Bringing a comedic bent to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instruction seems a bit incongruous–much like making the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” disco hit the soundtrack for the serious business of saving a cardiac arrest victim’s life.
Well, as it turns out, Grey London, and director Wayne McClammy of Hungry Man embraced these incongruities, deftly applying both comedy and pop music from Saturday Night Fever to a :30 PSA as well as a short web video for the British Heart Foundation, which hopes to make people better able to and more comfortable with administering hands-only CPR to those in need.
The instrument for both CPR and comedy is actor Vinnie Jones, portraying a gangster character somewhat reminiscent of his past role as Big Chris in the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. In the spot, titled “No Kissing,” Jones, who’s standing in the middle of what appears to be an abandoned warehouse, relates, “Say some geezer collapses in front of you–what do you do? We need a ‘volunteer’ who ain’t breathing.”
That volunteer is immediately produced by two burly thugs who slide the “geezer” along the warehouse floor. The geezer isn’t breathing as he ends up at the feet of Jones who shows us how to perform hands-only CPR.
First off, Jones tells us to phone the UK. emergency hotline 999. “Then, no kissing,” he affirms. “You only kiss your missus on the lips.”
Jones clasps his hands together and pushes hard and fast on the chest of the laid-out geezer–all to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” which is blaring on a nearby boom box. Staying true to the beat amounts to pumping the victim’s chest some 100 to 120 times a minute.
Miraculously, the geezer sits up, yet Jones–being the gangster that he is–pushes the victim back down to the floor.
Jones then shows us his own hands, with letters appearing around his knuckles that spell out the words “hard” and “fast,” giving further emphasis to how the chest pumping should be done.
Appearing on screen briefly is the British Heart Foundation logo along with its website, bhf.org.uk, where more info on hands-only CPR can be accessed.
Longer form Meanwhile, the alluded to video for the British Heart Foundation runs approximately one minute and 45 seconds, providing more details–including a Jones demo on how to quickly identify if someone is in cardiac arrest, how hands should be clasped (locking fingers together, knuckles up) in order to administer CPR, and how deep each chest pump should be (about two inches).
Titled Hard & Fast, the short carries the same humorous tone as the spot and too is driven by the “Stayin’ Alive” anthem.
Staying in character in the short, Jones says in a no-nonsense manner as he’s pushing hard on the geezer’s chest, “Worried you’ll hurt him. Better a cracked rib than kicking the bucket.”
Funny man Helmer McClammy has a penchant for off-the-wall comedy. He got his start in directing years back by making short films that were featured in the Austin (where he earned the Audience Award), Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Seattle International Film Festivals. Two of his shorts gained exposure in the well-known Texas theater chain, The Alamo Draft House.
The director soon got noticed by the likes of Bob Odenkirk, Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman. Kimmel was so impressed that he brought McClammy on board to be the comedy segment director for his ABC late night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live. On that show, McClammy became perhaps best known for the short video Who’s F*cking Matt Damon? starring Damon and Silverman, and which went on to generate major viral buzz. McClammy directed, edited and co-wrote the short.
McClammy gained his initial spot production house affiliation via Oil Factory where he directed for Droga5, New York, the Jewish Council for Education and Research’s tongue-in-cheek “The Great Schlep” starring Silverman as she makes the case for Jews to connect with their elder relatives in Florida to help swing the 2008 presidential election for then candidate Barack Obama. “The Great Schlep” won a Titanium Lion at Cannes in 2009, helping McClammy to be the fifth most awarded ad biz director that year (tied with three others), according to the annual Gunn Report. After Oil Factory, McClammy signed with Hungry Man.
