Comedy Killed the video Star

This week our old pal Dustin Meadows (co-host of the Nü Metal Who Dis? podcast) to introduce Matthew to the world of Nü-Metal staring with Killswitch Engage’s Holy Diver, a cover video of a cover song that id mutton chomping good. Then the high octane, danceable Push It from Static X where we try to figure out if absinthe on a centrifuge is a good or bad thing. And finally it’s Powerman 5000 with When World Collide, a video that is in a warehouse but also in space!

This week someone I thought was my friend, comedian Kitty Speed (Creator of Self Isolation Bear), brought me three music videos that I had been avoiding featuring Fergie. First is her debut with the Black Eyed Peas: Shut Up. Which leads us to a discussion about the pros and cons of immersive theatre. Next we talk about the vacant video for the vacant song My Humps. Finally, after a brief aside about London Bridge, we end with Fergalicious and Kitty expresses her anger with the Girl Scouts. We’re gonna get you drunk, get you drunk on our comedy!

This week comedian Alex Green brings us not three but six videos from The Weeknd! Yes this epic Sextrology (not sure if that’s right) follows The Weeknd’s decent into madness in a booze and frog fuelled romp through a casino in Heartless; then a return to LA and serious beatdown in Blinding Lights; onto a performance on Jimmy Kimmel live in the short film After Hours that made him so sad that he left the studio with no craft services, which inevitably leads to murder and dancing in In Your Eyes, and then he’s up to his neck (so to speak) in trouble with a couple of models in Too Late before finally ending up at the worst club in the afterlife (?) in Save Your Tears where he shamelessly steal one of Matthew’s best bits. It’s a real trip so grab your toad and your axe and come along with us!

Talk about folklore! Actually we don’t talk about Folklore, but we due get deep into some much of the lore of pop-music’s most mysterious cryptid, Taylor Swift, with the hilarious Sarah Kennedy (Taydar Podcast). We examine thee of her videos that span her career from country to icon. We start with You Belong With Me, a video that might only be improved by the addition of a third Taylor Swift. Next we examine Blank Space, is it a satirical statement about the media’s perception of her dating life or just proof that Ms Swift has a boy deliver service? And finally we take a trip to Fransylvania with Taylor (and Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco) with ME! to unpack all its hidden messages about Babe: Pig in the City. Look, Imma let you finish the description but Matthew and Sarah had one of the greatest podcast episodes of all time.

This week it’s a special episode where we bring on two amazing guests to talk about one extraordinary video. The video is, of course, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP and the guests are Kaytlin Bailey and Dr Charlene J. Fletcher of The Oldest Profession Podcast. Together they get into the symbolism, the meaning, the controversy and so much more incredible insight all the while Matthew tries to keep up like the idiotic clown he is. Plus they also discuss the music video Been Around Since the Old Days which was made in conjunction with their #OldProProject which highlights the historic contributions of sex workers in a number of cities.

Blake AJ stops by to discuss three videos with totally normal, predictable endings. They start with (and probably spend way too much time on) Carly Rae Jepson’s 2011 summer jam Call Me Maybe getting deep into the tattoos of the love interest and his aunt’s midlife crisis. Then they have a split opinion on Alt J’s Breezeblocks while trying to unpack it’s complicated backwards narrative and decide how hard is too hard to throw your keys. They (finally) end with The Prodigy’s controversial video for their controversial song Smack My B***h Up, and Blake get’s maybe a bit too into the bathroom habits of the protagonist. Plus they settle some beef surrounding Eminem’s Stan and Matthew shows off his light switch expertise. Yup, just a fun conversations about three normal ending videos. No surprises here…or is there?

Comedian Kirsten Brown brings us three videos from artists who decided not to be musicians any more (or maybe had it decided for them) and to become series regulars on the UK soap opera Coronation Street. We start with the first X-Factor winner Shayne Ward’s debut single That’s My Goal a video that’s blandness is only exceeded by its singer’s. Following on that is Hear’Say’s Pure and Simple possibly the greatest video shot in in a flame-based abattoir with people who clearly hate each other. Finally we finish the show with a discussion of Boyzone’s Love Me for a Reason, an fully unnecessary Carpenter’s cover from Irelands least photogenic boy band.

Canada’s Sweetheart, Simone Belshaw, brings us three amazing boyband videos from the Great White North that blew her her mind and awakened her sexuality when she was a preteen. We start our journey at a house party in Soul Decision’s Faded, getting into her crush on lead singer Trevor and why they may not have been the Maroon 5 of their time. Then we head into the old west (possibly, it’s unclear) with Prozzak’s Sucks to Be You while trying to unpack their complicated mythology (seriously it’s denser than the Silmarillion). We finally end the episode at the beach with B4-4’s way, way too aggressive ode to oral sex Get Down and in the process cyberstalk the LinkedIn page of the one member who really made something of his life. It’s a crazy fun episode where we cover everything from frosted tips to banana milkshakes and even get into Matthew’s body issues. So if you miss it, well, then it sucks to be you.

Comedian and world-class Sisqó expert, Graeme Hunter discusses three videos based on movies. First we talk about the “classic” 80’s earworm Ghostbusters and whether Ray Parker jr is a ghost, a buster, or both(?), then move onto Dream Warriors by Dokken where we lean some insane news about how they got their name, and finally get to the main course with the madness of Will Smith’s Wild, Wild West, the definitive evidence that Carlton was the best dancer on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Plus Matthew gets a bit philosophical and astronomical trying to understand the lyrics of the Oscar award winning, Arthur's Theme.

In this episode comedian and button certified hero, Kathryn Mather joins Matthew to talk about the video career of viral sensations OK GO and how the band has gone from literal treadmills to an endless treadmill of higher expectations. From the simple lo-fi fun of Here We Go Again, through the Rube Goldberg craziness of This Too Shall Pass and Needing/Getting, and finally onto the late-stage capitalism excesses of I Won’t Let you Down and Obsession, we look at the gilded cage the band has made for themselves. And while it may no longer be fun for them it will be really fun for you!