Rhett & Link, the musical-comedy team of Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, have made a name for themselves by creating intentionally bad commercials for local businesses across America. Now, they're getting their own TV show. Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings premieres Friday at 10 p.m. on IFC, and shows the process the guys go through in making these spots. (You can watch the first episode now over at AdFreak.) To build buzz for the show, they've also been releasing some of the new ads made for it. Here's the latest—an intentionally atrocious rap for Presidential Car Wash that makes all other intentionally atrocious raps from commercials pale by comparison. Rhett and Link definitely have a knack for mimicking the worst aspects of local ads—the terrible acting, the awkward moments, the crappy production values. But what really sets them apart is that they aren't really being irreverent. They're legitimately trying to drive traffic to these businesses. And in a way, they're celebrating the authenticity of local spots. The flaws make the ads more human, more amusing, and sometimes more honest. (This is probably why the duo's "most honest commercial ever," for Cullman Liquidation, is the best they've done. In fact, Errol Morris called it the best commercial ever made.) When people who have no business being on camera get up and make a pitch for their company anyway, they earn a measure of respect, even if you cringe at the same time. In Rhett & Link's ads, you're never really laughing at those people, because they're not treated as a joke. The joke is the format—and everyone's in on it.



CREDITS
Client: Presidential Car Wash
Creatives: Rhett & Link