The Ballad of G.I. Joe is a musical comedy parody short film released in 2009 on the website Funny or Die. Written by Daniel Strange and Kevin Umbricht, it spoofs several characters from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero by showing what they do in their spare time.
Plot
The song The Ballad of G.I. Joe is sung as the video looks into the lives of various Joe characters when they are off duty, showing that their private lives are quite different from their 'Joe' personas.
Cast
Laz Alonso as Doc
Alexis Bledel as Lady Jaye
Billy Crudup as Zartan
Zach Galifianakis as Snow Job
Tony Hale as Dr. Mindbender
Vinnie Jones as Destro
Joey Kern as Tomax and Xamot
Chuck Liddell as Gung-Ho
Julianne Moore as Scarlett
Robert Remus as Sgt. Slaughter
Henry Rollins as Duke
Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck
Olivia Wilde as Baroness
Jamin Fite as Cobra Commander
Frankie Kang as Storm Shadow
Geoff Mann as Buzzer
Andreas Owald as Snake Eyes
Daniel Strange as Torch
Kevin Umbricht as Ripper
Reception
Web Worker Daily wrote that for Funny Or Die, "knowing a ton of celebrities is half the battle for attracting eyeballs to its viral videos." While offering that the song The Ballad of G.I. Joe is "just okay", the film itself was enjoyable for seeing "celebs dressed like Joe characters." G4TV called the short "a creative accomplishment" which "contains a plethora of cameos that need to be seen to be believed", and wrote that "The Ballad of G.I. Joe is nothing less than total win." I09 noted that the G.I. Joe movie led to numerous viral videos, and offered that The Ballad of G.I. Joe was the best.