Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood have been hosting the Country Music Association Awards for four seasons running now--and fans have come to expect a slam-dunk comedic opening routine from the duo every year, synopsizing the year's buzzy events (both country-related and otherwise).
This year--the pair really outdid themselves, plus gave the audience a big surprise!
Hank, Brad, and CarrieAs most country-news aficionados expected, Underwood and Paisley chose to target the legendary Hank Williams Jr. right off the bat, making fun of his recent controversial appearance on Fox News, in which he compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler--that resulted in his being banned from ESPN's Monday Night Football.
"Are you ready for an awards show?" sang Paisley, spoofing the famous "are you ready for some football?!" line from Williams's decades-old football anthem, "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over tonight."
Underwood, feigning shock, gasped and informed Paisley he could not sing that song; explaining in a whisper as to why it's taboo.
Paisley, after giving a mock gasp, then launched into a spoof of Hank Jr.'s tune "Family Tradition." "Why do you drink...before interviews?" he and Underwood improvised. "Why do you smoke...before interviews?" They finished up with the clincher: "You can get drunk and start carrying on, but you can't compare the president to Hitler."
While the audience howled with laughter, a shadowy figure appeared from behind the hosts--which turned out to be none other than Hank Jr. himself.
"Got anything to say?" quipped Paisley to Williams, to which Williams deadpanned, "Nope." Amid yet more raucous laughter from the crowd, all three musicians then broke into "All My Rowdy Friends," resulting in cheers and a standing ovation.
The 45th annual CMA Awards took place Wednesday night in Nashville's Bridgestone arena. Early winners for the evening include Song and Single of the Year for the Band Perry's "If I Die Young."
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