Rick Astley on his meme

In a rather interesting case of synchronicity this morning, I ran across an article from The Guardian published today where Rick Astley was talking about and grading the various Rick Rolls circulating the internet.



Basketball Roll

A college basketball match is interrupted when some red haired dude dressed in a suspiciously familiar grey mac stalks the bleachers miming to... Cue lots of ornery looking parents and confused cheerleaders.

Rick: "It's really weird seeing someone impersonating you. But at the same time Vic Reeves' impersonation of me is one of the highlights of my life. I think it's one of the best things ever. I've just been to Manila performing, and there was a guy who was a film star there at the gig. He sang Never Gonna Give You Up with me and he was hilarious. I have fun with my past, I don't carry it around in a bag with me."

Barack roll

Edited footage of his royal Obamaness, dancing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, spliced with bits of his speeches to look and sound as if he's singing the track.

Rick: "I don't trust politicians. I think that by the time they've made it, with the concessions they've had to make in that position, I don't believe they still have the beliefs they had at the root. I think it's going to be interesting because he'll be the first black president. I'd be interested to see what black people in America really see him as - a 'black person' or a democrat who happens to have dark skin. I can't get my head around it. I also have a horrible feeling that he won't last very long. It's kind of depressing."

Fox roll

April Fool's Day came in hilarious spurts for that famously mirthful news network Fox. "Project Virgle" was the name of the first permanent human colony on Mars co-funded by Virgin and Google. It didn't exist of course but was reported by Fox. "Cut to VT" and it actually cut to...

Rick: "Fair play to them for putting it on national TV. The biggest thing I heard on April Fool's Day was that if you went to YouTube every one of the videos on the homepage Rick Roll'd and went to Never Gonna Give You Up. They got in touch with me about that and asked if I wanted to get to do something for it. But I said no thanks - it's been nice to be forgotten."

Hitler roll

A subverted scene from Oliver Hirschbiegel's film about Hitler's last days, Downfall. Here, Hitler is going over possible rap acts that will play his birthday party (Snoop, a reunited NWA). A henchman tells Adolf that Dr Dre has emailed the Fuhrer a link to his latest release. Hitler doesn't find it very amusing.

Rick: "Oh god! That's not as bad as Reich Roll'd though - footage of Hitler giving all his infamous speeches overdubbed with Never Gonna Give You Up. That's pushing it. I'm 42 and I could have had a tangible connection to anything from world war two. For the younger generation though it's ancient history, so it's probably not too distasteful to them."

Scientology roll

Xenu was kicked to the kerb, when a post pointing to a "Scientology Video Channel" was actually... yes you guessed it.

Rick: "That's kind of spooky that one. 'Scientology' always makes me think of that movie V where that woman takes off her mask of human flesh to reveal her true, alien self. I know that I'll probably be off Tom Cruise's Christmas list for saying that. Did I see the Oprah couch jump? No it's kind of hard to watch that... You never know if that was a publicity stunt or whatever. But he can do whatever he wants - he's one of the biggest, most bankable stars in the world isn't he?

Station roll

A huge crowd of "real" people get together at Liverpool Street Station in London to sing Never Gonna Give You Up in unison. Lots of camera phones, drunk City boys and missed trains to Wivenhoe.

Rick: "Someone emailed me about this. He'd received a chain email and called me up a couple of days before. It happened on a Friday at 6pm. By the evening it was all over YouTube. I watched those, it was so funny to get everyone in Liverpool Street Station to sing a pop song from 1987."

· See also: KISS get rolled; New York Met fans vote on a new theme... all these and more can be found at tinyurl.com/guiderickrolls

Speaking of new kinds of "Rick Rolls", this god-awful thing is starting to make it's rounds. This Muppets version is one of my favorites and finally is a scary Rick Roll. Finally, here's yet another site on everything Rick. Have fun!







Now that I've given you so much ammo, go out and troll all the local forums!