Funniest commercials ever made.

[Billy-Bob Fina]

A more recent one would be the new "Presto" nike commercial, where that guy is being chased by a crazed chicken.

This thread should bring back memories...

[Intaglio]

Where's the Beef - Wendy's

[Enola Straight]

Don't know what the commercial was even about, but I remember one about a guy sleeping on the couch and then being awoken his cat licking his nipples.

[Jinx]

In the DE Valley, my friend happened to have a hysterical Toyota ad on his VHS tape. The guy on the screen is acting out what the announcer is saying, like "think" (he imitates the thinker) "be" (he mimes the act of swatting and running from a bee), etc...

You should have seen it, it was a hoot!
- Jinx

[SolGrundy]

Just about any Cartoon Network ad. In particular:
-- the Superfriends in a movie theater. "Can't...move... Feet...stuck to...floor..."
-- Jinx the cat rides his Big Wheel down the hallway of a hotel, turns a corner and sees Pixie and Dixie at the end of the hall. "Come play with us, Jinxie..."
-- the Legion of Doom in "Whiners Can Be Losers." "All I want is a pair of pants! A decent pair of pants!"

Jack in the Box ads are consistently funny, too:
-- Jack's campaign ads, where he's shown hugging trees and getting kids into their homework.
-- The ad campaign for the "Meaty Beefy Boys," the Jack in the Box boy band.

[RealityChuck]

Nothing compares to Stan Freberg's commercial for Gino's Pizza Rolls, which was by far the funniest in the history of TV.

[fallom]

Well, it's not an official commercial, but it's a spoof of one of the priceless ones. It has a guy asking his girlfriend for a blowjob in front of her house, and he has his elbow on the intercom button.

[WV_Woman]

I can't remember what the product being advertised was, but the commercial had a bunch of kittens running amok in this really big house, getting into all manner of mischeif. Instead of meowing, the sound of cars revving their engines was dubbed over it whenever they opened their little cat mouths.

[Big Kahuna Burger]

My sister dresses like a floozie
Dad had to get a new secretary
We don't pay for cable
Mom's in the shower...Dad's with her

That's right, Chewy stops the chatter

[DarkWriter]

Originally posted by SolGrundy
Just about any Cartoon Network ad.

My favorite was the one where Yogi Bear (I think it was Yogi) left his ID at home and the front desk guards wouldn't let him in.

One of my favorite commercials was where the guy woke up in a trance in the middle of the night to take his dog out - only it showed the dog driving the car, the owner in the back seat spaced out. They picked up all the dog's friends, and then left the owner on the side of the road when they needed to make room for one more. The music playing was "Low Rider." Never failed to make me laugh out loud.

Sheri

[jayjay]

I think I mentioned this a long time ago, but it's still the funniest ad I've ever seen.

A youngish man, early 20s, in a supermarket checkout line, with a couple of items including a box of Trix.

Cut to the man entering his apartment, closing and locking the door, then dramatically riiiippping the mask off to be revealed as...

Du du duuuuuuh!

The Trix Rabbit! "Ooh!" I say to myself, "They're finally letting him have his Trix!"

Cut to the kitchen, where TR lovingly pours out a bowl of the forbidden ambrosia and heads for the refrigerator. Opens the door. Picks up the milk carton.

And screams.

Downscreen splash text... "Got Milk?"

I died. I literally died, went to Heaven, told God about the damn thing, and got sent back. I was rolling for half an hour, breathless with laughter. The final Gotcha! was just. too. funny.

Unfortunately, I'm more than a little suspicious that it wasn't an actual full-release commercial, but made especially for the "Greatest Commercials" special that featured it, because I never saw it again.

jayjay

[mobo85]

Originally posted by DarkWriter
My favorite was the one where Yogi Bear (I think it was Yogi) left his ID at home and the front desk guards wouldn't let him in.

Yes, it was Yogi. That's a good one.

"You know me! You named your kid after me!"
"You named your kid Space Ghost?"

[Kyomara]

Cartoon Network, eh?

Two windows, one labeled "Super Heroes," the other labeled "Talk Show Hosts." People lined up at each window. Spaceghost stands in between the lines, looking confused. Finally he says "wait a minute....there's no salad bar here."

I'm trying desperately to come up with some of the commercials that used to crack me up as a kid, but I can't remember any of them...

[GIGObuster]

The funniest to me is still the Leo Burnett/London's famous spot for John West Salmon:

That’s the one were a bear and a fisherman do a kung-fu fight for a salmon and. . .
http://www.adage.com/cannes2001/cn01_0621_03.shtml

After disabling a bear with a kick to the genitals, the commercial's human hero makes off with a succulent salmon.


That, and the final quote of the narrator, always kills me.

[elmwood]

1) The series of Fox Sports ads featuring foreign sports broadcasts ...
* Russia- face-slapping contest
* Turkey - cliff diving into dirt
* India - blindfolded guys clubbing each other
* South Africa - bicyclist roping (in real Afrikaans, I've been told)

http://users.ev1.net/~walrus85/pages/foxregional.html

2) A commercial for Hampton Inn, showing a very elderly woman driving very slowly on a long desert row -- you can hear the car wheels groan as they turn about as fast as the second hand on a clock. Her husband yells "Slow down ... you're driving like a bat out of Hades!" Someone is stuck behind them. A sign reads "NO PASSING - NEXT 25 MILES"


Hey ... adcritic.com is back online again!

[Wearia]

There were two for the same thing. Quisnos I think. Anyway:

(Cavemen sitting around talking each holding a large rock)
(another caveman comes he does not have a rock)
Caveman1: Hey you! Where is your large rock?
Caveman with no rock: I don't have one I have this pointy stick
Cm1: A pointy stick? AHAHAHAHAHAHA
CMWNR: (stabs caveman1)
Cm1: Oh, I see the advantage now *dies*
Quisnos Guy: Quisnos, we're like that guy with the pointed stick.

And the other:

(bunch of cavemen out in a field, they're wearing bushes and thats it)
(Caveman wearing pants enters)
Cm1: Haha! Look! He's been cursed with the legs of a goat!
Caveman wearing pants: These aren't goat legs, these are pants!
Cm2: YOU CAN'T TAKE MY THISLY BUSH! *runs away*
Quisnos Guy: Quisnos, we're like that guy that wore pants.

These both made me laugh hysterically.

GIGObuster you beat me to that one.

[Leaper]

One of the best ones I can think of is recent, a Doritos Bold/Daring ad that ties into Austin Powers in Goldmember.

You have to see it. Maybe it's a bit Benny Hill for some tastes (personally, I like Benny Hill), but man, it cracked me up first time I saw it.

Oh, and I love the Visa Check Card commercial at the pet store with the bunnies. The sight of that shopkeeper putting the bunny to his ear like a phone never fails to bring a smile to my face.

[CalMeacham]

Nothing compares to Stan Freberg's commercial for Gino's Pizza Rolls, which was by far the funniest in the history of TV.



Gotta agree with this. The Geno's Pizza Rolls ad spoofed the "Show us your Lark Pack" cigarette commercials of the 1960s, and for the punch line they dragged in Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels to play The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Hilarious!

But my second-best choice has to be an ad made for drive-ins by some film students. I've only seen it at a showing of ads and bloopers.

You hear chanting and see the hand of a robed person lighting black candles. Pull back on a dark room filled with robed, chanting figures. They gather together around a table. Close-up of a hand holding an elaborately carved knife. It descends, cutting up whatever's on the table. It continues to fall, again and again. Close-up of the acolytes sloppily stuffing bits of red, messy stuff into their mouths with both hands, the result of this grisly sacrifice. Camera cranes up and over the group to reveal ---






















--a pizza.

Voice: "Why not visit the Refreshment Stand?"



Of modern commercials, my favorite is the Kevin Bacon "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" commercial.

[Labdad]

From the 60's, a whole series of Alka-Seltzer commercials. My personal favorite: "Mama Mia, that's some-a spicy meatball."

More recently, the Nissan commercial where GI Joe snakes Barbie from Ken with Van Halen's cover of "You Really Got Me" as the sound track.

[Knowed Out]

I like the on on TNN where it shows the two guys who work in the TNN office—one's all serious, while the other one's a misfit—and the serious guy is remarking over the good Star Trek ratings. The misfit points to picture of one the Duras sisters, the Klingon with the huge knockers, and says "Hey Jeff, would ya?"

"Would I what?"

"You know..." ogles pic.

"OH!" he clams up.

Cuts to TNN logo

"I would."

[KalliopeCU]

An ad for Levi (?) cords:

A guy is walking through the woods, wearing his fancy new cords. They are making the obligatory svoosh-svoosh[/I} sound. From somewhere behind him, an answering [I]svoosh-svoosh sound is heard. Alarmed, the guy starts moving faster, the sound his pants makes increases in volume and intensity, and from somewhere behind him, so does the unknown svoosh-svoosh sound.

Cut to: the guy sprinting madly across a road as a love-struck badger chases after him.

The first time I saw this, I laughed for half and hour. My roommate thought I was high.

Also,
During the last presidental campaign, the snickers commercial with the guy in the voting booth. "I invented pants!"

[Eve]

Another Stan Freberg commercial, from about 30 years ago: the Ann Miller "Great American Soups" ad, with the Busby Berkeley number.

And more recently, the one for some cable channel, with the guys dressed up as cheesy asteroids: "Ahhhh! De atmosphere! Ahhh!"

[MONTY2]

Originally posted by Eve
And more recently, the one for some cable channel, with the guys dressed up as cheesy asteroids: "Ahhhh! De atmosphere! Ahhh!"

That cable channel would be the Discovery Channel. This is one of my favorites too. It was aired along with another commercial that showed a guy that drops into a shark's stomach dressed as a partially digested fish. He even had a piece of flesh missing from his fish costume. Those were hilarious.

[Jorel]

Well, I've mentioned before I am easily amused, but the old ads for Wheaties make me laugh.

Mountain Climber: (singing) "Before I climb one thousand feeties, I get the eaties for my Wheaties"

Baseball Player: (singing) "Before I swing for the bleacher seaties, I get the eaties for my Wheaties."

My dad and I would make up our own...his were always very funny too. I was probably five, which made them a bit funnier.

[AtomicDog]

Originally posted by Knowed Out


"I would."


So would I. [Insert Klingon mating growl here]

[airdisc]

The Nintendo (I think it was Nintendo) ads where it had the teddy bear describing a fabric softener, and suddenly, it gets chased down by a tank. Very funny.

Unfortunately, it got them sued by Downy.

[dinahmoe]

"Svimvear, Very Niiiiicee..."

:)

[Daniel]

That new Zima ad with the guy at the party choosing his drinks.

He reaches for the beer. Asks the girl, "would you like to dance?" Envisions them dancing hard to club music.

He shakes himself out of that daydream, decides instead to reach for the wine. Asks the girl, "would you like to dance?" Envisions the two of them dancing slow to piano music.

He doesn't like that either, and grabs the Zima instead. This time for real, he goes over to the girl and asks her if she'd like to dance. She stands up and he sits down in her chair, looking up at her expectantly. "Well?" he says. "Dance!" She starts to give him a lapdance.

[TeaElle]

Originally posted by dinahmoe
"Svimvear, Very Niiiiicee..."

:)

Ah, someone else finally remembers that ad! In moments in which I am at a loss for words, I find myself saying "Ees next, svimvear!"

Yes, I am strange. Thanks for asking. :D

[mobo85]

Originally posted by airdisc
The Nintendo (I think it was Nintendo) ads where it had the teddy bear describing a fabric softener, and suddenly, it gets chased down by a tank. Very funny.

Unfortunately, it got them sued by Downy.

Actually, a third-party developer, 3DO, for their BattleTanx game for the N64. It was Snuggle that sued them (seeing as Downy has no mascot, whereas Snuggle has that cute wil' bear). Twice.

"Is next, eveningwear! Very nice."

[InternetLegend]

The Sportscenter ads are really funny: the one where someone's sitting in a chair asking Trey Winger, "No, really, what's your REAL name?" and the one where everyone going about their daily business routinely does The Wave never fail to get to me.

[Osbie]

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but the funniest commercial I've ever seen was one for Sprite a few years back (the whole "Obey Your Thirst" campaign).

Anyway, these two little kids come in to the kitchen and say in unison with their shrill, nasely voices:

"MOM, WE'RE THIRSTY!"

MOM: "I've got two glasses of Sun-Fizz coming right up." (Mom sets bottle of product on table with glasses.)

KIDS: SUNFIZZ? THAT'S OUR FAVORITE!

And then the cute little cartoony sun mascot LEAPS off the bottle and says:

"That's cause I'm filled with nature's goodness!"

MOM & KIDS: AAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!

MOM: RUN KIDS!!!!

(They flee down the hall. The mascot bounces after them, smiling its big, goofy smile the whole time.)

MASCOT: What's with you people? I've got seven vitamins and minerals!

Mom suddenly trips and falls. In the background, we can see the mascot bounding ever closer. Her daughter desperately reaches out to her, screaming.

Daughter: MAAAAAAAAAAHHHHMMMMM!

Mom: RUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN!

And then the screen goes black and you get the whole "Obey Your Thirst" bit.

BWUH-HOO-HOO-HA-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I've also seen some commericals for Dial-A-Mattress which doesn't operate where I grew up. Anyway, one of them involved two delivery guys showing up and being met at the door by a GIGANTIC squirrel with some sort of NY/NJ accent (please don't kill a poor midwestern girl for not knowing the difference) who has ordered the mattress for his winter hibernation. While they put the mattress in the cellar, among several large bags of nuts, he keeps arguing with his (human) wife and shouting such things as:

Wife: (from somewhere upstairs) Honey, what's going on down there?

Squirrel: WILL YOU SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE?!


Brilliant!

[Deadly Nightlight]

My absolute fave is a recent one by DiGiorno, where it shows a man dancing in the kitchen, I wish I could describe it better but it is hilarious

[Glory]

Cat herding!

http://www.eds.com/advertising/advertising_tv_catherding.shtml

Oh, and the adorable Blockbuster ads with the guinea pig and the rabbit, love Ray and Carl!

"Look Carl, I'm a maniac, maniac!"

"No argument here!"

"Let's see their entertainment do THIS!"

"Whoa, Ray, I don't want to see anything do that."

"That's it, Carl, shake what your mamma gave ya!"

[Tristan]

Glory- as a former employee of said company, I'm afraid I have to tell you that the majority of the folks that work for that company (the cat herders) absolutly hate the commercial. And, they suck, but that's a whole other thread.

And the rabbit/guinea pig ones kill me each and every time. The first time I saw the guinea pig juggling the mice I damn near had a seizure I was laughing so hard. My girlfriend thought I had snapped.

[airdisc]

Actually, a third-party developer, 3DO, for their BattleTanx game for the N64. It was Snuggle that sued them (seeing as Downy has no mascot, whereas Snuggle has that cute wil' bear). Twice.

Oh. I stand corrected then.

And I occasionally see the "swimvear" commercial on TVLand. I would imagine it would make more sense if there was a Soviet Union.

[TheTailor]

I'm a huge PTI fan, so I see this commercial almost daily, and it still cracks me up: Two guys overhear a suave Spaniard with a bevy hot hot women and pretend to have a friend in common: "You know Sergio? COME! Join us!"

That one and the one where a guy parks a silver Jetta in front of a supermarket and walks off... you hear a cart rattling towards the car.... as it looks like the cart is about to hit the Jetta, the guy runs full speed into the cart crosswise to knock it out of the way... classic (In fact, all of VW's advertsing for the past few years is great)

[Speaker for the Dead]

Originally posted by jayjay
I think I mentioned this a long time ago, but it's still the funniest ad I've ever seen.

A youngish man, early 20s, in a supermarket checkout line, with a couple of items including a box of Trix.

Cut to the man entering his apartment, closing and locking the door, then dramatically riiiippping the mask off to be revealed as...

Du du duuuuuuh!

The Trix Rabbit! "Ooh!" I say to myself, "They're finally letting him have his Trix!"

Cut to the kitchen, where TR lovingly pours out a bowl of the forbidden ambrosia and heads for the refrigerator. Opens the door. Picks up the milk carton.

And screams.

Downscreen splash text... "Got Milk?"

I died. I literally died, went to Heaven, told God about the damn thing, and got sent back. I was rolling for half an hour, breathless with laughter. The final Gotcha! was just. too. funny.

Unfortunately, I'm more than a little suspicious that it wasn't an actual full-release commercial, but made especially for the "Greatest Commercials" special that featured it, because I never saw it again.

jayjay

Actually... I saw it at least twice on regular television... don't ask me to remember the channel, though.

[Incubus]

I think my favorite would be a VW commercial that aired quite a while back which was a Speed Racer parody. The Mach 5 get sabotaged and a VW dealer gives him the keys to a Jetta or something. At the end, Spritle and Chim-Chim pop out the trunk I think :)

[Ironbar Canyon]

A Bud Lite commercial based on a "robot wars" theme. On one side a chrome-and-titanium-whirling-razor-edged maker of robotic death. On the other side what appears to be a second-hand dorm fridge on wheels...

Just as the first metallic mercenary makes its move, the fridge door swings open to reveal one frosty bottle of beer.... The death machine hesitates, of course, at the sight of the brew... Then, suddenly, and a la Warner Bros cartoons... A giant hammer appears swinging over the top of the fridge, crushing the shiny monster to death.

[Chronos]

Pizza Hut commercial, from about ten years ago: Husband hangs up phone in kitchen, turns to wife and says "The pizza will be here in a few minutes". Switch to exterior view: It's an RV, parked right outside a Domino's Pizza.

Pizza Hut guy gets there, delivers the pizza, they pay him. "By the way, did you notice that you're parked right outside a Domino's?"

"Yes, we always like to stay where it's nice and quiet."

And the Energizer Bunny Vs. various opponents: Darth Vader, Wicked Witch of the West, etc. Just as villian is about to deliver deathblow, lightsaber/broomstick sputters and goes out. Villian opens up battery case to reveal two generic C cells.

[Doubting Robert]

Originally posted by jayjay

Downscreen splash text... "Got Milk?"



[hijack]

My favorite "Got Milk?" ad is not on TV, and is not very funny. It's the ad that ran on the back cover of a lot of comic books, showing Sarah Michelle Geller looking sexier than I have seen her anywhere else, despite the milk mustache. Everytime I see that ad, I want milk, but not cow's milk.

[Doubting Robert]

Oops, forgot my [/hijack] and my sense of propriety.

[TheOnlySaneOne]

The commercial opens on *NSync (or *NStink, given your preference of music) on a deserted island singing what seems to be another one of their pointless love songs.

"I want my baby back...
I want my baby back....
Ribs

I want my babyback, babyback, babyback..."

Cue the crate maked Chili's which falls and promptly crushes one of the members.

I was jumping around and screaming "Yes! Brilliant!" for a full five minutes afterwards. :)

[Dr. Rieux]

I was yelling, "One down, four to go!"

[adamant]

Noone remembers Joe Iszuzu?

[CalMeacham]

Noone remembers Joe Iszuzu?




Good point! One of my favorite commercials is the very first Joe Isuzu commercial, with the disclaimers running as subtitles as Joe yammers on:


Joe:...you can buy one with your pocket change...

(subtitle: Provided you have $9,950 in dimes and nickels)


Joe: ... and it'll run forever on a tank of gas...

(subtitle: Your Mileage May Vary)

[A Monkey With a Gun]

Originally posted by InternetLegend
The Sportscenter ads are really funny: the one where someone's sitting in a chair asking Trey Winger, "No, really, what's your REAL name?" and the one where everyone going about their daily business routinely does The Wave never fail to get to me. Amen, there is something about having the Phillie Fanatic or the San Diego Chicken in the background making copies that gets me every time.

My favorite is the one where they started to have a problem with the "carpet" after Dan Patrick pulled a hamstring in the hallway, so they replace it with real grass. Lawnmowers in the studio during broadcasts and a groundskeeper with a jersey reading "Marquis De Sod" follow.

[BabaBooey]

I love the said "Ahhh, the atmosphere" and Sprite cartoon bear commercial.

I'd also have to mention the Heineken commercial for the mini-kegs are all pretty funny, but my favorite is when the camera is focusing on a calm street corner when all of a sudden a car with "Just Married" written on the back takes a turn with a full sized keg tied to the back of it.

There's also an old ESPN commercial with the Marlin's mascot playing in an ESPN soap opera, but I can't find the damn thing on their website.

[mcms_cricket]

OK, I can't believe nobody's mentioned these yet (or perhaps I just have a skewed sense of what's humorous? Nah.)

The old Nissan commericals from a few years ago - there were several different ones, but they all had the same little- Asian-guy-in-a-baseball-cap at the end. Those were neat.

Almost any of the Visa Check commercials - The one with Kevin Bacon making fun of the whole six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon game, or the one with Bob Dole - yeah and the rabbit one, too.


Cricket

[Glory]

I almost forgot!

An American history fanatic is contacted by a radio station to answer a question for $10,000: Who shot Alexander Hamilton? He tries to say, ''Aaron Burr,'' with his mouth full of a sticky peanut-butter sandwich, but without milk to wash it down, no one can understand him.

[grendel72]

The absolute funniest ad I've ever seen wasn't on TV. It was a print ad that apparently only ran in the Australian edition of Penthouse.
It was an ad for dogfood, the picture was a big hound dog with a kitten in it's dogfood bowl. The text read: "I love pussy, I chase pussy, hell I even dream about pussy- but I just can't bring myself to eat it."

[adamant]

I still like the first Macintosh commercial on Super Bowl Sunday - the one they never showed again.
Also the original nike pump commercials involving bungee jumping and slipping sneakers.

[MONTY2]

Don't know if it's been mentioned but the soft drink fake taste test commercials are very funny. I can't remember which soft drink, it's either 7 Up or Sprite, where the people are blindfolded and they have to choose between the product and dishwater, rancid milk, chum, bile, etc.

The first time I saw that commercial I just about peed my pants laughing.