Wyatt Cenac

All the bears were getting poked that day. Yeah. And the whole show, I mean, everything was just sh**ting all over football, and people loved it. They drew... a huge portion of the audience away. Yes. And even kept some of it. And so the gambit worked. And it was successful. And after that, the decision was made, we have to do something different.

All the bears were getting poked that day. Yeah. And the whole show, I mean, everything was just sh**ting all over football, and people loved it. They drew... a huge portion of the audience away. Yes. And even kept some of it. And so the gambit worked. And it was successful. And after that, the decision was made, we have to do something different.

And we can't, there became a fear that now this is like, we have shown a weakness. We have to come back with the most strength possible.

And we can't, there became a fear that now this is like, we have shown a weakness. We have to come back with the most strength possible.

Well, and also what's wild too is thinking about just how cautious those networks get because at that time, so they had two sponsors that were interested in being the corporate sponsor for the In Living Color halftime show. One was Frito-Lay and the other was Pepsi. And at the time, Pepsi was really excited about this idea and they started talking about

Well, and also what's wild too is thinking about just how cautious those networks get because at that time, so they had two sponsors that were interested in being the corporate sponsor for the In Living Color halftime show. One was Frito-Lay and the other was Pepsi. And at the time, Pepsi was really excited about this idea and they started talking about

hey, if this works, then maybe we could also take the characters from In Living Color and put them in the Pepsi challenge. And so we'll take like Homie the Clown and do some Pepsi challenge spots with Homie the Clown.

hey, if this works, then maybe we could also take the characters from In Living Color and put them in the Pepsi challenge. And so we'll take like Homie the Clown and do some Pepsi challenge spots with Homie the Clown.

And we'll take, you know, the Men On guys and put them in some Pepsi challenge things, which now is a thing that you see more commonly where you do see like sketch characters from SNL. All the time. being used in commercials. This was the proto of that. But the live in living color, they were so disruptive and so like- It's insane to watch it.

And we'll take, you know, the Men On guys and put them in some Pepsi challenge things, which now is a thing that you see more commonly where you do see like sketch characters from SNL. All the time. being used in commercials. This was the proto of that. But the live in living color, they were so disruptive and so like- It's insane to watch it.

They pushed the boundary so far, one of which making a joke about Richard Gere that there was- Oh my God, yes. There at the time had, there had been a- We all grew up with the gerbil story.

They pushed the boundary so far, one of which making a joke about Richard Gere that there was- Oh my God, yes. There at the time had, there had been a- We all grew up with the gerbil story.

Sure, yes. But there might be younger audience members who are not familiar with this, but there was a time where it had been intimated that Richard Gere had gotten intimate with a gerbil.

Sure, yes. But there might be younger audience members who are not familiar with this, but there was a time where it had been intimated that Richard Gere had gotten intimate with a gerbil.

Yes. Yeah. As one might. Allegedly. Yeah. And so they make a joke about that, which they got past the censors. They made a second joke that got past the censors. And both of those things were the bridge too far for Pepsi, which... where they then said, you know what? Never mind. We're going to cancel this deal.

Yes. Yeah. As one might. Allegedly. Yeah. And so they make a joke about that, which they got past the censors. They made a second joke that got past the censors. And both of those things were the bridge too far for Pepsi, which... where they then said, you know what? Never mind. We're going to cancel this deal.

Yeah, to sort of silence tiny little Fox at the time. And they went and they got Michael Jackson, the biggest pop star of the moment.

Yeah, to sort of silence tiny little Fox at the time. And they went and they got Michael Jackson, the biggest pop star of the moment.

Yes, and it sets the precedent.

Yes, and it sets the precedent.