Her original claim to fame was an award-winning parody of Madonna's “Truth or Dare” for Showtime Networks.

Called “Medusa: Dare to be Truthful,” the 1992 special helped spring comedian Julie Brown from her beginnings in theater and stand-up comedy, and solidified a long-lasting career as a satirical musician. With a long list of credits in TV and film through the last three decades, she's now a writer for ABC Family's “Melissa and Joey,” as well as Disney Channel's “Camp Rock.” In addition, she's developing a new YouTube channel — Julie Brown TV — and her album, “Smell the Glamour,” was originally scheduled to be released Sept. 28.

On her new CD, she spoofs some of today's most-famous females, like Lady Gaga and Ke$sha, and rewrites her old hit “Vague” (a parody of Madonna's “Vogue” that called out celebrities who irritated Brown in the early '90s).

“I did new vague celebrities — people that are annoying now,” Brown said, “and then there are some original songs, too.”

In anticipation of her latest release, Brown spoke with mixer in mid-September about her music, making videos and who's bugging her now:

How do you choose the songs and the artists you' parody or that you discuss in “Vague”?

I just sit there like, “Who bugs me right now?” It's like that feeling, you're watching and you're like, “Why am I watching them?” “Why do I have to watch this person?” So it's sort of people that bug me, and then I did this really funny thing — 'cause I have like 5,000 Facebook fans, right? — I asked them, who are the celebrities who you think are really vague and annoying? And then people — it was hilarious — all the people they wrote, and what's funny is often people said the same people, right? So mostly I did it from the people that bug me, but I think I took one or two from the list just 'cause I thought it was funny that everyone has that same feeling about some people.

Who were some of the people that you were surprised bugged other people?

One person that was funny is Heidi Klum. And then I thought about it and thought, “No, Heidi Klum does bug me.” And then I put her in the song. (laughs) But I wouldn't have thought about her right off the bat because she's cool in a certain way. But at the same time I go, “What does Heidi Klum do?” Nothing. So I put her in the song.

Are you planing on making music videos?

I am actually. Last weekend I finished shooting a video for “Another Drunk Chick” (parody of Ke$sha's “Tik Tok”).

Is it reminiscent of Ke$ha's video?

No. (laughs) … (Ke$sha) is young and she's just going out and partying and it's kind of stupid. She's in a car and a bathtub, right? It's so stupid. So I thought, because I'm not anywhere near Ke$ha's age, I thought it would be really funny if me and another girl were sort of playing women who were way too old to go out drinking and doing stuff like that. So it's more like me and this other girl — her name's Natasha Ginsberg and she's a comedian, she's really funny — we go out and we're just drunk and dancing and picking up guys.

Is there somebody in the back of your mind that you want to imitate next but just haven't had the chance?

I did a couple of Sarah Palin satires on YouTube and the thing is, I thought it would be really funny to do her now, getting ready for the 2010 campaign. Like, stupid things she's doing to get ready. So even though she's been done and Tina Fey was brilliant, no one's quite doing her right now. And she's such an amazingly crazy character that I think trying to do her now, getting ready for the campaign, would be really funny. And this morning, did you see that speech by Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona? Go and look at it on YouTube. She's making her announcement, I think for a gubernatorial race. She's so inarticulate and so hilarious that I'm going, “I have to.” She's so nervous and she's saying, “We had did a lot of things for Arizona.”

Everybody knows Julie Brown for being really funny, energetic and clever. Is there anything about yourself that you wish more people knew or understood?

I guess that I'm a lot quieter in real life than probably people imagine. When I'm not working, I am really quiet and I think people are always shocked when I'm not a raving lunatic when they meet me. People go, “You're so calm.” But you go, “That's just an act,” right? I think in real life, I'm way more calm than they imagine. I get it out in my work.

The video for “Another Drunk Chick” will be available on YouTube. Get regular updates from Brown by following her on Twitter: MissJulieBrown.

Contact Kristin Day at kday@reflector.com or 329-9579.