Making it Viral

The Growing Success of TotallySketch
By EbonyJet.com Staff

Now that we’re no longer seeing Obama Girl trouncing around public events and Black commentators have gone back into hibernation on MSNBC, most people assumed that the days of the viral Obama parody ended on inauguration day. Certainly Fred Armisen’s Obama on Saturday Night Live gets nothing close to the kind of attention that it didn’t deserve during the election.

Notably, only Michael Gallagher and the folks from TotallySketch.com has been able to grab the reins and carry regular parody forward into the Administration while the rest of the comedy world seems to consider President Obama too precious and popular to laugh at.

"Blame It (on the Economy)" is a music video parody of the Jamie Foxx hit "Blame It". Written by Michael Gallagher & Iman Crosson and directed by Michael Gallagher, the parody is meant to be a non-partisan take on the economic hardships and efforts made by Barack Obama and the new administration. Iman both acts and sings as Barack Obama while Vernetta Jenkins makes her YouTube debut playing Michelle Obama. Like the collection of seemingly disconnected celebrities in the original Foxx video, Blame it On the Economy features lost YouTube celebrities such as Alphacat, Tay Zonday, LisaNova, SMP Films, OlgaKay, and (once thought to be the next singer but maybe not) Lisa Lavie.

Totally Sketch is a weekly online comedy show dedicated to bringing quality and humor to online video. Founded by award-filmmaker Michael Gallagher, the show features original sketches, pop-culture satire and interactive videos! Since launching in March of 2009, the show has been seen by over 7 million online viewers.

Totally Sketch runs on YouTube, iTunes, Break and FunnyOrDie. New episodes every Thursday at www.TotallySketch.com

Photo of Tay Zonday by Brandon Buck. Screenshot from the video