INSURANCE HUMOR magazine

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Film director Craig Gillespie, known for the comedy biopic I, Tonya, also has directed absurdist "LiMu Emu" spots for Liberty Mutual, the classic "She Shed" for State Farm, and several propertydestroying-animal calamities for Farmers Insurance commercials. J.K. Simmons has maintained his recurring role as quizzical Professor Burke in Farmers ads even after winning an Oscar for best supporting actor in Whiplash.

Tina Fey and Dean Winters were hilarious together on the sitcom 30 Rock, and now we get to see them reunited in Allstate ads. Other alumni from Saturday Night Live, stand-up comedy, and improv troupes routinely find outlets for their art in insurance.

It's hard to imagine today, but there was a time when people heard the word "insurance" and didn't immediately think of boundary-pushing, wacked-out humor. Early insurance ads made it feel somber or threatening. Protect yourself! Don't let a disaster destroy you!

The tone seemed appropriate for a product so closely connected to life's worst moments. Now that we routinely face existential dread every day, it's hard for that kind of bleak warning to cut through the clutter.

And so insurance has become an escape, a place to have a laugh, forget your worries, and, yes, protect your property and family once you stop chuckling about it. Well, not literally protect them, but get a few bucks after they are hurt.

Benjamin Franklin, a pioneering wit and insurer, once observed that humanity has two certainties, death and taxes. It's interesting that one of these fates is organic to our existence, the other constructed by society. Franklin might have added that we have two ways to cope with life's uncertainties: insurance and comedy. Again, one of these is constructed by skilled actuaries to help us thrive in tough times, the other a survival mechanism innate to our being. It's said that man is the only animal that laughs. We're also the only species with collision insurance. Laughter is the best medicine, especially when your prescription plan doesn't fully cover regular medicine.

is actually MEANWHILE #13, SPRING 2020 issue Thanks as usual to our splendid contributors. Casualty Comix are illustrated by Rich Harrington (raharrington.com). Reviews contributed by Ann Hodgman, Lynn Snowden Picket, Will Steinberg. Cover and character portraits created using the digital trickery of Deep Art Effects software. Special thanks to Mike Girard (bigswingingthing.com) for the interview and permission to use the "Mutual of Omaha" lyrics. This zine's uninspired layouts and everything else copyright Š 2020 by Don Steinberg (don1steinberg@gmail.com).

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It would be clever to say insurance humor's evolution began with the Caveman. In fact, MetLife's use of Snoopy and the Peanuts gang came earlier. That was just a toe-dipping experiment into insurance humor.

Snoopy isn’t very funny. But it was a spark that lit a creative fuse and catalyzed the blast of today's insurance comedy explosion. The grim obligation of paying and paying for insurance has become a comic adventure for us all.

I hope you'll join me for the next 25 years of insurance humor. I can't wait to see where it ends!

MUTUAL OF OMAHA The greatest insurancefraud pop song of all time

A Q&A with Mike Girard of The Fools

The Fools, a Boston-area "party band" that adopted a new-wave sound, broke out in 1979 with “Psycho Chicken,” their novelty song to the tune of The Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.” WBCN played the song relentlessly. EMI signed The Fools, sent them on tour with The Knack, and released their debut album Sold Out in 1980. The record included a punky cover of “I Won’t Grow Up,” adapted from the Peter Pan Broadway show, and the single "It's a Night for Beautiful Girls," which cracked the Billboard top 100.

Arguably The Fools’ most awesome track, though, was “Mutual of Omaha,” a darkly comic tale of a man who has decided to escape the rat race. It may be the best power-pop tune ever about insurance fraud. Decades before the insurance comedy boom, Mutual of Omaha was a pioneer in TV entertainment as sponsor of the NBC wildlife show Wild Kingdom. The insurer became the butt of occasional jokes when comedians made fun of the Wild Kingdom's zookeeper host, Marlin Perkins, who seemed to leave the most dangerous animal-wrangling to his sidekick Jim Fowler. The Fools' song took it in another direction.

To go behind the music, INSURANCE HUMOR tracked down Fools lead singer and songwriter Mike Girard (far left above), who still performs around New England with the Fools and his other band, Mike Girard’s Big Swinging Thing.

MIKE GIRARD: It's funny because the other band I'm in, the leader of the horn section owns an insurance agency. When you called there looking for me, they were very confused.

INSURANCE HUMOR: I thought maybe you worked at an insurance company now.

MG: Oh, god, no. But that would be ironic.

IH: So “Mutual of Omaha” is one of the greats. What's the story behind it?

MG: The bass player, Doug Forman, had some car issues. When he realized his car was totaled, he entertained the thought of pushing it into a quarry and claiming it was stolen. That got the process rolling of a song about someone faking their death.

IH: Why Mutual of Omaha, rather than Prudential or Allstate?

MG: As kids we watched Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins. He would do in-show ads. An odd thing is, we were touring after that came out, and when we went through Nebraska, Mutual of Omaha hired us to play a lunchtime show for their employees. I don't think they ever listened to the song before they hired us.

Because it's such an odd thing to have people singing about an insurance scam to insurance company employees. I have to say that we were loud, and we probably did a half hour show for their lunch. And they seemed confused by, really, anything that was going on.

IH: Were there particular musical influences for the song?

MG: I was always impressed with Ray Davies’ sense of irony.

Songs like “Mr. Pleasant” or “He's a Dedicated Follower of Fashion.” I thought the only way to play it, with the insurance scam, was to do it as earnestly as we could. Unlike some of our pie-in-the-face tunes, this was a sort of ballad of a lonesome insurance fraudster.

IH: There’s a film-noir kind of desperation in the lyrics and the music. It feels “Double Indemnity” meets Meat Loaf’s "Bat Out of Hell,” with that monster guitar solo.

MG: Rich Bartlett is still in the band and a monster guitar player. For that solo in particular, it had to sound frantic.

Mutual of Omaha

by Doug Forman-Mike Girard I told my secretary no more calls Made reservations for someplace warm I told Ernie I’d see him in the morning But this would be the last time I’d walk out that door.

Mutual of Omaha, I love you.

You make my life so simple and sweet.

Life used to be so complicated.

I’m not going back to all the things I hated.

Never again.

IH: You recorded it for the album in Miami?

MG: With [producer] Pete Solley. The band that was in there the week before, Pete said “You should hear this before we get started.” And it was “What I Like About You.” And I thought, my god, I wish we had a song that good.

IH: How big did The Fools get? “Psycho Chicken” was huge in Boston.

MG: It was a hit in Japan. It got played all over Europe. That song was written in 10 minutes, and it's pretty much the stupidest song ever written, and I’m kind of proud of that. But it was played so much at WBCN. We were getting equal airplay with Michael Jackson, in Boston anyhow, and we didn't even have a record contract. We were playing all over New England.

We backed up the Doobie Brothers in Portland, Maine, for like 12,000 people, and got roundly booed off the stage. I mean, they were throwing stuff at us. Up there, they hadn't been taught by radio to like us yet.

Then we were backing up Blondie at the Orpheum. An EMI rep was there that night, and guys from BCN who were there, Mark Parenteau and Charles Laquidara, started haranguing the guy, saying every time we play their tunes, you could be making money. We pretty much got signed the next day.

IH: Those were fun times for Boston rock.

MG: We played the same circuit as The Cars, and we were all in cover bands. The Cars were called Cap’n Swing at that point. They were playing the same crappy little clubs that we were. We were in the same Battle of the Bands with [Boston's vocalist] Brad Delp. It’s a pretty tight-knit community that all knew each other before anybody did anything.

IH: So then you got signed.

MG: We did two albums with EMI. The first one probably did

I pushed my car to a likely cliff.

Checked my policy one more time.

First gear is alright Now Martha and the kids will just be doing fine.

Mutual of Omaha, I love you I hitched a ride to my airline Life used to be so complicated I’m not going back, no, not this time Never again.

Marlin Perkins says that everything’s okay Just pay your premiums on time I paid my bills almost every single day Now I paid them for the last time Never again lyrics courtesy of Mike Girard

a couple hundred thousand. The second one probably did almost three. Nowadays that would be a big deal. Then within a couple of months of the second album coming out, we were on tour with Van Halen, just finishing up like 30 cities, and they decided to buy David Bowie. For however many millions of dollars. And they got rid of a whole bunch of bands, and we were one of them. It was the best thing that ever happened to us. In 1985, we started our own label. Back then it wasn't called “independent,” it was called stupid.

IH: It feels like your version of ”I Won’t Grow Up" got out there a little bit, in commercials, movies. Maybe Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups movies?

MG: It's funny you mentioned that because that's one of the places it did get played. Adam Sandler grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire, and his dad was a huge Fools fan.

IH: And The Fools still do shows around New England, right?

NG: You know what they say about novelty bands, that they come and go so quickly. You know, forty five or whatever years later, I'm thinking it might have been wrong.

PEANUTS

ARTIST: Rich Harrington WRITER: Don Steinberg

Casualty Comix

Sure, today's insurance commercial characters rule television comedy. That’s easy! But can they follow in the footsteps of the pi0neering Snoopy and his Peanuts gang and take over the classics of the comic-strip page? At INSURANCE HUMOR, we were so excruciatingly bored, we thought we'd give it a try. For good measure, we even gave Snoopy the MetLife farewell that he never had -- as we present‌

BEETLE BAILEY

NANCY

THE LOCKHORNS

B.C.

Casualty Comix

REVIEWS "Pinocchio Was a Bad Motivational Speaker" // GEICO

There’s a lot to unpack here. The screen-obsessed kid says everybody knows about GEICO saving 15 percent. The dad says yeah, but everyone doesn’t know that Pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker. Pinocchio? Why bring in a character connected with lying to advertise a product based on trust? Is this about fraudulent insurance claims? Is GEICO preparing to sell getting-swallowed-by-a-whale insurance? Is there really objective truth that "everybody knows"? The father is a Geppetto figure, hinting he wants his boy to become more "real." He may get more than he bargained for. -- Will Steinberg "Bad Job" // Liberty Mutual This whole series is a head-scratcher. To convey the breakthrough that "you only pay for what you need" (umm, like everyplace else on Earth except cable TV?), Liberty trots out an incompetent actor, a pushy fakenews TV reporter, a shadowy crook in a witness protection program, a roided-out cyclist with artificially muscular calves, and other cheaters and losers. What is Liberty saying about its customers, who in a mutual firm are its owners? Am I supposed to join this freak parade and buy a policy?

"She Shed" // State Farm It may be progress that an African-American couple can see flames on their suburban lawn, and there's no need to worry. It's just one of life's wacky moments. The beleaguered husband explains it's just a lightning strike responsible for burning down the "she shed." Phew, not the neighbors, nor the husband himself, because "she shed"? Lightning may buzz their world again when they discover how much their deductible is.

"Reflection" // Liberty Mutual Let's keep adding funny-esque details, and maybe it will add up, said the creators of this campaign. "We'll have Doug sell car insurance to a couple who are walking along a sidewalk, because this is a city where they don't need a car. Keep his sunglasses and have him eat while he's talking. That will make him look both shady and indifferent." LiMu the Emu is the Joe Camel of insurance, enticing children in an unhealthy way, and his t-shirt sleeves mash down his wing feathers disturbingly. -- Ann Hodgman

REVIEWS "Low Rider" // The General It's the ultimate inside joke. When Snoopy became mascot for MetLife, he pioneered the use of funny characters in insurance advertising. Now we come full circle with Snoop Dogg in the driver's seat. The General remains shrouded in mystique. What happened to this former high ranking Army officer that he's hawking budget car insurance and riding shotgun with a rapper? Was he court-martialed, like Cap'n Crunch was from the Navy?

"Blind Date" // Progressive Flo the insurance waitress is starting to feel like the guest who won't leave, but Stephanie Courtney is hilarious playing the dual role of Flo's sulky sister Janice. Progressive must feel it long ago established its insurance-selling proposition, whatever it is, so now it's just relentlessly running these characters through new situations to keep us from thinking about anything else. This cringiest of blind dates does bear repeat viewing. Expect a sequel!

"Are We There Yet?" // Nationwide Are Peyton Manning and Brad Paisley friends in real life? Google the question and learn that everyone wonders this. It seems they are actually kind-offriends, but by the time you've pinned that down, the point of the commercial has vanished. We see quickly that Manning is out of his depth as a songsuggester, yet we're supposed to trust his quarterbacking instincts about what makes a valuable insurance plan? "Are we there yet?" is a funny kicker. It's very possible this bus is going nowhere. -- Ann Hodgman "Mayhem: St. Bernard" // Allstate The paradox of "Drivewise" is that Tina Fey can be racking up safe-driver credit while driving an accident-waiting-to-happen, because the stupid app doesn't know you're letting a gigantic man-dog run rabid in the vehicle. It is cute to see Dean Winters licking Tina Fey’s face after their history on 30 Rock, but maybe PETA should have an app that tracks how poorly you manage your dog. -- Lynn Snowden Picket "Punny" // State Farm Super Bowl-winning NFL quarterbacks have made great strides in insurance comedy in recent years. It's not just Peyton Manning anymore. Aaron Rogers and Pat Mahomes play along here -- or really just stand around -- while goofball agent "Gabe Gabriel" (David Hadyn-Jones) once again tries too hard to be cool. The awkwardness is funny, though the suggestion that insurance agents do better for these elite athletes than sleazy sports agents do is a message likely to hit home for almost none of us.

About THE insurance comedy actors J.K. Simmons (Professor Nathaniel Burke in Farmers Insurance commercials) won an Oscar his role as a jerkface bandleader in 2014 Best Picture nominee Whiplash. He also played jerkface newspaperman J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man and has hundreds of television appearances aside from insurance commercials .

Prior to portraying a lady trying to save money on her car insurance by driving safely in Allstate commercials, Tina Fey was a writer for Saturday Night Live and co-host of its "Weekend Update" news segment. She created 30 Rock and wrote the film and the book for the Broadway production of Mean Girls.

Insurance waitress Flo in Progressive commercials is the first regular comedic character played by Stephanie Courtney, who spent years acting weird as a member of the main company of The Groundlings Theater improvisational troupe in Los Angeles. Her TV credits include The Goldbergs and Mad Men.

Groundlings comedy troupe alumnus David Hoffman, who plays Doug next to an emu in Liberty Mutual commercials, has appeared in television series including Bones, Modern Family and 2 Broke Girls. He portrayed Topher Wolfbraun in the film Beerfest: Thirst for Victory.

Dean Winters brings a career playing psycho sociopaths to his role as Mayhem in Allstate commercials. He portrayed violent hoodlum Ryan O'Reilly on HBO's award-winning Oz, erratic cop brother Johnny Galvin on Rescue Me, and Tina Fey's unreliable boyfriend and beeper salesman Dennis Duffy on the NBC comedy 30 Rock.

Chris Parnell, the voice of the Progressive bundle box, is known making human characters talk funny on animated series including Family Guy, Rick and Morty, and American Dad! He was a cast member at Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006 and had a recurring role on 30 Rock as Dr. Leo Spaceman.

Nicole J. Butler, who as wife Cheryl watches her "she shed" burn down in the State Farm commercial, has performed in television shows including Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jane the Virgin, and The Big Bang Theory.

Tanner Novlan, the guy who pretends to be a bad actor botching his lines in the Liberty Mutual commercial, is a Canadian actor whose credits include Roswell, New Mexico, Modern Family, and Letterkenny.