In this ruthlessly funny video–especially for such a sweet-looking young lady–singer Taylor Swift manages to ice pretty much everyone who ever dissed her.

And Kanye West’s attention-grabbing antics at the MTV Video Music Awards in September are not the only ones getting a musical smackdown from the 19-year-old, who won the Country Music Association’s entertainer of the year award last night.

In her opening on a recent “Saturday Night Live,” the NBC television comedy show, which she hosted, Swift strummed a guitar and sang “Monologue Song (La La La).”

My favorite line, which I was completely not expecting: “I like writing songs about douche bags who cheat on me.”

Sing it, sister.

Here’s the video:

It looks like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will have her hands full with pretty dicey nuclear and terrorism issues in North Korea and Pakistan this week, but she managed to find time last week to try her diplomatic hand at working out the comic state of emergency between late-night television talk show host Conan O’Brien and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

It started when O’Brien joked on “The Tonight Show”: “The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, wants to set up a citywide program to improve residents’ health. The health-care program would consist of a bus ticket out of Newark.”

As a counter-joke, Booker went to YouTube to make his comedy case several times via video messages, including one barring O’Brien from flying out of Liberty International Airport in Newark.

O’Brien whacked back with some good gibes, until Clinton stepped in this week in a spoof.

Maybe she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?

The fine folks at BarelyPolitical, who made the famous–infamous, really–Obama Girl online videos that went viral during the presidential election, have moved onto the tech sector for their comedy inspiration.

The latest Next New Networks comedy site is called BarelyDigital and is up in beta, with plans to roll out a full online network.

An NNN press release said “the vision is to feature a number of regularly scheduled shows, including product reviews, comedy sketches, mashups and remixes of tech news footage, and digital shorts.”

Apparently, Obama Girl will be making a few cameos too. Not surprisingly, the site is aimed at men aged 18 to 35 years old.

Here are the first efforts, one on a “Hipster iPod” and another below it called “YouTube Comment Fight.”

Hipster iPod:

YouTube Comment Fight

This, despite the fact that his work is supposed to mostly be on GE (GE) entertainment unit NBC Universal’s site (it owns SNL) and also the NBC-owned Hulu video site. But it is garnering fewer views in those spots, which is why Samberg’s production company–The Lonely Island–loaded it and more right up onto powerhouse YouTube.

But while “My Pants” is very funny in that overgrown teenaged boy sort of way that a lot of Samberg’s videos are, BoomTown is much more intrigued by the short episodic online comedy videos he is making with his longtime partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone (the trio is pictured here).

Their efforts are one of the few times that I have seen professional entertainment folks truly understand the Internet medium and create new and interesting pieces of content for it.

While their work seems to be done cheaply and is definitely raw, there is no skimping on true talent and creativity here or its perfect online pacing.

There is a growing number of these kinds of examples out there, such as “The Guild,” sponsored by Microsoft (MSFT), which follows a group of dysfunctional gamers.

“The Guild” appears on Xbox Live, as well as on the Web. And it is headed for its second season–after getting nine million Web views for its first season.

So, it is indeed heartening to see that there can be a new format for original programming for the Web, well beyond short one-offs and badly repurposed television-like fare.

Here’s the first episode of Lonely Island’s delicious spoof of a TV soap like “Melrose Place,” which is called “The ‘Bu.”

It is described on the site as about: “Young, sexy people that live in Malibu call it The ‘Bu, because when you say the entire word, it takes time, and then you wouldn’t be young anymore.”

And below it is a holiday song from “The Guild,” which should give you a good idea of its infectiousness and involving intimacy with the quirky characters. (The quick shot of the dog in a Santa hat at the end is genius.)

The ‘Bu:

The Guild:

The video has a star-studded cast, all singing Marc Shaiman’s “Prop 8–The Musical,” including Jack Black (as, um, Jesus), Neil Patrick Harris, John C. Reilly, Margaret Cho, Allison Janney and others.

It’s set as a musical being presented by the Sacramento Community College Players.

Prop 8, a ballot initiative passed in the November election in California, eliminated the right of gay and lesbian people to marry by overriding a state Supreme court decision and changing the state Constitution.

It is currently undergoing legal challenge.

In any case, this video is very funny, especially the part about shrimp cocktail:

Please see this disclosure related to me and gay marriage.

As BoomTown has noted, one of the best things to come out of this election has been the very funny and very topical humor that has been on "Saturday Night Live" in this political cycle.

Headlined by Tina Fey's perfect impression of Republican VP candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the offerings from the comedy television show has been biting without stooping to the rank meanness from so many other places by both sides.

Last night, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain--who has been on SNL before (his "John McCain Sings Barbra Streisand" skit was really a gem from that appearance)--was in two skits on the show and did a great job in both.

The first was a really clever opening sketch in which he and Fey as Palin appeared on the QVC cable shopping network, sheepishly explaining that they could not afford to buy time on the major networks as Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama did last week.

Money quote from McCain: "I'm a true maverick, a Republican without money."

Along with a set of "John McCain Pork Knives" and "McCain Fine Gold" (with Cindy McCain as the comely demoer), Fey (as Palin) goes rogue and starts selling "Palin in 2012" T-shirts.

In a second appearance on "Weekend Update," McCain did another nice turn, running through a series of new strategies to win, such as "The Sad Grandpa" and the "The Reverse Maverick."

Here are the videos:

Opening QVC Sketch

Weekend Update

Once again, it is likely to be more popular online than on television, as it has been for all of the sketches, a striking trend for the long-running comedy show.

Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin did a very smooth--if a tiny bit sweetly awkward--job in her appearance on "Saturday Night Live" last night.

It was a good decision to go low-key and also do a bit of stunt casting by bringing in Mark Wahlberg, who was mocked in an impersonation last week by SNL, and also Alec Baldwin.

The well-known liberal actor did a nice turn pretending to insult Palin, while thinking she was his "30 Rock" co-star Tina Fey, whose many turns at impersonating Palin have become a huge Internet hit.

Palin came on again later in the NBC television comedy show on its "Weekend Update," rocking out to a perfect rap by a very pregnant Amy Poehler.

These two from SNL will surely be the biggest Web video hits this week.

And, goodness gracious, do Palin and Fey really look alike, passing by each other at the end of the opening skit without speaking.

Sometimes politics can be really ugly and sometimes silly--and this time Palin managed to poke fun at herself without being either.

You betcha' she did.

Here's the two videos from last night and also the other three that already aired on SNL:

Opening:

Weekend Update Palin Rap:

VP Debate:

Interview with NBC's Katie Couric:

With Sen. Hillary Clinton:

Famous-for-being-famous celebrity Paris Hilton continues her comic run for “fake” President of the United States, with a new online video for the Funny or Die comedy site.

She is pictured here in a photo from a current spread in Harper’s Bazaar, part of her ongoing “Paris for President” campaign.

In that article, Hilton said of her foreign policy platform: “I will carry out a foreign policy platform that will transform America’s role in the world to that of a proactive, not reactive, superpower that will use diplomacy and incentives to head off trouble in unstable regions before they unravel out of control. I will also be wearing platform shoes when I meet with foreign dignitaries to accentuate my well-toned calves.”

Somehow, given the current mess we are in, this blather actually makes some sense.

Hilton did her first online spoof video in August after Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain used her image in an ad attacking Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

In it, she referred to McCain as the “white-haired dude” and laid out–literally, Hilton is seen in the video lounging by the pool in a bikini–her policies.

In the latest, Hilton consults the most famous of fake Presidents, actor Martin Sheen, who played President Jed Bartlett for many seasons on the NBC hit “The West Wing.”

In the video, the pair kibitz over how to be the best fake President, which has been getting too close to the real thing these days.

The video includes a cameo by real Martin Sheen son, Charlie Sheen.

Here is the video (and, below it, is her first one for Funny or Die):

If you are feeling bad about the tech stock meltdown yesterday, this spoof–the second hysterical one from the comedy television show–video by Tina Fey as Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will make you feel much better.

I am only a millimeter away from writing in “Fey for President” on my ballot for this perfect impression, although Amy Poehler’s take as the pompous Katie Couric of CBS is Fey’s perfect foil (as she was when playing Sen. Hillary Clinton the week before).

The best line was actually from Poehler: “It seems to me that when cornered, you become increasingly adorable. Is that fair to say?”

It’s fair to say this pair does, without crossing the line to rank meanness like a lot of political satire.

Here’s the video:

Last week, BoomTown posted just some of the many, many online video spoofs of Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Gov. Palin, one of the more colorful political figures to pop up in years, is like the gift that keeps on giving to the Web comedy world, which seems to be churning out video after video of impersonations of her.

Here’s the best I have seen so far, by well-known actress Gina Gershon–who actually looks like her–on the most excellent Funny or Die comedy Web site.

And there will doubtless be more to come–apparently, “30 Rock” star Tina Fey (who is Palin’s true doppelgänger) will be doing her own version of Palin at her old stomping grounds of “Saturday Night Live” this week.

Until then, here’s the Funny or Die video (warning–as you can see below, there is a rifle and a bikini, but it actually works):

And with no Microsoft-Yahoo deal pending, he also must be pretty depressed right about now.

Who could blame him (well, I could!) for thinking he could overcome the quicksand of Yahoo (YHOO) that has mired even Microsoft (MSFT)?

And even though his many irked letters to the Yahoo board and CEO Jerry Yang definitely came with a cup full of crazy, BoomTown finds we miss him.

Thus, it seems like a good time to repost two videos of the ornery shareholder activist cracking wise at Caroline’s Comedy Club in New York in 2003 about the Texaco/Getty Oil lawsuit and also another about U.S. Steel.

Here’s hoping he can get some good material from this Yahoo stock debacle.

Here are the videos:

The smoky-eyed singer-songwriter and guitarist, who also has yet to meet a Hollywood actress he doesn’t date (current date: Jennifer Aniston!), just released this spoof video on the songwriting process for Funny or Die comedy video site.

It’s worth a watch:

I posted a few mashups on Love Client Number 9 here, but it is also nice now to be able to move professional television content around the Internet so easily.

Here’s, for example, a very funny clip from last week’s “Saturday Night Live,” which I grabbed off Hulu.com:

Our premise has been simple: That online video in both short and long form is the future and its development is important to pay attention to.

So here’s two slightly vulgar but still compelling examples of comedy–a particularly promising arena online–both of which first appeared on ABC’s late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

The first by comedian Sarah Silverman, which aired on Jan. 31, is a satire about her supposed carnal relations with actor Matt Damon. It has been viewed online over eight million times–grabbing a much larger audience than it did offline.

The second, a video rejoinder by Kimmel (who is Silverman’s boyfriend too), is now up to two million views since it was released Sunday night after the Oscars. His love interest? Why, Damon crony Ben Affleck, of course.

Kimmel’s is the better of the two and jam-packed with celebrities (Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt!).

Both, which are posted below, have quite a bit of profanity with lots of pixelation and bleeping, although that has not stopped ABC, which is owned by Disney (DIS), from putting the video front and center on its home page.

But be forewarned, although these are exactly the kind of videos that go viral online–funny, quick and hip–some might find them offensive.

Sarah Silverman/Matt Damon

Jimmy Kimmel/Ben Affleck