Category: Videos

It’s been a busy last couple of days, but I’m getting caught up and have been itching to post this for a while:

Top Five Wayne Gretzky Commercials

Seeing as how this month is the 20 year anniversary of “The Trade”, I figured these cheesy commercials featuring “The Great One” would be appropriate. So, in familiar countdown fashion, let us see the best that YouTube has to offer…

5. Bo Knows
This commercial, from around 1990 or so, stars Bo Jackson, the former athlete who starred in both pro football and pro baseball. There are numerous cameo appearances by many famous sports stars, including Gretzky himself. The story goes that Wayne was supposed to ask “Bo Knows hockey?” in the commercial, but kept messing up the line, causing the director to shorten his dialog. Gretzky appears around the 14-second mark.

“No.” That’s it–no. But Gretzky’s delivery makes that the funniest part of the commercial.

4. Domino’s Pizza
Bo may know baseball, football, tennis and hockey–but in 1994 Wayne Gretzky knew that the only great pizza is a fresh pizza. Watch as Gretzky skates across a sheet of ice to deliver a pipin’ hot pizza to your front door.

Apparently they did not have to shorten his dialog to “No”. Though I wonder if the kid tipped him.

3. McDonald’s Gretzky vs. Sundin
Gretzky’s acting ability got way better in the late 1990s, when he played for the New York Rangers. Here, he has a puck shooting contest with Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin–the loser has to buy the winner lunch at McDonald’s. Surprisingly, this commercial is pretty good.

“Aren’t you getting hungry yet?”

2. Bud Light “Bubble Boys” ad campaign
In 2000, Bud Light beer ran a series of commercials starring the “Bubble Boys”–two talking little hockey men from a tabletop hockey game (sometimes called “bubble hockey”). Gretzky was named the commissioner of the “Bubble Boys Hockey League”.

Later on, Gretzky was asked how he’d fare as a bubble hockey player…

“Go get him!”
“We can’t! We don’t go back there!”

1. 7-Up
Wow. Just, wow. This one is so bad, it’s awesome. There’s no way I could not make this #1. This commercial from 1981 stars Wayne and his younger brother Keith.

Stilted dialog, bad puns, horrible jingle…this one gets a hat trick!

“At last, clean, refreshing 7-Up.”

Honorable Mention – Phoenix Coyotes
What can be funnier than Gretzky “bench pressing” in that last commercial?

Gretzky coaching.

Oooh, burn!

Actually, this commercial merits an honorable mention because Gretzky’s acting is halfway decent here, as he interacts with an angry French-Canadian snowman puppet.

Does anyone remember the “Wayne Gretzky Soup” made by Cambpell’s Soup during the 1996-97 season?

Yeah, seriously, Gretzky was on soup cans towards the end of his career. The picture to the right will prove this.

Anyway, I have one final satirical clip to share from the 1997 NHL Awards, where they featured fake commercials or other humorous skits before and after commercial break. This last one is for more NHL player-inspired brands of soup.

Stew Grimson, anyone?

From the 1997 NHL Awards show, this satirical commercial was for a “chat line” where NHL refs could talk to each other if they game they were watching was boring.

From the 1997 NHL Awards this is a fake commercial for the “Brodeur-Hextall Table Hockey Game”. I actually found this one quite funny “back in the day”:

A few things I’d like to point out:

• Dig that DONK!!! sound when the puck hits the net.
• Those table hockey figurines are from the “Wayne Gretzky Hockey” table hockey game of the 1990s. The table hockey game was made by Kevin’s Sports, then Buddy L, then Playtoy. To this day, it remains my favorite table hockey game ever.
• Those two kids can’t act, and their voices sound dubbed over. Notice that what they say doesn’t match their lips.

“Better pull your goalie! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!:”

From the 1997 NHL Awards, this is a spoof of the Nike Skate commercials starring Kelly Hrudey of the San Jose Sharks

From the 1997 NHL Awards show, this is a fake commercial for “The Wig Helmet”, as advertised by brothers Keith and Wayne Primeau.

Stay tuned for more of these humorous videos.

I found my old VHS copy of the 1997 NHL Awards show. What made this awards show worth keeping around on tape all these years were the “comedy bits”–humorous, hockey-related skits that were put on before and after commercial breaks that lampooned our favorite game.

Here is the first satirical video, of Ron MacLean giving Phil Esposito a phone call…

Check back next week, as I will be adding more of these funny videos.

I’m going through some old VHS tapes, and I found this from 1994. It is a 15-second commercial for “The Mighty Ducks 2” (also known as “D2”).

Believe it or not, I have not seen any of the “Mighty Ducks” films. But I really need to, since Chris Chelios–my favorite player–appears in it, along with Wayne Gretzky, Cam Neely and Luc Robitaille.

Here is the second half of the interview with Brett Hull, which originally aired March 14, 1990. In this half, Hull talks about his second-favorite sport, why he gets more goals than assists, his reputation as a “loafer” and his appreciation for fans.

I came across an old interview with Brett Hull. This was taken towards the end of the 1989-90 season, where Hull scored 72 goals.

Here is the first half of the interview. Hull talks about his amazing season, his relationship with his father Bobby Hull, his parents’ divorce, and how he didn’t think he’d have a future in professional hockey.

Later this week, I will post the second half of the interview.