Save the newspaper, save the world. First, though, get in one good dig against what is arguably the last truly national newspaper. Almost anyone with a pulse who doesn't DVR everything has been bombarded by television ads from the New York Times. The spot implores people to "Start their weekend early!" with a subscription to one of the weekend newspaper packages. (Just so you know, there's the Weekend and then there's the Weekender.) Not a bad marketing move. Who doesn't want a longer weekend? Since the 2006 debut of the first commercial (there's now a newer, more hipster-y version), the paper's spokesperson says the ads have "performed exceptionally well" — though no specific data on how subscription rates have fared was offered.
But no matter. These ads seem more ripe for mocking than for making people buy newspapers. So that's what this group of mostly New York-based comedians and actors did under the direction of Michael Showalter of Wet Hot American Summer fame. The spoof even pokes hilarious fun at the paper and its advertising methods in a meta way! It's actually an ad for an arts and entertainment venue in New York City and it includes people like Paul Rudd, Mike Birbiglia, Andrea Rosen, Michael Ian Black and a bunch of people who probably roll in an insider comedian circle. Although 95% of the people in this spoof and those who gripe about the commercial are probably die-hard Times fans, it's still spectacular entertainment to scoff at it. Case in point: "I love to pull everything out of the Sunday paper...and then throw it away." It's all in the delivery (pun unavoidable). Take a look for yourself.