I watch a lot of baseball. I mean, A LOT of baseball. Usually when I should be writing, I’ll procrastinate by watching a baseball game. Between pitches, I can ignore the commercials and be alone with my thoughts to think about half-formed ideas or a new comedy sketch.
Most of the commercials I ignore. However, I noticed that a classically bad commercial had recently been re-released – “Just for Men” starring sports stars Keith Hernandez and Walt Frazier. Years ago, The Simpsons, MadTV and others made fun of this commercial. With the re-release of it (along with a new one starring Randy Johnson and Emmett Smith), I thought it was high time someone made fun of this monstrosity again.
The reversal for the sketch came pretty quickly. Instead of adults, it would be for teenagers or kids. It seemed too easy an idea and I figured someone had made something similar since the commercial had been out for 10+ years. I searched YouTube and Google and found nothing, so I figured “Just for Kids” would be original, fun and ridiculous. I’m not big on parodies but this seemed like a fun one to do and even if the viewer hadn’t seen the original commercial, I still thought it would stand alone as funny because of the kid trying to get into a bar with grey hair.
I stumbled across Mike E. Winfield (the guy on the right playing Walt “Clyde” Frasier) at a comedy club in Sacramento, CA, while writing for another comedian and it was immediately clear he had something very special. Several months later I approached him with the idea of doing a sketch comedy pilot. Recently, we completed the pilot and are starting to shop it around Hollywood. You’re going to see big things out of Mike E. in the future.
As we wait to see if the pilot gets picked up, please enjoy this quick commercial break from our sponsors…
by Travis Kurtz
Even though my career has been going really well, it was interesting being on the set because director Travis Kurtz had everyone on the set well informed of my past projects, and they made me feel like such a big star. I wasn’t expecting that reaction from the rest of the cast, but we were still able to stay loose and be flexible within our performances. The kids were the best. Kids are often so humble and they visibly show that they are happy to be there, and that put me at ease. I believe that in a comfortable environment, you will achieve your best results. That was the first time Travis and I worked together, and I was pleased with his style of maintaining order with so much activity going on. Our results have only been uphill since this recording, and I am beyond excited for what we have coming up soon.
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