the bird is the word

December 4, 2010 5:10 AM

Excuse me, have you heard the word? (SLVimeo, Possibly NSFW or sanity)
posted by fearfulsymmetry (48 comments total)

Cringeworthy.
posted by metaxa at 5:26 AM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Creepy. I'm sitting at the bus stop, waiting for a bus, I really don't want a dude in a brown mac with lingerie underneath tapping me on the shoulder...
posted by afx237vi at 5:31 AM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Love that song. Video sucks
posted by mss at 5:31 AM on December 4, 2010 [4 favorites]

Notice the people cringing before action.
posted by Mblue at 5:32 AM on December 4, 2010

It was my understanding that everyone had heard.
posted by pemberkins at 5:56 AM on December 4, 2010 [15 favorites]

Seth MacFarland should sue/murder them!
posted by QueerAngel28 at 5:57 AM on December 4, 2010

I can flap to this.
posted by orme at 6:03 AM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

I saw too much even without playing it.
posted by tommasz at 6:14 AM on December 4, 2010

That poor kid in the stroller at the end has been scarred for life, and his parents will never understand why a passing derriere -- any passing derriere -- will from that day forward forever cause him to shriek in uncontrollable terror. (Not to mention why he reacts the same to any radio announcer's introduction of "that old favourite: Londonderry Air".)
posted by Mike D at 6:26 AM on December 4, 2010

Jeebus, what do you have to do to get arrested in England?
posted by bwg at 6:28 AM on December 4, 2010

Apparently over in the UK they're not quite clear on how a Santa Rampage is supposed to work.
posted by adamrice at 6:33 AM on December 4, 2010

Well, I loved this.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:34 AM on December 4, 2010

Heh. A lot of this was filmed within sight of my building. Matt's a generally harmless local madman. He's also been out nude tea tray sledging. (Also NSFW.)
posted by i_cola at 6:45 AM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Other than Surfin' Bird, viral campaigns for the UK Christmas Number One slot include Cage Against the Machine, "4 minutes and 33 seconds of complete silence", and B3ta's choice, Use My Arsehole as a Cunt - The Nick Clegg Story (NSFW, swearing, homophobia, etc).
posted by TheophileEscargot at 7:06 AM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Certainly less offensive than half of the holiday stuff out there.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:10 AM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Jeebus, what do you have to do to get arrested in England?

Depressingly, there's more chance of the cameraman being arrested than the nutter in the bra and stockings...
posted by metaxa at 7:29 AM on December 4, 2010 [6 favorites]

A boring-looking man in his forties wearing a Santa hat and lingerie, lipsynching lamely while slowly and unrhythmically flapping his arms around in public places to "The Bird is the Word". Very few are amused or interested in his half-baked antics.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 7:44 AM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was slightly amused, I was far more amused by the nude tea tray sledging one tho. If you're going to do a lipsynch video take the extra 10 minutes and make sure the lips stay synched with the sound. If you just want to dance like a crazy person then just dance and don't mouth the words.
posted by MrBobaFett at 7:49 AM on December 4, 2010

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I prefer the Family Guy version.
posted by clvrmnky at 7:50 AM on December 4, 2010

ouch, my dignity
posted by tehloki at 8:13 AM on December 4, 2010

I want to be best friends with the woman at 1:20 who derives nothing but joy from this experience. Her uproarious belly laugh was enough, but then when she joined the dance, I knew that she was my hero for the day. If I were into ladies, I'd be sending an inappropriate mass e-mail to my colleagues in a vain attempt to find and marry her.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 8:42 AM on December 4, 2010 [5 favorites]

Guy looks just enough like John Hodgman to be diverting on two levels.
posted by From Bklyn at 8:48 AM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

this is terrible
posted by empath at 8:49 AM on December 4, 2010

Million Dollar Idea: An iPhone game that's a cross between "Angry Birds" and "Words With Friends" called (you can see it coming a mile away) "The Birds Are The Words". Get apping, people!
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:22 AM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Expect him in your local library soon, whispering SHHHHH! at max. volume and shouting BOGEYS! on the way out. Eternal.
posted by aesop at 9:22 AM on December 4, 2010

NSFW, swearing, homophobia, etc

Love that Kunt and the Gang remix. Glad that it keeps the dance from the original too. That was the best bit.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:23 AM on December 4, 2010

Guy looks just enough like John Hodgman to be diverting disturbing on two levels.

fixed that for ME.

Although it is best viewed on a PC running Windows XP.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:25 AM on December 4, 2010

The crowd's reaction when he rides his tea tray down the hill makes that video.
posted by zippy at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2010

Christmas used to be about The Word. Now it's just chintzy garland and Santa lingerie.
posted by condour75 at 9:46 AM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Pffffthahahahahahaaaaaa
posted by buriednexttoyou at 10:11 AM on December 4, 2010

I guess he hasn't seen the scene that he's referencing, because you can't top that act. Not on YouTube anyway. And probably not on MetaFilter.

Also, I'm reading a book right now about Freudian aberrants sexuality and modern gender. So it's interesting that this kind of thing is a clear social transgression, but is "funny" and acceptable enough that even people who actually want no part of it laugh. I suspect that things would have gone quite differently had his costume been coded as wacky gay instead of wacky cross-dressing.

And that poor kid with a monkey wrench thrown into his oedipal-process will grow up with fears and desires he will never understand. When he recovers this memory in therapy in 2040 and asks his mom, she'll laugh again and show him the pictures. Who knows what happens then.
posted by cmoj at 10:18 AM on December 4, 2010

Daaaaaaaad!
posted by pianomover at 10:23 AM on December 4, 2010

if you need white suspenders to keep your thong up, you should not be wearing a thong
posted by Redhush at 10:41 AM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Google The Bird
posted by TwelveTwo at 10:43 AM on December 4, 2010

That was great. I love when socially transgressive behavior gets people to laugh because part of what they're laughing at is their own repressed personalities.
posted by mistersquid at 12:18 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

I found this to be endearingly amusing, however I grew up in the era when Kenny Everett & The Goodies were shown as after-school children's entertainment so seeing middle aged English men prancing around in lingerie brings back fond memories of childhood television.

I probably need therapy
posted by goshling at 12:33 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Every village needs it's idiot I guess :-)
posted by dibblda at 1:33 PM on December 4, 2010

Creepy. I'm sitting at the bus stop, waiting for a bus, I really don't want a dude in a brown mac with lingerie underneath tapping me on the shoulder...

Well, then I'm out of gift ideas for Christmas.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 2:53 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

For me, that song will forever be linked to the movie "Pink Flamingos". This video did not help.
posted by Mcable at 2:56 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

if you need white suspenders to keep your thong up, you should not be wearing a thong

You … erm … need to look a bit closer, particularly around 1:45 or so. They're not suspenders, and they're performing the admirable and quite important job of keeping that which should stay firmly within the thong firmly within the thong.
posted by Pinback at 3:16 PM on December 4, 2010

Good to see that he was kicked out of several stores for just flapping in but went bananas in the bus without consequence. For people who take the bus, this is really just an everyday occurrence.
posted by munchingzombie at 3:33 PM on December 4, 2010

A boring-looking man in his forties wearing a Santa hat and lingerie, lipsynching lamely while slowly and unrhythmically flapping his arms around in public places to "The Bird is the Word". Very few are amused or interested in his half-baked antics.

So he was boring-looking even before taking into account the crazy costume and antics? Can you tell he's boring just by looking at his face and naked body?
posted by mullacc at 4:32 PM on December 4, 2010

munchingzombie: "Good to see that he was kicked out of several stores for just flapping in but went bananas in the bus without consequence. For people who take the bus, this is really just an everyday occurrence"

I think I completely lost it when he started doing pull-ups.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:33 PM on December 4, 2010

A) there's no way I'm going to look closer od even, again. And B) what you said backs up what I said!
posted by Redhush at 8:11 AM on December 5, 2010

but went bananas in the bus without consequence.

The only time I've ever seen a passenger get threatened with being put off a bus is for smoking...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:31 AM on December 5, 2010

Not to color our pepsi, but I was throwing away my dignity 4 years ago
posted by CharlesV42 at 3:28 PM on December 5, 2010

A flash mob draws nigh.
posted by cirocco at 11:26 PM on December 5, 2010

The OFFICIAL Surfin' Bird FLASHMOB
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:11 AM on December 7, 2010