Mr. Sprigg's Moment Has Come

When people talk about making a mixtape or playlist that represents the soundtrack of their lives, a key ingredient is always missing: commercial jingles.

As a child of the television age, commercials have a bigger house in my medulla oblangata than the Homeowners Association should allow. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with childhood heroes like Dave Winfield, Dan Fouts, Captain Kangaroo and Graham Kerr are Cal Worthington and Earl Scheib. That’s because I lived in San Diego until I was 8.

I was among the many tots in Southern California who thought “Go See Cal” was some form of genetic mutation called a “Pussycow.” All I knew for sure was the pussycow wasn’t at the San Diego Zoo or Sea World, but I pestered my parents to drive me north to Lion’s Country Safari or Marineland. Worthington, who was born right here in Shidler, Oklahoma, created viral video before Al Gore cobbled together the Internet.

I also grew up thinking car owners were constantly in need of steel work and changed their paint jobs as often as Cindi Lauper changed her hair color.

When I moved to Texas, Cal and Earl were replaced by Oscar Snowden. The Big O was Austin biggest and most verbose dealer of Curtis Mathes television, which you may or may not recall was the “most expensive television in America and darn well worth it.”

Once in Oklahoma City, I was happy to find Linda Soundtrak was breaking eardrums here as she had been back home.

And then of course I learned to love the Del Rancho kid, who inspired a similarly aged Mike Hosty to boogie…

and my all-time favorite, the Credit Jewelry cowboy.

In recent years, one local commercial has set itself apart and that is the genius that is Mr. Sprigg’s Barbecue. So, fantastic is the jingle that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay saw fit to mount it on their Funny or Die website, making it a viral superstar.

Just watching it makes me Hongry, Hongry.