Andy Richteris taking it back with his new Super Bowl commercial — way,wayback!
The comedian and beloved late night sidekick is starring in his first-ever Big Game spot, stepping into the role of former Roman general Julius Caesar as he strolls through one of the Colosseum’s O.G. tailgate parties.
PEOPLE has the exclusive premiere of an extended version of the hilarious commercial, a short version of which will air duringSuper Bowl LVIthis Sunday.
The brand had previously teasedRichter’s involvement in a 30-second adthat saw the formerConanstar wonder, “Am I going to be able to do this? I’m not even Italian.”
He pulls it off in the final clip, where a group of Romans throw jabs at handful of “Barbarians” making a mess at the Colosseum parking lot. They only come together when the discover the deliciousness and versatility of avocados, putting them on burgers, inside burritos, and even snacking them in fresh guacamole.
“You know, they also taste great on salads,” Richter’s Caesar says in the ad’s final moments. “Ilovesalads. If that’s what I’m known for, I’ll be happy!”
Avocados From Mexico
PEOPLE caught up with Richter about making the commercial, which his two kids surprisingly didn’t make a big deal about.
“You gotta remember my son is 21 and my daughter is 16 and both of them have been my kids for their entire lives so they are thoroughly unimpressed with almost everything that I do,” Richter joked.
“I showed them a picture of me in my Cesar outfit — this amazing costume — and to them, that’s like literally the 500th time they’ve had to look at a picture of me in this costume,” he added. “It’s just me playing dress up, it happens all the time.”
Below, Richter talks more about making the commercial, his Super Bowl traditions, what he’s been up to sinceConan’s finale, and perhaps most importantly, his preferred way to eat an avocado.
Dana Edelson/Nbc-Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock
PEOPLE: This will be your first Super Bowl ad. How does that feel to get that call?RICHTER:It’s pretty great to have the phone ring and have somebody say, “Hey, they want you to do a Super Bowl commercial for Avocados for Mexico” because just the first part — “they want you to do a Super Bowl commercial” — is pretty great, but then it could be for like a predatory lender and then you have to be like, “Ugh, I don’t want to do that.” But this is for avocados, it’s positivity all around. Avocados go great with everything, you can put them on everything. That’s kind of the gist of the commercial. You can put avocados on everything you want.
Do you have a preferred way to eat an avocado? Some people go for it on toast, others like a guac, or chopped in a salad, or on its own with salt… What’s Andy’s preferred choice?I’m boring. I am the classic way with guacamole. It’s hard to top guacamole ,and I do make pretty good guacamole. I use avocado, lime, cilantro, onion and salt, that’s it. Nothing extra. I also like avocado with scrambled eggs and that’s really, really delicious and so simple.
Anything you can tell us about the commercial? In the teaser, you appear worried you’ll be able to pull it off.The Avocados for Mexico commercials are funny. They’re just crazy mayhem and there’s so much packed into them in terms of like little visual jokes and funny conflicts. It’s going to be about as much entertainment with avocado information jammed into 30 or 60 seconds that you can stand.
What was the process of making the spot? Was there room to ad-lib?They made everything pretty easy. We filmed it in Mexico City and it was nice to return there. We shot way up high, like 11,000 feet elevation, in a national park campground. It’s a big production. It was really fun and felt very silly to be dressed as Julius Cesar. There was a lot of leeway in the teasers and interviews I did for social media, but the commercial is more structured. You have to get to the joke quickly because there’s like, 12 jokes in one commercial.
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Do you have any Super Bowl traditions?I usually end up watching the game just because it’s the Super Bowl. It’s one of those communal things you’re programmed to do. I’m sometimes into it more one year than the other depending on who is playing. But this is avocado’s Christmas. They sell more avocados for the Super Bowl than any other time of the year. I’m sure it’s the same for like melted cheese or potato skins — all those Super Bowl foods. I think about the snacks more than the game.
source: people.com
