Cadbury Gorilla

Unfortunately we over here in the United States have been blissfully unaware of a commercial that started airing in the United Kingdom in late August. Before I go any further, witness the Cadbury Gorilla.



I have watched that about five times now and the serenity juxtaposed with absurdity just gets me every time. This commercial is down right brilliant, I love everything about it. It's not quite funny but not quite weird. It's abstract yet ridiculous. AND it has absolutely nothing to do with Chocolate! It's almost exactly the same way I feel every time I see the Cadbury bunny making chicken noises, but not quite. Well... then again not at all. A gorilla playing drums is definitely much cooler.

Well, after seeing it on YouTube I did some Googling and what do you know, some one has already written up an extensive Wikipedia article. If that Gorilla seemed familiar to you, it's probably because you've seen the movie Congo (I'm sorry). That's Garon Michael, renowned ape actor who played Amy the talking Gorilla. Also they apparently got that ape suit used although several adaptations were made, including custom-made hands for the drum sequence, foam muscle around the chest and shoulders, a new styling for the pelt, and the addition of a gold tooth, grey hairs, and a studio earpiece to give a more "wizened rock star" appearance. Also it took Michael 35 takes to get that 90 second clip because he kept breaking the drum sticks.

Since the commercial started airing it has become an internet phenomenon. The video was upload to YouTube shortly after the first airing and has so far gotten around 500,000 views. Also, the Phil Collins 1981 hit, Air Tonight, was rereleased as a single along with the commercial, and it climbed the charts to number 13 in the UK. And of course there are now numerous parodies worth watching, but mostly people just like dubbing their favorite songs over the video. I really like this one:



All of the other overdubs I've seen have been pretty lame, but there are some good home made parodies out there that are pretty creative. That does not include this next one. The British branch of Wonderbra got permission to do their own version of the commercial.



Boobs bounce, ha ha? I guess I just don't get British humor.