I love Foghorn Leghorn. Since I was a child I've always thought he was one kick-ass chicken. If Subway made a commercial featuring Foghorn Leghorn I would probably go eat a $5 footlong. If you've read any of my other posts you know that Foghorn must have a special place in my heart if I'm willing to go that far. So, when Geico released their latest in a line of "Could switching to Geico save you 15%..." ads I was overjoyed to see my favorite Looney Tunes character taking center stage.
I find most of these Geico ads pretty funny. They are definitely better than the caveman and gecko ones. This one is just downright ridiculous, though. And as is the case with most ridiculous things, I'm a big fan. Foghorn starts reading A Tale of Two Cities, and quickly puts his hand (talon? wing?) over his mouth to let us know he's speaking directly to the audience, and he launches into a totally unrelated story about his aunt's pudding. While in the recording booth he makes wild gesticulations and sets the producer straight about his ad libbing and how it improves the source material he's reading.
After the producer gets fed up with Foghorn's blustery delivery, he send the chicken hawk into the booth and you hear what is presumably Foghorn getting his ass kicked by the chicken hawk's club as the producer winces. It's a strong commercial, and it's funny throughout.
On a related side note, I also dig the Geico guy's voice. It's like he's auditioning for Robert Stack's old role hosting Unsolved Mysteries. He gets that crazy look on his face as if he's stumbled on one of the great hidden secrets of the world. He should be included in the category of great television and movie voices along with luminaries such as Michael Buffer, the Micro Machines guy that talked really fast, the movie trailer guy with the really deep voice, Kris Kristofferson, and Keith David.
Lastly, after watching this commercial a few times I decided to look up Foghorn Leghorn clips on Youtube since all the channels on TV refuse to play the good stuff like Merrie Melodies. What I found is that Foghorn is known to say some pretty filthy shit considering the demographic he was being directed toward and the era in which he was featured. He makes some borderline dirty jokes, but when I was little and watched him I didn't realize it because I was a naive, stupid kid. Now, as an adult, I realize how much even more badass this giant rooster speaking in an amplified Appalachian accent and ranting about women who don't have any curves is.
Final Grade: B+
bravo!
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of Foghorn I think man that chicken is racist. Then I realize there really isn't anything racist about him at all. He's a fat chicken with a deep south accent. Foghorn was created in the late 40's. Life in America was pretty decent, unless you were a black. This was about the time the black's had had enough of being sent to the back of the bus. Then this fat white chicken comes out and somehow makes all the blacks feel a bit uncomfortable. White cartoonist making the most tantalizing chicken ever seen, plus he speaks like a white slave owner maybe or something racist. All I know is that there wasn't a black man in America that didn't want to come home to his wife and kids and say "we be eatinz goods tanite chall, I got me some fresh kill(pulls Foghorn out of bag).
ReplyDelete@Dustin Not sure about the entire comment, but I would have to agree that Foghorn is a very tantalizing chicken.
ReplyDelete