Sell Sell!

Nobody is always asking me “Martin, how do you keep your body looking like that of a Greek god?” Well it’s simple,  I use new improved ‘Man Wax’ from Lorry Al. ‘Man Wax’ is specially formulated to keep your body shiny, manageable and free from bobbling. Buy it now from all good Phrenologists.

Love it, loath it or tickle it, advertising is a fact. So why do many people get angry when comedians choose to accept the lovely pennies that come with appearing in or voicing over adverts? They would never complain if an actor did such a thing but if a comedian so much as coughs in an advert, the internet resounds to the cry of “SELL OUT!”

It’s not as if every comedian spends their time denouncing large corporations. Most are happy to work the comedy circuit with a selection of pithy observations about their genitals. So should they be berated when they take an opportunity to earn enough money to take a well deserved holiday from the pungent smell of stag nights? Of course not! That would be like telling an actor that they should play one part for the rest of their life, like Bill Roache or Woody Allen.

That is not to say all comedians should do adverts. If I were to see Mark Thomas on my telly ramming a Big Mac into his mouth and whistling, “lovin’ it” through his penis, I would quite rightly accuse him of hypocrisy.

The tone of this blog may suggest that I am some kind of über capitalist. However, I am actually a big wet liberal. I know many people who have appeared in adverts, including myself (years ago) and without exception they are the loveliest, shiniest and most bobble free people you could ever meet and I just heard them all vomit.

By way of an advert, I would like to plug the March episode of Brainjam again. These podcasts take much more work than The Gentleman’s Review and we would like to get as many people listening to them as possible. So if you have a friend who is at a loose end, then ram Brainjam in their ears. Please?