VMAs 2011: Lady Gaga As Jo Calderone (PHOTOS)

Lady Gaga decided to eschew meat for man at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, transforming into her greaser alter ego, Joe Calderone. She totally committed to her show-opening act, talking in a tough voice and putting on the full badass act before launching into song.

Check out the performance below, and then a slideshow of the look below.

WATCH:

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Lady Gaga

PHOTOS:

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Comments

[ePifJany]

10:51 PM on 09/09/2011

Dave Grohl looks as delighted as a kid at the circus when Brian May comes out. I love it!

[ePifJany]

10:48 PM on 09/09/2011

Over all, no matter what you say, you're saying it and you're watching this video. Gaga wins.

[Mizuki]

12:05 AM on 09/09/2011

That Ga Ga video really scared me....

[buckethead 22]

05:48 PM on 09/07/2011

I wondered what happened to Dougie Howser's friend Vinnie.

[Nick Harteau]

05:26 PM on 08/31/2011

I don't mind her (although that leaves plenty of room for my opinion of her music), but this Joe Calderone thing she's pulling doesn't really make her look like a dude... it makes her look like a cross dressing Lady Gaga. There's no mistaking that face- it is female. Not even slightly convincing... at all.

[Lauren Kottwitz]

03:31 PM on 08/31/2011

Paws up.

If I could have Gaga and Joe Calderone at the same time, I'd die a happy girl.

[jf12]

12:00 PM on 08/30/2011

Oh, I get it. The way to act like a man is to be ugly and stupid.

[anna rocks11]

02:11 AM on 08/31/2011

gaga is talented wether ya'll like it or not. She did an amazing job @ vma like what other celebs are tweeting. Ya'll just can't take a little joke. ;)

[deesgallert]

09:00 AM on 08/31/2011

What talent? She need to stick to songwriting and let the real performers take the stage, in a few years she will no longer be the flavor of the month.

[ePifJany]

10:47 PM on 09/09/2011

What? Joe is hot.

[jf12]

10:49 AM on 09/10/2011

Ugly and stupid being hot, for some women.

[Interpolated]

09:07 PM on 08/29/2011

She has so jumped the shark.

Didn't Garth Brooks already do this years ago?!

[deesgallert]

09:00 AM on 08/31/2011

Yes, and he bombed too, but at least he has a real penis.

[Astro Girl]

06:39 PM on 08/29/2011

I swear she looked like Ralph Machhio of the "Outsider".

[krt0203]

06:13 PM on 08/29/2011

T
Her opening act was awsome. She should have had a costume change. I had enough of Jo I would have liked to see Gaga accept her award herself.

[commute1042]

09:00 PM on 08/29/2011

I agree!

[Cole 33]

05:21 PM on 08/29/2011

People have done it before, who knows how, and for sure lady gaga knows how to play the piano well and sing and put on a show, but the one thing that she has not figured out how to do, is make her act look like it's not horribly contrived, pretentious and or at all genuine.

When I used to watch Bjork, she was always weird and a little freaky, but she actually seemed genuine, like she actually was an artist with a bizarre sense of expression, *naturally*.

and I just don't get that from the Ralph Macchio schtik, I get the, ok your'e trying a liiittle too hard now, feeling.

[Branches]

08:35 PM on 08/29/2011

I don't agree, Gaga was clearly doing Epic (or Brechtian) Theatre. Her over-saturated and generic manliness is not meant to connect "naturally" with the audience, but instead provoke them to critically judge what the alter-ego is SAYING. If you watch the opening monologue again, you will see "Jo" has quite a bit to say about Gaga. The performance itself is not intendid to be "genuine" in the sense that you define it, but to highlight an approach to showbizz, and ultimately, to proclaim Gaga's philosophical approach to art and reality.

[byteb]

09:24 PM on 08/29/2011

And she does all this at a VMA award show, of all places? And that was not 'generic manliness' but rather a trite ethnic stereotype.

[eve mahar]

11:05 PM on 08/29/2011

thank you! I agree, and really enjoyed and appreciated her performance- or Jo's, for what it was. Gaga is genuine.

[michelesda]

04:59 PM on 08/29/2011

Didn't care for the song, but great GaGa-esque performance!

[cat540011]

04:52 PM on 08/29/2011

This beats meat. You know, her meat outfit.

[django707]

04:39 PM on 08/29/2011

Okay, it's obvious that this woman will do ANYTHING for attention, but Bowzer from Sha Na Na?
WTF?
Here's some better suggestions for future attention getters:

Blue haired grandmother with perpetually dangling cigarette. Everybody loves blue haired old ladies!

Hairy-backed fat guy in speedos. A guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Black face minstrel. Politically incorrect as heck, but who cares when you're seeking publicity.

Public enemas! Check out Dennis Quaid in The Right Stuff and Liam Neeson in Gun Shy!

Grizzly Adams. A bit like the hairy-backed fat guy in speedos, but with red fur covering your entire body! They're gonna love it!

These will all get you much more attention than lesbian jail breaks and greaser drag.
Just keep an open mind, Lady G.

[Savine]

12:59 PM on 08/30/2011

I disagree with the fact that GAGA does what she does for the sake of attention. She is an artist and she is true to herself. BUT your post was HILARIOUS and creative too. Bowzer from Sha Na Na is the best! I totally forgot about Sha Na Na till you brought them up. =) Literally made me laugh out loud. =)

[django707]

01:05 AM on 08/31/2011

I had the good fortune to sit in on one of those intellectual forums in Belgrade about six months ago and the gentleman leading the discussion spoke about the nature of the artist. It was agreed that the artist was blessed with an inordinate amount of narcissism. It was easy to agree that in order to attain a level of greatness required another heaping portion of self-centeredness. Then we wondered if artists also needed an amazing dose of exhibitionism.
I argued what about the great artist who remains a virtual hermit perfecting his or her art? At which point it became too Bishop Berkeley with trees falling in forests never making sounds and we asked how its possible to know if somebody is a great artist if nobody ever experiences their work.
Finally, we all agreed that artists are F-ing nuts.

[beatlesrule]

11:21 PM on 08/30/2011

Bowzer, lol! you got me rolling!

[django707]

12:54 AM on 08/31/2011

Beatles Rule!

[stepper]

04:22 PM on 08/29/2011

Jeans and a T-shirt: What I wear when I've run out of clean clothes.

Jeans and a T shirt: What Lady Gaga wears when she's run out of ideas.

[Cole 33]

05:03 PM on 08/29/2011

I think just about everything she wears is a result of lack of ideas.

[eve mahar]

11:05 PM on 08/29/2011

I think it is entirely new and novel for gaga to wear jeans a t-shirt! I loved her performance last night.