Friday, July 6, 2007

Set Your Phasers on Funky

Lately I've been turned on to Kiwi folk-parody duo Flight of the Conchords. They're dry to the point of sometimes telling anti-jokes, but their comedy is infused with such a sense of fun that I can tell that they love what they are doing and want us to love it, too. Case in point:



This isn't their funniest song, but I think that it's a shining example of a certain kind of parody that stands parallel to, and engages me more than, say, the deservedly cruel fun that Stephen Colbert has at the expense of conservative punditry, or the skewering of religious idiocy so often found in The Onion. The above video is a parody along the lines of Blazing Saddles, Kung Fu Hustle, or anything by Weird Al. These works are love letters. Can you imagine how much Bowie F.O.T.C.* had to listen to to do that impression? A parody like this says "David Bowie (or Westerns, or wuxia/gangster flicks, or whatever), you are silly in a lot of ways. And I still love you." And these parodies aren't just love letters to some new girlfriend, or an object of lust. They're love letters to a spouse, or a first love, or a family pet. And while I think that the cheeky vitriol of The Onion and The Colbert Report is necessary (and hilarious!), I just get down with love way more than I get down with hate.

*Kicky acronym, ne?
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joe, you are silly in a lot of ways, and I still love you.

July 6, 2007 at 4:00 PM
shoetrumpet said...

AWESOME.

love this shit.

July 7, 2007 at 2:07 PM

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