Greatest Video Ever (Updated WIth Commentary)

Apparently, a Norwegian television station gathered a group of "celebrities" to promote a new show or perhaps ever a new station. The result is arguably the greatest video EVER. Enjoy!



A few thoughts:

I love that Steve Guttenberg played Mahoney i Politiskolen. Of course, he also played Mahoney i Politiskolen 2, Politiskolen 3, & Politiskolen 4.

I understand lip-syncing Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli but why Huey Lewis? I think he has a good voice.

George Wendt doesn't look happy being there.

I guess we learned that after all of these years, Right Said Fred decided to continue with the bald look.

Is Glenn Close upset at appearing directly after Tonya Harding? Maybe Harding threatened her.

The translation of "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" is "Fresh Prince of Bel Air." Seems like it should be something else.


Thanks to Messiah for sending this video my way.

UPDATE: 8:00 PM Eastern time I thought I would share some of the comments among friends made throughout the day. I found this just as entertaining as the video itself, and it definitely made my sick day better.

Bram: That was pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Since most of those celebrities were famous *some time ago* and haven't really been heard from since, I'm thinking "Let It Be" has to do with letting go of your ego (not in the Buddhist sense so much as the conventional sense) and going ahead and not being famous anymore or being hung up on the past. The ones in the picture album -- Pam Anderson, Leslie Neilson, and Micky Rourke -- stood out as being more famous and not as washed up, so I'm guessing they simply had something interesting to say on this TV show about fame.

The Katerina Witt / Tonya Harding pairing seems to emphasize letting go of old drama, but I'm curious why Glenn Close was thrown in with those two (and why Tonya seemed to have a huge bump on her head.)

I think the fact that obviously none of those actors were really singing, pokes fun at all that.

Really liked seeing the chick from Top Gun with long grey tresses.

Again, thanks for sharing, it's not a matter of if this goes up on my blog but the timing...

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Gobo: Yup. Awesome.

Did anyone else wonder if the Milli Vanilli guy was lip-syncing?

I think the Steve Guttenberg-Philip Michael Thomas pairing was my favorite.

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Nick: Loved the mini-Twin Peaks reunion.

This will clearly play well in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins have had 180 consecutive sell-outs and the Rednex version of "Cotton Eye Joe" has been playing on continuous loop in the arena.

As an exercise in restraint and moderation, it's wonderful. One more d-lister would have thrown this over the top.

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Marc: Wow, I had to turn it off because it was making me laugh out loud - starting when Carlton appeared and getting out of control when Jason Alexander did a nice little dance at the 4 minute mark.

Corben Bersen has a really nice voice.

This sheds some light on the "why"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gylne_tider
This video is a promo for an upcomming season. I like Bram's disection of the choice of song...

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Messiah: Who is the most random person in here? Benny from LA Law handling a high solo? Peter Falk waving on the beach? I think it might be a tie between Robert Englund and Glenn Close being paired with Tonya Harding and Katarina Witt. Also, Leslie Nielsen was clearly ailing by the time this was filmed, but is he drinking maple syrup? What else comes in a bottle like that? Also, I am disappointed that neither Eric Estrada nor Tina Yothers made an appearance. And as I wrote to Archi, is that person named Harpo actually a movie star, or did he appear in something or sing something called "Movie Star"?

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Gobo: Well, Glenn Close seems to be the least washed-up person in the video, therefore was the person I was most surprised to see.

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Sean: Thanks to the YouTube comments, Harpo actually had a song called Movie Star. My vote for most random appearance is the group who did Cotton Eyed Joe. Kathleen Turner also looked out of place.

After watching an episode of Family Ties last night, I'm surprised that Skippy or Nick didn't appear.

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Nick: No way! Rednex are actually huge stars in Sweden. You may recall that their original label put the Rednex brand up for sale for $1.5 million US on eBay in 2007: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2007/apr/17/buyabandonebay
They are less random than the guy who played the janitor on LA Law/ Dr. Giggles. C'mon!

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Sean: Fine, take your huge Swedish stars, Rednex.

By the way should we know Melissa of Falcon Crest? She seems to have a rather large scene.

One (last?) note...I'm happy that Dr. Alban made the video. Sing Hallelujah was a big hit when I was in Israel in the summer of 1993.

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Marc: I'll take young Forrest Gump as the most random. Other categories:

Aged the worst: Kelly McGillis (honorable mention, Kathleen Turner).

Thought he/she was dead: Peter Falk

Should not have made the cut: Tonya Harding (honorable mention, Bud Spencer "Spaghetti-western filmer")

Should have declined: Glenn Close

Person I most wish they got: The other dude from Wham!

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Sean: I just can't let this go. Marc, nicely done! I think Judd Nelson also gets a nomination for aged the worst. I didn't recognize him at all.

Maybe Glenn Close needs Damages to be picked up in Norway and this was the only way it would happen.

Who wins the best air guitar solo: Katarina Witt or Philip Michael Thomas?

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Marc: PMT, by a mile.

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Messiah: Marc, excellent call on young Forrest Gump. I think you are correct.

I think the Glenn Close thing is what makes the entire video so fascinating. It's got everyone that is so washed up, and then her, but it's not like they treat her any differently than Steve Guttenberg.

I was aware that Kelly McGillis is now awful looking (other interesting note: she is now a lesbian. Another interesting note -- she is actually younger than the Falcon Crest lady who Sean pointed out takes up an inordinate amount of time, and is pretty good looking for a 34 year old, let alone a 54 year old). I was unprepared for Kathleen Turner. George Wendt, in addition to looking unhappy (as Sean pointed out on his blog) appears to be colored strangely. Philip Michael Thomas' face looks liquidy, and Milli Vanilli looks like they did some Benjamin-Button-type CGI on him.

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Archi: While I am definitely interested and amused by the existence of this, and why the hell some of them (mostly Close and Jason Alexander) chose to do it, I did not actually find it all that entertaining! I must be in the minority here. I actually still have to watch the last 3 minutes.

Bram - Katarina Witt was not involved in the Tonya Harding thing. That was Nancy Kerrigan. Katarina Witt did, however, display both East and West Berlin in Playboy several years back. It was pleasant.

Messiah - I am also confused about why some appeared to maybe be singing and others definitely were not.

Also Messiah and others: Kathleen Turner has been frightening for some time now. You may recall her playing Chandler's father on Friends toward the end of its run, and that was not a pretty sight. More recently she did a highly amusing, yet also kind of gross, turn on Californication.

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Bram: Theo Huxtable, on the other hand, hasn't aged a day. His scenes got me to thinking they really need to do a Cosby Show reboot with him as the father of his own brood, and Bill can drop by every once in a while as the crazy-ass, inappropriate grandfather. It would be mad relevant!

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