Rilan chose to head to Los Angeles and pursue music rather than spend years studying in college.
Rilan thought he would find in the city of angels a community of artists looking to express their authentic selves.
It turns out that wasn’t what the young artist experienced in Hollywood.
(from the music video "Love Or Drugs")
“Everyone pretends they're flawless, famous, and filthy rich when in reality they're broke, broken, and bitter, constantly looking for anything that will make them feel better,” Rilan laments. “Most of the time, that’s sex or drugs.”
Not one to mince words, the 24-year-old calls it like he sees it.
"Everyone I’ve dated in LA has been a user,” says Rilan. “A user of people, money, substances or all three. They are who ‘Love Or Drugs’ is about.”
“‘Love Or Drugs’ is a satire,” he explains. “It’s everything I’ve seen while going out and trying to fit in in the Los Angeles music scene. It’s everything that people do but don’t talk about. It’s ridiculous, it’s over the top, it’s bullshit, and that’s exactly what Hollywood is.”
The former GLEE cast member (he spent 2015 as a ‘Dalton Academy Warbler’) says the only way he knows how to deal with the fakery is to make fun of it.
With an all-star team that includes manager Randy Jackson (American Idol) and Lady Gaga’s choreographer Richy Jackson, Rilan envisioned the music video for “Love Or Drugs” as “an exaggeration of parties in LA.”
Calling the new song “a big F U to pop culture,” the young artist says he rejects what popular music has come to represent nowadays, “Money, sex, drugs, and superficiality.”
Proud of having “never been normal,” Rilan dedicates the new song to “all of the weird kids who showed up to the party and left early because it really wasn’t cool after all.”
Fans think the singer/dancer is pretty cool, though. His debut music video, "Chemical," has garnered over 2.2 million views on YouTube.
Randy Rainbow offers up a 'wonderful' parody of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "In Love With A Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific for Hump Day.
But in this satirical take on Donald Trump's head-scratching attraction to tyrannical leaders, Rainbow sings "He's In Love! (and we're all gonna die)."
I don't want to spoil any of the terrific tongue-twisting tweaks on Hammerstein's words, but I can promise if you hit play below you'll have a smile on your face.
By the way, Randy has tour dates up, so if you'd like to see the brilliant satirist in person, click here for info.
UK pop legends the Pet Shop Boys are giving this frigid February a blast of musical sunshine by releasing a digital four-track ‘in-the-moment’ EP called Agenda this week.
“It contains three satirical songs and one rather sad song,” says band member Neil Tennant of the EP. “I think it’s because of the times we’re living through.”
The first song,“Give Stupidity A Chance,” I featured yesterday in my News Round-Up.
The second, “On Social Media,” dropped today.
The third, “What Are We Going To Do About The Rich?” is set for Thursday, and then on Friday, “The Forgotten Child,” (figure that for the sad song) will drop as the complete EP will be available to purchase.
Over an infectious house beat, “On Social Media” skewers our everyday habits as we post, scroll, tweet, selfie, hashtag and pontificate via our smart phones.
From “On Social Media:”
Likes are in the thousands / My tweets are being retweeted
My family pics or holiday snaps / With total love are greeted
It’s so nice when people like you / You’re feeling hashtag blessed
You pop out of the conversation / It’s like you passed the test
This isn't the duo's first entre in political satire. You may recall PSB's 2006 track, "I'm With Stupid," which offered comedic slaps at then-President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Agenda, the first new music from the iconic duo since 2016’s Super, drops this Friday, February 8.
I meant to post this spoof ad from this weekend's Saturday Night Live yesterday.
The folks at SNL have been wondering how White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders manages to sleep at night after sharing lie after lie in defense of Donald Trump.
The answer, it seems, is “HuckaPM,” an over the counter sleep-aid that contains "Melatonin, Extra Strength Quaaludes, and what Michael Jackson’s doctor called 'One and Dones.'"
Props to Aidy Bryant for her excellent physical comedy here.
With lightning speed, political satirist Randy Rainbow delivers another winning parody with his take on the Beauty and the Beast showstopper, "Be Our Guest."
Rainbow's version, "Just Be Best," is a riff on First Lady Melania Trump's ironic anti-bullying initiative #BeBest.
Just be best, just be best, Just be better than the rest, Put your shiny new self-righteous phony slogan to the test
Last week, in an interview with ABC News, Melania told the world she feels that she is "one of" the most bullied people in the world.
Really...?
Watch below.
It seems all @RandyRainbow can be is #BeBest. This man (who should have had his own TV show yesterday) does it ALL HIMSELF. Writes, sings, directs, edits, does wardrobe, hair, make-up & savages gleefully, with no help from anyone whatsoever! #CriminallyTalentedhttps://t.co/jDrSlVEowG
As a fourth accuser has come forward regarding alleged sexual assault/misconduct by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanuagh just days before Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Randy Rainbow comes to the rescue with another brilliant political parody.
Rainbow brings us his take on the venerable Lerner/Loewe classic, "Camelot." But in this case, he's thinking "Kavanaugh."
Now Grassley’s having late night Twitter meltdowns
And Spartacus is practically in tears
He’d rather he withdraw
Is this the final straw
Or is this just the start of 40 years…
with Kavanaugh?
On a lighter note, The New Yorker's brilliant satirist Andy Borowitz "reports" that Donald Trump's big military parade will not be possible as hundreds of thousands of military service members have suddenly developed bone spurs making marching in a parade simply impossible.
The Pentagon has turned down Donald J. Trump’s request for a grand military parade in Washington, D.C., citing a sudden outbreak of bone spurs that would prevent men and women in uniform from participating.
Harland Dorrinson, a Pentagon spokesman, said that, within an hour of Trump’s request, more than a hundred thousand military personnel complained that they were suffering from acute cases of bone spurs that would make marching in such a parade a painful ordeal.
“In the history of the U.S. military, we have never experienced a bone-spur epidemic of this magnitude,” the spokesman said. “Regrettably, however, we have no choice but to issue thousands of deferments.”
SNL's cold open last night featured Alec Baldwin's "Donald Trump" checking in with Vice President Mike Pence (Beck Bennett) as he took shots at Senator Bob Corker and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
"We're getting rid of everything Obama did. Healthcare, the Iran deal. We're ripping out all of the vegetables in Michelle Obama's garden and planting McNuggets."
Trump: "Sen. Bob Corker is so small. Crowd: "How small is he?" Trump: "Bob Corker is so small a dermatologist found him on a mole."
On Tillerson calling Trump a moron: "I took an IQ test and let me assure you it came back positive. It's through the roof, and many of the clouds as well."
Bennett's "Pence" also accidentally attends a same-sex wedding. You can guess the results...
Satirist Mark Humphries of Viceland's The Feed gives us "CNN's" response to Donald Trump's smackdown video.
Says "CNN:"
"The bullying started a while ago, mainly online. Donald Trump started calling me "fake news," which was as painful as me having to call him "President of the United States."
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took to Twitter to call Saturday Night Live's satirical reenactment of the 2nd presidential debate a "hit job," and part of an elaborate attempt by the media to "rig" the election.
Trump told his followers that the late night sketch show was "unfunny" and that it's time to retire the series. He gave Alec Baldwin's portrayal of him a big thumbs down saying Baldwin "stinks."
This is probably where I should point out that Trump happily appeared on the show last November.
The skit gave nods to all the memorable moments of the past week's race for the White House including Trump's recently discovered video tape from 2005 which caught him telling host Billy Bush he liked to kiss women when he felt like it and "grab 'em by the pussy," and his lurking behind Hillary Clinton during the debate in a shark-like manner.
Clinton wasn't left unscathed though. From the get go, the folks at SNL made fun of her seemingly over-rehearsed comments and responses.
The Trumpster told the Twitterverse he was not amused:
Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me.Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!
Kate McKinnon won an Emmy Award skewering Hillary Clinton. And when McKinnon won, Hillary publicly congratulated her. Trump needs to learn a few lessons about not being so thin-skinned.
I have to say, every president and presidential candidate since the 1980s has been lampooned by SNL. If you can't handle satire, how are you going to handle being leader of the free world?
Funny Or Die skewers the state of Tennessee for the recently passed anti-LGBT law that allows health care providers to deny services to LGBT patients based on discriminatory religious beliefs.
This video serves up a satirical invitation to visit Tennessee:
“Soon you could cross the bridge to unenlightenment, ride a horse without worrying a gay guy is looking at your butt, tiptoe across humanity to relive a time when people were unequal, sing a sad country song about your gay friends being refused counseling services, enjoy live music, if we can convince anyone to perform here, gaze at the beautiful rolling hills where the fog is as thick as our ignorance, and laugh at an effeminate child!”
Former N'Sync member Joey Fatone has lived the boy-band phenomenon to the max. I mean REALLY lived it.
So if anyone would have the inner wisdom on life as a "BB-er" it's Fatone.
In light of the news that One Direction has announced a one year "hiatus," a writer at AboveAverage named Joanna Bradley penned a faux letter of advice from Joey to the 1D guys.
Joey Fatone is actually in the middle of shooting a new "steampunk, futuristic, zombie/cowboy" flick titled DEAD 7 out in Montana somewhere with fellow boybanders Nick Carter, Erik Estrada, AJ McLean, Chris Kirkpatrick and tons of other BBers. He's a bit busy these days :)
In any case, the "open letter" hysterical, AND packed with some reality juice.
Dear Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Harry Styles,
Hey guys. It’s Joey Fatone, former member of NSync and current announcer on Family Feud, the job I’ve always dreamed of. This weekend, while sitting on the toilet and crying (I LOVE MY LIFE!!!) I flipped through my iPhone and saw that you’d announced a “one-year hiatus” beginning in March. I just wanted to congratulate you guys and wish you well! I’m sure 2016 will be a wonderful time for everyone from One Direction to pursue some independent projects before regrouping as a stronger band one year later! Here’s to spreading your wings!
HAHAHAHA, PSYCH.
Here’s how it’s gonna go down, fellas. While you’re all on hiatus, Harry will record some dope singles with Beyonce, Ryan Adams and Wiz Khalifa, come out with a killer solo album produced by Pharrell and Timbaland, cut his hair, dye his hair, do a second less awesome album, let his hair grow super long and wear it in two braids, crush a self-effacing cameo in a Judd Apatow movie, buzz his hair and release a third, self-produced album on which he hints at being bisexual that everyone will call his “best work.”
The rest of you are fucked. I mean fucked. I am the second most-successful former member of NSync and I am Joey Fatone. Say that outloud to yourself: “Besides Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone is the most successful member of NSync.”
Here’s me being a spokesman for Bosley hair restoration last year:
Best case scenario, you’ll do a 6-week stint in Minions: The Musical! on Broadway before you bounce around different hosting jobs on channels like Spike and TruTv. Do you know what Chris Kirkpatrick is doing? Because I don’t. He’s completely unreachable. He might be managing a Best Buy in Sacramento, he might be dead. No one knows. Louis, I’m looking at you.
There is one exception: If one of you is gay you might have a shot. Wait till One Direction has been dead for two years, kiss your hot boyfriend at an awards show, then ride that relevance like a beautiful boner and pray to god you get a show on Bravo.
It’s not that you guys aren’t talented, it’s that Harry is so, so much cuter, cooler and more talented than the rest of you. Deep down, you’ve always known that, but you will never truly understand it until you’re in your grimy little condo, sitting in your boxers, sucking a chow mein noodle off your Playstation controller and watching Harry blow it up on SNL.
Jesus christ I wish I was still in NSync. Jesus…JESUS FUCK! I would give all my hair to go back to that.
Anyway, enjoy the next few months, One Direction, because they’re your last.
