Will I Make It Through The 80s?

December 30, 2008 8:14 PM

Hey, what ever happened to Julie Brown? ( not that one) She was a hit in Earth Girls Are Easy with her number, Cause I'm a Blonde. She had another hit with the Dr. Demento staple The Homecoming Queens' Got a Gun! Then she faded into the cultural-artifact twilight ...

She kept up the songs, expressing her taste in men, fighting women, and wondering if she'll make it through the decade. Julie appeared in a few good TV shows and some bad movies. (She was even on Werid Al!) MTV gave her an odd, short-lived show, Just Say Julie! She continued music parodies with Medusa: Dare To Truth, a giddy parody of Madonna's documentary. Nowadays, she's mostly at home, working on a web-based comeback. She even has a blog.

posted by The Whelk (37 comments total)

Looooooooooove Julie Brown. Don't forget her winning turn as Miss Liberty in the criminally underlooked Spirit of '76!
posted by dhammond at 8:32 PM on December 30, 2008

I expect to be seeing her on HSN shilling skincare products (like Stallone's wife) or figure flattering undergarments (like Rhonda Shear remember her?) any day now...
posted by MikeMc at 8:40 PM on December 30, 2008

OMG, next on MetaFilter, Pauly Shore!

srsly, fun post, thanks!
posted by not_on_display at 8:42 PM on December 30, 2008

I expect to be seeing her on HSN shilling skincare products or figure flattering undergarments any day now

I don't think I truly accepted my mortality until I saw my childhood crush, Lindsay Wagner - the Bionic Woman - selling comfort mattresses on television.
posted by Joe Beese at 8:44 PM on December 30, 2008

like Rhonda Shear remember her?

"Learn about Rhonda’s bra standards and see some that measure up. Watch and learn." (NSFW)

I just thought this deserved its own link.
posted by Joe Beese at 8:49 PM on December 30, 2008

I don't think I truly accepted my mortality until I saw my childhood crush, Lindsay Wagner - the Bionic Woman - selling comfort mattresses on television.

I had such a crush on her when I was a kid. I probably have a shot with her now....
posted by tenmuses at 8:50 PM on December 30, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Watch and learn." (NSFW)

I'm watching, I'm not sure if I'm learning but I'm definitely watching.
posted by MikeMc at 8:52 PM on December 30, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Also: if I'm any indication, Julie's fanbase is now old enough that they'd prefer she post in a larger font.
posted by Joe Beese at 8:54 PM on December 30, 2008

Earth Girls are Easy
Jeff Goldblum's fuzziest role.
And isn't Jim Carrey a delight with no lines at all?
posted by hexatron at 8:59 PM on December 30, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

And isn't Jim Carrey a delight with no lines at all?

He does say "Wiploc" a couple of times.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 9:07 PM on December 30, 2008

hell, I STILL have a crush on her. I wish full episodes of "Just Say Julie" were available on the interwebs. Seeing old clips of her remind me why I had the crush in the first place (and it explains a couple girlfriends)..
posted by ianaces at 9:45 PM on December 30, 2008

tenmuses, I feel the same way about Rhonda Shear. I don't think I had much of a shot when I was 20 and she was 39. But not, I'm 35 and she's still pretty rad. I mean, she sells lingerie for cripes sake. Do you think she reads the blue? ;)
posted by bpm140 at 12:12 AM on December 31, 2008

She was good crazy.
posted by bardic at 12:49 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I don't think I truly accepted my mortality until I saw my childhood crush, Lindsay Wagner - the Bionic Woman - selling comfort mattresses on television.

Still, better to have former TV-celebrities selling mattresses than for them to go wacko-crazy on their blog like Victoria Jackson seems to have done.
posted by blueberry at 1:25 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Victoria Jackson was a celebrity?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 3:59 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oh, my god. I missed you, Julie Brown. Please, pay no attention to the large Ally Sheedy shrine in my living room. A passing fancy. There was never anyone but you.
posted by steef at 6:58 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wow, check out that Victoria Jackson blog. Particularly the 11/13/08 entry. (Sorry, no permalinks.) Too good not to quote extensively:

They replied that the "...has some traits that resemble the Antichrist" comment was the phrase most offensive to some people. That word is not a curse word and wasn't meant to be rude or offensive. It is simply a term in eschatology, and I was making an observation. (It's funny that the word "Antichrist" was used in reference to President Bush many times, and no one seemed to mind.)
...
Voters in our last election did not base their decision on facts or knowledge, but on hype, emotion, peer pressure, and racial fervor. It didn't help that the liberally biased media blocked Americans access to the truth. (Fox News is the only news show that even resembles journalism).

BTW, I missed Julie Brown. Glad she's still around.
posted by PlusDistance at 7:18 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Victoria Jackson was a celebrity?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 3:59 AM on December 31

<plateobeans onconsideration="facepalm">
Well, she was a widely recognized and frequent performer on a widely recognized tv show. This doesn't really say anything about the quality of her work, just that she was, and remains, relatively well known compared to the average person, or even many other prominent individuals. While I'd describe myself of a detractor of SNL, and usually see a performer's membership in it as a mark of mediocrity, I actually thought she was mildly amusing in a lightweight, unchallenging sort of way. I think her blog is compliant with Poe's law.

In any case, though she is a blonde, she's no Julie Brown.
</plateobeans>
posted by Reverend John at 7:22 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Julie Brown=smart, funny, curvy, redhead=teh hawt.
posted by jonmc at 7:27 AM on December 31, 2008

This is great! I was just thinking about her yesterday, no kidding. Cute, hot, funny. It don't get no better.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 7:32 AM on December 31, 2008

I believe Victoria Jackson was romantically involved with Weird Al for a while, which is an interesting mental picture.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:16 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

The Homecoming Queen's got a gun is a classic.
posted by zzazazz at 8:43 AM on December 31, 2008

My best friend's on a shooting spree, stop it, Debbie, you're embarrassing me.

Now that's poetry.
posted by zzazazz at 8:44 AM on December 31, 2008

Victoria Jackson also costarred with Clayton "I sort of look like Joe Isuzu, don't I?" Rohner in a not-that-great episode of the X-Files. Take that, Julie Brown. Or something.
posted by cortex at 8:53 AM on December 31, 2008

"I did it ... for Johnny!"
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:21 AM on December 31, 2008

Talk about synchronicity, I just ordered the full season of her short lived, but totally-worth-watching, Comedy Central series Strip Mall, a show which should totally be in rerun somewhere.
posted by nomisxid at 9:36 AM on December 31, 2008

Ooooo, Strip Mall! The only thing I remember about that series was it's insanely catchy theme tune. Do do do dah dah da do ...at the strip mall!

More Julie Brown nuggets, a stage-reading of Earth Girls Are Easy with ...Kristin Chenoweth?!
posted by The Whelk at 9:52 AM on December 31, 2008

Now that you mention it, nomisxid, that "Strip Mall" series is the reason for Strangers with Candy's cancellation.
posted by pxe2000 at 10:50 AM on December 31, 2008

She's still around. Remember the Madonna documentary parody

Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful from '92?

More recently, she mocks Sarah Palin, including "The Ex-Beauty Queen's Got a Gun."
posted by doncoyote at 11:46 AM on December 31, 2008

What, no love for Plump Fiction? I laughed my ass off, mainly because the "travolta" (Paul Dinelo) character was a dead ringer for a close friend, down to the hair and mannerisms and white button-down shirt.

And it had too little of Judy Tenuda. But even a little is great.
posted by lysdexic at 12:43 PM on December 31, 2008

sigh. ok, Dinello, and Tenuta. Less liquor, more editing
posted by lysdexic at 12:52 PM on December 31, 2008

Voters in our last election did not base their decision on facts or knowledge, but on hype, emotion, peer pressure, and racial fervor.

This was sadly true for many, but fortunately for all of us they were outnumbered by Obama supporters.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:12 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

(She was even on Werid Al!)
I'd believe that this happened at some point, but that link is to a celebrity episode of the MTV game show Remote Control and she never gets on Weird Al once in it. I enjoyed the link anyway though.
posted by DanielDManiel at 5:46 PM on December 31, 2008

It warmed my heart that in an age of Perfect Media Solutions and Advanced PR Roll-Out Sub Routines, Julie Brown has the chatty, rambling blog of a sugared-up 16 year old. It makes delicious sense.
posted by The Whelk at 5:54 PM on December 31, 2008

Julie Brown was on the Stephanie Miller radio show just before the election. She had an updated version of 'The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun' aimed at Sarah Palin. You can hear it online somewhere. I think her site sells it.
posted by jfrancis at 10:46 PM on December 31, 2008

"Then she faded into the cultural-artifact twilight ..."

No, I'm pretty sure she was the centerpiece of one of the most underrated sketch comedy shows of the 90s, The Edge. THEN she faded.
posted by Eideteker at 8:48 PM on January 1

No, I'm pretty sure she was the centerpiece of one of the most underrated sketch comedy shows of the 90s, The Edge. THEN she faded.

The "Few" link goes to The Edge. Youtube has a few sketches.
posted by The Whelk at 9:24 AM on January 2