MTV VMAs: Watch Lady Gaga's Jo Calderone Monologue, 'You and I' Performance (Video)
by Richard Sharp
In a performance that was at times bizarre, at times grating, but always interesting and most likely historic, Lady Gaga performed at the MTV Video Music Awards as her alter-ego Jo Calderone, a frustrated, hyper-masculine, whiskey drinking greaseball.
Gaga opened the show as Calderone, with a strange and lengthy diatribe on the nature of gender and authenticity, then segued fairly effortlessly into an epic performance of "You and I" with Queen's Brian May.
It was a hell of a way to kick off what ended up being one of the more interesting and entertaining MTV Music Awards shows in recent history.
Gaga carried through the Calderone performance throughout the show in a gender-and-mind-bending display of her ability to challenge conceptions of what it means to be a pop star.
It also got a little old sometimes, but like Andy Kaufman as Tony Clifton, that was part of what made it so interesting.
It should be fascinating tomorrow to hear how much criticism the performance garners from religious groups and anti-gay rights organizations.
Watch Lady Gaga (aka Jo Calderone) deliver a monologue and perform "You and I":