Matt of All Trades blog, like the title suggests, is by a Vermont author and offers offbeat musings on pop culture, media, journalism, humor, weirdness, stupid people, smart people, my life as a journalist, landscaper, photographer, married gay man, dog lover and weather geek and more. It's run by me, Matt Sutkoski, a native Vermonter living in St. Albans, Vt.
For awhile, I stopped religious posting Randy Rainbow videos, since I didn't want to be all Randy all the time.
But I can't resist.
Last week, Rainbow borrowed fromStephen Sondheimand Leonard Bernstein with his take on "Gee, Officer Krupke" from "West Side Story." Sondhein and Rainbow are enthusiastic fans of each other, so why not?
Don't worry, Rainbow doesn't have a problem with Fauci. He's begging the good doctor to save us from lots of other idiots.
By the way, Rainbow hasn't been able to have a hair cut in five months, but his do still looks fabulous. Just saying.
There's a series of TikTok clips and YouTube videos that you just HAVE to sample.
It's writer and comedian Sarah Cooper imitating Donald Trump's rantings during news conferences and other events. What makes this so hilarious is her very natural looking but mocking mannerisms that just really hit the funny bone.
They come quickly. Notice early in the video, below, how she sniffs the Sharpie she's holding.
Or when she's playing with the spray bottle of bleach while touting how that might cure Covid. Or how she quickly puts away that can of Diet Coke when a reporter starts asking questions.
She said she purposely dresses as herself and doesn't put on a wig or makeup to look like Trump. After all, it's the words she's highlighting.
In any event, you have to see Cooper's videos to truly enjoy them. It's the best parody since Randy Rainbow. Who, by the way, put out a new video last week called "Distraction." It's to the tune of "Tradition" from Fiddler On The Roof. So go watch that video, too.
But first, here's a Sarah Cooper compilation:
Cooper also parodied the infamous interview between Anderson Cooper and the completely bonkers mayor of Las Vegas a month or so back:
A bit of a scary screenshot from Randy Rainbow's latest Time for a Clorox treatment!
After Donald Trump's ill fated appearance Thursday in which he "sarcastically," so he said, suggested using household cleaners in our bodies to kill the coronavirus, people have of course reacted with an appropriate mix of horror and derision.
However, as usual, Randy Rainbow has the last word on this subject with a new video dropped perfectly timed this morning - a nice Saturday treat.
Chris Mann trapped indoors like the rest of us due to coronavirus
I certainly get it that the coronavirus pandemic is one of the greatest tragedies in modern history. Depressingly, it will only get worse before it gets better.
To stay sane through this, I think we all need some gallows humor to help us get through it. Singer/Songwriter Chris Mann to the rescue.
He's had a serious and successful music career ever since he was a finalist on The Voice in 2012.
Lately, though, he's been putting out parody videos of how his stay at home is going. Spoiler alert: Not that great.
Mann is among millions of us going stir crazy at home, trying to maintain the social distancing we all hope will blunt the coronavirus impact. I'm sure Mann's YouTube channel will have more in the coming days and weeks.
So let's enjoy what he's got so far. in addition to "My Corona,"a parody of the bad 1979 hit "My Sharona," we have two other even better ones.
As always, Rainbow starts with a news interview, this time with who he describes as "The dance captain of the coronavirus task force Mike Pence."
Rainbow notes that, at least in Donald Trump's mind, the disease is now called the "Hillary Flu." At first, Rainbow resists Pence's call for social distancing by noting he already has purchased tickets and doesn't want to cancel his Passover plans to participate in the Black Light Underwear Foam Party in Cancun.
Luckily for all of us for a lot of reasons, Rainbow pivots, quickly and wholeheartedly embracing the idea of social distancing as he launches into the song. "I will save the human race by lying on my couch," he vows. Rainbow adds, as he patriotically wraps himself in an American flag, "I'll defeat the enemy by binging 'This Is Us,'"
He concludes by singing "But for now just suck it up and stay the f**k inside," while we see an image of the of-so religious Pence solemnly nodding to the line in approval. Watch:
The ever-productive Randy Rainbow released a new video during Super Tuesday, urging us to vote for a Democrat. Any Democrat. He doesn't care. As long as it's not GOP Trump.
This parody is from the song "Any Dream Will Do," from Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."
Instead of "Any Dream Will Do," Rainbow switched it to "Any Dem Will Do."
In the fast-pace time of primaries, certain aspects of this video were outdated upon release, even though he clearly made the video in the past few days. Democrats featured in the video include Peter Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer, who all dropped out of the race in the day or so before Super Tuesday. (Then Mike Bloomberg dropped out just this morning).
Of course, Rainbow doesn't even remember Steyer's name in the video, Todd or something, because this candidate wasn't exactly an overpowering presence in the Democratic lineup.
In any event, Rainbow, in his song adheres to his motto, "Any Dem will do," because despite any and all of the Democrats' individual quirks and shortcomings they're better than Trump. Such as Bernie Sanders, "He's more kvetchy than my mom."
To brighen your Tuesday, Randy Rainbow has dropped another great video. Dance to "No Rules For Donald"
Any week is good when Randy Rainbow drops a new video, which I always report here. And we got a hot new one today called "No Rules For Donald."
As usual, he starts with a news interview this time with U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr. Rainbow and Barr must be on a first name basis, since Rainbow calls him "Roseanne."
But anway, once we get into the song, which is based on Dua Lipa's hit "New Rules," we get into all of Trump's GOP enablers.
Other than the fact that I will never unsee that brief glimpse of Devin Nunes in ruby red lipstick, this is another video to brighten hour dystopian, gloomy February day. Watch and enjoy!
Just as I expected, Randy Rainbow has a new videonow that Robert Mueller has submitted his report to the Attorney General.
As we now know, the report apparently doesn't say Donald Trump criminally colluded with Russia. But he's not "exonerated" either, despite the spin you hear from the White House and his Republican patsies.
All these mixed messages has us all feeling conflicted, including Randy Rainbow.
So, the latest parody is called "The Mueller Blues," to the tune of Sondheim's "Buddy Blues." Another classic, including the murderous crime of Sarah Huckabee's pink blouse. Here you go:
At the start of this video, like all Randy Rainbow videos, it starts with a "news" interview. This time Randy introduces President Donald Trump as "the castoff from Bachelor Hanoi." This, of course focuses on the star-crossed recent summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
I won't give away anything else, but one is full of zingers, as usual. And as always, this video is a delight.
Which gave Stephen Colbert the chance to update the song a little bit. Colbert's version starts, "Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I saw a speech by a man Putin adores."
Yeah, it goes on from there. Have a listen and a look:
A scene from "The Most Manipulative Super Bowl Ad Ever"
I admit I get into this every year around this time: The Super Bowl ads appear, and you have all these images that tug at your heart strings, like the soldiers coming home, the Budweiser Clydesdale horses saving the day, or whatever.
I get sucked into all this, and I end up liking some of these ads. And sharing them. Which of course is what the sponsors of these ads want us to do.
I'll probably get so taken in by these ads I will end up sharing them with you in this here blog thingy. But oh, well.
Stephen Colbert has gotten us ready for this onslaught by airing an ad he and his team invented, called the "The Most Emotionally Manipulative Super Bowl Ad Ever." It's got everything: America, homecomings, puppies, tragedy, pride, warmth, people on the job, dedicated people. And of course the corporate product at the end.
To prepare yourself for the Super Bowl ad season, here's the clip from The Late Show With Stephen Colbert:
Unlike a list of men the women in Chicago's "Cell Block Tango" knocked off, Rainbow gives us a who's who of Trump sycophants who are now in trouble, or soon to be in trouble. It's a long list and it's a wonder Rainbow managed to edit things down for his video.
Rainbow knows the Trump list is long, so he has a subtitle to his video "Part One, Probably."
Rainbow does get his digs in, like when he notes Roger Stone was "indicted on multiple counts, including lying, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and lacking basic fashion sense."
You'll have to see and hear the rest. Some of the visuals in the video are priceless.
Sample lyric: "There is nothing like an unnecessary 2,000 mile barrier that says hey look at us world we're a bunch of mother***ing assholes."
As is almost always the case with his videos, Rainbow starts off with a news "interview," this time with Vice President, and as Rainbow puts it, "Ru Paul's Drag Race Season Three Finalist" Mike Pence, then launches into his tune.
I wonder whatJulie Andrews thinks of this Randy Rainbow video.
Anyway, as usual with Randy Rainbow, I kinda think this video is NSFW. A little off-color. And plus it's not good office etiquette to trigger co-workers who might be fans of Trump.
Also as usual, this video is brilliant. Sample lyric:
"Burying Tax Returns After You File 'em/Tear Gassing migrants for seeking asylum"
In case you missed it last night, Saturday Night Live opened its season with the Kavanaugh hearings, naturally.
Matt Damon was on to play Brett Kavanaugh. Damon, as Kavanaugh, was pretty intense as you might imagine, guzzling water, yelling about beer.
"I worked my butt off to get here! I lifted weights! Every day with Tobin and PJ and Squee and Donkey Dong Doug and had a couple thousand beers along the way," Damon's Kavanaugh yelled as he made his case.
Toward the end of the clip, Kate McKinnon appears as a scary, unhinged Lindsey Graham, which is something to behold.
Beer played a central role, as you might imagine. It's a bit of a long video, but it does have its moments, so it's worth the watch. Here:
The latest entry, hot off the presses today, is Randy Rainbow skewing our troubled drunk frat-boy Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who is battling his, um, potentially complicated sexual assault-ish past.
The video co-stars an unwitting but always reliable Kellyanne Conway.
I hope Randy is not resting on his laurels or on his pink reading glasses after issuing this video. After the chaos of seeing what's going on with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who might be resigning or fired, or not. And who knows what that will do to the Mueller investigation.
Randy certainly has a lot of material to work with. I'm sure he'll get cracking.
Randy Rainbow's parody songs on the Trump administration are awesome
His latest, the one that went the most viral is "If You Ever Got Impeached."
If you're a Donald Trump fan, you might as well move along to the next post, nothing to see here, you don't want to be offended.
Those of you who aren't such ardent fans of the president might like the video at the bottom of this post.
It's a little strange but brilliant.
Randy Rainbow has a YouTube page in which he gaily parodies famous old songs. He's got more than a bit of Broadway in him, and he uses these skills to great comic effect.
Each video starts off with Randy pretending to be one of those awful cable news reporters doing interviews, then he breaks into song. Before you start watching any of these awesome videos, do know they're definitely NSFW.
He does have a great voice, in addition to the comedy.
Before we get into that, he's got other gems you might check out. "Omarosa!" about Trump's former reality star performer and aide, is set to the music of "Oklahoma!" Another one, involving Rudy Guiliani, is "Rudy And the Beast," set to "Beauty And The Beast." From last fall, there's a performance called "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Korea,"which of course if from the "Sound Of Music."
Perhaps his song "Yes, We Have No Steve Bannon" is my favorite. Over the top, for sure, but awesome. There's a bonus reggae track in there in which Randy Rainbow comforts Bannon bh singing "Everything's Going to Be Alt-Right." Spoiler Alert: At the end of the video Randy, playing a fruit salesman says, "Can I interest you in a rotten orange with thin skin and no taste?"
There's many more Randy Rainbow videos to check out as well. This guy is brilliant!
By the way, I also absolutely love Randy's reading glasses.
Here, the performance is "If You Ever Got Impeached." It starts off as a bizarro world effort as a news interview with Trump, and then it goes from there. Worth the watch for some of us, at least:
Of course, "Saturday Night Live" had to jump into the fray. Kate McKinnon, who can be relied upon to parody anybody, took the role of a wide-eyed, confused DeVos during the SNL's "Weekend Update" segment.
The only problem with the segment is that McKinnen's DeVos wasn't much dumber than the real one. But it's still totally worth the watch:
Their forte is making fun and satirizing the news, but how in the world can you possibly top what's really going on in the world these days. Especially in Trump world.
SNL does a valient attempt, and in case you missed it, I share with you the cold opening of last night's episode.
It was a parody of Morning Joe, the a.m. news show on MSNBC. Kate McKinnon did a wild, hilariously frustrated version of the Morning Joe co-host, Mika Brzezinski. Leslie Jones made an appearance as Oprah Winfrey, and the big hit was Bill Murray making a return engagement to SNL as Steve Bannon.
For awhile, I stopped religious posting Randy Rainbow videos, since I didn't want to be all Randy all the time. 
