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Williams was great at everything he did.

We all know and love the late, great Robin Williams for his work in movies, television shows, Saturday Night Live, and standup. But let’s not forget he also has a slew of commercials under his belt as well. The talented Williams delighted in everything he did because, honestly, what medium wouldn’t benefit from his signature charm and humor?

With such a long and illustrious career, fans may be happy to know that there's still new (to us!) William's content to find and enjoy. The evidence? Even the biggest Robin Williams fans might be surprised to find this recently unearthed commercial he did for the Illinois Bell phone company (later known as AT&T) back in 1977.

In the clip, where Williams unsurprisingly plays a mischievous husband making voices while his wife shops around for the perfect landline phone, we see a delightful foreshadowing of his alien character Mork from the sitcom Mork & Mindy—it certainly helps that the woman playing his wife resembles Pam Dawber, who played Mindy in the show. (Not to mention the fact that he says "people of Earth” with that perfect alien voice.)

Watch:

  - YouTube  youtu.be  

 

Of course, it wasn’t just nostalgia for Williams that people felt while watching this video, but also wistfulness for a bygone era, a simpler time when something like a landline was even a thing. Here’s a small smattering of comments from YouTube:

“You bought a phone and it sat on a desk or hung on the wall for decades and did its job, no updates, no 'starting it up', it was always on and always worked.”

“Miss the days when you could slam the phone.”

“The most surprising thing is that they repaired the broken phones rather than simply throwing them out and giving you a new one.”

“Oh, the times when we could make ourselves unavailable.”

“I remember having to go to the phone company. All the different color phones on display.”

“Our yellow kitchen wall phone had a cord like 12 ft long. It got knotted and tangled once and just stayed that way forever.”

“I remember being so excited about the new "pushbuttons" instead of the rotary dial.”

And last but not least, “I want to live in this time period.”

While we have two things to miss because of this video, it also, as one view put it, gave us “something to smile about,” and that’s never a bad thing.

If you're wanting more of Williams and his special brand of humor, you're in luck. Thanks to the Internet, we have a few more archived Robin William commercials at our disposal, arguably more chaotic than the one for Illinois Bell.

Here's one for the popular game, Legend of Zelda:

  - YouTube  youtu.be  

 

And another for Snickers, because who portrays the unhinged quite like Williams?

 

  - YouTube  youtu.be  

 

Especially this rather notorious one, in which Williams drives director Howard Storm insane with his shotgun style improv skills.

Williams’ comedic genius continues to be something we marvel at, and its inexplicable blend of zaniness, tragedy, and existentialism will always be a mystery we can never fully solve. That’s part of what made it so magical, and why we can watch even one of his most seemingly insignificant works and still be mesmerized. He was one of the greats, no doubt about it.

This article originally appeared in February.

In a characteristically Trumpy move, Donald Trump has nominated Andrew Puzder, CEO of fast-food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, to be secretary of labor.

Andrew Puzder! Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

Of the United States of America, that is.  


As someone who has written extensively about the intersection of burgers and public policy, this naturally seemed like an exciting move to me — at first. The genius responsible for bringing us the Southwest Patty Melt helming the government department tasked with regulating interactions between unions and management in the workplace? How could that possibly not work out in everyone's best interest?

Then I started digging into his record, and, like much of the rest of the world, reached an inescapable conclusion: Puzder is really, really good at his primary job — making delicious, ludicrous stacks of grilled meat.

It's a job he should probably stick to instead of trying to run the government agency tasked with sticking up for America's fry cooks, teachers, steelworkers, and cashiers, which he is ridiculously unqualified to do.

Puzder does have more experience than 99.9% of Americans at selling otherworldly beef sandwiches.

Here's a taste of just how good he is at that particular job:

Carl's Jr. is the "Batman Begins" to In-N-Out's "Dark Knight" — not quite as mind-blowing, but also the one your West Coast friends are slightly less annoying about — if only because Hardee's, which is the same, exists back East. But — to give Puzder the credit he's due — that doesn't mean it doesn't serve a damn good burger. Far from it.

The main draw? Carl's Jr.'s burgers are gigantic. Indeed, the chain's signature offering is the Thickburger — for those who prefer their meat sandwiches turgid and rock-hard.

Innuendo aside, the burger really is thick and has lots of cheese and unidentifiable fatty sauce on it, and you should go eat it right now. It's that good.

Oh YES. Photo by Paul Harrison/Flickr.

Carl's Jr.'s less intimidating offerings are almost as worth it, too. The California Classic Double Cheeseburger is a pretty decent imitation of In-N-Out's Double Double, and the Super Star with Cheese is also two burgers on one bun, and hey, two burgers!

Also Carl's Jr. has some salads. Just thought you should know.

Delicious though those burgers may be, here's why Puzder's experience — shockingly — doesn't really translate into his new government position.

This staid gentleman is a women-in-bikinis-eating-burgers stan. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

Would that the secretary of labor's sole job was to run the White House grill.

As it turns out, however, the primary function of the position is mediating conflicts between businesses and workers. With the Commerce and Treasury departments already on hand to look out for business, the Labor Department is generally understood to be an advocate for ... well, labor.

From his record, it certainly looks like Puzder doesn't really like workers all that much — at least, not human ones.

The evidence? His desire to replace as many as possible with machines.

Future job applicants. Photo by Kai Schreiber/Flickr.

"[Machines] are always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there's never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case," Puzder said in a March interview with Business Insider, referring to the totally irritating problem of employees suffering debilitating injuries, taking time off to see their families, or having to deal with abusive coworkers through official channels. (Being a CEO is rough!)

For the humans Puzder does employ, he's on record as adamantly opposed to raising their wages — a position he hasn't exactly tried to hide, what with the numerous public statements and op-eds he's written to that effect, not to mention his decision to serve on the board of an organization dedicated to never ever doing so.

To Puzder's credit, he frames this (kinda-sorta) as coming from a place of concern for his employees' well-being, albeit bluntly, asking: "Does it really help if Sally makes $3 more an hour if Suzie has no job?"

There's certainly a case to be made against a $15 minimum wage. There's evidence it helps workers in some places like Seattle and evidence it doesn't in others like upstate New York. But for Puzder to claim that he's solely at the mercy of oppressive market forces and, as CEO, has no agency in deciding how many people he employs at what rate is a little ridiculous. Sorry, Sally! Guess we fired you and replaced you with a kiosk. How did that happen? Please see the Invisible Hand — he'll be guiding your exit interview.

Puzder's companies are also notorious for ads that feature women and burgers in which both are granted a roughly equal level of humanity.

Highlights include this Super Bowl ad from 2015, which features model Charlotte McKinney striding through a farmers market boobs-first while the male vegetable hawkers stare slobberingly after her, presumably hoping to get her attention so they can remind her to buy the artichokes that were on her list..

Carl's Jr.'s Super Bowl 2015 ad features this totally common, everyday scene. Photo via Charlotte McKinney/YouTube.

"I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's very American," Puzder told Entrepreneur in 2015.

And yes, eating a burger in a bikini is a good idea! Burgers are sloppy, and in a bikini, there's less fabric to stain with chipotle mayo. But Puzder seems to be getting at, well, something else here — referring to Carl's Jr. as a brand for "young hungry guys," something normal people totally say that doesn't at all make you wonder what they think about when they masturbate.

As for how Puzder thinks of advertising for women? Well, they can "date" those "hungry guys," who, presumably, fantasize about finally locking down a hot girlfriend to melt cheese on.

This weirdness would all be pretty funny if Puzder hadn't been accused of abusing his ex-wife in filings from his 1989 divorce. But taken together, it all stacks up in a rather alarming way.

Like most people on Earth, Puzder isn't all bad news.

A more appropriate workplace. Photo by Griffin5/Wikimedia Commons.

He does support immigration reform and genuinely seems to care about the well-being of his company and his shareholders. But in general, his distrust of modest regulation and higher wages and his dismissal of workers' right to work make him a pretty absurd fit for a job designed to safeguard those very important things.

He is, however, the perfect guy to continue focusing his full-time energy on delivering massive, carb-laden sodium bricks into our national gut.

So do America a solid. Call your senator and urge them to compel Puzder to stick to his day job.

The country — and your stomach — will be better for it.

The Oct. 11 episode of FX's new comedy, "Atlanta" delivered on all fronts.

The bold, daring comedy follows Earn Marks (played by Donald Glover) as he manages his cousin Alfred, an up-and-coming rapper who goes by "Paper Boi" (played by Brian Tyree Henry).

Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred Miles (L) and Donald Glover as Earnest Marks (R). Image by Guy D'Alema/FX.


On the show's recent episode titled "B.A.N.," Paper Boi appeared on a fictional talk show "Montague." The entire episode included parody commercials for Swisher Sweets, Arizona iced tea, and more.

But it was the commercial parody for kids cereal Coconut Crunchos that set the episode apart.

In the short spot, a few black children explored ancient tombs (just go with it, kids' cereal commercials are ridiculous). Then, they discovered their treasure: a spread of delicious bowls of Coconut Crunchos. But just as they arrive, a wolf dressed as a mummy jumps out and tries to nab their breakfast.

That's when the commercial takes an alarming turn.

As the wolf attempts to swipe their cereal, an all-business white police officer grabs the culprit and lays him out.

All GIFs via FX Networks/YouTube.

The wolf was handcuffed and roughed up while the children looked on. 

The kids tried to reason with the officer — after all, it's just cereal. But he wasn't having any of it. So one of the kids took out their cellphone and started recording the entire exchange.

So much for the most important meal of the day.

While the parody was only 90 seconds of laughing through tears emoji emotions, it was rooted in an all too common truth.

Over-policing isn't just police zeroing in on specific populations or communities. It's about the hyper-militarization of local police forces, school administrators passing the buck on discipline to in-house police officers, and less serious offenses being treated as anything but.

Protesters hold up their hands and chant "hands up, don't shoot!" as they protest the decision not to indict a police officer who used a chokehold in the death of Eric Garner. Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images.

In cities across the country, people of color are more likely to be stopped or searched than their white peers are. And a study out of University of California-Davis found “the probability of being black, unarmed, and shot by police is about 3.49 times the probability of being white, unarmed, and shot by police on average.”

Black people are not making this up. We're not exaggerating. Just getting from Point A to Point B can be a matter of life and death.

So, it's no wonder the commercial resonated with so many viewers.

The reactions were swift and plentiful, with many surprised to see the issue of police brutality brilliantly juxtaposed with a kid's cereal commercial.

As such, the joke was nearly overwhelmingly met with praise.

Others cheered "Atlanta" for broaching the topic in such a unique way.

It's great to see shows like "Atlanta" and "Luke Cage" addressing the systemic issues faced by African-Americans in creative, surprising ways.

The lead characters may have superpowers or live in a slightly off-kilter reality (Black Justin Bieber anyone?) but the topics they're signal boosting are very real. And people of all backgrounds are taking notice. It remains to be seen if they'll take action.

Watch the full commercial for yourself. With or without a balanced breakfast.

Breaking news everyone: Divorce happens.

While divorce rates in the U.S. are dropping (we can thank feminism, marriage equality, and true love for that), divorce is still a pretty common occurrence for couples and families around the world.

We're starting to talk about it more, too — at the dinner table, in stories about celebrity breakups and conscious uncouplings online, and in scripted and reality shows on every TV network, like Sarah Jessica Parker's new HBO show which is simply titled "Divorce."


Parker and Thomas Haden Church speak about their new show, "Divorce." Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.

This is important because marriages don't always make it, and it's a fact of life.

But real talk about divorce is still missing in one key arena: advertising.

Heartbroken dogs, death, and raising families are fair game. However, for most brands, divorce is just a bridge too far. But, luckily for us, and all families navigating this tricky transition, that's changing.

Enter Swedish furniture and meatball giant IKEA, who tackled the issue of divorce recently in a moving spot titled, "Every Other Week."

The ad shows a young boy packing his things to spend some time at his dad's place for the first time.

GIF via IKEA/Vimeo.

He grabs his belongings and travels across town to his dad's apartment.

GIF via IKEA/Vimeo.

And thanks to IKEA, we see that his room at his dad's apartment is just like his room at his mom's.

GIF via IKEA/Vimeo.

Showing separation and divorce in ads can really be this simple. It doesn't mean this child or every child of divorce has an easy or carefree life, but this ad works because it doesn't make divorce a sob-fest either. Commercials like this normalize what life is like for millions of families around the globe.

IKEA isn't the only company featuring a perfectly-imperfect family in their advertising.

Nabisco's Honey Maid brand dipped a toe in the water in 2014 with their documentary-like spots celebrating "the changing face of American families." (Upworthy gave them a shoutout for their LGBT ad from the same campaign.)

The two-minute commercial showcased Isaac, a real child talking about his big beautiful blended family ... and eating graham crackers. (After all, they're still trying to sell products.)

The onscreen caption reads, "No matter how families change, what makes them wholesome never will." Here, here! Pass the marshmallows.

This representation matters because these families aren't necessarily broken, and they're not damaged either. They're just families.

With the divorce rate in the U.S. still hovering around 50% and 4 in 10 marriages being remarriages for one or both lovebirds, it's high time we see more families like these on the big screen.

Because families now look different from how they did 50, 20, or even five years ago. Families are going through divorce, or they're blended, or led by grandparents, foster parents, gay couples, or single people. And brands and companies should celebrate this positive shift, not shy away from it.

Watch IKEA's heartwarming "Every Other Week," in its entirety.

It's the first video in a series of nine for their "Where Life Happens" campaign.