With Donald Trump as President, there’s always something entertaining to watch on TV. But when you watch so much news on a daily basis, you’re also consuming a lot of commercials. And it doesn’t take long before these the jingles are stuck in your head and the salespeople have become familiar faces. Here are a few of our favorite commercial men:
THE TRIVAGO GUY
1. The Trivago Guy was an instant Internet sensation from the moment he became their spokesman in 2014. Tim Williams has been trying to get into acting and music his whole life, but his biggest role so far has been on Trivago commercials. Williams gives us the cool dad vibe. However, his relaxed appearance brought scrutiny from around the Internet, even having an article describing him as “this disheveled mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a rumpled linen shirt.”
Comments on his appearance were along the lines of: “Why doesn’t he wear a belt? Why doesn’t he tuck in his shirt? Why doesn’t he shave?” Williams became the subject of comments that either found him super sexy or super creepy, with not much in between. William was the subject of many memes, fake Twitter accounts, and, according to a Rolling Stone article, there was even a fan fiction website for him.
THE MOVANTIK GUY
2. It takes a manly man to talk about a constipation problem on national TV. Mike McGowan, the Montavik spokesman, appeared on our TVs this year to do just that, and even reinforced his manhood by doing the commercial on the set of a construction site. If you watched the commercial on mute, you might be swooned by McGowan’s easy smile and hot single-dad appearance. Still, if someone has to talk about this serious problem, McGowan does it best with his smooth voice. McGowan has actually appeared in theater, TV and movies before this commercial. Fun fact: he was the Ringmaster for Barnum & Bailey in 2000.
THE LA QUINTA GUY
3. Jeff Galfer has both the humor and the looks in his La Quinta Hotels commercial. Galfer is shown in a business meeting doing his best to look serious by sucking on his glasses and then using his spit-covered glasses to point around the room. Galfer reminds us of the type of dad that tries to hard with his dad jokes because while it is intended to be funny, it is actually funnier that he think it’s supposed to be funny. Galfer is an actor, writer and producer and has his own show online called “Jeff’s Place.”
THE CHOICE HOTELS GUY
4. Badda Boom. Badda Book. Jake Regal and Lowell Byers have become the new faces for Choice Hotels with their clueless, yet charming approach, reminding us of the TV sitcom dads that we all loved but who should really have known more of what was going on in their kid’s life. Regal is shown in multiple commercials saying random things that actually don’t have anything to do with Choice Hotels, usually followed up by Byers coming in to explain what he means. Regal has appeared in a few other commercials, but for Byers, this is his debut.
THE HUBBLE GUYS
5. “Dad please don’t embarrass me.” The Hubble co-founders Ben Cogan and Jesse Horwitz appeared in their own commercial for their contact lenses, and in an almost cringe-worthy but cute way. Cogan and Horwitz definitely fit the young dad look, but from the moment they appear on screen I had flashbacks of taking my dad out in public and hoping he wouldn’t do something to embarrass me. While Cogan does most the talking in his definitely-isn’t-an-actor type way, it is actually Horwitz that delivers the “that’s not MY dad” action when he winks and points at the camera. Cogan and Horwitz met in 2011 and not surprisingly have no previous TV experience.
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