“The rivalry between Microsoft Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. apparently extends to the cast of ‘The Daily Show,'” Todd Bishop reports for The Seattle Post Intelligencer. “Microsoft has reached a deal with Demetri Martin, the comic behind the fake news program’s periodic ‘Trendspotting’ feature, to star in a marketing campaign for the upcoming Windows Vista, according to a story Wednesday in the trade publication The Hollywood Reporter.”
“The report comes after Apple tapped the Comedy Central show’s ‘resident expert,’ John Hodgman, to spoof Windows PCs in its latest TV commercials,” Bishop reports. “Microsoft wouldn’t confirm or deny the story in The Hollywood Reporter. The report, citing anonymous sources, said Martin would be ‘the face of a massive multipronged campaign’ for Windows Vista, the next version of the flagship program, set for retail release next year… Microsoft spent some $200 million on advertising for the 2001 launch of Windows XP, and company executives have said the Vista release will be the biggest since Windows 95.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Further proof, if you needed any more, that Microsoft follows Apple around like a retarded puppy.
See Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads featuring “The Daily Show’s” John Hodgman here.
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Geezus. Does it get more obvious.
That’s pathetic.
Poor Demetri doesn’t know what sort of lemon he’ll be peddling until 2007.
What else is new. Ballmer and Gates don’t have an original or creative bone in their bodies.
Oh The Irony!
The Trendspotting spot on The Daily Show is usually something that is trivial or totally NOT a trend worth watching.
Pretty much sums up Vista.
This is just sad. I used to like Demetri. He is so fired for this one.
“like a retarded puppy” – I just laughed so hard there is snot on my screen and in my beard.
Hilariously pathetic!
AND a relief that Jon Stewart won’t shill for Microsoft!
Who the F cares about John Hodgman, anyway. I’ve rarely seen him on The Daily Show.
I’m sure that Gates & Co. were AFRAID to hire Stephen Colbert!
Well, I think it would be prudent for Apple to hire Andy Rooney for an op-ed piece on MicroSoft and Windows….
A dry, witty piece from a real news show…Not that I am dissing the Daily Show…Of course, the Colbert Report would be a way to fight back…
I posit that this is a result of the expanded Reality Distortion Field 2.0 that Jobs has been beta testing for the last five years. They find it irresistable and actually think they’re Apple.
But seriously, it’s like the 80s movie Can’t Buy Me Love. The uncool kid thinks he can buy his way into the cool-o-sphere. Oh, and then the hijinks ensue…
^
It took awhile for Colbert to regain his reputation after the GM Goodwrench ads. *shudder*
Just plain sad. All of these actors and comedians out here and Microsoft has to go to the same place where Apple hired theirs. Pathetic.
Wow –
Coolest MDN take ever……
I do not comprehend what this guy has been hired to do. He has been hired to advertise for a non-existant piece of software?
How exactly does that contract read, “When and if Mr. Ballmer gets his head out of his ass and if and when that results in the Microsoft corporation figuring out how to write an OS, then Microsoft Corporation agrees to pay the sum….”
I think Microsoft is right on this. Who would expect to be able to say Vista is good, will be the security reference of the future, will empower the user, etc. with a straight face?
C’mon, let’s face it, only a comic could do and when he’ll laugh while saying those things people would take it for granted: “Hey, he’s a comic, he has to put up a hilarious face”.
heheheh
Well, it’s a good job they got him to film the commercials now, because by the time Vista acually ships, he’ll be real old looking and grey as a badger!!!!!!!!
This from a comedian who stated that one of the negative points of Myspace was the number of sexual predators but that one of good points was one of the sexual prey. I get the feeling that Microsoft don’t get the joke about these sort of things. Lets just hope they ads have a heavy dose of irony/sarcase/etc that goes over their heads and in fact he ends up indirectly telling the truth. Yeah, Vista is the best OS ever.
microsoft is a retarded puppy…er…monkey,
but we’ve all known this for a very long time. I switched to Mac 2 years ago and will NEVER go back to windoze!…. in fact I even work for apple now.
“C’mon, let’s face it, only a comic could do and when he’ll laugh while saying those things people would take it for granted: “Hey, he’s a comic, he has to put up a hilarious face”.”
Great comment iPodder!!
Knowing Martin, he’ll probably take the money he makes off of M$ and buy himself some shiny new Apple gear. I distinctly remember him using Mac gear to produce music in one of his Trendspotting clips. He’s subversive enough to take M$’s money and then find subtle ways to pimp Apple products in his Daily Show routine, too, so I wouldn’t put it past him. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being.
Let’s all pray that Apple doesn’t let Rush “mr. drug addict moralist” Limbaugh do an official endorsement. He’s a big Mac fan, and I do mean big.
I would like to see Apple get the “Al Swarengin” charecter from Deadwood. (I know they wouldn’t) Now there is a guy that has a real grasp on discriptive sentence structure! Yikes!!!!! Turning Al loose on Ballmer would really get the point across! Too bad it would never get on btoadcast TV.
Maybe Microsoft will hire Colbert to do an ad! I can see it now:
Colbert: “Microsoft, known world-wide for their secure and stable operating systems, is proud to announce Windows Vista. Including countless features that Apple blatantly copied with their OS X Tiger operating system, Vista redefines “lean and mean”. Vista will protect you from yourself in ways you’ve never imagined possible, through exciting new technologies such as “Are you sure?” confirmation boxes following every attempted user operation. Download the free Beta 2 today!”
Pathetic, yes. Sad, yes. Ironic, of course. But with the future of Microsoft hinging on Vista the company will spend hundreds of millions on their advertising campaign. And it will work. It’s just that the product is rubbish.
It reminds me of a story during the Windows 95 release. During that advertising campaign the product was sprayed here and there for all to see. An elderly lady went into a store and asked for Windows 95. The salesperson asked her about her computer’s specifications…she didn’t have a computer, she just wanted Windows 95.
As an old editor once said when he sent me out on an assignment, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Yes, it’s pathetic, sad and ironic, but it’ll sell.
I don’t know, Nick. It seems to lack a certain truthiness.
Someone should hire Jack Black to rant about their software.
That would be funny.
If you’ve never Demetri Martin’s stand-up routine, let me save you some time: He’s a young Mitch Hedburg ripoff. So, ironically, this new gig suits him fairly well..