Julie Brown brings her kooky humor to two new songs
Julie Brown is the hilarious redhead known for her 1980s hits “The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun”, “Trapped In the Body of A White Girl,” and for her movie “Earth Girls Are Easy.”
Julie Brown brings her kooky humor to two new songs
Julie Brown is the hilarious redhead known for her 1980s hits “The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun”, “Trapped In the Body of A White Girl,” and for her movie “Earth Girls Are Easy.”
The actress/comedienne/singer/songwriter’s career started in the comedy clubs of L.A. and San Francisco where she often parodied Madonna and Valley Girl culture. She appeared in several movies, including “Clueless” and had a popular show on MTV called “Just Say Julie.”
With recent roles on “The Middle” and “Camp Rock” (which she also co-wrote) and a writing gig on the show “Melissa & Joey”, Brown could’ve continued on her writing/acting path, but she was inspired to return to her song parodying ways. She recently released “Big Clown Pants” which was inspired by Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and “Another Drunk Chick” inspired by Kesha’s “Tik Tok.” Her new album, Smell The Glamour, features new songs, plus past hits “Cause I’m a Blonde,” “Latin Boys,” “I Want To Be Gay” and “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun.”
Hotspots caught up with Brown to find out more.
HOTSPOTS MAGAZINE: I want to let you know that in the ’80s, I used to take pictures of your hair to the salon because I was obsessed with the color.
JULIE BROWN: How funny! I had this crazy hair dresser, Lori Davis, who was a hairdresser to the stars. You wouldn’t picture that when you saw her- she looked like a crazy person, but she had this big following and I would see Cher and Maria Shriver there.
You recently parodied Kesha and Gaga. Are you a big fan of theirs?
No, I wasn’t. What happened was that my son got old enough – he turned 16 – and I thought, ‘I can do crazy music again.’ I heard Kesha’s song- it’s catchy, but ridiculous. I pushed it further and did a whole anthem for drunk chicks called “Another Drunk Chick.” I’m not a huge fan of Kesha, but I am a huge fan of Lady Gaga. She is the new Madonna- so talented! For her, I was a huge fan right away. With Lady Gaga, I thought I would do music as if Lady Gaga was doing comedy. I still really want to do a video with really hot clowns.
You wrote Camp Rock, which I saw – it was really cute! Did you know it was going to be a Jonas Brothers movie while you were writing it and did you know it would be so big?
I didn’t know it would be a Jonas Brothers film. I was writing it with my brother. We wrote it for one of my brother’s friends and we thought the idea of a rock camp for kids would be a cool thing. It’s sort of a rich kids thing, so we were like, “How can we make this girl likable?” That’s how she became the cook’s daughter. We wrote it for two years.
We got a call that the Jonas Brothers would be attached to the movie. Then I started to hear about them. When we were on the set, we had to change the name because girls were trying to find them in the woods in Canada. Girls were lining the streets screaming and screaming in New York at the premiere.
What did you think of the Jonas Brothers?
The Jonas Brothers – they do have a good sense of humor. They are more normal than you think they would be. They’re really normal kids. They’re super polite.
You’ve spoofed Madonna, who Gaga has been compared to. Do you see a lot of likeness between the two?
I am a huge fan of Madonna, so I feel almost sacreligious saying this – I feel like she’s run out of ideas. I feel like she’s doing the same thing over and over. I wish she did music with more depth. Since she’s in her 50s she can be amazing and enlightening. She’s doing stupid disco music and dating guys who are 22. I want to slap her. I would love to do a spoof on her now- she is funny in a whole other way now. Did you see these guys she’s dating?
Oh, yes.
They’re gorgeous, but I just don’t get it.
I’m just upset about her bad plastic surgery.
The plastic surgery is weird. I don’t have anything against plastic surgery- it’s like some people don’t do the right things. Like Sophia Loren – she looks great. Then you see Madonna. Did you see the Black Swan? Barbara Hershey looks like she just went crazy with plastic surgery. I guess like with anything, you can abuse it
Who do you find funny?
I think Kathy Griffin is really funny. She does amazing stand up. I also like Catherine O’Hara, Jon Stewart, Bill Hader, Steve Carrell, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Bette Midler – there’s so many!
Did you always have a gay following?
Yes, yes I have. I first went to acting school and did an insane comedy show there and I got booked in nightclubs in San Francisco and gay men would just show up and I didn’t really understand why. The gay men were so supportive – they are amazing. And if they like you, they like you forever. From that point on, I got it – they’re going to show up and be there for me. They’ve been incredible. They’re the best audience- very loud and expressive.
For more information, visit www.juliebrown.com
