KFC gave up on Darrell Hammond so fast. Maybe he was a little too creepy for the masses, but in my mind he was a great Colonel Sanders with his charming giggle and accent. Norm Macdonald now takes his place in a slew of new ads that are self aware of the change at the top of the food chain.
Some of the ads can induce a chuckle, but for the most part Mr. Macdonald is an inferior Colonel. One of the issues is that he sounds exactly like Norm Macdonald, who hasn’t done a good job of disguising himself in the role. This may have been intentional because Hammond was so great at being the Colonel, people didn’t recognize him for the celebrity he is. With Norm it’s extremely obvious who he is and it’s created quite a buzz on the interwebs, which as always, is more valuable than when these ads appear on tv. Here are all of the new ads in a compact 2:00.
The self aware style of the campaign certainly adds to the humor. Overall though, the ads aren’t especially funny. One thing to mention is the Colonel Sanders switch was from one former SNL cast member to another which reminded me of the State Farm spots. The resurgence of old SNL cast members appearing in commercials has been a strange development of 2015.
