@Orangie: well, the joke was that the sheet was turned 180 degrees, which gets you *both* upside down *and* backwards, so both of you are equally right. However, what he actually played was neither upside down nor backwards, so both of you are equally wrong. It's just a joke though. It works precisely because it's silly and makes no sense at all if you overanalyze it.
For one person to have such a command of language and music is utterly remarkable. When you realize he's not a native to an English speaking nation, it's even more amazing.
@Elon Musk I did know that meme, but when I read your youtube name I just hear Elon telling me in a straight voice "I don't care that you broke your elbow" so I kinda forgot. Thanks for the meme though.
@@beninua The joke was that he said yes out of context for the audience and my mind thought of those memes like "how much cereal do you want?" and the person would say "yes." So to me, the pianist and someone in the audience was a time traveler.
Do not be fooled by his playful behaviour; he takes it seriously he just does not show it. For someone to play a piece forwards and backwards, that takes serious practice.
He had an angle that nobody else had. He could take the stuffing out of stuffy music, and always still play beautifully. He was an ambassador for classical music, and like that music he is timeless.
I think I read somewhere there was one song, Debussy's Claire De Lune, that he refused to use for comedy. He said the song was too beautiful to disparage in any way. There are videos on YT of him playing that song and it's not hard to connect with his depth of feeling as he plays every note. And no jokes to be found. It's very beautifully done. I encourage you to find it.
Funnily enough I discovered this guy because of an offhand joke i made to my piano teacher that the music he handed me upside down fooled me for a moment, because it still looked like right side up music. Then we spent 10 minutes on a Voctor Borge tangent.
I wonder why is that funny. It sounds like a trap. Baldwin builds a crap piano, finds a crap player, lets him announce it's a Steinway. This stuff should be illegal as hell.
"I wonder why there are three pedals on this grand piano. Who do they think I am?"...... Took me a bit longer than the crowd to figure that one out lol 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
He is still the only person that could play something wrong and it still sounds perfect...he's much more intelligent than he really let's on...a brilliant man...Bo Burnham doesn't have anything on this gentleman 👏 😉 👍
A legend in action , makes everyone crack up laughing but they also know he is the real deal ! Not a single flaw at moonlight sonata until he changed it in purpose so beautifully . I think he was a genius and a great entertainer !!!!
Mozart is said to have written some short pieces for two violins. The two musicians sit opposite each other and play the same notes from the same piece of paper lying between them, each one from his/her "top" to "bottom". It is not just backwards. The notes are also different, depending from which side you read them. It is called "mirror canon" or "mirror duet" and it sounds pretty good...
I cannot believe it has taken me until now to discover this masterpiece of a character He was such a wholesome performer who evokes in you the very passion that he brings to his work ❤
@@alexandra.willitts6988 It is An der Schönen Blauen Donau (or Blue Danube) Waltz. You can hear the full orchestra version (Wiener Philharmoniker) here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iOD2tvNuzig.html And you can hear the full piano version here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TO-BoFR-c6Y.html
You gotta love how he plays the piano like this and makes it look like it's nothing while he still makes jokes about it! This is what you get when purr talent is combined to hard work!
He is the Danish equivalent of the Argentinian "Les Luthiers", although they are a group and he was a soloist. The kind of people that make this world a more beautiful place.
Borge was a one of a kind original. I saw his one man show at the imperial theater in NYC in the seventies... when a seat in the orchestra was ten bucks!
Once in the late '60s I saw Victor Borge make a guest appearance on "The Hollywood Palace", a TV variety show. The last segment of his act that night he read aloud from a book, using what he called "sound punctuation" which involved making "air punctuation" accompanied by different sounds for each period, comma, question mark, exclamation point etc. He had the 12-year-old me literally rolling on the floor laughing so hard my sides hurt. And this was after playing "William Tell" backwards at full speed from upside-down sheet music. We'll not see anyone like him again. Rest in peace, Mr. Borge.
Oh I loved watching him as a kid, he was so funny and a brilliant brilliant pianist! You didn’t really realize at first how good he was on the piano until you heard him play a full concert. It was nice to hear this again
I got to see him live in St. Louis a couple of years before he passed even then the show was great. Amazingly it was about 2 hours long and thenj he did an encore that lasted almost 45 minutes.
I was thinking seen him so many times but he is on absolutely priceless form here and always does entertain. This quality of entertainment never ages which is a relief as it probably will never be repeated.
I like really this Mans talent.. Great pianist great comedian. I only discovered him last night on one of those shorts while scrolling..Now I'm hooked...😊😂
This brings back so many happy memories of this (as he might have said) Great Dane. How anyone could create such joy from stating the obvious is a miracle! The timing is probably the key.
i simply can not laugh at this man and i brought up with the likes of Billy Connolly Stanley Baxter Les Dawson Tommy Cooper Ken Dodd the TWO Ronnies Dave allan morecambe and wise the cream of British Comedy
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="190">3:10</a> I love that Family Guy did a tribute to this gag, using Tom Tucker's updside-down-face kid as the medium. That move was so simple, yet so hard-hitting. They don't make em like Victor anymore...
I was very lucky to have met Victor Berger and his family's children and grandchildren and everyone when I worked at resorts in Atlantic City he was a wonderful person I talked for a long time
The next day when was working in the buffet room I was coming out of the kitchenhe gave me was coming out of a kitchen he gave me biggest smiled and waved smile and wave to me and I was really surprised that made me feel so good that he actually remembered me from the day before very good person
