| Bad Lip Reading | |
| Views: | 1.46 billion |
| Stats Update: | August 17, 2023 |
| Subscribers: | 8.17 million |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Channel Name: | BadLipReading |
| Years Active: | 2011–present |
Bad Lip Reading is a YouTube channel created and run by an anonymous producer who intentionally lip-reads video clips poorly, for comedic effect. Rolling Stone described the channel as "the breakout hit" of the 2012 United States presidential cycle. As of August 2023, the channel had amassed over 8.17 million subscribers and over a billion video views.[1] Some of the channel's original songs are available on Spotify and Apple Music.[2]
The "Bad Lip Reader" behind the channel is an anonymous music and video producer from Texas.[3] The first Bad Lip Reading video released was a spoof of Rebecca Black's song "Friday", titled "Gang Fight".[4] New music and lyrics were matched to Black's video to make it appear as though she were singing about gang warfare. The "Gang Fight" YouTube video, released in March 2011, earned BLR a million hits and thousands of subscribers.
More spoof videos followed, including interpretations of The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" (a viral video called "Everybody Poops"); Taylor Swift's "Our Song" ("(Rockin') All Nite Long"); and Michael Bublé's "Haven't Met You Yet". The latter was transformed into the "electronica-inspired" "Russian Unicorn", which Bublé himself praised as his "new favorite song" and "one of the coolest things I've ever seen".
In September 2011, BLR branched out from pop singers to politicians with a "bad lip-reading" of Texas governor and US Presidential hopeful Rick Perry. BLR replaced clips of Perry with invented dialogue matched to his lip movements. After airing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the video was featured by news and media outlets across the United States, leading to a sudden surge in Bad Lip Reading's popularity. Following the Perry spoof, BLR released bad lip-readings of President Obama, Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.
In November 2012 the channel began overdubbing popular movie and television shows. BLR's version of Twilight quickly went viral, followed by parodies of The Hunger Games; The Walking Dead; and Game of Thrones (such as their song "Carl Poppa".) videos have been well-received not only by the public, but also by the cast and creators of the properties being spoofed. In her online blog, Elizabeth Banks—Jennifer Lawrence's co-star in The Hunger Games—said, "Bad Lip Reading is awesome. I was introduced to it by none other than Jennifer Lawrence. Yup — she saw this, people. And she laughed. And so did I. A lot."[5] Lawrence's co-star Josh Hutcherson also praised the video, tweeting it to his fans.
In January 2013 BLR released a bad lip reading of National Football League players, coaches, and referees, which became the channel's most popular video. A second NFL video followed in 2014,[6] [7] and a third was released in 2015.[8] The NFL Bad Lip Reading video became an annual event for the channel, with each video being released shortly before the Super Bowl.
In a Rolling Stone interview, the producer behind the Bad Lip Reading videos said that he first encountered the technique of lip reading when his mother, then in her 40s, lost her hearing due to unknown causes. While she excelled at lip reading, he was unable to pick up the skill despite trying: "I was terrible at it."
In 2013, Bad Lip Reading won the Webby Awards' People's Voice Award for "Comedy: Long Form or Series". In April 2014, BLR won the American Comedy Award for Best Viral Video for its "NFL: A Bad Lip Reading" video. Patrick Stewart accepted the award on BLR's behalf during the televised ceremony on NBC.
On June 8, 2014 the BLR Facebook page announced the release of the full version of "Modify" by Kniles, a song that has been used in multiple BLR productions. The fact that this song was used without previous attribution, as well as stylistic similarities to other BLR-produced songs, have prompted speculation that Kniles is another pseudonym for the individual behind Bad Lip Reading.[9]
In December 2015, Bad Lip Reading simultaneously released three new videos, one for each of the three films in the original Star Wars trilogy. These videos used guest voices for the first time, featuring Jack Black as Darth Vader, Maya Rudolph as Princess Leia, and Bill Hader in multiple roles.[10] The Empire Strikes Back BLR video featured a scene of Yoda singing to Luke Skywalker about an unfortunate encounter with a seagull on the beach. BLR later expanded this scene into a full-length stand-alone song called "Seagulls! (Stop It Now)", which was released in November 2016 (eventually hitting #1 on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks chart.[11]) As of December 2018, the video for "Seagulls! (Stop It Now)" is Bad Lip Reading's most viewed YouTube upload and most popular musical production. In the song, Yoda sings to Luke Skywalker about the dangers posed by vicious seagulls if one dares to go to the beach. Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films, publicly praised "Seagulls!" (and Bad Lip Reading in general) while speaking at Star Wars Celebration in 2017: "I love them, and I showed Carrie [Fisher] the Yoda one... we were dying. I showed it to her in her trailer. She loved it. I retweeted it... and [BLR] contacted me and said ‘Do you want to do Bad Lip Reading?’ And I said, ‘I'd love to...’”. Hamill and Bad Lip Reading collaborated on Bad Lip Reading's version of The Force Awakens, with Hamill providing the voice of Han Solo.[12] As of July 16, 2020, the video has more than 111 million views.
The Star Wars Trilogy Bad Lip Reading videos led to a second musical number, "Bushes of Love", which featured Ben Kenobi singing to Luke Skywalker about the perils of love. The song hit #2 on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks chart.[13] Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda described the song as "THE summer jam of 2017".[14]
A Bad Lip Reading of the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical premiered as a half-hour special on July 11, 2016 on Disney XD. Similarly, a half-hour Bad Lip Reading version of Descendants aired on November 18, 2017.
In January 2017, BLR released a Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump's inauguration, which quickly went viral, amassing over 36 million views in 2017 alone. YouTube ranked the video at #7 on its list of the Top Ten Trending Videos of 2017.[15]
In May 2018, BLR released "Royal Wedding", a Bad Lip Reading of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The video quickly went viral, amassing millions of hits. When YouTube revealed the top trending videos of 2018, "Royal Wedding" ranked third in the UK, just behind the actual wedding itself.
In March 2019, BLR released "Chocolate Lagoon", a Bad Lip Reading of the live performance of "Shallow" by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga at the 91st Academy Awards ceremony.[16] [17] On Christmas Day, 25 December 2019, they released another Star Wars-themed music video, "My Stick", which is a sequel to "Seagulls! (Stop It Now)".
In July 2022, BLR released a five-part interpretation of the musical Hamilton.[18] Re-imagined as "Axe-Assassin Albertson", the project revolves around a post-apocalyptic backstory in which an Artificial Intelligence in the year 2122 attempts to restore the missing soundtrack to Hamilton by analyzing the lips of the performers. In addition to replacing several of the production's musical numbers with original songs featuring nonsensical lyrics, many songs were transformed into spoken word dialogue scenes. Upon its release, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda shared the video with his fans: "Thanks @badlipreading. You've made my life."[19] Bad Lip Reading himself tweeted that the project was begun as a way of personally coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.[20] An accompanying 10-song Axe-Assassin Albertson album was released on July 17, 2022, featuring full-length versions of all the songs heard in the video series.
One of Bad Lip Reading's works, "Dirty Spaceman", a redubbing of "Check It Out" by Will.i.am featuring Nicki Minaj, was taken down due to a claim of copyright infringement. It is unclear whether Universal Music issued a formal DMCA takedown request or else YouTube's Content ID Match system detected the work and removed it automatically.[21]
In March 2012, the video "Beard With Glue", a bad lip reading of "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt, was taken down by Warner Music Group on a copyright claim. Unlike "Dirty Spaceman", the claim was soon released, however, and the video was returned in October 2011.[22] "Gang Fight" had been similarly taken down the previous year, in 2011, but returned. UMG has also taken down "(Rockin') All Nite Long", the Taylor Swift spoof that features Wiz Khalifa. BLR's parody of "Hot Problems", "Time to Rock", was also taken down, but later returned.
BLR did a redubbing of "Girls Like You" by Maroon 5 called "Haiku", released on 12 October 2018, but the video was taken down later the same day.
Another bad lip reading of "You Need To Calm Down" by Taylor Swift, "Lushfull", was taken down in June 2019.
| Artist | Featuring | Original song(s) | Release date(s) | BLR song | Upload date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Friday" | Mar 14, 2011 | "Gang Fight" | Mar 21, 2011 | |||
| "That Should Be Me" | Mar 19, 2010 | "Asian Baby" | Mar 24, 2011 | |||
| "Boom Boom Pow" | Mar 30, 2009 | "Everybody Poops" | Mar 29, 2011 | |||
| "Party in the U.S.A.", "Boom" | Aug 11, 2009; Mar 8, 2011 | "Black Umbrella (The Right Stuff)" | Apr 7, 2011 | |||
| "My Chick Bad", "Too Much Heaven" | Feb 23, 2010; Oct 24, 1978 | "Magic Man" | Apr 18, 2011 | |||
| "That Should Be Me" | Mar 19, 2010 | "Hot Jumping Beans" | May 1, 2011 | |||
| "Our Song" | Aug 22, 2007 | "(Rockin') All Nite Long" | May 29, 2011 | |||
| "Haven't Met You Yet" | Aug 31, 2009 | "Russian Unicorn" | Jul 11, 2011 | |||
| "The Lazy Song", "Alejandro", "Empire State of Mind", "Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)" | Feb 15, 2011; Apr 20, 2010; Oct 20, 2009; Dec 14, 1999 | "Morning Dew" | Aug 8, 2011 | |||
| N/A | N/A | "Trick the Bridesmaid" | Sept 19, 2011 | |||
| "Check It Out" | Sept 3, 2010 | "Dirty Spaceman" | Oct 1, 2011 | |||
| "You're Beautiful" | May 30, 2005 | "Beard With Glue" | Oct 28, 2011 | |||
| "Somebody That I Used to Know" | Jul 5, 2011 | "Kicked Your Monkey" | May 3, 2012 | |||
| "Hot Problems" | Apr 15, 2012 | "Time to Rock" | May 16, 2012 | |||
| "In My Place" | Aug 5, 2002 | "Yeti" | Jul 24, 2012 | |||
| "Gotta Be You" | Nov 11, 2011 | "SHADOW PICO Trailer" | Dec 27, 2012 | |||
| "The Star-Spangled Banner" | Jan 21, 2013 | "La Fway" | Jan 26, 2013 | |||
| The Walking Dead cast | N/A | N/A | "La Bibbida-Bibbi-Dum (On Broadway)" | May 20, 2013 | ||
| N/A | N/A | "Carl Poppa" | Oct 2, 2014 | |||
| Obsidiots (Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark) | N/A | N/A | Obsidiots: Live From District 11 Song Title: "Choo Choo Go" | Nov 27, 2014 | ||
| N/A | N/A | "Bushes of Love" | Jan 1, 2016 | |||
| N/A | N/A | N/A | "Not The Future" | Feb 9, 2016 | ||
| "Can't Let Go" | 1998 | "SEAGULLS! (Stop It Now)" | Nov 25, 2016 | |||
| N/A | N/A | "Hostiles on the Hill" | Dec 18, 2017 | |||
| Donald Trump | Melania Trump | N/A | N/A | "Christmas Is Here!" | Dec 27, 2017 | |
| Donald Trump | "The Star-Spangled Banner" | Jan 8, 2018 | "Trump Anthem" | Jan 9, 2018 | ||
| N/A | N/A | "It's Not A Moon" | Mar 12, 2018 | |||
| "The Star-Spangled Banner" | Feb 18, 2018 | "Nobody Wants My Bread" | Jul 4, 2018 | |||
| "Idol" | Aug 24, 2018 | "Sample of My Pasta" | Sept 14, 2018 | |||
| Maroon 5 | Cardi B (single version only) | "Girls Like You" | May 30, 2018 | "Haiku" | Oct 12, 2018 | |
| "Shallow" | Sept 27, 2018 | "Chocolate Lagoon" | Mar 19, 2019 | |||
| Taylor Swift | "You Need To Calm Down" | June 14, 2019 | "Lushfull" | June 25, 2019 | ||
| N/A | N/A | "My Stick!" | Dec 25, 2019 | |||
| BTS | "Make it Right" (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert performance) | August 22, 2020 | "Monster Run" | Oct 31, 2020 | ||
| Dune cast | N/A | N/A | "Heaven Drips" | Nov 26, 2021 |
| Pseudonym | Song name | BLR video originally featured in | Upload date of the BLR video | Upload date of the full song | Published under | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourists | "Pockets" | "Soy Pablo" | Sep 13, 2017 | Jul 3, 2012[3] | Boxboy Records | |
| Skylons | "Holy Waterloo" | N/A | N/A | Jul 12, 2012[4] | Boxboy Records | |
| Tourists | "Fortunate Ones" (unlisted) | N/A | N/A | Jul 18, 2012[5] | Boxboy Records | |
| Airport | "Partial Arc (One Of These)" (unlisted) | N/A | N/A | Jul 26, 2012[6] | Boxboy Records | |
| Kniles | "Modify"[1][2] | "Medieval Land Fun-Time World" | Oct 16, 2013 | Jun 5, 2014 | Kniles | |
| Ansen Aldren | "Don't Fight The Warmth" | "The Force Awakens" | Apr 6, 2017 | Mar 26, 2017[7] | Partial Arc Music | |
| Glitter Job | "Ice God of Hungary" | "Stranger Things" | Dec 9, 2017 | Dec 12, 2017 | Glitter Job | |
| Faron North | "Judy Moonlight"[1] | "Interrogating Zuckerberg" | Apr 24, 2018 | May 1, 2018 | Faron North | |
| Faron North | "Drifted Gray (aka Waterfall Hear My Prayer)" | "NFL 2020" | Feb 5, 2020 | Feb 10, 2020 | Faron North |
2 Song also featured in BLR's "Star Wars" video (Dec 16, 2015)
3 Source: Archived YouTube video page (Archive.org)
4 Source: Holy Waterloo single (Apple Music)
5 Source: Fortunate Ones single (RateYourMusic.com)
6 Source: Archived YouTube channel page (Archive.org)
7 Source: Don't Fight The Warmth single (Apple Music)
| Film/TV show | Release date | BLR title(s) | Upload date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High School | Jun 1, 2012 | A BLR of a scene from "High School" | May 30, 2012 | |
| Veep | Apr 22, 2012 | Selina Meyer- A BLR Sound Bite from "Veep" | Jun 4, 2012 | |
| Jeff, Who Lives at Home | Mar 16, 2012 | Jeff, Who Lives at Home | Jul 6, 2012 | |
| Twilight | Nov 28, 2008 | Edward and Bella | Sept 4, 2012 | |
| The Hunger Games | Mar 23, 2012 | The Hunger Games | Sept 20, 2012 | |
| The Campaign | Aug 10, 2012 | Iraqi Gold | Oct 26, 2012 | |
| Nov 20, 2009 | More Twilight | Nov 21, 2012 | ||
| The Amazing Spider-Man | Jul 3, 2012 | Peter and Gwen | Mar 4, 2013 | |
| The Walking Dead | Oct 31, 2010 | The Walking (And Talking) Dead | May 2, 2013 | |
| More Walking (And Talking) Dead: Part 1 | Sept 25, 2014 | |||
| More Walking (And Talking) Dead: Part 2 | Oct 10, 2014 | |||
| Game of Thrones | Apr 17, 2011 | Medieval Land Fun-Time World — Extended Trailer | Oct 16, 2013 | |
| Bonus and Extended Scenes — Medieval Land Fun-Time World | Oct 22, 2013 | |||
| Jun 24, 2010 | Twilight III | Apr 24, 2014 | ||
| American Idol | Jun 11, 2002 | Sing-Song Contest of America | May 22, 2014 | |
| Nov 22, 2013 | More Hunger Games | Nov 27, 2014 | ||
| The Avengers | May 4, 2012 | Redneck Avengers: Tulsa Nights | May 23, 2015 | |
| Star Wars | May 25, 1977 | Star Wars: A Bad Lip Reading | Dec 16, 2015 | |
| The Empire Strikes Back | May 21, 1980 | The Empire Strikes Back: A Bad Lip Reading | Dec 16, 2015 | |
| Return of the Jedi | May 25, 1983 | Return of the Jedi: A Bad Lip Reading | Dec 16, 2015 | |
| High School Musical | Jan 20, 2006 | High School Musical: A Bad Lip Reading | Jul 11, 2016 | |
| The Force Awakens | Dec 18, 2015 | The Force Awakens: A Bad Lip Reading (Featuring Mark Hamill as Han Solo) | Apr 6, 2017 | |
| Narcos | Aug 28, 2015 | Soy Pablo Extended Trailer | Sept 13, 2017 | |
| Descendants | Jul 31, 2015 | Bad Lip Reading Presents: Descendants | Nov 18, 2017 | |
| Stranger Things | Jul 15, 2016 | Stranger Things: A Bad Lip Reading | Dec 9, 2017 | |
| More Stranger Things | Nov 28, 2019 | |||
| Hamilton | Jul 3, 2020 | Axe-Assassin Albertson | Jul 23, 2022 | |
| It | Sep 8, 2017 | Icarus Thicke — Extended Trailer | Nov 26, 2023 | |
| Nov 21, 2014 | Even More Hunger Games | Dec 20, 2023 | ||
| Nov 18, 2011 | Even More Twilight | Jan 3, 2024 |
| BLR title | Featuring | Upload date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Perry | Sept 18, 2011 | ||
| Michele Bachmann | Oct 3, 2011 | ||
| Mitt Romney | Oct 14, 2011 | ||
| Herman Cain | Oct 28, 2011 | ||
| Ron Paul | Dec 5, 2011 | ||
| Rick Santorum | Jan 31, 2012 | ||
| Newt Gingrich | Feb 7, 2012 | ||
| Joe Biden | Apr 16, 2012 | ||
| A Bad Lip Reading of Rick Perry's "Strong" Ad | May 22, 2012 | ||
| Bush & Clinton | June 28, 2012 | ||
| More Mitt | Aug 13, 2012 | ||
| Paul Ryan's Video Diary | Oct 2, 2012 | ||
| Eye of the Sparrow | Oct 9, 2012 | ||
| 2012 Debate Highlights | Nov 6, 2012 | ||
| The NFL: A Bad Lip Reading | Jan 15, 2013 | ||
| Inauguration 2013: A Bad Lip Reading | Jan 24, 2013 | ||
| 2013 Independent Spirit Awards: Best Screenplay Nominees | Feb 26, 2013 | ||
| More NFL | Jan 24, 2014 | ||
| NFL 2015 | Jan 22, 2015 | ||
| First Republican Debate Highlights: 2015 | Aug 19, 2015 | ||
| First Democratic Debate Highlights: 2015 | Oct 28, 2015 | ||
| NFL 2016: Part One | Feb 2, 2016 | ||
| NFL 2016: Part Two | Feb 5, 2016 | ||
| Ted Cruz | Mar 1, 2016 | ||
| Bernie & Hillary | Apr 21, 2016 | ||
| Cruz Talks Trump | Jul 25, 2016 | ||
| Democratic National Convention | Aug 19, 2016 | ||
| Debate Night! | Oct 6, 2016 | ||
| Presidential Poetry Slam | Oct 21, 2016 | ||
| Inauguration Day | Jan 25, 2017 | ||
| NFL 2017 | Feb 1, 2017 | ||
| Mayweather vs. McGregor | Jul 14, 2017 | ||
| NFL 2018 | Feb 3, 2018 | ||
| Interrogating Zuckerberg | Apr 24, 2018 | ||
| Royal Wedding | Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Prince William, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Michael Curry | May 22, 2018 | |
| The NBA | Jun 11, 2018 | ||
| Trump-Kim Summit | Jun 20, 2018 | ||
| White House Press Briefing | Aug 23, 2018 | ||
| Hillary Stories | Sept 26, 2018 | ||
| MLB: A Bad Lip Reading | Oct 29, 2018 | ||
| Apple Product Launch | Dec 21, 2018 | ||
| NFL 2019 | Feb 1, 2019 | ||
| State of the Union | Feb 12, 2019 | ||
| Trump in Asia | Jul 10, 2019 | ||
| Biden 2020 | Oct 17, 2019 | ||
| NFL 2020 | Feb 5, 2020 | ||
| State of the Union 2020 | Feb 27, 2020 | ||
| Trump Interview | Aug 14, 2020 | ||
| Debate Night 2020! | Oct 23, 2020 | ||
| NFL 2021 | Feb 9, 2021 | ||
| NFL 2022 | Feb 18, 2022 | ||
| Inspirational Holiday Video | Dec 22, 2022 | ||
| The House of Representatives | Feb 5, 2023 | ||
| State of the Union 2023 | May 10, 2023 | ||
| DeSantis for President | Jul 14, 2023 |