TFTP Cable: MTV Aircheck with Guest VJ Cyndi Lauper (1984)

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Length - 10:07

In its early years, MTV often featured celebrities as guest VJs (or, video jockeys). Here is a set of clips from a VJ stint that Cyndi Lauper did in 1984.

Lauper--near the height of her fame from her smash album "She's So Unusual"--is her usual impish self, as she introduces some of her favorite music videos, talks a little about some of the recording artists in the videos, and cracks wise in her thick New York accent. The clips were recorded in aircheck style, so there are no actual full music videos, just very short snippets at the beginning and end of some of the music videos; there is also a commercial fragment or two and the clip begins with the classic rocket launch MTV network ID.

As she re-appears after the end of various videos, Lauper pops out from behind parts of the VJ set, reclines on windowsills, and lounges in front of a large bank of TV screens. At one point she's joined by her compatriot "Captain" Lou Albano (renowned at the time for his appearance in Lauper's own music video for her song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"), and they banter about music videos. At the very end of the set of clips, there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it slide with the MTV logo and the title "Cyndi Lauper - Guest V.J."