Eastbound & Down is a funny show. So, you'd think its co-creator, Jody Hill, might have done a better job directing this new Hooters commercial from ad agency Fitzgerald+CO. Instead, we get a spot that's both crude and unfunny. It's based on a loutish lifeguard who's disgusted by the wrinkly old people he has to watch in the water, and whose inner dialogue is spoken by angel and devil owl puppets over his shoulder (the owl being the Hooters mascot). "I just threw up in my beak," is the best line the devil owl can muster. "How we approached these [ads] was kind of like we do on Eastbound & Down," Hill says in the behind-the-scenes video. "You start with the script. That's kind of your blueprint for the structure. And then you add on a joke or two, and pretty soon you just start improv-ing off that. That's where you get those kind of magic moments that you can't really write." Perhaps those magic moments were confined to future spots—one of which will apparently star former NFL coach Jon Gruden. Of course, it's possible Hill did a remarkable job here—juvenile and obnoxious being this brand's core attributes after all. Credits after the jump.
CREDITS
Client: Hooters
Title: "Lifeguard"
Agency: Fitzgerald+CO
Agency Producer/HOP: Christine Sigety
Creative Director: Evan Levy
CCO: Noel Cottrell
SR. AD: Patrick Campbell
Account Director: Allison Sherrill
Production Company: Caviar
Executive Producer: Michael Sagol, Jasper Thomlinson
Producer: Luke Ricci
Director: Jody Hill
DOP: Mark Williams
Production Designer: Lauryn Leclere
Editorial Company: Arcade Edit
Executive Producer: Damian Stevens
Editor: Geoff Hounsell
Producer: Denise Hutton