Observer » parody

A Truly Great Lena Dunham Impersonator Auditions for Zero Dark Thirty (Video)

Drew Grant — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:24:49 -0400

This is perfect. (YouTube)

This is Chelsea Davison.She does a creepily good impression of Lena Dunham auditioning for Zero Dark Thirty. She is very talented. Definitely the parody voice of this generation, even though in general people who "do voices" for a living are one step above mimes, in our book. But there were some great mimes, like Marcel Marceau, and this is a great impersonation. Just watch.

As one Observer staffer put it, "The way she said 'asshole'...just brilliant."

Good job, everyone involved in this.

Exclusive: Jim Dolan’s Secret Carmelo Anthony Tapes Revealed

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:13:05 -0400

During last Friday's Knicks game against the Bulls, owner Jim Dolan ordered audio technicians to secretly tape the forward's every word, NJ.com reported. Mr. Dolan requested that Mr. Anthony's every word on the court and on the bench be recorded and sent to him.

The secret directive comes after Mr. Anthony was suspended for getting in a fight with Celtic Kevin Garnett after the Boston player allegedly insulted Mr. Anthony's wife during a January 7 game at the Garden.

But what could the tapes have yielded? Well, The Observer has obtained the exclusive tapes. Carmelo Anthony: just like us!

Here are some snippets:

"Yo, did you know that A.J. Daulerio and Cat Marnell are a thing? How did I miss that? What's A.J.'s gonna do next.... I mean, where do you go after you quit Gawker, right?"
"I'm not sure about this season of Girls. I saw the first episode on the screener and I mean, did it seem kinda sitcom-y to you? But I think I like the new Marnie. She's vulnerable, y'know. The real question is why do they hang out with Shoshanna? I mean. She uses emojis. Emojis! Who puts up with that shit?"
"I wonder what Lena's gonna wear at the Globes. Gotta hand it to her. Girl can work a red carpet."
"How much do you think I could get for a memoir/dating advice book? Lena got 3.7 mil. That's baller money."
"Who do you think is gonna take the Times buyout? The clock is ticking..."
"I'm think I'm just gonna stick to Twitter fights. That's the future, man. Twitter's for talking shit. The court's for killin' it. And you can't get suspended for that, right? As long as Margaret Sullivan doesn't get involved."
"Why don't we have any of those hand-brined pickles from Brooklyn at the Garden. The Nets get all the perks, man."
"Maybe I'm late on this, but did you see that Modern Seinfeld Twitter feed?"

Girls Gets a Sex Change (Video)

Drew Grant — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:25:32 -0400

Being a boy is hard work! (YouTube)

It's been approximately seven days since the Internet had a flame war with itself over Lena Dunham's (somewhat inexplicably) polarizing Girls. We guess everyone got tired of complaining about how the show doesn't realistically portray each viewer's special-little-snowflake life experience...you know, the way that every other television show does? (God, do we long for the days of those great realistic docudramas about single, successful friends of various ethnic backgrounds and class, like Seinfeld, or Friends, or Sex and the City, or Breaking Bad.)

Also: Nepotism! Emmys! Bah!

Luckily, our drought of Girls criticism is over, thanks to comedians Peter Moses and Frank Cappello. These young men were brave enough to create Boys; a parody of very smart, well-written comedy, which--no joke--is not an easy thing to do. So rats off to 'ya, boys. Here's Boys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfvIrzTCDCg&feature=player_embedded#!

Okay, so they lay it on pretty thick with the "children of famous people" joke, and it's not really fair to satirize Girls by implying that the characters all hang out in the city doing really cool things and living in "incredibly artistic" apartments, unless you count going to abortion clinics/jobs interviews while living in a two-bedroom in Greenpoint as "really cool" and "incredibly artistic."

That being said, we would certainly watch Boys if it was real.Though isn't The League already a show?

Sex House: Finally, a ‘Reality’ Series We Can All Enjoy (Video)

Drew Grant — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:40:19 -0400

If only this was a real show (YouTube)

If you have not seen The Onion's latest spoof on Real World/Road Rules/Jersey Shore/any reality show that involves strangers being forced to fight under barbaric conditions (lack of food, overabundance of alcohol, constant camera crews, etc.), then you need to immediately go watch Sex House. Now in its second episode, Sex House plays with the reality TV convention before ramping it up to 11.

And then it gets dark. Real dark.

The initial joke of the first episode plays on those Real World archetypal characters--the slut, the jock, the gay guy, the virgin--before going evolving into a different sort of parody than the one promised in the opening sequence ("Six sexy Americans alone in a house with nothing do...except get nasty"), and that leaves you feeling a little sick inside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0App7QizQCU
"I think the fact that we're all getting a stipend to have sex with each other might violate state law," is our new favorite quote for 2012.

Episode 2, which came out yesterday, could have easily been a disappointment after the stellar premiere, and though it never quite lives up to the "Tombstone pizza contest" line, it does manage to keep itself on track with by satirizing the conventions of these shows without ever going veering into absurdest slapstick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1tD_TsZQJqI

If you think MTV producers aren't kicking themselves for not creating Sex House before, then you need to be paying more attention: we keep expecting a cameo from Snooki, but we're not sure if she's had her baby yet.

We Need to Talk About We Need to Talk About Kevin Parodies (Video)

Drew Grant — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:59:52 -0400

Adorably horrifying!

We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsey's adaptation of Lionel Shriver's deeply disturbing novel of motherhood and America and school shootings and baby sociopaths (also, eyeballs) is coming out tomorrow in theaters. So far the reviews have been mixed. Some people who have already seen the film like the adaptation (people like Lionel Shriver). Some people did not like it. It's probably going to come down to a matter of personal taste.

But already there's a trend that needs to be addressed regarding this film. So can we all be on the same page about the We Need to Talk About Kevin parodies being this year's Inception parodies? Look, it's already starting...

We need to talk about Kevin McCallister (Home Alone mashup)

(Almost too easy, since MacCaulay Culkin already played a Kevin prototype in The Good Son. Also, he looks more like Tilda Swinson than Ezra Miller.)

Randy Newman's theme song for We Need to Talk About Kevin (SPOILER ALERT!)

(Actually performed Eric D. Snider)

We Need to Talk About Kitten

Self-explanatory.

We're sure by Monday Buzzfeed will have a "Top 20 Hottest Screenshots of Ezra Miller Being Creepy" gallery, and then comes more mashups (John C. Reilly from Stepbrothers faces off against John C. Reilly as Franklin? Discuss!), CollegeHumor sketches, and McSweeney's satirical fan fiction.

We can't wait.