I love the United way commercials with all of the NFL players…
Steve Mariuchi playing trivial pursuit in the old folks home
Ed Mcaffrey blaming the nun for spilling everything.
lol - there are some good ones!
Satan playing soccer. It was a Nike ad where Satan and a contingent of demons (Is that the right word, “contingent”. Flock? Murder? Herd?) playing soccer against a team of world soccer superstars. At the end, a french player (whose name escapes me) has the ball in front of the goal. Satan, wings spread wide, covers the entire net area. The Frenchman flips up his collar, says “Au revior”, and pounds the ball right through Satan’s chest. The look on the devils face is hilarious.
Another one I like is a Nike Soccer series of commercials about the “secret” tournament in the hull of a large ship. Elvis’ classic “Little Less Conversation (a little more action)” playing in the background. Awesome stuff. Brilliant moves, and a shot of Thierry Henry(?) bending the ball with some tremendous arc.
Last, another Nike ad (I swear I don’t work for Nike) that I like was very subdued, with a piano soundtrack. It showed a series of people in motion that flowed into one another. A diver would come up out of the water and the shot would switch to triatheletes emerging from the swimming leg of the competition, a lady jogger stepping off a curb became a guy BASE jumping of a cliff, etc… I thought that was very well done.
By the way, if you guys haven’t done so already. Go watch the films at BMWFilms.com.
They are well worth the download time.
The Independent Film Channel has a promo ad, with a man talking about how honored he was to be asked to head the IFC archives. Cut to an assistant holding up a slip of paper, exclaiming “It’s a receipt for the blood Robert Rodriguez sold to finish El Mariarchi!”
Cut to the man telling a “and that man turned out to be…” story to the rest of the staff.
It’s a poor summary, but it’s a good commercial.
Sports promos! How could I forget?
There’s a brilliant NFL one I recently saw. This guy from the Giants is sitting by himself, and saying how he loves being a football player because people recognize him and know who he is. Then from behind him, Michael Strahan (I think), pops out of nowhere and says, “No one knows who you are!” and starts laughing. Brilliant.
My favorite NFL United Way spot is the one with Hugh Douglas. He’s in a spelling bee and gets mad when he has to spell “chysanthemum” after a little girl got “cat”. It ends with him sitting in the corner on a tiny chair.
That new Visa Check Card ad with Charlie Sheen–and a surprise guest star (I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet).
“It did when I came in here!”
I laughed so hard I almost rolled off the bed.
I still love the Thermasilk ads, although they only seem to be playing the worst of the bunch lately. With the winter season coming up, hopefully they’ll start showing “Knives” again. I just love the visual look and feel of them, especially “The Dance.” I hope they hurry up and make a new one, because “The Maze” really kinda sucks.
There’s this great one for carpets that has this guy trying to quiet this little baby. No matter what he does, the baby just keeps screaming. Finally, he sets the baby down to get something off the shelf, and the baby falls right to sleep.
The cheese ones are great, and I’m really liking the Chocolate Milk ads that are running now as well.
There’s one here in Austin for a Satelite company. It shows this woman walking down the street and stopping waiting to cross. This greasy guy in a yellow convertable drives up in front of a satelite Ad on a bustop. She looks at it and says “Niiice.” The guy thinks she’s talking to him, so he swings the door open trying to be all smooth and shit, and a bus comes by and takes his door off. It’s pretty fucking funny.
During the recent 20-20 show where Waters interviewed the Osbournes there was a commercial for the first season of ‘The Osbournes’ coming out on DVD. The commercial went like this: (not verbatum)
Sharon, Ozzy and the kids sitting on a couch:
OZZY: What is this?
Sharon: It’s a DVD.
Ozzy: A Dv what?
Jack: It’s a DVD.
Ozzy: What’s a DVD?
Kelly: It’s like a CD
Ozzy: A DVD?
Everyone: Yes!
Ozzy: What’s on it?
Sharon: Our show.
Ozzy: What show?
Sharon: Our show. The one that is on TV all the time.
Ozzy: It’s a DVD.
Sharon: Yes, it is.
Ozzy: Who wants this?
Sharon: People who watch our show.
Ozzy: What show?
Sharon: Our show.
Ozzy: It’s a DVD
Everyone: Yes!
I just about peed my pants watching that commercial. Ozzy starts out not knowning what a DVD is and ends up just stating “It’s a DVD”. The family is obviously going nuts trying to explain to Ozzy what the DVD has on it and Ozzy just never gets it. I love Ozzy but the boy isn’t the brightest guy around.
Slee
I saw a new one for a cellphone that killed me. The guys are playing poker, but is looking at his cellphone. Someone asks him “What are you looking at?” “My girlfriend is showing me what she can do?” So all the guys gather around and watch and make “ohhhh” type noise. They’re really getting into whatever is on the screen.
Finally, the first guy slams down his cards and says “I"M OUT.” (Kramer, anyone?) and leaves. They then show the screen, which is showing…a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Seems the girlfriend was showing her cook-in-the-kitchen instead of her whore-in-the-bedroom talents.
There’s that Volkswagen commercial where the guy is sitting in the car, getting really steamed at what we think is a bad traffic backup. He fumes, he bangs on the steering wheel, he even calls home to say he doesn’t know when he’ll be back (“5 minutes, an hour”).
Then he suddenly honks the horn.
The camera moves back to show the car is still on the assembly line. All the workers stop working to look at the guy, who looks very embarassed.
I just love it.
There’s this great car commercial with two guys driving to work. As they come to a light, the driver hits the brakes to make the car jerk. He then procedes to do so everytime his friend tries to take a sip of his coffee. It’s just so simple and true to life, it’s funny as hell.
Favorite NFL/United Way Commercial line:
“For a Snorlax?”
I may not be soup…and I may not be from a store…but I love you Leslie…
That’s been going on all day…
Count me with the easily amused but I chuckled for days after seeing that one.
Anyone old enough to remember Stan Freberg’s Jenos Pizza Roll ad from the '60s. It starts at a party with someone going around with a sign saying “show us your Pizza Rolls” as the William Tell overture plays - a steal from a Lark commercial on at the time. Then the guy from the Lark commercial, which also used the William Tell overture, says to the guy “I think you’re using our song.” Then the real Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore.) grabs the Lark guy on the shoulder and says “I was about to say the same thing.” And it goes on.
A video with this commercial and others, including one where Ray Bradbury hawks prunes, comes in the Freberg boxed set.
I like the Motrin commercial. That’s the one where the two kids are singing at the top of their lungs in the back seat of the car. You then see a half eaten bag of chocolate covered coffee beans. At the end of the commercial, the mother opens the window and then there is a bus singing the exact same song at the top of their lungs.
I can’t explain why I find it so funny but I do.
I stil love the milk one – and this is kinda old, but it’s still running, because I saw it just the other day – where the woman is sitting alone at the table with a milk carton in front of her and her husband comes in and sits down and she says something like “I’m so angry with you” and he starts guessing why:
“Is it the ring? A cubic zirconium is just like a diamond.”
“Is this about my time in prison?”
(It ends up she’s mad that they’re out of milk.) My brother and sister and I still now use that line: “I need to talk to you, Jodi.” “Is this about my time in prison?”
I have a bunch.
There’s a radio commercial; I have no idea what it is that they’re selling.
[SOUND OF SIRENS WAILING, CAR PULLING OVER]
COP: Do you have any idea why I pulled you over, sir?
DRIVER: Because my license plates are expired?
COP: No.
DRIVER: Because my passenger-side taillight is broken?
COP: No.
DRIVER: Because I’m an international spy with a death warrant in seven countries?
COP: [pauses] Maybe I should just tell you why I pulled you over.
hee hee heee
The Domino’s Pizza Chicken Kickers® one that’s on TV right now. I don’t remember exactly how it goes, but this is close enough… Shows a dad sitting down at a table while the overture from 2001: A Space Odyssey plays. Camera cuts to a close up of the Chicken Kickers®. Just as the music hits a particularly high note, camera cuts to a scene of four or five kids… all playing the song, there in the dining room, on their own instruments! Just as the drum part kicks in, the camera shows a little toddler at the drums, beating them in perfect time with the music. Priceless.
The Chevy Venture® one that was on from a few years back. Mom and dad are driving and are singing some insipid children’s song. There’s a little toddler in the back seat with headphones on. She throws a toy at her radio console and changes the station to opera. Then she starts singing a really fast Italian opera at the top of her lungs. Hilarious!
Finally, a favorite of mine that isn’t funny, but it’s really good. The product is some kind of pet food (Iams®, I think).
SCENE 1: A little girl (10-11) runs up a set of stairs. She says: “Come on Rusty, I’ll race you up the stairs!” A little puppy follows her, but he doesn’t get up the stairs very quickly because he isn’t very coordinated yet.
SCENE 2: A teenage girl (14-15), same scene. This time Rusty is a fully-grown dog and makes it up the stairs quite easily.
SCENE 3: A grown woman (20-21), same scene. This time Rusty is a rickety old dog with arthritis and can’t make it up the stairs very quickly because his knees ache.
:snif: 
Chokes me up every time.
That one is funny. I like when the mom says, “Get your oboes off the table.”
I like the AFLAC one with Yogi Berra in the barbershop, “And they give you cash, which is just as good as money.”
I love the Staples one at Christmas with the robot, and when a customer asks the robot about a printer, the robot says, “No, you can’t have her. I love her.” “But my brother really needs a printer.” “Buy him a cell phone.”
But I think my favorite is the Office Depot (what is it about office supply stores?) that they play in August. We see a display of pens, rulers, papers, etc, while “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” plays. What the hell, you think, it’s August, not Christmas. Then we see a shopping cart go sailing by with a man leaning on the handle. A few seconds later two children come by, trudging along, heads hanging.
Then you get it.
BACK TO SCHOOL! The father gaily throws school supplies into the cart while the children stare glumly at him. Very very clever. Hooks you in the beginning with the out of season song and then delivers the punch line. Very nice.
That commercial is hilarious! I just saw it last night, and I think it’s one of the best commercials I’ve ever seen.