Welcome, one and all, to the one hundredth episode of Ad Space!
Woo! Go me, go me, go me!
To celebrate this milestone, we’re gonna be doing something different. For all we’ve talked about commercials often being indistinguishable from parodies of commercials, I thought it would be fun to spotlight some genuine commercial parodies. And who has produced more of those over the years than Saturday Night Live?
Presented for your approval, here are my seven personal favorite commercial parodies from those good folks at SNL:
(Disclaimer: these clips come either from SNL’s official YouTube channel or from the NBC.com website, so I can’t guarantee they’ll be available if you’re watching from outside the United States.)
Wade Blasingame, Attorney at Law
A dark as pitch sketch, delivered with the sort of passionate intensity only Will Ferrel can bring, while mimicking the style of attorney commercials perfectly.
My Little Step-Children
Not only is this a hilarious sketch, with some surprisingly good child actor performances, but I love the YouTube comments saying how this is actually a far more accurate reflection of how they played with their dolls as kids (“it’s more like game of thrones except they’re all lesbians”).
Almost Pizza
“Pizza that’s practically pizza in every way, except for a few key ones.”
Dillon-Edwards Investments
Hilarious, and feels like it should happen for real any day now. I’m sure there are some avocado wholesalers out there cursing us all.
Beta Force
This one takes so many twists and turns, it’s like three or four parodies in one!
Tuna of the Dirt Brand Chicken
This isn’t one of those universally beloved classics of Saturday Night Live – you can’t even find it on YouTube. But this may very well be my favorite SNL sketch ever. You mileage will vary, but for me, it’s one of the few that’s achieved the rare distinction of laughing-so-hard-my-cheeks-hurt. I urge you to give it a shot.
But, of course, I know what all of you really came here for:
