Stereotype: The Irish Are Witty and Insightful

One of my favorite bits of Ed Byrne's is his deconstruction of Alanis Morrisette's song "Ironic," but studies have shown that a good many of you won't devote five minutes to a YouTube video embedded in a blog, so maybe you'll watch this two-minute Byrne clip in which the comedian deconstructs Back to the Future.

Please Submit a Drawing of Your Raccoon Extermination Plan

All the good female comedians leave SNL and get better gigs, as the word on the street is that Lorne Michaels is a tightwad, egomaniacal bastard. OK, not true for Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, Nora Dunn, Jan Hooks and Maya Rudolph, although Rudolph's new movie looks promising in an indie-arthouse-under-the-radar-selected-cities kind of way. I guess I'm only thinking of Tina Fey. And now Amy Poehler.

In a bit of well-done advance press for Poehler's new sitcom "Parks and Recreation," NBC has created a subtle and wry site that mimics well the small, Midwestern city government website. It's fictitious Pawnee, Indiana, complete with a fake city seal depicting dead buffalo and denuded forests courtesy of the white man. The comedy is scattered in lightly in that Onion-y way, making people like me (who used to read Mad magazine cover to cover and even in the margins for fear of missing a hidden joke) scour the whole thing for cheap chuckles. And of course you can follow the upcoming show on Twitter.

Now This is Adverrtising

Advertising used to be a black art. It required subtlety and innuendo, vague nudging and then gentle calls to action. Whispers and suggestions. Before you knew it, you're at a bar saying, "Come to think of it, I'll have a Heineken." But we're too jaded and cynical for most of those methods now. Sure, lingerie and exotic cars can still be sold that way, but now we want you to make us laugh while you're selling your stuff. Baby e-trade is a good example.

Below, the self-mocking, self-aware ad reaches its high point. Nothing hidden here. No attempt to be subtle. Just product, in your face, done by a couple of established sketch comedians using one of their well-known sketches as the vehicle. From SNL last night, Will Forte and Kristen Wigg in "MacGruber" selling Pepsi with the real MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson.

The first one establishes the joke as a product placement.



The product placement gets more blatant.



Then, the over-the-top payoff.



Congratulations to Pepsi and their new agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day for pulling off this stunt. You think it's just another episode of MacGruber as they go into the commercial break, then you are sucked in by the ruse and you don't even care. It's comedy to sell Pepsi. And they even talked MacGyver out of retirement for the series. I can forgive that stupid logo change now.

But I'm a Coke man. As much as I admire this work, I'm not switching unless the restaurant I'm in only offers Pepsi. Honestly, my taste buds aren't so refined that I could actually tell much difference, but if I'm standing in front of two vending machines selling competing soft drinks, I'm probably going for the Coke. It's just a loyalty thing they conditioned me into believing years ago. If Pepsi wants to buy away my loyalty, we can talk.

Bring The Funny

Larger

UPDATE: Martin actually was funny. If only he would stick to sketch comedy, music or stand-up and leave the Jerry Lewis-styled movies alone. Bad plastic surgery forgiven, Steve.

Also of note: MacGruber/Pepsi. Pure genius advertising for the SNL-watching culture. Completelty self-aware and self-mocking, Pepsi and SNL teamed-up for the most shameless and hilarious commercials ever. When I can find the clip, I'll post it. Starring Will Forte in his usual role as the MacGyver knockoff. Extra touch of brilliance: also starring the real MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson.

Reinvigorating the American Brand

While waiting for the Republican Debate to begin last night, I tuned in to Bill O'Reilly, who had as a guest his buddy Dennis Miller. Dennis was waxing on about Iraq, among other things that he, as a comedian, is equally expert in and qualified to discuss.

Here's a portion of the transcript of what Miller had to say about the US getting involved in Iraq:

"And you know, people always say there were no WMDs, they felt misinformed. I didn't. I never thought there were WMDs. I thought we had to go in and cuff this guy around to reassert our place in the world. I think it was a reinvigoration of our brand, and I'm glad we did it."

Nice mediaspeak there, Dennis. Invading Iraq was a "reinvigoration of the American Brand."

(He was not joking. Go watch the clip. Scroll down to "Miller Time.")

I guess when you "reinvigorate a brand," in Miller's view, you reshape it into something unrecognizable from what it was, alienate your existing customer base, dilute your stock, then send out conflicting messages through a revolving door of senior management, pretty much assuring you will never acquire any new customers.

You're a genius, Dennis. You should work in advertising.

Reinvigorating the American "brand."

Kinda like what Just For Men did for your beard?