Thursday nights certainly haven’t been the same since Steve Carrell departed The Office. The character of Michael Scott was blissfully oblivious, a benign blunder with a heart of gold – though at times his actions would force us to cringe at the sheer awkward wrongness of the things he would say and do. But why dwell on the past, when you can find Michael Scott’s real-world counterpart and his equally-graceless sluing of jackassery on any major news channel?
In a new political ad sponsored by MoveOn.org, Justin Long steps in front of the camera as the Republican candidate Mitt Romney “because it was a chance to play a presidential candidate who is exactly the kind of guy the 99% have been protesting against.”
The ad parodies NBC’s The Office, with Long’s portrayal of Romney accurately coming across as a sitcom character known by millions, but with frightening real-world influence and implications. As he sets off to find new and creative ways to fire his employees, Romney shows just how much he helps Americans free up their time so that they don’t do things like protest his push for power, or make YouTube videos mocking him and his silly first name.
It’s too bad that Michelle Bachman is no longer in the race – Steve Buscemi could really capture the malevolence behind her eyes, maybe as Rumpelstiltskin trying to make everyone straight with his fairy-tale magic.
Long gets Romney's smarmy patrician tone down really well, though I think the cadence is a bit off. Still, a pretty funny ad -- and most of these kinds of things typically suck.
By the way: I have it on my list to do a Mitt Romney / Duck Phillips comparison.
Others have remarked that they look alike -- but they SOUND scarily alike to me !