'I see a purple idiot': Bad Lip Reader takes on Obama and Romney

October 10, 2012|By Deborah Netburn

<p>The anonymous Texan behind the Bad Lip Reading YouTube videos is at it again, and this time he's taken on the first presidential debate of 2012.</p><p>It's totally bizarre. And hilarious. And surreal. And if you need a little pick me up, you will watch it immediately.</p></div></div><div class="float" style="clear:both;height:1px;line-height:1px;"><img src="/images/pixel.gif" height="1" width="1" alt="" /></div><div id="mod-ctr-lt-in-top" class="mod-latarticlesadcpc mod-adcpc with-fourth-cpc"><script type="text/javascript"> var adSkipCounter = 0; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ var loc = window.location.href + ""; var float = ""; google_hints = "video clip videos mitt romney";google_ad_client="pub-0227802054925200"; google_ad_output="js"; google_ad_channel="5212128158,6138855783,8321278795,8261105409"; google_ad_type="text"; google_image_size="300x250"; google_safe="high"; google_feedback="on"; google_max_num_ads="2"; google_skip="" + adSkipCounter + ""; google_adtest="off"; google_page_url=document.URL; function google_ad_request_done(ads) { if (ads.length == 0) { return; } // If no ads are returned then dont build the ad block if (ads[0].bidtype == "CPC") { adSkipCounter += ads.length; } // Increment ad skip counter when cpc google_ad_request_done_internal(ads, "", "", "true", "medium_rectangle", "", "", "pgtp=article&pi=34&ci=34366942&cat=arts+%26+entertainment&pe_id=34366942&tv=ap-LA12-G02&rna=pub-0227802054925200&rn=g&rnrci=5212128158&rnrcn=CMI-A-002&rncci=6138855783&rnccn=CMI-A-009&rnpci=&rnpcn=&rntci=&rntcn=&rnlci=8261105409&rnlcn=8261105409&rnp=c&rt=cpc&paidClick=1&placement_id=ctr-lt-in-top", "", "", "", "", "", "ap-LA12-G02", "Los Angeles Times Articles"); } //]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/google_ad_request.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script></div><div id="mod-a-body-after-first-para" class="mod-latarticlesarticletextwithadcpc mod-latarticlesarticletext mod-articletext"><p>The video begins with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama shaking hands.</p><p>"You know the hot tub is cool now," the overdubbed Romney says.</p><p>"But they poisoned it," overdubbed Obama replies.</p><p>"I know, right?" says Romney.</p><p>The Bad Lip Reader makes his videos by muting the sound on a video clip and attempting to read the lips of the people who are talking. When he finds lines that make him laugh, he overdubs them.</p><p>"If you ignore the context of a scene while lip reading, then you're presented with a whole universe of alternate phrases and words that will fit their mouths," he wrote in an email to the Los Angeles Times. </p><p>And so with an open mind, receptive to anything that pops into his head, the Bad Lip Reader watched the debate with the sound off on his television and imagined Romney saying, "That dude is the sickest, we hate him, he had eggs for a bath...."</p><p>And he imagined Barack Obama saying, "I see a purple idiot who speaks German, with a big spunky Labradoodle Puppy."</p><p>But it is the debate's moderator, Jim Lehrer, who got the most surreal lines, including,  "Matt, shush, because the sofa bears don't know -- go right off -- and I'll defeat 17 bears while you're gone."</p><p>And, "Oh, well, they started clapping for the mad cow till someone sold him -- and when they did, they had him stuffed -- just like the water buffalo -- stuffed."</p><p>The Bad Lip Reader has made dozens of overdubbed videos -- many of them bad lip reading versions of music videos, but also some other political ones. </p><p>This one, which evolves (dissolves?) into Lehrer singing a totally crazy song called "Eye of the Sparrow" at the end, took him about a week to make.</p><p>He agreed that it was definitely the most surreal of all his videos. "I tried to set it up so that viewers would think it was going to be a typical Bad Lip Reading video at first, and then it just takes this crazy turn about halfway in," he wrote. "That made me happy. I'm drawn to surreal, random comedy."</p></div><div id="mod-a-body-after-first-para-ad-cpc" class="mod-adcpc"> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ var loc = window.location.href + ""; var float = ""; google_hints = "video clip videos mitt romney";google_ad_client="pub-0227802054925200"; google_ad_output="js"; google_ad_channel="5212128158,6138855783,9488961041,8261105409"; google_ad_type="text"; google_image_size="600x125"; google_safe="high"; google_feedback="on"; google_max_num_ads="2"; google_skip="" + adSkipCounter + ""; google_adtest="off"; google_page_url=document.URL; function google_ad_request_done(ads) { if (ads.length == 0) { return; } // If no ads are returned then dont build the ad block if (ads[0].bidtype == "CPC") { adSkipCounter += ads.length; } // Increment ad skip counter when cpc google_ad_request_done_internal(ads, "", "", "true", "wide_rectangle", "", "", "pgtp=article&pi=34&ci=34366942&cat=arts+%26+entertainment&pe_id=34366942&tv=ap-LA12-G02&rna=pub-0227802054925200&rn=g&rnrci=5212128158&rnrcn=CMI-A-002&rncci=6138855783&rnccn=CMI-A-009&rnpci=&rnpcn=&rntci=&rntcn=&rnlci=8261105409&rnlcn=8261105409&rnp=c&rt=cpc&paidClick=1&placement_id=a-body-after-first-para-ad-cpc", "", "", "", "", "", "ap-LA12-G02", "Los Angeles Times Articles"); } //]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/google_ad_request.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script></div><div class="float" style="clear:both;height:1px;line-height:1px;"><img src="/images/pixel.gif" height="1" width="1" alt="" /></div><div id="mod-a-body-after-second-para" class="mod-latarticlesarticletextwithadcpc mod-latarticlesarticletext mod-articletext"><p><strong>ALSO:</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-teen-iphone-20121010,0,1294698.story">Generation i? 40% of teens say they have an iPhone</a></p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-einstein-god-letter-20121009,0,3985072.story">Albert Einstein's anti-religion 'God Letter' goes on sale on eBay</a></p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-skype-ransomware-20121009,0,4343933.story">Skype malware that can hold computers hostage is spreading fast</a></p><p>Follow Deborah Netburn on <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/DeborahNetburn">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/109675776633752908527/posts">Google+</a></p></div><div id="mod-a-body-after-second-para-ad-cpc" class="mod-adcpc"> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ var loc = window.location.href + ""; 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