October 22, 2012

How to Sharpen Pencils: the commercial

by

Above, Melville House presents a 30-second TV spot for David Rees’ How to Sharpen Pencils.

As you’ll see, the commercial borrows the tried and true tropes of American infomercials to sell a truly revolutionary product: the definitive guide to sharpening #2 pencils.

Thanks to the magic of Google TV ads, the spot will begin airing on late-night TV programming in early November. Keep you eyes peeled during re-runs of: Saturday Night Live (on VH1), The Soup (on E! Entertainment Television), Conan (on TBS), The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Futurama, South Park (Comedy Central), and Adult Swim (Cartoon Network).

Until we hear otherwise, we’ll keep believing we are the only independent publisher to air TV spots. For more on our previous TV efforts, click here and here.

The commercial features voice-over by Kurt Braunohler, the host of IFC’s new comedy game show Bunk, New Yorker copy editor Mary Norris, and of course David Rees, playing himself.

The commercial was written by Rees and produced in association with Transformer Films’ Eric Nadler and Tichafa Tongogara.

Accept no substitutes!

 

 

Kelly Burdick is the executive editor of Melville House.

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