Friday, March 13, 2009

THE BIG BRITISH BLIPVERT BRAINSTORM

Great Britain is over four hours into "Red Nose Day" for 2009, their annual Comic Relief celebration to raise money for charity. The theme this year is to do something funny for money, and it feels as though most British celebrities are pitching in to help out.

And this would include celebrities from Toobworld as well, including the icons and spokesmen to be found in commercials.
On February 20th, some of the greatest characters in British blipverts, some not seen on TV in decades, gathered together to think up a way they could help raise money for Comic Relief. I think I can safely say this will have a lock on the Toobits Award for Best Commercial Crossover in 2009!

Here's a rundown of who attended:













MONKEY - ITV Digital, PG Tips tea












HONEY MONSTER - Sugar Puffs












MARTIAN - Smash Instant Potatoes












THE MEAT-STICK - Pepperami








BRENDA & AUDREY - Bounty paper towels












CHURCHILL - Churchill Insurance












ALEXANDER THE MEERKAT - CompareTheMarket.com












BERTIE BASSETT - Liquorice Allsorts












THE ADMIRAL - Admiral Insurance












CAPTAIN BIRDSEYE - Birds Eye fish fingers












THE GORILLA - Cadbury












THE 118 118 GUYS - 118 Directory Assistance












MICHAEL WINNER - Kenco Coffee and Esure car insurance

There was also a voice-over at the end, of someone who didn't get the recognition he supposedly deserved for putting the whole meeting together, but it wasn't recognizable to me as to who it should be. Can anybody help with that information?

They finally decided, in the tradition of Band-Aid, to create a song that would help them raise money. And in the most angelic voice since Charlotte Church, Honey Monster sang out:

Don't buy fish fingers
Don't buy Kitchen Rolls

Don't buy Teabags
Don't buy Chocolate

And he implored those listening to instead buy shiny red noses to help raise money.

The Captain Birdseye seen in the sketch has to be considered some sort of recastaway, since the original actor, John Hewer, passed away a year ago come March 16. We can always claim it's his brother, also a Captain. (I'm wondering if there was some sort of poor taste joke - and there's nothing wrong with those! - to be implied in seeing him laid out like that until the Honey Monster's song brought him back to life, as it were?)

Later tonight there'll be a big telethon which will either augment the histories for 'Outnumbered' and 'The Sarah Jane Adventures', or give them counterparts in Skitlandia.

We shall see what we shall view.....

If you want to see their Red Nose Day sketch,
click here.
BCnU!
Toby O'B

1 comment:

Rob Buckley said...

Sounds to me like it was Ben Miller, who was voicing Monkey in this ad (I don't think he normally does in the PG Tips ads, where it's a generic posh bloke, but he's doing a lot for comic Relief this year)