I don’t know if it’s a “modern comedy” thing but Family Guy does it a lot, John Mulaney has it in a number of sets, and I know Jim Gaffigan also has done it a few times.
But basically when during a story you constantly refer to the full product name/taglines of something for no reason, like “So today at breakfast I was eating my Heart Healthy Honey Nut Cheerio’s Part of a Balance Breakfast and in the newspaper I saw…” or “While I was driving my 2005 Toyota Celica around the block”
I don’t know why but I HATE that kind of joke. And why is it funny? There’s a John Mulaney bit where he CONSTANTLY says the full brand name of the car in the joke, and it seems like the entire point of the bit is to see how many times he can repeat the cars full name with no punchline.
@running_coach : Agreed. Pharma ads another example of actors being forced to try to talk “naturally” while delivering lines that no real person would ever say.
The guy at the front of the room with the microphone has to remind the audience he’s humble regularly, to keep them from getting jealous of the attention. The first comedian is pointing out that they’re not, in fact, a fitness model (as Cheerios ain’t that healthy) and the Mulaney thing is saying though he might have some fame he’s regular folks driving an almost embarrassingly plebian car. It’s the same joke as when Superintendent Chalmers complained about his hood ornament being stolen because “that’s how they know you’re driving a Honda.”
Family Guy has a 10-minute bit about Corning fiberglass insulation. I don’t get it either. Maybe 1950’s TV was so full of ads for it that it was a public annoyance and Family Guy was trying to bring back those nostalgic times. Beats me.
Plaque psoriasis! I’ve been watching too much MSNBC lately and they’re constantly showing ads with people talking about their “moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.” The wording always jumps out at me too.
I have no idea what plaque psoriasis even is, but if you happen to have a moderate to severe case of it, just watch MSNBC for a while to find out the name of the corresponding wonder-drug.
I hadn’t seen this in 40 years and then it happened to come up in my youtube feed. There are a couple of things about the sketch that really stand out. You’ll see what I mean. The odd thing is that the sketch is at least to me quite funny on its own and doesn’t need any, ahem, ornamentation. I’d forgotten till I saw this just how much social mores have changed.
The woman is Delvene Delaney who was then and is still now married to John Cornell, who co-wrote and produced the show and the same with Crocodile Dundee.
I think this goes back pretty far, even before modern product placement. I can’t nail it down but I’m pretty sure they would do this on the Carol Burnett show and in other sketch comedy way back when. It’s just funny to hear people use ad speak outside of the commercials.
It can be used to try to get get naming decisions reversed. The Michigan State Spartans Presented by Rocket Mortgage are the most recent example. That only lasted a few days until people making fun of the name forced them to back off.
In the early 60’s Ray Stevens had a song about Jeremiah Peabody’s Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills.
How about Jeremiah Peabody’s polyunsaturated, quick-dissolving, fast-acting, pleasant-tasting green and purple pills? (Actually, I don’t find that song very funny.)
Was that the template for his later song, “Ned Nostril and his Southsea Paradise, Put Your Blues on Ice, Cheap at Twice the Price Band (Ikky-ikky Ukky-ukky)”?