GEICO just continues to win the funny game with its amusing and memorable TV spots. (Did you know, by the way, that 15 minutes could save you — oh, nevermind.) Bringing back a commercial from nearly 20 years ago, GEICO hits on old school nostalgia in its ingenious “Collect Call” ad — reviving two nearly extinct phenomena. Yup, GEICO throws together the classic old public payphone and its close cousin, the collect call. (The spot is winning fans again as a BEST OF GEICO contender.)
[EXPLAINER: For those of you born after a certain date, the contraption known as the payphone was once everywhere. It accepted coins in order to make a call for a limited amount of time. A collect call typically occurred when a coin-less caller needed to connect and asked the receiver of the call to accept the charges. If the receiver recognized the name of the caller, they usually accepted the call — otherwise they could choose not to accept (as happens in the commercial!). College students of a certain age all called home collect, as did camp kids and anyone else short of change.]
The new father calling his parents from the hospital is already saving for college for his newborn. His first savings? The cost of the call — he communicates the birth announcement with his clever collect call request from “Bob We-Had-A-Baby-It’s-A-Boy”. The actor playing the new dad is the terrific Lex Medlin, whom you may have seen recently in a Time Warner Cable commercial as a new neighbor. Medlin has also done spots for State Farm, T-Mobile, Twix and many others.
Medlin isn’t just a mainstay in popular TV commercials — his list of TV appearances is long and varied. Medlin has appeared on Charmed, Friends (Season 6) The Closer, Monk, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Modern Family, Jane the Virgin and Criminal Minds, to name just a few. (Notable is a recent terrific appearance on Shameless with William H. Macy.) Medlin also memorably played Judge Own French on the Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime. Medlin studied acting at the prestigious Academy of Dramatic Arts.
The look on my face truly describes how I feel about life right now. Ive come full circle I guess… https://t.co/MfAKXR6p4p
— Lex Medlin (@lexmedlin) December 10, 2018
