The greatest SuzelleDIY parody, and why you should attempt your own

The true success of a TV show, new idea or artwork can often be measured by the parodies it spawns. Think about it: Weird Al Yankovic has never spoofed an unsuccessful artist.

Locally we don’t often witness good parodies of South African music or TV shows, partly because we’re incredibly sensitive about our ideas. That’s why when I first saw a YouTube parody of SuzelleDIY, I thought this should be a giant feather in Suzelle’s cap. She inspired someone to attempt the parody, she didn’t discourage it or had it taken down, and the story behind it is one that needs to be told.

Arguably the greatest South African YouTube sensation in 2014, SuzelleDIY is a do-it-yourself web series starring Julia Anastasopoulos as a domesticated Afrikaans girl trying to teach viewers, and her best friend Marianne, how to make a braai pie, win someone’s heart, drill a hole –- the list goes on. The videos have garnered millions of views, and across the world braai pie parties became a thing.

Created by Anastasopoulos and her boyfriend Ari Kruger, the web series itself was a parody on the kind of self-help videos that are particularly popular on YouTube. What made it particularly funny to South Africans, was how Suzelle’s character (inspired by this Top Billing presenter audition) made fun of the very distinct accent Afrikaans people have speaking English.

The videos have become so popular that props for the series are now being sponsored by Takealot with plans for a cookbook and even a movie later this year.

But beyond its commercial success, SuzelleDIY has inspired more South Africans to attempt producing funny YouTube videos. Many failed miserably until two brave young Capetonians decided to give it a try.

“We started watching SuzelleDIY about 10 months ago,” says Carolyn Lewis, whose 13-year-old son, Kahlil Visser, couldn’t stop watching the videos. “The more he watched, the more his impersonation of Suzelle improved.”

Lewis says the acting gene runs deep in their family and thus they decided to produce their own salute to Suzelle. There already were videos of children impersonating Suzelle, but it wasn’t until Khalil and his 10-year-old sister, Maya, joined in that people started noticing these send-ups.

“It didn’t take that long to shoot, about 30 minutes filming on Khalil’s iPad Mini which he then edited on iMovie and then, thinking we would get the usual 40 or so shares between friends and family, I posted in on YouTube and Facebook.”

“@DietitianEats: An awesome #suzelle parody by the neice and nephew @suzellediy http://t.co/JQGd3GFd2u ” Dis fantasties!

— SuzelleDIY (@SuzelleDIY) January 25, 2015

The first video titled “How to eat your Oreo without making a mess” exceeded their expectation and reached over 20 000 views in less than two weeks. Tweeting as Suzelle, Anastasopoulos said it’s “fantasties!” as Channel24 and SABC3’s Espresso lauded the duo for possibly the greatest comedic timing for a South African 13 year-old.

They decided to produce a second video, one that was the perfect how-to video for the precarious situation South Africans increasingly face without much warming: surviving power cuts.

Although their mother says they’ve decided to stop producing more videos because they don’t want to “keep riding on Suzelle’s coat tails”, there are plans to perhaps create their own YouTube channel with the assistance from a production company who recently approached them.

There’s a couple of great things about this story that I’m hoping will become an established narrative for South African content producers. A couple’s experimentation with characters and storytelling (inspired by a YouTube audition tape) that gave life to a video series that’s expanding our understanding of native advertising. The series itself then inspired children to play with visual storytelling tools showcasing their own original ideas.

In turn it should inspire more of us to exercise our creativity, regardless of how silly it may seem.