‘View’ Co-Hosts Realise They’ve Created a Monster In ‘Idol’ Von Smith

Just who is this terrible Von Smith, who appeared on American Idol last night? That’s what the ladies of The View wondered, before being reminded that he’d actually performed on their show in 2007.

Yes, apparently Smith was a YouTube sensation that year for a rendition of Dreamgirls’ “And I Am Telling You” that saw the performer hone his trademark: take an iconic song closely identified with a female singer, then choke, stomp and stretch every word until it lies sputtering on the ground (at which point a belted out glory note will presage a final, finishing Ram Jam). View producers booked him then and produced the clip today for a panel of co-hosts who had completely blocked him out of their minds. After being forced to sit through an encore while horrified thought bubbles of “We booked that?” floated above their heads, we can assume the forgetting was a survival technique. It is a rare day indeed that we agree with the opinions of the dunderheaded View panel instead of Simon Cowell; thank you, Von Smith, for nothing.

• The View [ABC]
• The Bachelor Jason 2009 (SPOILER??? WHO KNOWS???) [YouTube]