it's in the news #1

Introduction: Every day, TVB Musings Daily publishes a paper to cover the latest news. Now, TVB Musings is launching a new program to highlight the very best in news published from TVB Musings Daily called It's In The News.

It's In The News is a new on-going news-inspired and based satirical series. I tricked quite a lot of people with my Charmaine Sheh Joining Seeking Happiness report and had a lot of fun writing that particular satire teasing Michelle Ye (and to some extent Charmaine). I was watching Saturday Night Live a few months ago and they had this segment of fake reporting/news and although it wasn't very funny, it gave me an idea. Why not continue with faux reports that tease current events in the news in application with the TVB world? Hence, It's In The News was born. Reports featured are not real news even though they look purposely very authentic. With these satires, you either will get them... or you won't. If you get it on first read, then that's great. If not, following each "report" is a commentary to explain the humor. Without ado, enjoy the first installment.

A joke gone too far? Yoyo Mung angers Bobby Au-Yeung by placing an unidentified and potentially threatening sticker over his mouth!

[TVB Musings Daily 22/11/06]

"I don't know where your sticker's been!"

Bobby Au-Yeung, Yoyo Mung, Wong Hei, and Tavia Yeung appeared together for the costume fitting of Producer Mui Siu Ching's new production, Trouble Daddy. Whether on screen or off, Bobby is always the jokester. He livened the gathering by constantly teasing Yoyo. In particular, he talked about her relationship with Ekin Cheng.

To retaliate, Yoyo grabbed one of the promotional stickers and plopped it onto Bobby's mouth to stop him from talking!

Bobby appeared horrified by the action, but he played it cool as he took pictures with Yoyo with the tape on his mouth. After Bobby took the sticker off of his mouth, we went over to interview him. Yoyo was still standing by his side.

(You surely shut him up!) Yoyo smiles, "A girl has to do what she has to do. It was the only way."

"I can take a joke, but did you have to resort to that sticker Yoyo?" Bobby asked.

"Huh?"

"There are many ways for a girl to shut a guy up. Tears, kisses, and slaps are some of those ways. Of course, I only expect you to use those with Ekin. For good friends like us, a simple act of covering my mouth up with your hand would have sufficed!" Bobby explains.

"It was a more permanent way," Yoyo laughs. "Besides, you could have bitten my hand or something."

"I don't know where your sticker's been. That was very unprofessional."

Yoyo is silent and awkward, not knowing how to reply.

Bobby continues, "If you had used your hands, it would have been okay. We're not strangers, so I trust that you're not dirty and you're not sick today, so you won't give me any immediately infective germs. Even if you've been touching someone else, it would only have been Ekin. But that sticker... I have no idea where it's been. Who knows how many microorganisms it has collected since it was made? That was too much. Now, I have this bad glue taste in my whole mouth area."

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Bobby ends with a joke, "But, it ripped some hair off my face, so that saves me a shaving job tomorrow! It was a mini-wax!"

Yoyo forces a laugh and quickly changes the topic by talking about the series and her role.

After the two were separated, we interviewed Yoyo towards the side.

(Did you expect Bobby to react like that?) "No. I still don't see what's so wrong about it. We were just joking around." (He said it was because he didn't know where your sticker has been.) "Well, I don't know where his hands have been either but I still let him wrap his arm around my shoulder." (Your shoulder was layered and there's no direct path for germs to enter.) Yoyo shrugs her shoulders.

We then interviewed Bobby.

(Do you think you overreacted? Yoyo still doesn't see what the big deal is.) "Overreact? No way! The mouth is a very sensitive area because it can lead into the internal body. I don't know how many germs have traveled into my mouth thanks to Yoyo!" (But the sticky part was covered before she peeled it off to place it over your mouth. Besides, hands carry a significant amount of germs at any given time. Would you really have preferred her to cover your mouth with her hand instead?) "That doesn't change anything. It was still unprofessional and very uncalled for. Joking or not, people just don't place things where they don't know about its whereabouts and origin in front of other people's mouths!"

Behind The Satire: To understand this satire, you have to be familiar with the current Kelly Ripa/Clay Aiken controversy in the US. There's a talk show called Live with Regis and Kelly that airs weekdays in the morning on ABC. On the particular day the "incident" happened, "American Idol" finalist/pop star Clay was co-hosting the show with Kelly in place of her normal co-host. They were interviewing some people and because Kelly kept talking, Clay couldn't get a word in. He then playfully covers her mouth with his hand to "shut her up." Kelly was absolutely appalled by the action. She didn't conceal her disgust and exclaimed it was "unprofessional." She then said, "I don't know where your hands have been." Those words sparked the whole controversy. Some people are saying that Kelly overreacted and that she's a hypocrite because she has done the same thing (covering her hand over someone else's mouth) to Regis Philbin. Others say that Clay was wrong to have done that because hands do indeed carry a lot of germs and it's the cold and flu season. Some also claim that Kelly's remark was a personal attack towards Clay.

I think the whole controversy is amusing and thought it applied really well with the Bobby and Yoyo pictures and the action of her "shutting him up" with a sticker to stop his teasing, so I decided to do a satire with a spin on the Kelly/Clay controversy. Anyways, I hope you guys "got" this satire after I explained it... I'm worried that no one will find it funny.