I sat in the recording studio next to my producer, a young junior copywriter, eagerly positioning my pen and empty pad, as our engineer patched in our celebrity talent. Through the speakers came a warm, pleasant voice, full of the kind of charisma and charm you’d expect from a red hot comedian with a quickly ascending career. I had worked hard for the past month to pitch this guy to my boss, and client, both who were unfamiliar with him. But after sharing his standup clips, they fell in love with his stomach grabbing brand of clean humor, and the spot sold. I was geeked. This was my second time recording a famous comedian. Since the first spot went over well, I was hyped to bring back another winner. But after listening to the first line of the first take of the script I had written, I was horrified to learn, that would not be happening.
I stared at my producer, mouth agape, as we listened to our celebrity talent take almost three minutes to read a 60 second script. He struggled, stammered and slowly sounded out words in sing-songy phrases, only to repeat them with the same clunkiness as before. As a fan, I was heartbroken. We were thousands of miles away in a different studio. But even on the phone patch, I could feel the sweat forming on his forehead and the anxiety building within him at Texas highway speeds as he awkwardly attempted to pronounce the next word. Miraculously, after finishing the read, this guy snaps right back into his light-hearted comedic self. Zero shame. “Don’t confuse my technique for jitters now. That was just the warm up. Let’s me run it back.” This guy was beautiful, I mean the entire session. He had obviously been hiding this problem for years, and seemed, used to it. He tried hard, kept a positive attitude and kept begging us to let him do more takes. And out of respect for his talent, and just how amazing of a person he was, we did. But all the time we knew, this spot was never going to happen.
In advertising, too often celebrities end up in extremely vulnerable positions, ultimately sabotaged by their most trusted employees, their agents. Sitting with their client, reviewing the creative, and making an informed decision about whether or not the opportunity is a good fit, doesn’t always happen. Instead, the positives of monetary gain, partnership with a major brand and plenty of exposure camouflages the hidden ramifications for the celebrity that may lie in the weeds. That’s how a comedian who can’t read ends up in a recording session. That’s how celebrities end up on set for a commercial with no idea what they are shooting. And unfortunately, that’s how this reality star, a legendary singer and a Hall Of Fame football player, ended up in controversial concepts that ultimately compromised how the public views them.
Securing a lucrative deal is only part of an agent’s responsibility, protecting their client’s brand and reputation is the other.
Our comedian’s agent put him and his reputation in a very vulnerable place. We could have easily made a big stink about the situation and within weeks, it would have been industry wide news that this guy couldn’t read, possibly casting a negative effect on the future of his career. We obviously didn’t do that. While it would have been nice if the agent had protected his client and us, by declining the opportunity, we still had to salvage the spot.
After shaking off the shock of it all, my producer and I quickly rallied. Knowing our session was unusable, we identified a comedic actor we had worked with before and made some calls to book him. He wasn’t famous, but he was funny, and most importantly, he could read. We explained what happened to the client, re-recorded the spot, and it actually all turned out fine. It was radio, so honestly, nobody really cared. Had this been a TV spot, the blowback would have been much different. As for the comedian, this guy has gone on to have a great career. He still tours, films comedy specials and makes TV and movie appearances. I assume, he is just riffing off the top of his head in everything I see him in, which honestly blows my mind.
I’ve thought about this a thousand times, but there was no real way for me to vet this guy any better than I did. The lesson? Sometimes in advertising, weird shit just happens. You don’t get emotional about it. You don’t point fingers. You just take a deep breath, and figure that shit out. In our industry, that’s exactly what we get paid to do. One luv.