If I ever meet Will Ferrell's publicist in person, I'm gonna kick 'em square in the junk.
Ferrell is doing the talk show circuit to promote his new movie, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, in which he plays a NASCAR driver; this is normal. As a 'clever' marketing gimmick, he's wearing his racing suit to the interviews; this is not.
I'll admit, it's an inventive visual trick, and I'm sure it does wonders with audiences for (ahem) driving home the point. The problem is, as racing suits are prone to being, it's plastered with product logos. It's my job to notice them, log them and (cringe) time their appearances on-screen. So my night watching The Tonight Show went something like this:
Segment 2: Time the Wonder Bread logo. Rewind. Time the Nextel logo. Rewind. Time the Sunoco logo. Rewind. Time the Powerade logo. Rewind. Time the Goodyear logo. Rewind.
Segment 3: Time the Wonder Bread logo. Rewind. Time the...
The series generally ends with me banging my head on the desk.
It was maddening. The late shows are bad enough most of the time, but this was insane. It was even worse than the time Letterman did a bit in Jamba Juice and had the guy from the Hello Deli say "Jamba!" over and over again for close to ten minutes. (thirty-seven mentions, if you're curious.)
The thing is, I can't mind too much because, from the clips I've seen, the breathtaking amount of product placement present in that movie is there for a reason - it's one of the things they make fun of: Farrell's character's Thanksgiving dinner, for instance, consists of KFC, Domino's, Taco Bell, Powerade, Coca-Cola and Country Crock. It is funny, but after the work I did tonight, I know that seeing this movie would be torture for me. I have a hard enough time suspending my disbelief as it is, and that movie is practically daring me to try.
I like to sleep at night; I think I'm gonna pass.