Jack Somack - Spicy Meatball - AlkaSeltzer
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2024
- HERE'S ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS TV COMMERCIALS OF ALL TIME!
The ground-breaking Alka Seltzer commercial from 1969, a commercial-within-a-commercial showing a series of supposed out-takes, this hilarious spot stars Jack Somack as a hapless commercial actor being forced to eat spicy meatballs in take after take, with an unfortunately increasing gastric price to pay! - ตลก
E X A S P E R A T I O N
IS THAT A GD REFERENCE?!?!?!?!?!?!??!
IS THAT A MOTHERFUCKING GEOMETRY DASH REFERENCE!?!??!??!?!?!
@@DethbytrainYESSIR!!!!!! IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!
My Sicilian grandfather (who immigrated to USA as a 15 year old) would laugh his head off everytime this aired. I remember this commercial when it aired. The best.
We all remember it, too. Tho those old stoves are COMPLETELY bulletproof! My gramma STILL has one!!
Picked up a click radio from 54/55, it still works, too!
she still use it? :D@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823
I was 5!
@@CraigCaldwell-ln5zf 🍞
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 They don't make them like they used to, and they don't on purpose. How would they make money if say a Kenmore freezer built in 1954 along with your radio still worked? While we have 2 gems most things aren't.
Mama mia that's a spicy meme-
Mama Mia that’s a spicy me
sus
Sneed
Mamma mia that's a spicy exasperation
0:30 lol "measy misy ballsy balty"
That line still makes me laugh after all these years!!
😂
OK, we all know it was Jack Somack, but who was the wife with the patience of a saint and a Mona Lisa smile? Her expression as she hears the oven door fall off is priceless!
Good question! She is Fran Lopate. The author, Philip Lopate is her son. Another son is a NYC public radio talk show host, Leonard Lopate. He has spoken about her being in this famous commercial.
Now there's one whopper of a Trivia Question!
This was my favorite commercial EVER...everything was indeed perfect. This definitely all came together!
Predating the meme? Props
Hahaha.... This was one of my favorite ones too. I also liked the Prince spaghetti commercial....Wednesday is Prince spaghetti day.... Good old days....lololol Let's not forget....Time to make the donuts... I could go on.
Alka-Seltzer and Volkswagen always had the best commercials.
The commercial was pulled because people actually thought it was advertising spaghetti sauce, not Alka-Seltzer.
Joe Colombo's group lobbied to have it taken off the air.
That not true.
That is a good looking plate and the sauce must be good so yeah but it literally advertises at the end and it's a good weapon to have when that fullness and acid indigestion hits.
If you say so.
One of the greatest TV commercials of all time.
Proper credit is due its creator: Roy Grace of ad agency DDB Worldwide.
It was a terrible commercial. It did not increase the sales of Alka Seltzer.
@@js1741 still iconic :)
@@js1741 You're right on the latter, but I remember it, even though it's only slightly.older than I am.
@@js1741 Says you.
@@js1741 It was only aired for a month, hardly long enough to effect sales.
For my money, the best TV commercial ever made. EVER made. RIP Jack Somack.
0:53 - “Mama Mia, that’s a spicy meatball!”
*oven gives up its use*
My father, who was Italian, loved this commercial, as did I. Somack was brilliant.
Haven't seen this in 50 years. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I still laughed out loud. BRILLIANT!
you are old
"Mama-mia, that's a spicy meatball"
"Cut!"
"What was wrong with that?"
"Accent"
lol
This commercial needs to come back. Absolute gold.
My favorite part is Jack's look of complete satisfaction after Take 28... don't blink, it's fleeting and just before a cloud of frustration.
I am 65 & still enjoy this - bring it back now !
Jack Somack was my cousin, married to my dads sister....really a nice guy
Chuck Benwitt
If he were your cousin and he married your dads sister doesn’t that make it incest?
If he was married to your dad's sister doesn't that make him your uncle?
Uncle by marriage, cousin by birth!
Albert Einstein married his cousin
Bless his heat I remember it well coming from an Italian...It was Funnnnnny
Alka Seltzer had the funniest, most memorable commercials. Now it’s one of those products you never see ads for anymore.
I just love Mama... the patience of a saint!
"Let's break for lunch" LOL
This was sheer genius! The writing, the acting, even the wife, smiling as she serves 'Pappa'. Sometimes it just all comes together and something become 'iconic'. For a certain generationthis is right up there with the guy from the Hertz Rent a Car ads, who floats down into the Chevy convertable. If only renting a car could be that easy.
Yes I LOVE the wife character and the way she quietly plays it, so subdued, and always so gracious the way she clasps her hands together anticipating his joy. I wonder who SHE was? Truly an iconic ad, as you say, I share it with folks often!
@@CrashingCrockery Good question! She is Fran Lopate. The author, Philip Lopate is her son. Another son is a NYC public radio talk show host, Leonard Lopate. He has spoken about her being in this famous commercial.
@@kimluke8709 Omigosh thank you! I will have to look her/them up, it is so nice to have a name to put to the face, and I am so glad her son speaks of her, as she so truly deserves acknowledgement! If she only knew how many of my very close friends I have "taught" to do that gesture when serving one another (dinner at a friend's, lunch on a patio, any scenario where someone brings a plated meal to another), complete with hand clasping and gracious head cocking. I just love her, ha ha! Thanks for the info, Kim!
@@CrashingCrockery Fran Lopate's son Leonard spoke about her a few weeks ago on his radio show. (The reason I went to look for this video.) He speaks about her acting work here, starting just before the 15 minute mark: www.wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=15514
@@kimluke8709 THANK you for this! It's sad how at every turn she was somehow blown off because A. the commercial was pulled because someone thought it was a bad representation of Italians; B., her Benson & Hedges commercial didn't make it because suddenly cigarette ads on TV were banned, and C., BIG blow, she didn't get the part in "The Godfather" because "she wasn't well known enough." Well, maybe had they let her commercials play! Still, so nice to hear something about her from her son no less, helps humanize her after all these years.
My Dad used to laugh is ass off for this one 😎🙏♥️😂
I worked with this actor in the 1970s. Jack Somack. A stage production of "God's Favorite".
Mamma Mia! Thatsa nicea memory for you!
what was he like to work with?
@@mumblepot he had some trouble remembering his lines, he had come to acting later in life....and stage acting is tough...no re-takes or editing...but he did have a lot of natural talent that carried him. He was also a good tipper.
I was 12-13 when this aired. My brother and I loved it. We used to parody it in school.
I still do it.
Best commercial ever! And I wasn’t even alive when it came out.😂
He finally gets it right and the door falls off the stove.
RIP JACK. I LOVED THIS COMMERCIAL GROWING UP.
I saw this commercial in the 90s on some TV show about funniest commercials. Hearing "That's some speecy meatball..." still has me laughing after 30 years. One of my favorite commercials of all time!
Geometry dash players:
Exasperation ☠️
This is basically a one minute master class in acting.
I remember this when I was a kid... It was pulled the next year when Joe Columbo's "Italian-American Civil Rights League" lobbied to have it banned...
I’m a bit surprised to hear that. With the actor dropping the accent as part of the gag, I’m pretty sure it was *poking fun* at hokey accents in popular media back then. It’s self aware since the audience knows he’s faking. That’s not offensive, it’s commentary.
Cancel culture before there was cancel culture
That was a shame. I come from an Italian American family and this ad made us laugh precisely because the old timers really talked like that.
omg I could watch this a million times and still laugh my ass off..
One of my all time favorite ads. Thanks for posting!
Mo Capisce, me and most
of my Italian friends love it.
The most epic TV commercial of all time
I never get tired of this. When it came on The Tube (which TV really was back then) in my childhood home, everyone would run into the living room to watch it. I have a recollection of a similar ad with a newlywed housewife serving her husband a "bigga meataballa" & she says "I wanted to impress you"; but can't find it anywhere. Did i imagine it?
Big dumpling, and it’s on TH-cam!
My parents hated this commercial because I used to run around the house shouting the meatball line.
Alka-Seltzer always had the best commercials in the 1960s whose catchphrases are still remembered today -- "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" and "Try it, you'll like it" were two others. (And didn't they also have the "No matter what shape your stomach's in" jingle?) In any event, thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, guys.
Arguably the greatest American commercial of all time.
it's from Canadian
@@greenrobot5 Ah, didn't know, thanks.
@@greenrobot5 Wait a sec, it was created by Roy Grace, an American ad man, for DDB, an American ad company, and it was aired primarily in the US market. How is it Canadian, exactly?
exasperation
This was filmed by the great Howard Zeiff who did a number of other memorable commercials. He did the still photo series “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish Rye,” and a famous Volkswagen advertisement that involved crossing a border in Europe, but I forget the details. He went on to become a film director of comedies, including "Private Benjamin." He was a genius at humor.
This was a commercial that you would call the rest of the family in to the living room to watch.
Pound for pound, the best commercial ever.
Meesy micey bossy...balls.
The best part of this commercial is how the actress's face or hands drop as Jack fumbles in each take, especially how delayed her reaction is when the oven door falls. like /that/ was the moment when she was done
Just love the end when, after a truckload of spicy meatball eating, the director says "ok, let's break for LUNCH".
Brilliant. Pure brilliance! Writing a great commercial is a challenge. But the greatest challenge is for people to remember what product you're endivoring to sell. People could have mistaken it for a certain spaghetti sauce. BUT this commercial knocked it out of the park!!
0:31 is the funniest part! I laugh so hard at this! 😂
Mario: Somebody touched-a my-a spaghet!
I remember my dad reminiscing about the speecy miteball commercial. This is it! Still funny dad!❤.
Thank you for posting!
0:53 Exasperation
Good to know that The Mask made a reference to the commercial :3
I love this commercial so much!
Perfection.
This is my favorite commercial
I remember Jack Somack appearing on "The Jeffersons" in the episode "The Jefferson Curve". He played a pizzeria owner who spoke with a mock Italian accent as a promotional gimmick. George was trying to land an account with his pizzeria chain.
R.I.P., Jack. :'(
"Cut"
"What's up with that?"
"The accent"
So they actually think italians speak like that?
I'm oddly ok with that :D
They do. Some, at least. Depends on the dialect.
My barber does. And the one I had before him
My father did soooooo
A time when people knew how to do marketing/advertising properly!
I'm still laughing 57 years later! This commercial used to DESTROY me when I was a kid!
😂😂😂
I still say it when I take my Alka Seltzer! Best commercial of all time!
So this commercial inspired Stanley Ipkiss aka The Mask in the infamous scene where he gobbles the explosive and then after his stomach momentarily protrudes he says "That's one spicy meatball!" 😂
Mamma mia, that's a spicy meatball!
I loved that commercial when it came out long ago.
"Let's break for lunch"
Talk about ironic humor😅.
That topped it off to perfection.
8 people who thumbed it down saw the stereotype...they also want Aunt Jemima gone as well....
I got to see Jack Somack on stage in The Prisoner Of Second Avenue a couple of years after this commercial came out. He was great.
I believe that is Ronny Graham as the guy with the clapper -- I had thought he wrote this commercial, though. He DID write the song for Mobil Oil "I'm Dirt, I'm Dirt and it's car engines I love to hurt. I'll make them sputter... and stop, and if I do, what can you do? Ha! You can't even call a cop! 'Cause I'm Dirt, haha, I'm Dirt, haha, I'm Dirt!" which was a radio ad before it came to TV
He was associated with M*A*S*H as an occasional writer. There's a story about the episode in which Hawkeye and BJ convince Charles that he's losing weight and then, later, that he's gaining weight - by giving him other people's uniforms. The writers were stuck on a way to end it, though, so they called Ronny Graham for advice. He thought for a moment and said, " . . . Starting tomorrow . . . he gets taller."
(after take after take) "Mama Mia, here I go again!"
DDB agency behind the creation of this marketing masterpiece.
This was the famous commercial that was boycotted by Joe Colombo's Italian American League in 1970. He was able to get the networks to stop playing it on tv.
Who is Joe Colombo? some Italian who can't take a joke? i am Italian and this is hilarious!
@@maydom04 you don't know who Joe Colombo is Mamma Mia
Came here to watch the commercial after reading about Joe Colombo's boycott in mafia associate Joe Cantalupo's autobiography "Body Mike". Was wondering if anyone in the comments would mention him.
Stanley Ipkiss be like... That's a spicy meat-a-ball! 😂
💀💀 ipkisss
What happened to great ads like this? I still remember this one, many years later but honestly couldn't tell you one ad or product that was just advertised between innings of the baseball game I am watching...
My dad would howl at this commercial.
So did mine, and we're Italian Americans. Old men in our family really talked like that.
0:54 *”Mama mia thats a spicy meatball”*
The final shot was perfect until the falling oven door ruined the take. Poor Jack. But you gotta admire him.
Reminds me of the WrestleMania Goes Hollywood ad, with all the superstars doing the "You talkin' to me?" Taxi Driver line, and every time they cut to the Big Show something goes wrong. 😆
Funny stuff
A childhood friend of mine did commercials for a while. He did one for Hostess fruit pies. He told me that they made him do38 takes of biting into a pie. After that, he stopped doing commercials.
exasperation
😂😂❤️ love this commercial!!!
That same year he did the AMC Rebel ad.....It too is hilarious! It's on TH-cam also.
God this kitchen is so old school I would love to see it in person
0:37 when ur ded inside
He had enough eating that spicy meatball.. XD
The guy who says break for lunch sounds a little like Dick Cavett.
Meecey micey ballsy wallsy. I love this commercial!
Very amusing. I remember seeing it on TV. :)
Exasperation
The wife sports the Sicilian nose we all have in my mom’s family.
Okay let’s break for lunch....lol
laughs in *exaspiration*
MAMMIA MIA
RIP Jack Somack.
Los que vienieron aquí por EXASPERATION 👇
frfr
Now I'm hankering for some spaghetti.
This is so ahead of its time that I’m positive it was the inspiration behind the infamous “Liberty Bibberty” commercial.
NYC Italian from the 70’s. I just made my Taiwanese wife some gravy and said out loud mama mia that’s a spicy meatball, no it wasn’t she said. Off to TH-cam. Thanks.
MUMA MIA! THATS A SPICY MEME!
I'm still laughing
a nice touch in the commercial is the suspenders , a man might be inclined towards suspenders because belts get too tight, and we are told by the narrator sometimes the guy eats too much, and we know belts can sometimes get too tight around the middle when there is extra weight possibly brought on by episodes of overeating
Ronny Graham, slating it in too. "Take 28..." . Graham also played the minister that was unable to complete the wedding ceremony in Spaceballs until he got it down to the "short, short version".
Thank you for posting this whoever that is Slim funniest greatest commercials ever made they don't make them like this anymore God bless mr. Somaek does anyone know if he did any other acting thank you
Mr Somack had many TV credits and a few stage parts. He came to acting late after a career in business.
Director:"OK, let's break for lunch!"
Jack: What do you think I've been doing!
Mamma Mia, that's a speecy spicy BALLSY way to advertise AlkaSeltzer by promoting a fictional spaghetti sauce!