I am sharing here an audio file containing a series of commercials I did several years ago. I used to think these were really great radio ads. Looking at them now, I have warm feelings…nostalgia…but I can more honestly evaluate them as ranking from marginally decent to a step or two (or more) below mediocre.
I smile when I hear them because they represent an era when I had a lot more time on my hands at work. I thought nothing of spending well over an hour on one commercial. And I love hearing all kinds of different voices on these–the usual suspects, folks visiting for the day who got roped in, etc. And I am amused at how fearless I was–singing, impressions, all manner of shamless ham acting. And bless my coworkers for going along with these silly monkeyshines.
So what makes these commercials not-as-good as I used to think they were? Well, for one thing, they exhibit the tell-tale signs of speed-up. I was shameless with speed-up, thought nothing of crunching as much as 6 or 7 seconds running time using the “Fast Talker” setting. Eventually we got access to some script timing tools and the speed up was only used when absolutely necessary. (The technology behind digitally shrinking run times has also improved a great deal.)
I should note that all of these commercials (which again, are from long long ago) use copyrighted music, which is a big no-no and something we don’t do anymore. Don’t try this at home. Or at work. Just…don’t do it.
So here they are. I still laugh at Mike Glesinger’s Bud Abbott voice and the general awfulness of my impressions.