North By Kanye West

So this isn't quite as topical because it occurred 4 days ago, but it still rears its ugly head from time to time, especially now that Mr. West's tour with Lady Gaga appears to be in question. You see, Kanye seems to have jumped his own shark in this instance. It used to be that awards shows needed that 'gimme' moment, that 'oh my god did you see that?" Something unscripted, unexpected, and surprising. Whether it be from a performer, presenter, or audience members - awards shows have always lived off spontaneity, or wanted to, for fear of coming off as boring.

The MTV Awards are no different, in fact, viewers might say MTV needs something like that of Kanye West's antics to keep interest in its network alive. MTV hasn't shown music in quite some time - sure they have a music countdown in the morning, but that's really it. The rest of MTV is bad reality shows - Real World Cancun, are you listening?

So the awards come around this year, and people are hoping for the best. It's difficult to keep something fresh that no one really cares about, but it's worth a shot. So they line up Russell Brand, that wiry, irreverent, somewhat obscene British comedian. He's more profane than Chris Rock, but fortunately for the censors nobody can understand any of his off-color comments, so he's safe. They bring in Janet Jackson, for another tribute to her deceased brother - although I did enjoy her dancing with Michael on the screen, and it was a touching moment, regardless of how you feel about the Jackson family. Even Joe Jackson put down his belt and bottle of Cristal to applaud his daughter. And to top it off, they bring in Kanye West to - well, okay, they didn't really bring him in for anything, except to possibly accept an award.

And here comes the Kanye train, ready to steamroll through any and all award show recipients. I almost expect him to show up at the Kennedy Center Honors in December and explain why Eddie Murphy deserves the honor over Mel Brooks.

The category was best female video. The nominees were Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift, and a few others. The winner, deservedly or not, was Taylor Swift, who I would like to say has been brought to us by the people at American Idol - but she hasn't, so I can't. Taylor won, she hopped up on stage, and then unbeknownst to most everyone watching, so did Kanye West - who promptly grabbed the mic and made his announcement. Here is the kicker - it wasn't even his category. The only thing more tired than interrupting an award recipient in a category that you lost is doing it in a category that you weren't in. It's basically beyond lame, rude, and childish - which coincidentally was Kanye's Facebook status after the show.

This isn't the first time Kanye has pulled this act, so what are we to blame it on? Should we blame it on the a-a-a-a-lcohol? (his publicist thinks so). Kanye, in his Tonight- sorry, sorry, in his Jay Leno Show apology seemed to blame the act on his mother's death, even though she was alive the last 5 times he's jumped onstage.

Should we say, to coin a phrase, he's got a really big ha ha ha ha ha... tendency to embarass himself?