COMEDY REVIEW : Stan Freberg--a Walking Ad for Wit, Satire

Stan Freberg--comedian, satirist and ad man extraordinaire --is clearly one of our national treasures.

A very funny man, he has regularly been called a genius over the last few decades and picked up a truckload of awards, including 21 Clios--which honor excellence in advertising, a Grammy and the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize.

Freberg might secretly agree with that “national treasure” business. But he would also probably be inclined to puncture the pretense of it, to find some wry way to get the idea across without beating anyone over the head with it. That approach has been the touchstone of his work, and it carried over to his presentation Thursday before 500 rapt and laughing listeners at Costa Mesa’s Red Lion Inn.

Sponsored by the AdClub of Orange County along with Orange County Businessweek and KOCM radio, Freberg’s 75-minute program was devoted largely to discussing good, witty, effective advertising, and some of his own campaigns--pretty much the same thing. Before he moved into the presentation proper, though, he did several minutes of topical stand-up, casting his sharp, satirical eye on a variety of subjects.

His commentary roamed from the political (announcing the evening’s door prizes: “First, a rare picture of Pat Robertson not smiling . That’s a real collector’s item.”) to the religious (he recounted a piece he delivered on CNN about TV evangelists, which covered “Oral Robert’s $8-million brush with death” and noted that the Bakkers are in seclusion in Palm Springs, “where Tammy has entered the Institute for Mascara Abuse.”)

Then he said, “All right, let’s get down to business,” and began the lecture, supporting and punctuating his points with examples of TV and radio spots.

Of course, in some ways, he had already gotten down to business, planting the lecture’s thematic seeds with that stand-up segment. His opening remarks, like his best commercials, have been rooted in the same basic tenets: Assume that people are intelligent, operate on that assumption, use sly humor and satire to seize their attention and, with any luck, you will win them over.

He didn’t set out to be an advertising wiz. “Back in 1958,” Freberg related, “my only connection with advertising was the same as the average American’s: I sat in front of my TV and listened to my car radio every day, stunned--and occasionally enraged--by advertisers and their bumbling attempts to communicate with me.”

Not an atypical response, then or now. What was atypical is that Freberg decided to do something about it and, 30 years later, still is. The first clip he showed was a recent TV commercial he created for Encyclopaedia Britannica starring his son, Donovan. (Freberg’s work is definitely a family affair: Another commercial featured daughter Donna, and he paid tribute and thanks to the “multigifted person” who served as producer on all these projects--his wife, who is also named Donna.)

In the commercial, 16-year-old Donovan sits in front of his computer, acknowledging that his parents have provided him all the amenities a hip teen-ager should have--but none of them will help him do his homework. A voice-over responds by ticking off the pluses of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The spot not only projects a more contemporary image (distancing the company, Freberg said, “from a respected, but stodgy 200-year-old” one) but spoofs the overseriousness of commercials that tout an “800” phone number.

Donovan’s response to the voice-over--”I’m thinking it over”--is, Freberg said, the essence of his soft-sell philosophy: “Here’s a product, you might enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, that’s fine too. Here’s the name of the product, fade out.”

But that assessment might be a little too boiled down: It glosses over the inventive use of satirical humor that runs through most of Freberg’s commercials. Some of that humor springs from his ongoing desire to “lampoon the pretensions of regular advertising,” as when he sends up comparison-tests ads. He showed one spot in which a sheep goes up against a lawn mower.

Sometimes the spoofs aren’t aimed at other ads, but at rock stars (teasing Prince at the behest of Prince Spaghetti) or film directors (saluting Hitchcock--and using his cinematographer--to sell Jeno’s pizza).

This is a man whose innovative light touch could give prunes a good name. And did. He showed his classic spot for Sunsweet Prunes, in which a rather snooty gent decries prunes, primarily because they have all those pits and wrinkles. Then the man is handed a pitted Sunsweet Prune, tries it--and beams. The tag: “Today the pits; tomorrow the wrinkles. Sunsweet marches on!”

According to Freberg, that spot boosted Sunsweet’s sales by 400%. Obviously, it was entertaining and effective--just like Thursday’s presentation, which, as Freberg left the podium, boosted 500 people to their feet for a standing ovation.