Kylie Minogue guest stars in Charlie Hides latest parody video.

Fans of Charlie Hides wonderful parody videos know that he has always been a huge fan of Kylie Minogue and that he has always hoped to work with her. How brilliant it is then that Kylie stars in Charlie’s latest video which is entitled Kylie Whooo?. It features a phonecall conversation between Kylie and Charlie in character as Cher. It puts Cher’s trademark phrase “Whooo!” at the centre of the video’s narrative with Dannii also playing a central  key off camera role. 

Kim Wilde was also a recent guest star in one of Charlie’s parody videos and it is a dream come true for Charlie that Kylie features in his latest video. She has always maintained her great sense of fun throughout her career and she proves it again in this comedy sketch. Charlie also plays Madonna in the video below and as always Cher has the last great retort.

Camel: The newest animated short film by Sminky Animation

Camel is the latest animated short film by the very funny and creative Sminky Animation. Created by Andrew James Camel perfectly captures many Irish people’s and I’m sure many other nationalities attitude to both the heatwave and torrential rain that we have been experiencing over the past week.

I love everything about Sminky Animation from the characters themselves to the writing and use of different accents. Camel has proven to be one of the most viewed short films to date with over 240,000 views since it was released on line three days ago.

Sminky Animation’s Youtube page features all their previous short films here.

Sminky Animation merchandise including T-Shirts and postcards can be purchased here.

The Diva Wears Prada: Charlie Hides’ movie parody features Madonna, Cher and Lady Gaga

Any regular reader to this blog will know that I am a big fan of the brilliantly creative work and imagination of Charlie Hides. Charlie has numerous videos on his Youtube channel. One of the greatest to date was his version of The Devil Wears Prada which he remakes as The Diva Wears Prada. This is Charlie playing Madonna playing Meryl Streep playing Miranda Priestly a leading fashion magazine editor who is turn is said to be a version of Anna Wintour and each aspect of all those characters works pretty fluidly and flawlessly. Charlie also plays Cher as Miranda’s secretary and also Lady Gaga as Anne Hattaway’s character Andy Sachs.

The whole sketch is wonderful but my favourite moments are the perfection of detail in the many costume changes, Cher singing Dolly’s 9 to 5 and the sequence in which Miranda/Madonna tells Andy/Gaga how her look has already been done better previously in popular culture by legendary queen divas such as Joan Crawford and Joan Collins character Alexis Carrington.

Meditate With Maureen: The latest video by Charlie Hides.

Meditate With Maureen is the latest video by Charlie Hides. While Charlie has become well known for his impersonations of stars such as Madonna, Cher and Lady Gaga Maureen has become one of his most popular stars in her own right. She featured on Charlie’s Lorraine show video recently.

Charlie’s videos have been some of the funniest I have seen on YouTube over the years. They are full of heart and good nature. His attention to detail is always perfect. I love that Maureen has a Felix the Cat screensaver on her phone. 

In this video Maureen joins a meditation class and she slowly drives the class instructor Saffron Blue crazy. Charlie plays four characters with his husband James also making an appearance. I can see Saffron Blue becoming a regular character too, Liza Minnelli could be in her next class.

Five pop music parody videos by Joanna Ryde

One of my most favourite celebrities here in Ireland is Joanna Ryde. Joanna is based in Waterford where she has shows at Dignity every week. She is also a reporter for the radio station Beat 102-103 and some of her podcasts are here. 

Her parody videos of pop songs and other pop culture moments are always so witty and clever. I can never hear the original song again without thinking of Joanna’s fab versions. 

Joanna’s website is here and her Youtube page which features all her parody videos is here.

Here are five of my most favourite of her parody videos.

Pot Noodle:  M’s Pop Muzik.

Bleeding Crazy – Carly’s Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe

Aldi Vodka – Lady Gaga’s Alejandro

Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night (TGIF)

and one of her most recent parodies Horse Inside – The Rubberbandits Horse Outside

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s opening duologue at the Golden Globes

There were lots of highlights at last night’s Golden Globe Awards which is always more fun than the Oscars or many other Awards shows. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were perfect hosts at the show as they are such great friends in real life and when working together they have such perfect comic timing. They make good comedy seem effortless.

Their opening duologue was a real highlight. What I love about the Golden Globes is because the stars are grouped so close to the stage at various tables it’s easy to see an off guard moment such as when Adele won for best song and Taylor Swift looked like she may play Baby Jane one day. The moment where Amy mentions James Cameron was also great, you can see the stars in the audience who couldn’t care less and laugh and also around them are the ones who are thinking ‘I may have to work with him at some stage of my career’.

I also think that following Amy’s rendition of I Dreamed a Dream it’s chorus lyrics should be permanently changed to “I dreamed a dream of da da da and then I went to get a sandwich’. Classic! 

Charlie Hides TV: Cher brilliantly putting Paris Hilton in her place

Paris Hilton will probably be never be thought of the same again after her unknowingly recorded comments about gay men became public knowledge recently. One thing that always comes out of awful situations like that is parody and comedy and Charlie Hides has done it brilliantly in character as Cher puts a dumbfounded Paris in her place.

Charlie is on Twitter @CharlieHidesTV and on Youtube here where a new video is posted each Wednesday. Who needs Heat!

100 Cover Versions: #90: Sandra Bernhard covers ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’

When I first moved to Dublin back in the early 1990s one of the great things of living in a capital city was that there was a bigger variety of cinemas to go to and a wider selection of films. For the first time in my life because of the Irish Film Centre (now the Irish Film Institute) and also the Lighthouse Cinema when it was on Abbey Street I was introduced to arthouse, documentary, gay and lesbian and classic cinema. One of the first films I remember seeing and absolutely adoring was Sandra Bernhard’s performance film Without You I’m Nothing. I had never seen anything like it before. Her mix of humour, music, popular culture and sexuality in that film is still one of the greatest cinema moments in the many, many films I have seen over the past 20 years living in Dublin. 

Each performance of the songs in Without You I’m Nothing had it’s own story. Sandra mixed both autobiographical and completely fictional monologues in between the lyrics of songs that I both knew from radio days and ones I had never heard before like the country song I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. Sandra became the song and the singer. She was Sylvester singing Do You Wanna Funk, she was Billy Paul singing Me and Mrs Jones. She made you think about the songs and hear the lyrics in another way, another wonderfully funny way. I was only coming out then and that film made such an impact on me. 

I have been lucky to have seen Sandra’s show twice over the years. Once in Dublin in Vicar Street and the second a few years later in New York in Joe’s Pub. Each time was brilliant. They were two different shows, new stories, new songs.

The funniest bit in Without You I’m Nothing I think is a monologue when she is talking about Madonna without actually mentioning her and then she adds a bit about Martika who was a big music star during the time of the film’s release. If you have seen the film you will know the part I mean. If you haven’t then I won’t spoil it. Sandra’s one liners are like bullets or knives in the most fabulous way.

The surreal thing about life is that I adored Martika and her music and still do and through the amazing medium that is Twitter she has tweeted me back a couple of times. I hope if Martika knows the film that she finds her mention in it funny. 

The most famous song from Without you I’m Nothing is at the end when she performs Prince’s Little Red Corvette. There are a few songs from the film on Youtube. Here is one that I love, well I love them all but this captures the whole atmosphere of the film very well. It’s Sandra’s version of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. It is all very Supremes as the version is more Diana Ross than Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell who had a hit first with it in 1967. Older than me! Diana had her first number one with the song in 1970.

I have Without You I’m Nothing on both video tape and DVD so if you haven’t seen it and you see it in a movie store or on line do check it out. It works best as a complete performance.  

Todrick Hall’s ‘Cinder Fella’

Todrick Hall had a huge internet hit with Beauty and the Beat earlier this year which brought Beauty and the Beast’s Belle through a wonderful musical journey through the Los Angeles suburbs. His newest project is Cinder Fella where he casts himself as the protagonist in his reinvention of Cinderella. Janice Dickinson is the Evil Stepmother, Prince Charming is a familiar face too and there are several other cameos of both stars and Disney characters at the ball. 

The title Cinder Fella was also the name of a Jerry Lewis movie from 1960 but it’s very much different and political this time around!

The music is a mash up of well known Top 40 pop hits so like all of these viral videos it’s best to watch it from the beginning and watch it!