Ballinger brings narcissistic, comedic character to Hawaii Theatre

Hide the adults! Bring out the children, and the child-like.

Miranda Sings, the talentless, narcissistic, egotistical character who brings an existential angle into every value judgment you might make about a person, is back in town. Is she hysterically funny or sadly serious? Are you laughing at her or with her? Does it matter if you are or you aren’t?

The creation and alter ego of actress Colleen Ballinger, Miranda Sings is a character born on YouTube in 2008 who has almost taken on a life of her own. Ballinger first came up with her as a way to mock some of the self-important student leaders she had in college choir who made life miserable for her and others. Using the tutorial format that has become familiar on the online site, she posted the video “free voice lesson,” in which Miranda offered advice like “lift your eyebrows to sing higher.”

The video was posted for the amusement of Ballinger’s friends, but as a trained singer who had performed off-Broadway and at Disneyland, she included just enough enough legitimate references to singing to fool many viewers into thinking it was serious. They visited their wrath on the character with acid comments and hundreds of thumbs-down.

“People just despised Miranda, and I thought it was so funny,” Ballinger said recently on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”

“I thought, ‘Who are these people who are just watching my videos and writing rude comments? Like, they must be so bored, what are they doing?’ So I would egg it on.”

Ballinger doubled down on the critics. Attacks on her voice resulted in a nasal whine for Miranda. Comments about Miranda’s “ugly” mien led to a perpetual sneer on her face, accentuated by pancake makeup and grotesquely thick lipstick – “list-stick” as Miranda calls it, one of the countless malapropisms, spoonerisms, and misspoken phrases that both spice up and dumb down her language.

Miranda’s ego is so large it more than makes up for her lack of talent. She can’t have a conversation without saying something self-adulatory. On her “Tonight Show” appearance, Ballinger, as Miranda, told Fallon, “You have a show all about yourself, yet you’re asking people questions about them. If I were a host, I would make people tell me something about myself.”

Miranda’s condescension is so heavy it borders on bullying, but there’s nothing to back it up. Children immediately recognized it as an anti-bullying message, helping fuel the Miranda phenomenon in a way that only Miranda herself could have dreamt.

The YouTube channel Miranda Sings now has more than 8 million followers and more than 1.4 billion views. The book “Selp-Helf,” written by Ballinger in Miranda’s voice, was a New York Times bestseller. Miranda is also the lead in the Netflix show “Haters Back Off!” It’s now in its second season, depicting her relentless yet clueless attempts to become a star magician.

Ballinger, meanwhile, also has gained a huge following for herself. She has more than 5 million followers on her own YouTube channel, PsychoSoprano, in which she comments on her newfound celebrity lifestyle and answers fan questions ranging from if she ever thought she was pregnant to how she got kicked out of Disneyland (she got caught doing Miranda-like singing during the show.) She is the executive producer of “Haters Back Off!”

Ballinger has taken Miranda around the world for live performances in which she first takes the stage as herself heading up a variety show for kids, then transforms into the sad-sack Miranda. Her audience remains predominantly youngsters, but it’s no kiddie show.

At a performance in 2014 year at the Hawaii Theatre, there was plenty of risque humor – the “F” word was projected on a screen but not spoken out loud. Miranda called a fan’s outfit “porn” because she wasn’t wearing the baggy red sweatpants that Miranda approves – and wears herself.

That appearance provoked squeals of laughter from the crowd, which obviously pleased Ballinger. She posted a video afterwards showing her covered in lei and thanking the “loving and sweet” audience in Hawaii.

And how does Miranda feel about coming back to the islands?

“I have two shows there, (one on Maui) and my mom is making me stay for, like, a frickin’ week! In Hawaii!” she yowls in a video posted a few days ago, nearly breaking down in tears.

“I’m practically moving there, and I don’t even want to go. They have huge sea turtles there, and Spam!”