Hey, SNL fans: MacGruber’s love affair with a certain cola may only have been the beginning. NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman says the Pepsi-shilling skit-mercials that aired during the Jan. 31 installment of SNL and again on the Super Bowl were “positive experiments…that helped to evolve the medium.” The soda company paid a premium for the three ads, which were penned by members of SNL’s writing staff and featured Will Forte’s bumbling secret agent. “It was a win for consumers,” says Silverman, who stresses that Pepsi’s investment actually allowed for more SNL content in the end. “Over time,” he adds, “we’re going to continue the experiment.” Might we suggest a Target Lady campaign?
In the meantime, the spots earned a big endorsement from ex-SNLer Jimmy Fallon. “I have no problem with them. They were the funniest commercials of the Super Bowl,” says the comedian, who talked to EW while attending the premiere of He’s Just Not That Into You this week. “It was perfectly funny and it was made very obvious that they were paid for by Pepsi and that they were ads. It was over-the-top; they were meant to be ads. I laughed my ass off. [SNL executive producer] Lorne Michaels is not stupid. He is a keen businessman, and I am sure that he made sure the skit-mercials ran during designated commercial time. Will Forte is a genius. I love MacGruber. Besides, in this economy, people need to get creative.” — Additional reporting by Carrie Bell
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I didn’t realize there was any controversy over the PepSuber ads? I thought they were great! My only regret is that Richard Dean Anderson didn’t make a cameo on SNL proper so his return could have gotten a cheer from the audience.
I really hope they do more of these like they say. MacGruber (sorry, PEPSUBER
) is hilarious and so random.
Thank goodness these commericals got Jimmy Fallon’s approval. You know why these commercials are funny? Because Jimmy Fallon has nothing to do with them.
1) SNL has already run these one joke sketches into the ground. Wow! A parody of a show that was on 20 years ago, who says SNL isn’t still hip? Can’t wait for their take on Barney Miller!
2) If Jimmy Fallon says they are funny, then you can bet they are not.
Pepsi shouldn’t waste their money on a devastatingly unfunny snl character
I hate MacGruber and have from the first skit he was in! Did it really take a whole writing staff to come up with pepsi pepsi pepsi pepsi? That’s some quality humor right there!
I thought it was a waste of Richard Dean Anderson – do the Pepsuber, but they should’ve saved RDA for SNL only.
This whole trend of “we’re selling out, but we’re making fun of ourselves for selling out so it’s okay” is wearing real thin. It can be funny at times when “30 Rock” does it, but the MacGruber skits were awful. If they continue to do this even more it’s just going to get even more stale.
Actually, this isn’t the first time SNL has done something like this. In 1998 there was a running gag with Will Ferrell as Kenneth Starr bursting into various sketches and issuing subpoenas. And he unexpectedly showed up inside a real Heineken commercial during a break, serving papers to the characters in the ad. Not as blatant as “PepGruber,” but it definitely was SNL infiltrating real advertising within the show.