If you followed along with our coverage of Super Bowl LI you’d know we were rooting for the actual champions: the commercials. While a few ads tugged at our heartstrings, got us a bit misty-eyed, or made us think–the commercials we gravitate to the most are the ones that went for laughs. With the Super Bowl over, the only thing left to do is deal with the barrage of “Oh! Did you see that one ad?” questions for the rest of the week. To combat those questions and give you a leg-up on your co-workers, we rounded up (in no particular order) some of the funniest and weirdest commercial moments of this year’s Super Bowl for your viewing pleasure.
#AvoSecrets | Avocados From Mexico
How do you make avocados entertaining? Well, you mix up a guacamole with an Eyes Wide Shut cabal of conspiracy theorists, Bigfoot truth-ers, and a quick jab at Tom Brady’s deflate-gate controversy.
Cleaner of Your Dreams |Â Mr. Clean
We’re a bit uncertain how to feel about seeing Mr. Clean gyrate around a house while he cleans, and feel just a bit weird about having to reevaluate how we feel about cleaning product mascots. The reveal of this ad is perfectly timed as the woman snaps out of her cartoon fantasy only to see her husband standing where the bald…genie? (Is Mr. Clean a genie?) was standing. It seems that this couple has a whole new system of foreplay going forward.
Easy Driver | Mercedes (Directed by The Coen Brothers)
Yeah, directed by the Coen Brothers! We were surprised too!  While the majority of the Super Bowl was full of serious Alfa Romeo ads, the one car commercial that went for laughs was this one from Mercedes. Blocking in rough and tumble bikers being with a fancy car would mean certain doom for almost anyone, but not when it’s Peter Fonda reprising his “Captain America” role from Easy Rider. This stops the bikers in their tracks out of respect for someone “still looking good” and who’s still hitting the road after all these years but, you know, in a considerably more comfortable ride.
Wix.com |Â Jason Statham & Gal Gadot Kick Some Ass
To be fair, this one doesn’t have too many laughs but it still quite a sight to see. Watching Gadot and Statham lay waste to an entire restaurant full of baddies feels like it should be the latest installment in the Transporter series but, as we find out, is just advertising a website building service. However, we do have to give props to the owner of Chez Felix who kept plugging away at his dream and still came out with a food truck despite what we can only imagine was a drawn-out court battle involving his restaurant blowing up and undoubtedly killing dozens of people.
“Humpty Hospital” |Â TurboTax
This one. Oh man. Give us a minute to hold back our gag reflex. We’re equal parts in love and horrified at this ad campaign that’s already seen a prequel of sorts. We love the idea of TurboTax using such a recognizable character in a brand new way and the execution is more perfect than we’d ever think it could be. But–and that’s a biiiiig “but”–we are severely grossed out by the anthropomorphic egg man bleeding yolk everywhere. Well done, TurboTax. These are great. But also, how dare you make these ads?
 “Romance” | Skittles
Leave it to Skittles to consistently raise the bar of their special brand of weird advertisements. It’d be a genius ad if we were only seeing each member of the family: a burglar, a police officer, and a puppet(?) all take turns eating the boytoy-thrown Skittles. What makes this one particularly amazing is the steady cadence of the whispering boyfriend calling out for “Katie.”
Bai | Justin Timberlake & Christopher Walken
This ad is probably the simplest one we saw during the Super Bowl and is, without a doubt, pure genius. We can’t imagine the crazy amount of money spent to secure *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” However, it seems Bai had a few bucks left over to hire Timberlake and Walken to appear in the ad as well. Still, we have some questions. First, why isn’t the official name of this ad “Bai Bai Bai,” and secondly, could it be that Walken was there only because of an expensive premium to have Justin sing or speak the words to the *NSYNC tune?
“Hero’s Journey” Starring Melissa McCarthy | 2017 Kia Niro
This commercial proves the one thing we always sort of suspected about Melissa McCarthy. She’s an immortal being capable of taking any sort of damage that comes her way. We’re not sure if she’s a highlander or just some sort of indestructible mutant, but whatever she is, we want her included in some sort of superhero movie in the future. Also, credit to Kia for the association of “Hero” and “Niro” that’s bound to keep people remembering the ad and the name of their new vehicle.
George Takei, Oh My | Pizza Hut
Alright, we’re kind of cheating here since this one didn’t air everywhere and it was during the pre-game but come on–it’s George “Oh My!” Takei!
Science of Clean: 10 Dimensions starring Bill Nye | Persil ProClean
We’re not sure what “ten dimensions of clean” is and we refuse to Google it. We’re just happy to see Bill Nye in anything he chooses to do. We also need to know how to get invited to any summer parties Nye throws since he was obviously making a nice sangria by mixing wine and cranberry juice at the beginning of the commercial.
Adam Driver’s Live Snickers Commercial
We recognize that any attempt at live things these days (other than sports or news) is just a big gimmick. However, kudos to Snickers for hoodwinking us by purposely making a “failure” of a commercial. Having Adam Driver‘s enemy’s squibs go off, making them try to ad-lib a reason, and absolutely destroying the set is a welcome change to the cornier aspects of live attempts.
Though each of these ads produced the chuckles and chortles we come to expect in Super Bowl spots there was really only one (in our opinion) that truly delivered both excitement and some sincere laughs:
Come on, would you expect us to love anything else? You know what website you’re on, and that Drax line at the end is pure comedy gold!
What were your favorite Super Bowl ads? Let’s discuss in the comments below!
Image:Â Persil ProClean
