by CHRIS BARRY

The biggest thing to hit the U.K. since the kids from Fame, Supergirly, aka Louise McClatchy and Jai Simeone, are currently in the process of taking the world by storm with their unique parodies of all the latest pop hits. Re-writing the lyrics to the songs of Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Robbie Williams and others, these two Aussie broads have become the toast of London, being regularly invited to perform at private parties for the likes of Madonna and Elton John, not to mention having scored their own sitcom on the BBC. The Mirror had an opportunity to yack on the phone with Simeone earlier this week to get the full dirt on what it means to be Supergirly. This is how it went.

Mirror: So how did the idea to become Supergirly come about?

Jai Simeone: Well, we were actually singing in a restaurant in London and Louise started changing some of the words around because we were getting really bored. I mean, we would be singing in these places for two hours straight and it was just, like, “Oh my God, give us a break.” So we just started making up these alternate lyrics to make each other laugh, but then people actually started paying more attention to us, so we said, “Hey, you know what? Let’s do this.” That’s how it started, really, and it turned into a big show from there.

M: Restaurant gigs? Sounds glamorous.

JS: Yeah, we would do pop covers and that kind of thing, walking around to tables with our little handheld mics and that was it really, it was great fun. We only did those restaurant jobs for a few months when we first got to the U.K. But then people started to notice us and we started getting invited to loads of parties, got a manager on board, and sort of did all that, which was great, so, uh, yeah.

That’s Sir Elton to you

M: Is the reaction from the artists you parody generally positive?

JS: Oh yeah, we haven’t had a problem so far, everybody has been so lovely and supportive. Elton John has really been there for us, saying we can do any one of his songs that we want to.

M: It’s funny, he seems like such a pompous ass. I have trouble imagining that twisted old fruit being able to laugh at himself anymore.

JS: Oh no, he’s the first one to take the piss out of himself, he’s just hilarious and really easygoing. He’s so great. He told us one time, you know, that if anybody gives us a hassle, like any of the other pop stars, he goes, “Just tell me who they are and I’ll have a word with them.” And we were just, like, (affects a shy, angelic voice) “Okay.”

M: Well yeah, God forbid one should ever incur the wrath of Elton John. I’d like to see the fear he strikes into the hearts of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or Johnny Lydon or somebody like that.

JS: Yeah, he’s been great. Really supportive of us, which is nice.

M: Did anybody mistake you chicks for Elton when you had the support slot on his Australian tour earlier this year?

JS: No, people knew what was going on, everyone got the joke right away. It was quite a homecoming for us, playing these huge stadiums. Now my mother is saying, “Hey, you’ve toured with Elton John, now what are you going to do?”

Nasty Noel

M: Do you ever come up with a lyric and drop it, thinking, “No, this is just too nasty?”

JS: Well, some of the things we’ve done have been pretty nasty. I mean, we did that Band Aid song “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” and the words in that, I mean, we didn’t even have to change too much of that one, the words are already quite nasty if you listen to them. Certainly if you take them literally. Like one of the lines is, “Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you,” and if you sing that with a different inflection it can sound really nasty. So we just made up a few extra lyrics about all these big pop stars just doing it for the money and not really giving a shit. When we sing it you can see that people are not wanting to laugh but finding it funny anyway because it’s true. That one was really on the edge. Like we were making fun of people who have nothing. And it may have come across that way, but we were really just making fun of the actual song and how this was a thing for charity but, like, just listen to what they are saying. Still, you could see people going, “Hey, don’t attack this song, it was for charity.” But how could we not? We were just in hysterics. But you know what? The truth is, if we think something is funny then we’ll keep it in. There are certain issues that we won’t touch though, issues we would never parody at all.

M: Oh yeah, like what?

JS: Anything to do with Princess Diana.

M: Really? Wow, I’d figure her old stiff to be fair game.

JS: Oh no, anything tragic we will never, ever touch. It’s just in bad taste. You’ve got to know when to draw the line. Certain things like that, or the events that happened in New York, with the World Trade Center, these things are just not funny. But most other things you can get a laugh out of. Like if it’s a pop song or something, then yeah, you know, they’re just asking for it.

Viva Las Vegas

M: Are you limited with what you can perform because of copyright issues?

JS: For live shows it’s fine, but doing TV is really difficult. We need to get permission from absolutely everybody. And it’s not usually even the artist who says no. It’s their record company or the writers or whoever. Getting permission from the BeeGees was a nightmare. They just said no to everything. We do their song “Tragedy,” which that band Steps covered, and they wouldn’t let us perform it on television. We were like, “Come on guys, it’s not even about you. It’s about the pop band that ruined your song.”

M: So what’s in the future for you chicks?

JS: After this tour we go back to London, because we’re based there even though we are Australian. We like to make a big point of saying that because a lot of people think we’re a British pop duo. We’re going to be doing a lot of corporate stuff until Christmas. And we really want to play Vegas next year. We wear lots of sequins and feathers and things and we think we would suit Vegas well. Oh yeah, we really want to play Vegas.

M: You and Iggy Pop. Have the Canadian audiences on this tour been yelling for you to parody a few domestic acts? “Do Alanah Myles, Kim Mitchell, Martha and the Muffins!”

JS: (laughing) Ha, ha, ha, not so much, although we are planning to do a Celine Dion song tonight. :

With Harland Williams, Emo Philips, Mike Wilmot, Brent Butt
and Greg Fitzsimmons at the Just For Laughs Comedy Tour
at Club Soda on Saturday, Nov. 2, 9:30pm, $32.50

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