Orson Wells, Peeps, and Conan O'Brien

I have a secret…

I have an Instagram account.

I don’t talk about IG on X, mainly because it gets flagged in the algo.

But it also gets a lot of flack for being a brain-rot, dopamine trap of an app.

And that’s probably true.

But I use it to spam meme back and forth with my friends.

For this use, it’s absolutely goated.

Anyway, someone sent me this old Orson Wells ad from the 70s:

Number 1, I’m a huge Orson Wells fan.

His career was incredible.

But even better, I love his TV interviews from talk shows in the 70s and 80s. The man has some CRAZY cool stories.

So, when I saw this, I loved it. It’s hilarious mainly for the fact that I’m sure Orson never touched a Peep in his life. It’s also really funny because it’s not typical ad language: “When the desire for mallow-based confection prevails, I must insist upon Peeps.”

Incredible.

But it seemed too good to be true, so I did some research (Reddit).

And I found this (the actual ad):

Even though the Peeps ad is not real, the actual ad is not much better.

He’s still shilling something I’m sure he didn’t use even once.

But here’s the lesson:

I don’t really care.

In theory I don’t like the idea of a celebrity trying to sell me something they wouldn’t touch with a 10’ pole outside of a photoshoot.

But when you see someone like Orson Wells doing it in a way that borders on the satire, it’s different.

It certainly doesn’t make me think less of him or his talent.

I’m sure he had bills to pay.

But the difference between him and Larry David for FTX is that he leaned into it. Made it his.

Another example is Conan O’Brien selling ad products on his podcast. Just go listen to any of them. It’s hilarious and painfully obvious that Conan is just now learning about the product.

But he makes it funny and even talks about how ridiculous it is that he’s selling something he knows nothing about.

It’s not sleazy, it’s the pinnacle of comedy.

So here’s the lesson:

Use the difficulty.

Make the best of the situation (have to pay the bills) and rise above it (make it funny).

And maybe eat some Peeps.

Swanagan