From my humble beginnings performing twee ukulele covers on YouTube, all the way through to me getting pooped on for art in my music video House of Air, the world wide web (sometimes abbreviated to “www”) has been a tool to bypass the front door of the LAMESTREAM MEDIA so I can sell my music to gay people.
It’s a full-time job pretending to be interesting, but thankfully the net (not to be confused with the 1995 film starring Sandra Bullock) has a way of making genuinely funny sketches, tweets and videos find their way to me, the protagonist of everything.
1. @vinn_nayy: a pigeon at Pride
Starting out with something gay for Pride month (technically it’s not Pride month in Australia, but whatever gets clicks), here is a pigeon at Pride.
2. Funny or Die: Lindsay Lohan’s eHarmony profile
I love Lindsay Lohan and I think this sketch just shows she’s in on every lame joke you could have possibly made about her. I remember this feeling like such a classy “fuck you” when it came out. Slay.
3. The Mr Weebl song Magical Trevor
This song is why I got into music. So here it is on loop for 10 hours, as it was designed to be heard.
4. The Gay & Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo: ‘Sometimes things that are more expensive are worse’
Brian Jordan Alvarez sets up the iconic Freckle (Jason Greene) for one of the most powerful phrases ever uttered online. The whole sketch is all killer, no filler, and includes a cameo from Fire Island writer Joel Kim Booster. Hot!
5. Baited: Ziwe interviews Caroline Calloway
I could put the whole Ziwe series up here, but since we are in Onlineland, let’s take it back to her breakthrough series, Baited. It marked the rebirth of cringe comedy; Caroline Calloway is eventually texted in real time by her manager, who begs her to end the interview.
6. No To Feminism
i don’t need fimsnse because women don’t know anything about cars just this morning i tried to get inside a potato and drive it to work
— WomanAgainstFeminism (@NoToFeminism) August 30, 2014
Created by TV and Twitter Writing Lesbian Bec Shaw, the @NoToFeminism Twitter account put up some of the silliest combinations of words I’ve ever read on the daily. But no matter how absurd some of these tweets were, they would still attract a conservative audience who somehow genuinely believed it was true. Even when it was about women driving potatoes to work.
7. Cole Escola: boring banter from relatives at Christmas
Escola is my favourite comedian of our generation, no questions. I see a lot of their work echoed in mainstream standup now and likely helped paved the way for oddball RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Willow Pill’s rise to online glory. Escola balances stupidity, improvisation and terrifyingly accurate impressions to full effect. This is not their most well-known sketch, but this perfectly encapsulates Escola’s unique ability to take the rhythms of banal conversations and leave you gasping for air.
8. Demi Adejuyigbe: Lana Del Rey’s love song to Stuart Little
Originally tweeted out as an April Fools joke by TV writer Demi Adejuyigbe, City Mouse is an “ultra rare” Lana Del Rey track dedicated to the titular mouse. Musical comedy, especially songs with a twist ending, can definitely be forgettable after you crack open the gag – but the vocals and music have been given such care and attention, and the nods to Lana’s actual music are so well done, that I keep coming back to this one.
9. Vine!
Vine was like TikTok, but without as many adults self-diagnosing themselves as autistic. It was a lot of fun. Here are three Vines that I’m counting as one entry:
A. fre sha vocad o
B. ‘And they were ROOMMATES’
C. Microwave dance
10. Lee Lin Chin: ‘Who is that handsome …’
And ending with the only good news reporter blooper, by the mother Lee Lin Chin.
Brendan Maclean stars in Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical at Hayes Theatre Co in Sydney, from 29 July 2022.
