Gylne Tider is a long-running Norwegian TV show. First launched in 2002, it follows the show's host, Øyvind Mund, as he travels the world meeting his childhood heroes.
In 2010, for the show's fourth series, the producers filmed their celebrity guests lip-syncing to 1987's Ferry Aid version of The Beatles Let It Be, then spent the next three months editing it into a fully-fledged pop video.
And it's amazing. The moment of shock that greets the viewer as George from Seinfeld starts emoting for the lens is real, but it's swiftly replaced by another, as alpine skiing legend Alberto Tomba rises up from the bottom of the screen. And so the clip proceeds, lurching crazily from one unexpected face to the next.
Norm from Cheers. Tubbs from Miami Vice. Celebrity hypnotist Paul McKenna. Former figure skater Katarina Witt, swiftly followed by former figure skater and convicted felon Tonya Harding. Roger Moore, Huey Lewis, Dee Snider, Lou Ferrigno. Dolph Lundgren. Pamela Anderson. And we're not going to reveal any more because we don't want to ruin it entirely.
"The celebrities are chosen from a Norwegian point of view," Gylne Tider’s host, Øyvind Mund, told Vulture in 2012, "based on TV series, movies, artists, sports legends that made a big impact in Norway. The small editorial staff’s personal views and opinions are a central part of the process. Not all of the participants were big stars worldwide, but in Norway they were household names – for a shorter or longer period of time."
The video wasn't released without controversy, as viewers questioned how the show was able to get so many stars to perform so enthusiastically for the cameras. At least one – Married With Children star David Faustino – claimed that he'd been told the filming was for charity, and that his contribution had been captured after he'd been "ambushed" at a red carpet event.
TV2 denied the allegations, apologising to anyone who felt they'd been mislead and clarifying the situation. "After an interview with each celebrity we asked them if they would participate,” the show's Bjarne Laastad told Variety. “We told them it would be based on Let It Be and made in the manner of the artist-charity videos of the 80s and 90s.”
"We met Faustino at his home," confirmed Mund. "We didn’t steal him from the red carpet."
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