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MTV - Meat Puppets

Oh the MTV days… Big budgets, huge names and zero time to even recognise that we all had no idea what we were doing. As the opening film for the movie awards that year, this was the first time I got to watch a live audience react to something I made. It played great in the venue but still, I was so nervous…

Collaborating with the Lonely Island gang was as much fun as you would think. We had a blast pushing stupid as far as stupid could go. Cuba Gooding Jr. as Andy’s gymnastics coach father? Why not? I was Andy’s stunt double for the flip. 

I made this when I was still at MTV, but I think it was the first ‘commercial’ I ever shot. 16mm film, and a pure performance… wonderful simplicity. When the kid started crying, we kept rolling and the actor was able to play through the madness. Gotta love a chaotic little one.

This is the first spot I ever put my kids in. And the last. We had just had twin boys and I asked my wife if we could use them as machine guns in a video game commercial. She said, ‘sure’. Cinematography by the inimitable Bob Yeoman. 

This is one of the first spots I ever made with ECD Ian Reichenthal, who has more talent in his pinky than our entire industry combined. Pelting that woman in the back of her head with a burrito and having Ian smack the guy at his desk across the face with a burrito on a stick will be a memory I’ll cherish forever. 

This spot will never not make me smile. I remember showing a rough cut to [Biscuit founder] Noam Murro and he just looked at me and said, “Fuck You.”  This was also the first time I worked with a new Swedish cinematographer in town named Linus Sandgren. 

I almost passed on this job until my sister-in-law said I have to do it. Thank you Susan for talking some sense into me but in the spirit of full transparency, I’ve still never seen ‘Dirty Dancing’. A friend called me from the Super Bowl and said they played this in the stadium during a commercial break and people gave it a standing O. Wish I was there to see it.   

I truly love the opportunity to make something for a small brand no one has ever heard of. The super-handsome/super-fit Chris Beresford-Hill, [global CCO of BBDO] asked Ian and I to throw this gem together for a little glue brand in Texas. Watching Nick [Offerman] rock that chair in the tiny truck for the exact amount of uncomfortable is pretty special. 

When I first read the script I was determined to make this job happen. I know we’ve all seen a million Christmas water bottle commercials with geriatric seduction and people that look like Thom Yorke being held against their will… but I still had to do it. 

Oh, David Kolbusz. You beautiful man. I wanted to cast someone else for the salesman but David wanted this guy. He was right. 

How do you make 60 seconds of product-speak entertaining? Put 2 Chainz and Awkwafina in a nail salon. I was so impressed by his comedic timing… he really brought it that day… .along with 47 joints. I’ve never seen a human smoke that much weed and still deliver lines like a total pro.