By Michael Patti
I GUESS WE ALL HAVE OUR favorite moment in advertising. For what its worth, this is mine.
Parkinsons disease has been in the news lately. A lot of people are learning a lot more about it through the trials and tribulations of actor Michael J. Fox.
Michael J. Fox is a class guy. The media coverage of his battle with Parkinsons disease has been intense, but hes handled it with humor and dignity. Ten years ago, when we were working on Pepsi together, he told me he felt like the luckiest guy on the face of the Earth. The other day, while continuing to count his blessings and downplay his prognosis, he told People magazine he still felt that way. Like I said, a class guy.
My favorite moment in advertising also concerns a celebrity I worked with who is fighting Parkinsons, but it is not Michael J. It is Muhammad Ali.
Now please understand, for me there are celebrities (and Ive worked with more than my fair share) and then there is Muhammad Ali. To me he is a true American hero. And there really are too few of those today.
Hes a great fighter. He fought the best fighters in the world. He fought overwhelming criticism when he changed his religion and his name. He fought for the pride of an entire race of people. He fought the system and won. When asked why he refused the draft, he said, I aint got nothing against those Viet Cong. No antiwar protester ever put it any simpler or meant it more. For that stance alone he lost his crown and three years in the very prime of his career. And he never complained.
Now for the past 10 or 12 years he too has been fighting Parkinsons. Anyone who watched the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games could not fail to be moved by the sight of his trembling hand as he proudly lit the flame. Heroic.
That gives you some understanding of how overwhelmed I felt when I went to pitch him an idea for a role in a Pizza Hut International commercial.
I was filled with excitement and more than a little trepidation. Would he be up for the role? I mean, this was a man known worldwide for his razor-sharp wit and tongue. Had the mask of Parkinsons extinguished the very trait that made him so engaging and fun to watch?
We met. He looked impressive. He is beautiful. He walked slowlyashuffled reallyabut not the famous shuffle that dazzled so many opponents in the ring. And his voice was just barely a whisper.
I showed the agency reel. He made a funny comment about George Foremans acting ability in an HBO spot.
Then I went into my pitch: Muhammad, this has been a great year for you. From the Academy Award-winning When We Were Kings documentary to the lighting of the Olympic flame. You are still truly an Americana
And two feet away from me he was snoring. His eyes were shut and he was sound asleep. My mouth dropped open in astonishment.
His beautiful wife Lonnie came to my rescue. He can fall asleep at any time and we never know for how long, she said.
I leaned closer, not wanting to believe I had actually sent my greatest hero into a deep slumber.
Hes dreaming of all his old fights, Lonnie said, He relives them.
Fascinated, I leaned even closer. Without warning, Muhammads eyes sprung open and he threw a jab that stopped a half an inch away from killing me!
I literally fell off my chairafrom fright and from laughing so hard. He had sucker-punched me. Start boring Muhammad Ali with some ad nauseam adspeak B.S.? No way. He shut me up quick, and I knew then that with a little patience on the shoot, hed be great in the spot.
And on the set, in the spot written by Ted Shaine and Tom Darbyshire, and directed touchingly by Peter Smillie, he was as real and hardworking as any celebrity Id ever been associated with.
And in a final thought on Muhammad and his fight with Parkinsons, it was truly put in perspective by Angelo Dundee, his trainer and close friend for over 30 years.
Dont waste a second feeling bad for the Champ, he told me, because the Champ has never wasted a second of his life feeling bad for himself.
Its now obvious to me that the greatest ad campaign that Michael J. and Muhammad will ever be involved in wont sell a single soft drink, wont sell a slice of pizza, but will make the American public aware of and sympathetic to the battle to cure Parkinsons.
Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. Explore Generations,ย Old School vs. New School, In “Poppa’s House”
Boundaries between work and family don't just blur in the new CBS sitcom "Poppa's House" starring father-and-son comedy duo Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. They shatter.
"It's wonderful to come to work every day and see him and some of his kids and my sister and my brother and nieces and nephews. They all work on this show. They all contribute," says the senior Wayans. "I don't think there are words to express how joyful I am."
Wayans plays the titular Poppa, a curmudgeonly radio DJ who's more than comfortable doing it his way, while Wayans Jr. plays his son, Damon, a budding filmmaker who's stuck in a job he hates.
"My character, Pop, is just an old school guy who's kind of stuck in his ways," says Wayans, who starred in "In Living Color" and "My Wife and Kids."
Pop yearns for the days when a handshake was a binding contract and Michael Jordan didn't complain if he got fouled on the court. Pop laughs at the younger generation's participation trophies.
"It's old school versus new school and them teaching each other lessons from both sides," says Wayans Jr., who played Coach in the Fox sitcom "New Girl."
"They (the characters) bring the best out in each other and they're resistant initially. But then throughout the episode they have revelations and these revelations help them become better people," he adds.
The two have worked together before โ dad made an appearance on son's "Happy Endings" and "Happy Together," while son was a writer and guest star on dad's "My Wife and Kids." But this is the first time they have headlined a series together.
The half-hour comedy โ premiering Monday and co-starring Essence Atkins and Tetona Jackson โ smartly leaves places in the script where father and son can let... Read More