Worst. Casting Session. Ever.

By now you might have seen the new TV commercial for Dollar Shave Club. 

I may be biased, but I think it's funny. And the earworming musical jingle is a little catchy (by design.)

I may be also biased because I played a part in this musical number. Albeit a small part. 

But I was there for the countless Zoom calls, the late night hemming and hawing over scripts, the all too hirsute casting sessions, and the graveyard shift remote shooting (4 nights!) that took place in Poland with A+ director Andreas Nillson (he of the dark Scandanavian humor ilk.) 

And let's not forget the torturous all day focus group sessions.

But let's be completely honest here, the real credit goes to two incredible creatives, my ex-partner from RP&, art director extraordinaire, Matt Orser, and the unflappable Creative Director from down under, Matt Knapp, who it turns out is an aspiring songwriter. As well our equally unflappable producers Kristin McCarron and Judy Kreiter.

As with all undertakings of this magnitude, it also features some fun brand extensions. Here, I had a much more instrumental role to play. And literally fulfilled a lifetime goal of getting paid to write jokes about nipple hair, smelly taints and sweaty balls.

When that work becomes available, I will go into pimping mode again.

For those of you familiar with the process, you know that what shows up on screen, television or mobile device, is only a small sliver of what went on behind the scenes. And to that end, you can imagine the jocularity and the laughter that ensued on our daily videoconferencing.

I had a great and glorious 8 month run at Dollar Shave Club, now available at a store near you -- sorry, force of habit. 

It was my second long term stint on the client side. And it was entertaining as well as informative.

Considering the turbulent waters of the ad agency world, a world I swam in for 30 years, I would recommend that all creatives spend some time inside the hallowed hallways of the people that pay the bills. 

What's next for me? 

Well even if my Illuminati application doesn't go through and I don't get the house, new supercar and $3 million cash payment I was promised, I still have some exciting things on the horizon.

You can't keep a good 44 year old man down.

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Bonus Material: As we all know it is not uncommon to shoot extra footage while on the set, hoping to land some improvised magic far away from the disaproving eye of the client. 

In this case we had filmed a guy dressed as Shakespearian actor who mistakenly wonders on to the DSC set. We had the perfect actor and the right dialogue but it was deemed a long walk for a ham sandwich. Some of us thought it was funny, but it didn't make the final cut. 

We did however include the actor for the big ensemble finale. 

It still makes me smile.