Old School

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The Sports Show, the eleven-year-old Sunday talk show hosted by Mike Max, Sid, Pat Reusse, and Dark Star, is the last local bastion of the crazy “Come on down!” genre of advertising. Star co-owns the show and sells, produces, and performs in most of the ads. It’s a two-man operation: Jon Mikkelson (Star calls him the “fifth-funniest man on the planet”) writes, then shoots Star, clowning. They do thirty seconds for Murray’s (“For great steak, forget about those other places that start with M”), Nick’s Sports World, and American Pie Pizza, but the best work is for Coon Rapids Chrysler Jeep. Star and general manager Jay Birch have elevated the campaign into a loopy, fast-talking routine featuring props, sight gags, Eddie Griffin jokes, and corny pitchman one-liners. “I learned everything I know from Steve Cannon,” Star insists. “Minnesotans love to watch Minnesotans, and if you’re not funny, they’re pissed.”