Regarding: That one Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper commercial.

Cafe Society
1

If you’ve seen it, then you know the scene:

Two people are having a date in a cafe. The guy is endlessly droning on about himself and how he’d not quit his job at the children’s hospital if he won the lottery. The girl takes a sip of her DCVDP and suddenly, all the people around her are singing “doo doo doo’s” and the guy she was talking to is saying something unintelligable (sounds kinda like Phenomenon, but I know it can’t be that).
Anyway, my question about his “new” voice. It sounds exactly like Dr Teeth…or at least the person who does his voice. Is it? I’m pretty sure it is…
For those of you who don’t know who Dr Teeth is (or what he sounds like), he was that lead singer of the band on The Muppet Show and his voice is really gravely sounding.

So is it his voice? And has anyone else ever noticed this?

2

The guy who originally did Dr Teeth’s voice was Jim Henson.

But the “phenomenon” joke did appear on Muppets Tonight as a “Mahna Mahna” joke, so I suppose it’s vaguely possible they took a sound bite from there, though it seems unlikely.

Someone else does Dr Teeth now: Bill Barretta

3

“Mahna Mahna” was indeed performed in 1976 on the Muppet Show, and reborn on the 1990s Muppets Tonight show as “Phenomenon” right when the movie with John Travolta was coming out. So no Dr. Teeth but almost certainly Jim Henson.

If memory serves me correctly, though, it was not a Muppet Show original, and in fact was written by some Italian guy. Memory serves – oooh! Originally from a soundtrack to Swedish softcore!

4

Well, the guy in the commercial sounds like he’s saying “Mahna Mahna” more. I just didn’t know how to spell what he was saying.

So it’s probably a sound clip then, I assume?

By the way, thanks for the info.

5

Here’s the original Muppet skit.

6

Here’s the ad itself. It’s actually the full Mahna Mahna sound byte! Well, if I’d known that, my first reply would’ve been a lot more informative.

7

Well, you sound pleased. :slight_smile: I take it you were a fan?

8

A fan of the Muppets? Absolutely! Who isn’t?

We don’t have Dr Pepper here anymore, though, and even then it was only the one flavour.

9

Good lord, what outpost beyond all civilization do you inhabit?

10

The Land Down Under.

It was here still a couple of years ago, and maybe some places still stock it, but I haven’t seen it in any supermarket or corner store since then.

11

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

(They also played in the pit orchestra with Rowlf and the conductor whsoe name I don’t know.)

–Cliffy

12

I haven’t seen the commercial, but I can testify that Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper is yummy. And the yellow aluminum can is pretty.

13

The conductor’s name is Nigel.

14

Making Australia safe from any danger of future incursions by roving bands of twicksters.

BTW, thanks, Idle Thoughts, for getting that riff stuck in my head – I’d somehow managed to see the commercial several times unscathed, but somehow bringing the Muppets into it was the hook my poor brain was vulnerable to.

15

I’d like to confirm that Jim Henson was indeed the original performer of the “Mahna Mahna” voice. The Snowths (the do-do-do-do-do puppets) were performed by Frank Oz & Richard Hunt.

16

[nitpick]The guy isn’t droning on about how he woudn’t quit his job if he won the lottery, he’s droning on about how he didn’t quit his job (at a hospital, no less) after winning the lottery. IOW, he’s talking about what an absurdly ideal man he is, but she’s more interested in her Dr. Pepper.[/nitpick]

There’s a very similar ad for Starbucks Frappucinos, but it takes place in an office, I think. It even looks like the same woman. Is it?

17

Just an observation: Any soft drink with a name longer than 3 words needs to be steered clear of–especially if two of those words are “Dr. Pepper”!:: Ducks brickbats thrown by Dr. Pepper fans ::

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link to video of muppet show performance of this song.

http://www.zippyvideos.com/162356247488965.html

19

Right on! Diet Cherry Vanilla–yes; Dr. Pepper–no thanks.