The sincerest form of flattery used to be imitation; now it's a parody video. EW revved up the Internet to test-drive a few of the recent best.
The Original:
BEYONCÉ
''RING THE ALARM''
The Parody:
GREG SCARNICI
''RING THE ALARM'' (YouTube)
Beyoncé's clip is a whirlwind of rage; Scarnici's video is just a dude
in a wig, lip-synching to her track and flinging himself about in a
hysterical manner. It's worth watching, if for no other reason than to
remember how thin that line is between diva and drag queen. B
The Original:
CHAMILLIONAIRE
''RIDIN'''
The Parody:
''WEIRD AL'' YANKOVIC
''WHITE AND NERDY'' (WeirdAl.com)
There's a reason he's the master. Al gets every detail of the
gangsta-geek lifestyle right, from his back-alley purchase of the Star
Wars Holiday Special to his wearing braces instead of a grill.
Chamillionaire even put the track on his MySpace page — where it's gotten
230,000 more plays than his version. A
The Original:
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
''SEXYBACK''
The Parody:
THE GRAY KID AND DANIEL STESSEN
''PAXILBACK'' (YouTube)
This demented yet seductive send-up proves sexy can be brought back by
anyone at any time — even a couple of hipster dudes singing about a
pharmaceutical, breathily imploring it to ''put a little serotonin in
me.'' And unlike Justin's, their clip's plot actually makes sense. A-
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