What was your first reaction when you saw the uncensored version of Robin Thicke‘s triple-VMA nominated video?
“I was immediately struck by the combination of naked women and farm animals,” said Sara Schaefer, one half of MTV’s “Nikki & Sara Live” team of the song that turned the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards performer into a superstar. “I thought it was a little … weird.”
Her partner, Nikki Glaser, felt the exact opposite. “I thought it was hot. I’m not gay, but I was really turned on by it,” she said, unintentionally punning it up by calling the clip for the song of the summer “titillating.”The buzzed-about tops optional video has inspired tons of parodies, some great, some predictably awful and a lot that were weirder than Pharrell’s old man dancing in the original.
There was the inevitable “Star Wars” and Muppet versions and a male burlesque take from Mod Carousel, among dozens of others.
We asked Glaser and Schaefer to break down the best ones, including their own hilarious script-flipping take featuring men dancing around wearing not nearly enough. And they’re not gonna lie, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but they were mostly just freaked out.
Nikki and Sara turn tables, sort of
“The way a man reacts to a naked woman is so different from the way a woman does,” explained Schaefer about why she and Glaser were not looking forward to sharing the stage with shockingly near-nude dudes. “We’re like, ‘uggh, that’s too much, just cover up’ … We like the mystery.”
The original idea was just to cast some very average guys. And while the joke was that the whole thing didn’t go off as they’d planned, that is actually what happened. “We didn’t realize they were going to be that naked … it’s a miracle we haven’t been sued,” said Schaefer, who got to experience the full range of goat eliminations (including a wet shoe) during the shoot.
Jimmy Kimmel humps his way into the original
The late night funnyman and sidekick Guillermo did the creeper thing, dancing their way into the original and getting a bit too close for comfort with Thicke. Robin tried to keep his cool, but when Guillermo started humping the “E” in Thicke and Jimmy added a “D” to the front of “Ick,” Pharrell got fed up and just brought a chair down on the host’s head.
“I love the beginning when Jimmy is leaning into frame and then Robin Thicke has everybody just move down the line,” said Schaefer. “It’s like a video bomb.”
Give the trombone some
Christopher Bill didn’t even really try to re-create the original, but you have to give the guy props for remixing the whole thing for trombone. I mean, c’mon.
“I just like that Josh Hartnett is doing something with his career, I wonderedwhere he was,” Glaser teased. “You go from being in band camp to being a viral video star for covering a sexy song and making the trombone sexy,” added Schaefer.
“He gon’ get some ass with that brass!” predicted Glaser.
Where’s the sweater, Bill?
In a match made in viral video heaven, the pioneering Garlic Jackson Comedy folks slapped the song over the intro to “The Cosby Show.”
And whaddya know? It worked perfectly!
“You know what I was waiting for in this one was, #sweaters,” said Glaser.
Pro-choice? Boring!
Inspired byTexas legislator Wendy Davis’ instantly viral 10-hour June filibuster against a Texas abortion bill, the ladies of FullFrontalFreedom got way political with their take. “These are women’s rights/The right wing hates it,” wen the clunkily reworked lyrics amid images of buff dudes and signs featuring uteruses. Lots of uteruses.
“I’m all for the message behind this,” said Schaefer. “But I felt like I was watching [something] my math teacher put together… no, my history teacher had put together to try and teach me something … Just corny.”
As if to prove her point, the stand-up-turned-clip-show-host busted out her best operatic falsetto to sing, “She was standing in the Senate for a very long time!”
Schaefer said of all the videos, she thought hers and Glaser’s actually had the mostsubtle feminist message. “When you objectify a body it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be all the time,” she said. “It’s just a way at laughing at the difference between men and women, ya’ll. Women be shoppin’.”
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