TV commercials are fairly easy to satirize. If you think about it, advertising is sort of ridiculous in the first place (a TV show is interrupted to ask you to buy toilet paper and gum?), so they're a natural for parody. There have been a lot of great parodies over the years, from shows such as Saturday Night Live and SCTV, and now Nerve has picked the 50 that they consider to be the best.
There are a lot of great choices, from SNL's "Colon Blow," "Schmitt's Gay Beer," and "Compulsion by Calvin Klein" to the Zoloft ad from Mad TV. One of my favorites is SNL's "Happy Fun Ball" spot, which was written by Jack Handey and included in his new book of essays What I'd Say To The Martians. It's a good list all around, though it's also one that I feel is missing a bunch of good ones, only I can't put my finger on which ones are missing at the moment.
The one they pick as number one is undoubtedly a classic, though I think it's overrated. I've always loved the one after the jump.
Remember the good ol' days of Saturday Night Live? You can. On your video iPod, or just on your computer.
This week, iTunes released all sorts of video clips that span the last 30 years of Saturday Night Live. You
can purchase individual sketches, including The Hanukkah Song, Wake Up and Smile, Schwetty
Balls, Motivational Speaker, plus a few oldies-but-goodies like Word Association with Chevy
Chase and Richard Pryor, and King Tut with Steve Martin. There are also all sorts of commercial parodies such
as Colon Blow, Oops I Crapped My Pants, and Mom Jeans (what? no Clear Gravy?). You
really have to love those sketches, though, because they each cost $2. The collection is by no means complete, but it
looks as though SNL is just getting started. For instance, I didn't see any of the Wayne's World or Church
Lady sketches available for individual purchase. However, those are included on the "Best Of"
compilations that are also available for download, for $10.
Celebrate the 4th by watching television!
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