Tag Archives: youtubery

Adtacular, Holiday Triumphs 2009, Pointless Nostalgia Video

Holiday Triumphs: More Adtacular! Halloween, 1985

Continuing my pointless quest to digitize every 80s ad I possess, I present this latest collection of commercials from The Vast and Dusty Scratchbomb VHS Archives. The latest batch comes from a tape with material recorded right around Halloween, 1985. Why am I presenting Halloween materials when we’re so close to Christmas? Because many of these ads have holiday relevance. And because I lump Halloween into that Drive To XMas Season. And because SHUT UP IT’S MY STUPID SITE OKAY?!

This first ad definitely has Christmas significance. In it, Alex Karras (aka Webster’s dad) informs parents that they better rush down to their local toy store NOW if they want to get some decent Transformers for the kiddies come December 25. This ad aired very close to Halloween, meaning there were at least seven weeks left until The Big Day. Just in case you thought retailers jumping the gun was a recent phenomenon.

It also features Webster’s dad lip syncing to “robots in disguise”, thus putting it in my top 10 favoritest ads ever.


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Videocracy

YouTubery Friday: Snuff Box and Do Something!

It’s Friday! Procrastinate and count down to happy hour with these lovely bits!

Over Thanksgiving, my brother hipped me to the hilarious video below, which is a compilation of segments from the BBC comedy Snuff Box. You may recognize Matt Berry as Dr. Lucien Sanchez from Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. You may also recognize Rich Fulcher as Bob Fossil from The Mighty Boosh. But if you don’t know either of them from Adam, I think you’ll recognize funny when you see it.

To be honest, I know very little about Snuff Box, except what bits exist on the YouTube. But from what I can gather, it involves the misadventures of a hangman and his assistant, with liberal doses of British absurdist humor, very much in the Boosh vein. It also has many recurring gags, one of which is gathered here.

Matt Berry will help a young damsel in distress, usually carrying a heavy object for her. But the exact second she reveals she has a boyfriend, I mean, the exact second, he…well, I won’t ruin it. Suffice to say, the comedic timing and violence are both exquisite.

Last night, the hilarious Michael Kupperman tweeted “Do something!”, along with a link to the video below. I will give it no more set up than he did. Enjoy (seeing this in your nightmares)!

Holiday Triumphs 2009

Holiday Triumphs: Christmas Ads from 1985, Pt. 1

Let the record show I don’t hate everything about the holidays. When I was a kid, I had a VHS tape of holiday specials and other stuff recorded around Christmastime, 1985. I rediscovered it years later and loved to watch it over and over for the old ads, plus a truly awesome special about the 50th Anniversary of Loony Tunes.

This special featured various celebrities speaking about the beloved cartoon characters as if they were real people with whom they’d worked. It’s a bizarre panoply of famous folks, from Chevy Chase to Danny Thomas to David Bowie, who pretends to not know Bugs Bunny, then admits “we might be doing an album together”.

But the best clips come from Bill Murray, who, as always, was pure genius. I’ve actually made mp3s of some of his improv dialogue and put it on my iPod; whenever it pops up on shuffle, I am always delighted. You can view this special, in chunks, on the Loony Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2, but I just had to share a few of Mr. Murray’s best bits, even if it’s not the best quality video. In this first bit, Murray reveals a few behind the scene glimpses of the working relationship between Friz Freleng and Yosemite Sam.

In this second clip, Murray talks about the Loony Tunes characters he does and does not respect.

Billy Dee Williams also knows how to bring the funny. Here, he reveals the music he puts on when he wants to get a lady in just the right mood: Carl Stalling. His little gestures, as if saying, “ah yes, that’s lovely” as cacophanous cartoon music plays, are priceless.


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