James Corden, host of the "Late Late Show," showed off his singing talent with "Big Bang Theory" star Jim Parsons in a rollicking funny spoof of "Dust in the Wind." Dressed in the same attire as Kansas lead singer Steve Walsh in the original music video, Corden was adorned in a brash 70's over-the-top pink frilled, long tipped, collared shirt. Jim Parsons played the violinist Robby Steinhardt, with his face barely visible underneath a lion-like mane of hair. Strumming their guitars and doing vocal backup at the front of the stage were two additional actors who portrayed guitarists Kerry Livgren and Rich Williams.
Parody imitates original with deadly seriousness
To appreciate the parody, you need to watch the official music video which was directed by English TV director/producer Bruce Gowers, known for his work on the music video for Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Standing on a plain studio set, Corden and Parsons stared out into the camera with straight-faced earnestness as the music piped in and they began singing the lyrics to the song. Corden's vocals created an impressively similar, haunting sound, while Parsons' harmonizing, though not as strong as Corden's lead, was still fairly decent. But don't let the impressive cover distract you from the tongue-in-cheek ridiculousness of the video.
Pink frills and hair overcome Corden and Parsons
What began as a serious rendition of the original video became off-the-wall hilarious as Corden's pink frilled shirt became a living creature, growing frillier and larger with every verse. In the meantime, Parson played the violin, his fingers squeezing the neck and fingerboard like a stress ball instead of pressing on individual strings, with his bow weaving back and forth miraculously in sync with the music, while his expressionless eyes peered out from his hair and beard, which grew longer and wilder with each passing note.
The humour is multiplied when the accompanying guitarists peered over their shoulders and reacted visibly to the unbelievable shirt and hair growth overcoming their lead vocalists. The finale of the song revealed that both Corden and Parsons were now piles of pink frills and hair. What was left of them was dust in the wind.
Watch the video in the tweet below:
Kansas were on the show last night performing Dust in The Wind. https://t.co/3AStIrOX90
— James Corden (@JKCorden) January 5, 2017