Here's That Stupid Bad IRS 'Star Trek' Video That Wasted Enough Taxpayer Money to Fund 30 Seconds Of Iraq War

Here is that horrible video parodying the popular "Star Wars" television program, with IRS people playing bad versions of beloved characters like "Captain Kirk," "Dr. Adama," and "Ensign Wesley Chewbacca." It was part of that lavish 2010 IRS conference that government officials are apologizing for and promising can never happen again because of new restrictions put in place following some other  insanely wasteful shindigs thrown by the GSA. Just look at it, if you can, like some sort of horrifically expensive high school project that suddenly everybody is asking questions about. Terrible acting! Awful writing! Next Generation uniforms on a TOS set! Why does this thing exist at all? Even the tax jokes are bad. For tax jokes! On the upside, there isn't a single lens flare to be seen.

Claims that this video cost $60,000 to produce are slightly misleading, because part of that money also went to fund a relentlessly unfunny "Gilligan's Island" parody that was three times longer and somehow, incredibly, even more embarrassing to watch. So in a way, it was a bargain, kind of.

Awful though it is, we are of a mind to grant clemency to IRS commissioner Faris Fink, not simply because his name reminds us of that snippy little bureaucrat on Space Station K-7 in "The Trouble With Tribbles," but also because we would never want film of our own performance in the Flagstaff High School production of Li'l Abner to surface. (Thank god we graduated before cheap camcorders!) In a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Thursday, Fink said that the videos were

“an attempt, in a well-intentioned way, to use humor to open the conference.”

“The fact of the matter is that they’re embarrassing … they’re embarrassing and I regret the fact that they were made."

Nerd credit to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York), who called the video "an insult to Star Trek" and added "I could do a better Captain Kirk.” Nerd demerits to CNSNews.com's Penny Starr (really?), who in reporting Mahoney's remarks, explained that Faris Fink "portrayed Dr. Spock in the video." No Klingon blood wine for you, Ms. Starr! (What a smeghead!)

We do have to wonder, however, how the cost of making this video -- which, once again, we agree never should have happened -- stacks up against, say, the cost of Congressional hearings into the making of the dumb thing. Of course, those costs can vary, depending on whether Darrell Issa and his committee order lobster salad or just get something from the taco truck parked in the Rotunda.

Happily, to make sure this waste of taxpayer money on a dumb video never happens again, we can count on House Republicans to eliminate funding for Head Start.

[ YouTube / Salon / CNSnews ]