That great Old Spice TV ad: 'I'm on a horse' and how he got there

The proof of a good commercial is whether you can stand to watch it more than once. When it comes to the Old Spice ad with that guy who talks rapidly to the women in the audience, presenting one fantasy scenario after another and concluding, “I’m on a horse” — well, it still makes me grin, even after seeing it during the Super Bowl, during the Olympics, and I don’t know how many other places:

The guy here is actor Isaiah Mustafa, and he does the best over-the-top line-reading in recent TV-commercial history. Mustafa has had small roles on Ugly Betty and NCIS: Los Angeles, and IMDb lists him as appearing on an upcoming episode of Castle as “Team Leader.” Clearly, this man deserves a bigger role in a TV show, fast.

If you’re obsessed or even just interested, there’s an intriguing — if rather long — video about the making of this spot, in which two guys from the agency that produced it, Wieden + Kennedy, claim there’s minimal CGI used. That’s right: Mustafa slides from the boat onto the horse in one shot:

Do you like this ad? Do you think it succeeds in making an ancient brand like Old Spice seem a bit more interesting? And what TV show would you cast Isaiah Mustafa in?

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