And, we're back with more television! Frankly, it seems that there's just no bottom to the barrel of hilarious televised moments popping up as of late. Last night's gem, is one of the funniest things the editors of OptimusCrime Halifax has seen in weeks. As a matter of fact, this is an Optimuscrime double-bill, with two offices jumping on this train almost.. 'in sync'.

To summarize: Ashlee Simpson makes an appearance on television's Saturday Night Live this weekend. She takes the stage with the rest of her band, and the music starts. The bass, guitar, and drummer all come in on cue, and then, to poor Ashlee's dismay, the pre-recorded vocal track starts up about 5 seconds too early. We're not talking about backup vocals here folks, we're talking about pre-recorded lead vocals, and a microphone that's not on: Full-out lip-syncing caught in the act. A prop microphone dangling at waist-level, a terrible distraction-style hoedown, and finally a look of pure red-faced chagrin as a bell rings and a pop star loses her wings.

Awesome.

Sure, it's only about a minute long, and sure most of the joke is over in about ten seconds. But just think about that national expose, that little peek through the keyhole in the pop music industry door. It was visually humble, but the breadth and scope of the hilarity was astounding. Poor Ashlee Simpson, dancing an embarrassing impromptu jig, with nothing to hold on to. Talk about a humbling experience. She's like 19 years old? That's got to be rough. Not rough in a "Oh, poor Ashlee, she worked so hard.." kind of way, but in a "Shit. You spend two years of your life, climbing the lucky ladder to fame, and suddenly, all those months of not learning how to sing a song in a live performance.. It's like it was all for nothing!"

My favourite part took place a couple seconds after Miss Simpson walked off the stage, and her 'too indy for indy, wicked-hip' backup band is left to continue actually playing their actual instruments, and they exchange these priceless looks of "Holy shit! Did that actually just happen? Awesome!" while trying to keep from outright grinning.

Simpson later blamed the band, and then the audio-techs for the mistake. She claimed that it was actually the backup tracks that we heard. But I think the Optimuscrime audience and editors know the difference between a backup vocal track, and a lead vocal track, thank you very much, Ashlee.

From a Lucky Magazine interview:

LM: What are your takes on lip-synching?

AS: I'm totally against it and offended by it. I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me.