Friday, February 8, 2008

This Just In: Jarvik's No Jogger Either!

"He can't row," said Dr. O. H. Frazier of the Texas Heart Institute of Dr. Jarvik, Pfizer's Lipitor celebrity spokesperson. And Dr. Frazier should know -- he's a "longtime collaborator" of Jarvik's, according to a NY Times article published yesterday. Turns out a stunt double was used (see "Jarvik Can't Prescribe and Can't Row a Boat, But Can He Sell?" and here).

This blogger just learned through another source that the TV ads showing Jarvik running with his son also used stunt doubles for both Jarviks!

Edward Kanston, a long-time jogger from Skokie, IL, who has a receding hairline and otherwise long-flowing gray hair, did the jogging for the elder Jarvik.

A stunt robot with defective arms was used to portray his son. "I think he passed it [foppy mannerism] on to his son as well," says anonymous in a comment to a previous post. "Watch the way the son runs during the commercials. Who runs like that? He looks like the lady on the Seinfeld episode who doesn't swing her arms when she walks!" Who runs like that? A robot with defective arms (think Bender, the robot in Futurama), that's who!

Want further proof that Jarvik can't jog? "The House committee is also believed to be interested in determining whether doubles for Dr. Jarvik were used in other ads," reported the NY Times. "Other ads" meaning other than the rowing ads. The jogging ad is the only one in which a double could possibly be used.

Stunt Double VoiceOver!
Stay tuned to the next Jarvik expose: The ghost of Paul Winchell, the famous ventriloquist who died in 2005, was employed by the Lipitor ad agency to do voiceovers for Dr. Jarvik! You heard it here first!

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