Top 5 Parodies of Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face'

Nov. 5, 2009— -- Lady Gaga had to know this was coming: With a hit as infectious as "Poker Face," parodies are pretty much a given.

Gaga's song, which has reached No. 1 status in almost 20 countries, remains a pop culture anthem more than a year after its September 2008 release. It's bumped in clubs and at the gym; it's hummed by celebrities and common folk. And, of course, it has inspired a host of imitators. Below, check out five of the greatest TV and Internet takeoffs on the dance ditty du jour, "Poker Face": But, first, if you've never heard the original, CLICK HERE to find out what's inspired dozens of imitators.

1. Christopher Walken's Poetic Reading of "Poker Face"

Christopher Walken gave Gaga's work the dramatic treatment only an Oscar-winning actor could when he appeared last weekend on the BBC show "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross." Replete with overly enunciated exclamations of "Oh! Oh-oh-oh!" and a downright dictatorial "I'll get him hot, show him what I've got," Walken turned the pop hit into spoken-word hilarity.

2. "South Park's" Politically Incorrect "Poker Face"

Not only do Cartman and company love to rock out to "Poker Face" via Rock Band (for the record, the song isn't actually available for play on the uber-popular video game), they also think its "sweeeeet" because it gets them out of campaigning for whales and dolphins being slaughtered in Japan. On Oct. 28's episode of "South Park," Cartman, Kenny and Kyle jam to Gaga's hit before do-gooder Stan interrupts and admonishes them for being too busy to join his fight to save sea mammals. Cartman responds with, "I'm not too busy, Stan, I just don't care at all," before launching into a modified version of "Poker Face": "I don't give a crap about whales, so go and hug a tree."

3. Justin Timberlake's "Mediocre Face"

Sure, Justin Timberlake brought sexy back, but perhaps needs to prove his pop star prowess now that Gaga's topping the charts. On May 9's edition of "Saturday Night Live," Timberlake parodied a host of popular hits in "Plasticville," a sketch about a plastic surgery clinic amping up its sidewalk advertising campaign. Dressed as a 34DD breast implant, Timberlake belted out his rendition of Gaga's hit, changing her line "Can't read my, can't read my, no you can't read my poker face" to "Just change my, just change my, come on and change my mediocre face."

4. "Poker Face" ... or "Butterface"?

But parodies aren't just for professionals. Online video genius "Lady Gag" turned Gaga's "Poker Face" into "Butterface," an homage to the pop culture insult for a girl who's hot everywhere ... but her face. The video, which has been viewed almost 70,000 times since it was posted on YouTube in March, features a dude dressed like a lady gyrating to Gaga's beat and screeching hilariously modified lyrics including "Can't believe, can't believe, you can't believe my butterface" and "But my body's like a Barbie and my face is like a Ken."

5. "Poker Face" Turns PSA

What better way to teach teens not to smoke than by producing a PSA-style video set to the tune of the song they blast on their iPods? To be sure, the online video "Smokerface," which has generated close to 60,000 views on YouTube since going up in April, is a lot more vulgar than the anti-smoking commercials shown on TV, and it features video of people who don't smoke at all, like Hillary Clinton. But the chorus drives the message home: "You have got, you have got, a very wrinkly smoker face (yellow skin and barely breathing.)"

BONUS! 6. GOP Goes Gaga Route to Woo Young'ns

It's not a "Poker Face" parody, but for the sake of proving the reach of Gaga's influence, take note of the Republican party's recent effort to reach out to young voters: "Just Tax," an online video that takes off on Gaga's first mainstream hit, "Just Dance."

Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) debuted the clip at a Republican conference meeting in July to a crowd that, according to House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN), might have previously assumed Lady Gaga to be the name of a toy for babies, not a pop star. The music video features a young, well-dressed dude crooning about America's ever-expanding national debt. Where Gaga's solution to drinking too much in the club is to "Just dance," the GOP's solution is to "Just tax, gonna be OK, do-do-do-do-do-do/Just tax, spread the love around do-do-do-do." Surely it's only a matter of time (and an applicable Gaga hit) before the Dems strike back.