Footnotes: Pizza Hut Pizza Head Show Commercial
Do you remember the Mr. Bill sketches from Saturday Night Live? Mr. Bill was a clay figure that went on adventures, which always started innocuously enough. But then things took a quick downhill tumble as Mr. Hands entered the scene, sometimes with the bully Mr. Sluggo. Fun fact: Mr. Hands is performed by Vance DeGeneres, the older brother of our beloved Ellen. You learn something new every day, huh?
Anyway, the “Pizza Head Show” from Pizza Hut is clearly an homage to Mr. Bill. Our protagonist, the aptly named Pizza Head, often finds himself in pleasant situations that turn aggressive. In this scene, Pizza Head is promoting Johnny Quest action figures, and…well, let’s dive on in.
The Pizza Head Show Goes for a Swim
One of the common themes of the Pizza Head Show commercials is the “friends” that show up. These are always pizza slicers, so naturally, Pizza Head gets frightened. As far as I know, the pizza slicers never actually attack, but maybe I just didn’t see an advertisement where they do.
In this case, the pizza slicers are disguised as the characters from the Jonny Quest pack. While I prefer the hair on Johnny Bravo, it’s pretty entertaining to see a pizza slicer with the blonde coif JQ rocks.
Pizza Head gets lowered onto a boat, has a snorkel smacked on his face, and then takes a deep sea dive into the ocean. Err…I mean, the pool. I’ve never tried wet pizza before, but I can’t imagine it’d make my top five list.
Also, that reminds me: why do scuba divers fall backward off the boat? Because if they fell forwards, they’d still be in the boat. Badum tsh.
Ahh! A Shark Attack!
If the water bubbling up to the surface of the pool is any indication, Mr. Pizza Head gets absolutely eviscerated by a shark. But then, moments later, he’s none the worse for wear. The commercial says it’s a “good thing sharks don’t like pepperoni.”
That’s probably accurate. Shark diets consist of a variety of marine life, including fish, crustaceans, mollusks, plankton, and even other sharks. Pizza Head is lucky he didn’t have any anchovies or shrimp on him. That could have ended badly. Instead, he gets a life raft thrown his way that I think is supposed to save him, even though it nearly knocks him back under the water.
