I Like It In Here

This is without question one of my favourite ads of all time.

I first heard this ad on the radio, only it had been spun to be an ad for Kool FM Shower Radios in Barrie, Ontario. I remember hoping that someone had recorded it and put it online somewhere, or that the company themselves had it up somewhere so I wouldn't have to wait through the music just to hope that maybe, just maybe, it would come on again.

And then I found it on YouTube recently, totally by accident. And I am ecstatic that I did, so that I may share its hilarity with you.

I'd love to offer some profound commentary about this ad and why I love it so much, but all I can say is that it's just funny. The way I see it, it's meant to seem like a raw, behind-the-scenes look at what recording the voiceover for a commercial is really like when your actor isn't quite getting the message. I have no idea what this has to do with the movie, other than that it's a funny ad, and the movie is called Comedian and is about comedy. While there are many, many, many avenues that they could have taken, they chose to go this very simple, copy-driven route.

What do you think? Let's see you try to make a list of other avenues that they could have taken with this trailer, and put your ideas in the comments below! I know I have a handful of ideas, and I would love to hear yours!

I think that they went so simply with this ad to show that comedy doesn't have to be extreme, overt, or squeaking like a rubber chicken to get a reaction. The fact that they used Hal Douglas playing himself adds to the comedy, in my opinion, because it just makes the concept all the more genuine. If they had used some random person, or even a lesser-known voice actor, it might not have gotten the same reaction. This, in my opinion, is because we expect great things out of him because we already know his voice. If it were an unknown person, then we wouldn't know what to expect out of them and thus would be less surprised by their misdemeanour. What I don't get is why they called him Jack, though. In fact, I think that it would have been funnier if they had called him Hal, acknowledging that it's actually him doing this.

I love how clever the writing here is, parodying the copy for movie trailers itself within a movie trailer that is copy-driven. And everybody loves watching other people getting annoyed. That's why misunderstandings in comedies work so well! Take the good old Who's On First skit by Abbott and Costello. If you don't know it, here:

This skit works because it's extremely clever in the writing, but also because of how annoyed Costello is getting. His reaction is what sells the story. He is comparable to the guy in the booth trying to get "Jack" (Hal) to say the right lines. Frustration is always amusing, because it causes for overblown, outrageous reactions, and it's those reactions that make us, the audience who knows what's going on, amused at how difficult a time the person is having.

Back to the trailer for the movie. We've learned extremely little about the movie itself, but the ad is still outrageously funny. Maybe this would cause the audience to look up more information about the movie due to how vague the ad is. All I know is that this ad is extremely simple, but it makes me laugh every time. I personally think that that's because of a combination of the multiple elements that we have outlined today: parody of copy and movie trailers, a well-known person doing their job wrong, and annoyance and frustration. Again, there could have been a wide array of different avenues that could have been taken. But would they have been as effective? I suppose it also depends on what kind of comedy you're trying to accomplish. If they were trying to go for clever comedy, then they hit this out of the park. One of these days, I'll look into the movie and see if it meshes with the trailer. Until then, I'm staying in the booth.

I like it in here.