Last week, a series of billboards with the phrase “Netflix is a Joke” in all-caps popped up in New York and Los Angeles. Many were initially confused by what appeared to be an advertising campaign critical of the streaming giant, but as The Hollywood Reporter soon discovered, there was nothing critical about it. In fact, their sources told them the billboards were a part of Netflix’s latest push into stand-up comedy — while the company’s official Twitter account relayed a link to a Variety article reporting the phenomenon. What’s more, THR indicated the campaign would eventually feature the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle.
Viewers who tuned in to Sunday’s 2017 Emmy Awards were treated to a wonderful new commercial featuring all three, as well as fellow novice Netflix-er Ellen DeGeneres. What’s more, all four legendary comics spent most of the one-minute commercial jumping in and out of select scenes from original series House of Cards, Stranger Things, Orange Is the New Black and The Crown — all of which are, or have been, Emmy winners and nominees. “Hey! What, are y’all breaking into the computer room?” Chappelle shouts at the Stranger Things kids before throwing the keys to Finn Wolfhard’s Mike Wheeler. “Then go in and erase my cookies.”
Directed by frequent Chappelle collaborator and fellow Netflix comedian Neal Brennan, the spot doesn’t offer any footage from Rock or DeGeneres’s upcoming specials. It does, however, stick Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee host Seinfeld in the presidential limo, DeGeneres in the middle of a tense royal discussion, and Rock amid a prison riot. The latter and Chappelle also bear witness to the frightening, can-crushing mental abilities of Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven firsthand.
