Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2009 > July > 13 > Entry
Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black take product shilling to a new level, God bless ‘em
I am sure if you would have told the two Michaels 15 years ago that they would still be on TV, they would have been both thrilled and possibly disgusted. I am also pretty sure that if you told them they would be doing live commercials during said show, they would be mortified. C’est la vie.
With all sorts of media scrambling to find ad revenue, it appears the show on Comedy Central will be the first of its kind to feature live adverts, according to AdAge.com.
Sounds like something out of a Simpsons’ Telemundo-satirized bit. “Y super gracias a Goya.”
[From AdAge]
In what is believed to be a first for a scripted series, “Michael & Michael” will feature live commercials during six of its seven episodes, as Messrs. Black and Showalter humorously wax poetic about the virtues of products including Unilever’s Klondike, Dunkin’ Donuts, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Palm Pre. Klondike will be featured in the premiere episode, and the brand will also sponsor a web micro-series featuring the Michaels riffing on the ice-cream bar’s classic tagline, “What would you do for a Klondike bar?”Mr. Showalter said the sketch show’s reality-based format provided the actors their first opportunity to put their brand of self-referential meta-humor to work for sponsors. “I think we felt like with this show in particular, since we were playing ourselves making a TV show, we could do something where we’re basically doing promotions for advertisers as ourselves and it wouldn’t necessarily pull you out of the show we’re making,” he said. “We see it as the old-timey ad, the kind you hear on the radio all the time, where we just stand there and talk right to the camera, ‘This is the product, and this is why it’s great.’”
Jeff Lucas, Comedy Central’s exec VP-ad sales, said Messrs. Showalter and Black have been more proactive than most talent when it comes to openness to product integration.
“Michael and Michael are very forward-thinking. They’ve been doing this a long time, and they also know the economic realities of television, so they know want to play ball,” Mr. Lucas said. “This helps them, it helps us and, most importantly, it helps our advertisers get their message across in a new and innovative way.”
If this is what it takes for the two “alternative comics” to bring their meta-humor back to the small screen, so be it.
To be honest, at least they are being as up front as possible about their commercial messaging, as opposed to shows like “Chuck,” which use product placement in them which, despite the wink and a smile, turn out to be rather stomach turning.
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