Updated 3.35pm

THE RUBBERBANDITS ALMOST had a Christmas number one here with Horse Outside so we know they’re popular in Ireland.

But, it seems, the Limerick comedy act are also big in… Cambodia.

An eagle-eyed Irish ex-pat who lives the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh spotted an homage to the tune in the most unlikely of places. The Rubberbandits are listed in the ‘hot or not’ section of the current edition of glossy magazine AsiaLIFE. And the good news… they’re in the ‘Going Up” column.

As seen in the slideshow at the end of this article, the entry reads:

Rubberbandits – Ireland may be down on its economic luck, but at least it knows how to make a record-breaking Christmas #1 – horses are clearly better than cars.

Horse Outside made its debut on RTE2′s Republic of Telly but since then has become a viral success on Youtube with just under 6 million hits to date. It also won an IFTA last Saturday night for People’s Choice Best TV Moment of 2010.

It became the No1 downloaded single on iTunes in Ireland before Christmas but was pipped to the post for sales of physical copies by X-Factor winner Matt Cardle to capture the Christmas No1.

Nonetheless, the Rubberbandits are happy to be endorsed by the magazine. They told TheJournal.ie:

Any country whose national dish is happy pizza is alright with us! Sound bunch of lads, the Cambodians.

It seems the Rubberbandits have also started re-trending back in Ireland too.

And in other RB news, a Labour election candidate has been at the end of a severe tongue-lashing for putting his own campaign song words to the Horse Outside tune. After politics blogger Maman Poulet posted Dublin South Central runner Michael Conaghan’s effort, Rest Outside, on her blog, the Rubberbandits replied that he had not asked permission for use of their original song.

The duo forwarded TheJournal.ie the email of complaint which they have sent to Conaghan:

We in no way endorse your candidacy and are horrified that someone standing for public office would ride rough shod over an artist’s creative property to further their own.

When contacted by TheJournal.ie, Michael Conaghan, a former Lord Mayor of Dublin, said that he was aware of the Rest Outside ‘homage’, and that it had been put together by members of his election campaign team. “It’s not my voice on it,” he said.

Cllr Conaghan said that he had not yet received the email from the Rubberbandits as his email has a City Hall server address and he had not been into Dublin City Council offices in two days to access his mail because he has been “busy on the campaign trail”. Of the Rubberbandits’ complaints, he said he would have to read the email before he could decide on a response. He added:

I didn’t think anyone would object to it.

The Rubberbandits forwarded a further comment on Cllr Conaghan to TheJournal.ie, saying

Michael Conaghan – Moustache

Marty Whelan – Moustache

Coincidence – Na.

Fans of the Rubberbandits have also been responding today to the duo’s call for extras to help film a video in Dublin city centre on Thursday afternoon. They are being asked to email their age, height and a photo to rubberbanditsextras@gmail.com