The Matt Lisac Thing.

Hellow,

Welcome to my new series called, “Travesty”.  This is where I tell people who don’t care what I think, about the worst things in the world.  It is my first foray into becoming a curmudgeon.  I’m guessing it won’t be the last.

Today I cover the “spoof” video.  What’s a spoof?  Well, dictionary.com (a handy resource) lists it as:

1. a mocking imitation of someone or something, usually light and good-humored; lampoon or parody: The show was a spoof of college life.

2. a hoax; prank.

Of course, on today’s internet, the correct definition is:

1. Unoriginal imitation

2. Hunk of crap

Please see exhibit A, a spoof of a popular Saturday Night Live sketch.  (Keep in mind, SNL has been around longer than most people doing spoof videos of it.  A sad aside.)

Yes, it’s just like the original, but with one detail changed.  They replaced “mother” with, get this, “father.”

Oh my dear Lord Xanadu, that is just wicked! They’re making fun of… uh… well they’re taking the fact that the original video is funny and creative, and… uh… uh… proving how funny and creative it is?

I know what could make this video better… FORGETTING IT EVER EXISTED!

I’m not even going to mention that all the work that went into the MUSICAL part of the song was just copied and pasted.  Ripped……… Off.

But it’s a parody!  It’s a parody!  It’s like Weird Al!  He’s a respected musician!

Weird Al Yankovich doesn’t do parodies of funny songs, and I’ll tell you why:  It wouldn’t be a parody if he did.  He has to work hard to come up with funny takes on serious songs.  The more serious the song/artist, the better.  Not to mention, Weird Al has written COUNTLESS original funny songs on top of his parody repertoire.  I’d bet my life (value: $26.17) that Weird Al has received thousands of e-mails telling him he should do a parody of any number of SNL/Lonely Island songs, and I’d bet even more that he pays someone to delete them.

Ok, the point is this:

If you make a parody of something serious and put a funny light on it, that’s funny.  If you parody something that’s already funny, and make it less funny, that is a TRAVESTY.

Being creative is hard, I know.  It means having to use your brain, like, once a week.  At least!  And brains just aren’t made to be used that often.  If they were, they’d be five times the size, and ten times the mass.  Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg are creative.  Can you imagine the rush they got, the joy they felt, coming up with the funnier, original video?  If you are the creator of this spoof video, my guess is, no.  You probably can’t.

Spoof videos are an easy way for someone to convince themselves that they’re funny.  It’s like paint-by-numbers, without the skill.  YouTube is rife with this kind of bandwidth-wasting tripe.  It’s like the monkey inside us has suddenly found an outlet.  Ooooh, funny movie!  Me like, me like.  Hey monkey-friend, grab camera!  We shoot exact same thing!  We are profeshunals now!  Wait!  We must change single detail.  Now we are funny, origninul profeshunals!

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but there’s a difference between flattery and respect.  And that difference is… the Spoof Video.

Ugh, what a travesty.