Oddity Archive: Episode 210 - PSA’s Vol. 2 (or, Only You Can Prevent PSA’s)

[@qazhr]

Today I learned cat the broadway show was used for psa’s . And it still better then 2019 movie

[@Launchpad05]

It still comes off as 'WTF' material.

[@Nolroa]

I prefer these public service announcements a million times over the 2019 movie.

[@rionthemagnificent2971]

its ten pm, do you know where your children are? Homer Simpson: I told you last night. NO.

[@deathstrike]

Lois Griffin: Stewie it's 10pm, why are you in the basement??? Stewie: Playing house Lois: Then why do you have Meg tied up?? Stewie: Roman Polanski's house. Remember always know where and what house your kids are in at 10pm. You don't want them to be at Herbert's house do you???

[@Launchpad05]

Random Celebrity: Its ten pm, do you know where your children are? Me: I DON'T HAVE KIDS! I'M TRYING TO WATCH 'THUNDERCATS!"

[@TimBoyd2012]

Where is Bart? His dinner is getting cold and eaten.

[@breeslilcorner]

I remember those Cats PSA's. Cats was a big thing in the 80s. It seemed every high school and amateur theater company did their own version. And probably all of them were still better than the 2019 movie. Also, who better than Rod Serling to narrate a PSA because at least you could take him seriously.

[@Tornado1994]

It's Ben's little Tip of the hat to Diva/Christi aka Musical Hell!!!She recently reviewed Cats 2K19!

[@Nolroa]

It would be the modern equivalent of the Hamilton cast doing those kinds of public service announcements nowadays.

[@zoekirk1848]

I’m BEGGING you to make an episode on international PSAs, especially from the UK or Australia. Some of them are as goofy as their American counterparts but most of them are abjectly terrifying.

[@mightyfilm]

Sometime in the mid-00's Sesame Street wanted to have a focus on healthy eating, and there was this sketch where Hoots the Owl sang to Cookie Monster about "sometimes foods." And immediately the internet went freaking nuts, and being the internet, the reactionaries failed to do any research into the fact that Cookie Monster did indeed talk about healthier eating options. There was a song he did in the 80's that was a parody of the Run DMC version of Walk this Way about Healthy Food. But yeah. So basically, Sesame Street had to go on the defensive saying that Cookie still eats cookies right down to making an actual episode about it and having Cookie appear on talk shows saying how he's still Cookie Monster on various levels of salty. And as us Muppet/Sesame Street fans are well aware of, Cookie Monster eats EVERYTHING. I guess no one was concerned when he ate plates, foam rubber letters and numbers, an actual truck, and in one anniversary special, everything on Sesame Street BUT a cake.

[@hayleywaalen2612]

There's also a PSA on Autism with Julia.

[@mightyfilm]

Sesame Street has always been making PSAs. Saw one about the Census recently that had Count VonCount in it. That Cookie Monster one was probably the first one, though. I bet it was a real treat to see him outside of PSA back when that aired.

[@wendyokoopa7048]

Cookie monster has pica

[@artistwithouttalent]

Fucking thank you. Outrage over people trying to improve is infuriating.

[@mightyfilm]

As a Muppet fan, I hate when the normies get upset over like one thing that somehow makes the news. And it's not even like this was a new concept. Back when The Count first appeared, some whackjob kept mailing Children's Television Workshop because they thought it was brainwashing kids to accept Satan or evil or some nonsense. I'm surprised no one got on Cookie Monster's case about him eating a whole truck or something, as if it's an imitable act.

[@marktubeie07]

The Danny Elfman was histerical. _"Warning, Adrenaline may cause involuntary movements, nausea, headache, heart palpitations, night sweats, ability to perform amazing human feats, shoot your mouth off, ......"_

[@5roundsrapid263]

9:59 Mattingly staying on Earth is one reason they came back alive. He found a way to conserve power in the Apollo simulator that kept the batteries from going dead.

[@herbcraven7146]

"I Mind Very Much If You Smoke". Just when I thought I remembered everything about growing up in the early seventies. Touche, Ben!

[@michaellee8816]

We've got a high bar to clear to get past "VD is for everybody" but lets find out together....

[@redlion517]

To this day, that PSA with the blond woman slowly turning into a corpse gives me chills whenever I so much as THINK about it.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Pause halfway and she looks like Robert Plant!

[@redlion517]

@@5roundsrapid263 Not gonna lie: I actually had to look up who Robert Plant is. But just looking at him, I see what you mean.

[@Launchpad05]

Sorry, but PSAs don't need to be like horror movies.

[@redlion517]

@@Launchpad05 A-FUCKING-MEN.

[@natedash11]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5jJnGmVj5mDqdk This is an improved version of that PSA that everyone needs to see.

[@iainlaurence]

4:16 still better than Cats (2019)

[@mightyfilm]

Ah. Remember when Cats wasn't a laughing stock and was genuinely enjoyable? Wait... wasn't Cats ALWAYS a laughing stock that WASN'T genuinely enjoyable?

[@JMFabiano]

@@mightyfilm It's like when I see something ridiculous about Ghostbusters and say, well it's still better than 2016.

[@mightyfilm]

I dunno. Have you seen the last ABC seasons of the cartoon series?

[@iheartchubbybellies]

That was 2019?!

[@wendyokoopa7048]

@@mightyfilm I liked that cartoon

[@jhutto1984]

Somebody should've told the owl 'Water Pollution' is two words.

[@kandigloss6438]

for some reason I kinda love the Cats anti-smoking PSA. Also I think that was just Danny Elfman being Danny Elfman, and I liked that that smokey the bear ad was pretty much mocking the concept of all the "cool and hip" rap PSAs from that time.

[@MrBillmcminn]

6:10 was my childhood television terror. I could sit through dozens of EBS tests that made my sister run for the hills, but Mr. Yuk is green made me run and hide in my bedroom closet. Thanks for getting cable TV mom and dad!

[@herbcraven7146]

Truth. I lived in constant terror of Mr. Yuk popping up during my favorite shows.

[@jamesslick4790]

I'm from Lil 'Ol Pittsburgh the very birthplace of "Mr. Yuk" So we probably got to "enjoy" this more often than average. I thought it was a "hoot"!😳 (I also a very weird kid)....Mr. Yuck is Meeen, Mr. Yuck is GREEEEN!!! 🤢 Bwah,hah,hah,hah! 👍💀👍

[@rushomancy]

I actually knew about Randall's advocacy for myasthenia gravis sufferers! I was doing some research on him last year while attempting to find the in-character 1974 Odd Couple ads for "Challenge Yahtzee" (I was unable to), and as part of this I read through his New York Times obituary, which says in part: "During this same period, he became national chairman of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, a post he occupied for some 30 years. Myasthenia gravis is an incurable neuromuscular disease that incapitates its victims and kills them. He was a compassionate man who detested maudlin pronouncements of any kind and so when he was asked why he became involved with the foundation, he replied, "My agent told me I needed a disease."" So there you go!

[@itsdawheelchair2307]

Unfortunately, the Cats took a lot of drugs and became Cats 2019.

[@Moneytane1976]

That was their kittens, they bred with a group of feral jackals.

[@larrylaffer3246]

Well of course we up in MN are insane. Insane about the deals this week at Crazy Eddie's Electronics Emporium. Oh and all that Purple Rain stuff Prince dumped into the water supply to make us feel better about all the massive snowfall could've been behind it too.

[@sracine10]

3:30 - I’d LOVE to see an Archive Riff of the “Play Safe” PIF. That scene give me chills...

[@sracine10]

@@SpaceCop I’m checking this out. Thanks!

[@TeeVeeGames]

The visuals from that Regina/McGruff jam pretty much serves as the basis for every 80s era parody. I assure the younger generations: not everything was neon and synthesizers back then. Most of our houses still looked like the 70s well into the 90s.

[@itme999]

The "users are losers" song has run through my head intermittently since like 1988, so thanks for putting it back there. 👍

[@johnnyklebitzrevenge4793]

10:51 Boy that aged like fine 2% milk. At least she didn't turn into Mecha Streisand

[@gunkyzip]

Living in the Northeast, Mr. Yuck was freaky as f**k. They even sold little stickers for adults to put onto things like bleach and sunscreen, so kids wouldn't eat/drink it. What I'm trying to say is: kids in every generation are dumb. We would've done Tide pods back in the day if they were around.

[@ironwolf56]

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. -Socrates. So basically... people have been complaining about how terrible the "youth of today" are since the beginning of humanity most likely.

[@gunkyzip]

@@ironwolf56 Nice. But as a kid, that ad (and there is an extended 1 minute version!) legit scared me.

[@bunnybismuth]

@@ironwolf56 That's not authentic

[@senton412]

I grew up in Pittsburgh, ground zero for Mr. Yuk. It's bad enough watching it now as an adult when you know it's coming - imagine it coming on randomly when you're a kid watching cartoons, and with no remote control.

[@djackmanson]

"I was once a careless and neglectful parent. Thankfully, Andy Warhol's example persuaded me to do better"

[@AzraelEnterprise]

I remember the Crash Dummies. They eventually had a cartoon and toys too.

[@JL-sm6cg]

Oh God! The "users are losers" McGruff ad? You had to bring that back around on me, didn't you?!

[@Metlhd313]

16:35 Never thought I'd hear Lorenzo Music rapping.

[@Losaru]

The only thing that tops the Meth Campaign was that one that Northern Canada did years ago about Vitamin D. You may be "On Meth" but we all "Need the D"

[@5roundsrapid263]

It was Yukon Territory, to be exact. I was wondering if I was the only one who remembered that!

[@Losaru]

@@5roundsrapid263 Lol. No, no. First heard about it on WTFIWWY and never forgot it since, especially the one with the dog XD

[@seanshea8596]

Two years after Cinderella did that anti drug PSA I served them food at a rock venue and our staff later pulled Heroin needles out of the trash.

[@MALAKYT]

Grace Jones demanding to know where my (non-existent) children are still made me look around the room... 😟🤔

[@PenguinVideoStore]

The Cats car accident one gave me such emotional whiplash the first time I saw it...I had the wind knocked out of me by the line, "No one wants their child to become a memory," and then it immediately tripled the cheese layer by following that up with "Memories". I guess people in the 80s felt they had to be on brand at all times.

[@MysticalSelah]

I remember Mr. Yuk sticker! When I was a kid and living in Pittsburgh, the elementary school I went to had stickers all over the place, and we’d sing the song too!

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

10:11 Homer Simpsons: He called me Greenhorn. I called him Tony Randall. It was a thing we had...

[@sleepisaluxury]

Yay! It's always a good day when there's an Oddity Archive sequel episode.

[@JepMasta]

“it’s 10 PM, do you know where your children are?” I told you last night, NO!

[@noralewis5390]

The wording on the Streisand PSA made me VERY uncomfortable...

[@ericariley1696]

Back when times weren't so politically correct.

[@robsku1]

Which one was it again? Have no patience to watch this again just to check, just enough to ask someone else to help me be lazy about it :D

[@noralewis5390]

10:29

[@robsku1]

@@noralewis5390 Oh, that one... Sounded very.... peculiar... to my ear too :O

[@5roundsrapid263]

That was the medical term in those days. It was almost 60 years ago...

[@Acidonia150reborn]

3:30 Oh Jimmy will you ever learn?

[@svinjamaria]

I will never ever forget when I saw that KZbin video of the Africare Shoebox PSA (an ultimately creepy psa asking to donate shoeboxes to Rwanda due to them running out of mass coffins…), it’s changed and ruined my whole damn life in 2 minutes

[@RadioLaPrincess]

4:53 I was really hoping when I heard a crash at the end of that PSA that a car hit the mime. I really, really hate mimes.

[@wendyokoopa7048]

I only like mr. Mime

[@ShawnTewes]

5:34 Janosz: "A child?" Vigo: ZAP! Janosz: "A childddddd....."

[@BELCAN57]

I'd watch Adrienne Barbeau's PSA on a loop.

[@cityhawk]

On mute.

[@bunnybismuth]

I know, right

[@AliasUndercover]

Lord, I remember that first one. God, I'm old... By the way, my mom did not know where I was at the time.

[@BigEWR]

That 50th anniversary for Smokey PSA is certainly one of the best there is. First of all, it's a live action and animation hybrid. In the ad, he realizes that being hip and with it isn't how you deliver a message. This ultimately means that Smokey kept his dignity in tact. And to top it all off, this was during a time when he was voiced by Jim Cummings, one of the greatest voice actors of all time.

[@Fluteboy]

9:03 - Looks like the bloke from that DCC feature. "For that is where you and I will be living!"

[@NortelGeek]

"There's only one thing worse than a rapist... " 5:32 "No."

[@heidifedor]

Regina had one hit from the 80’s called Baby Love, and the only reason it was a hit was because most people thought that the song was from Madonna.

[@KabelDairo]

Holy crap, I've been looking for that haunted house one at 25:00 for a long time! Thanks, Ben!

[@OddityArchive]

Yep. You can find the uncut version in this Annex post... kzbin.info/www/bejne/qaeVaWiOjsyEgsk

[@meowza3k]

Old guy and kid wearing gas masks staring at a desert wasteland--- OG: When I was your age there were trees as far as the eye could see. -- K: Really Grandpa?

[@Flamingbro69]

That ad confuses me a lot.

[@aiberlane3390]

That McGruff song was part of a full (non music) video starring Drew Barrymore, probably around the time she went to rehab, and is all about a group of kids making the worst's dumbest drug PSA music video. The whole video is all about not doing drugs and not once do they specify which drugs not to use and that some are safe. But they made every kid think that shady, leather clad teenagers were lurking around every street corner and basketball court just waiting for little kids to come by so they could pressure them into taking drugs.

[@kingbadger318]

I remember the Cats anti-smoking one from the 80s. I saw it once or twice. Guess it stuck with me because it's kind of creepy.

[@Rumtar]

MR YUCK IS MEAN MR YUCK IS GREEN!!!!! I had grown up as a kid watching these PSA's

[@imrustyokay]

"Your Mind is the Battlefield" sounds like a great album title. Also, "Nobody wants a child to become a memory..." Holy Shit. And, I kinda had a "Did she really just say that?" moment at 10:33. Man, the past was something different, not always for the better, yikes. 19:12, Yeah, I hang out with stoners, they're awesome. 19:29 Take that people who think that cookie monster eating veggies was somehow a recent thing! 21:07, I love the way Rod says "Fire". Then again it may be my Pyromania. 21:21 Man that made me jump a bit too. Lastly, if this past Summer taught us anything, if people want to take a bite outta crime, abolishing what we call a police system helps.

[@daveporter0217]

Should Smokey do a collab with the Ames Rapping Granny?

[@jamesslick4790]

Hell Yeah!!!! That would be awesome! 👍😎👍

[@michalaugustniak433]

Q: "Do you know where your children are?" A (in the form of a Q): "Why yes. My children are currently enganged in a commercial transaction with an energetic and ambitious leader of a rapidly expanding nation, exchanging "Devices of Fire and Swift Volumetric Expansion" for financial gain and international friendship. Do YOU know what your little darlings are doing?"

[@bunnybismuth]

... Wat

[@poody56]

I was hoping for Ben Raps. Has to be better than whatever McGruff was trying to do

[@DurradonXylles]

21:20 and 21:25, we saw your mouth, Ben! We now know what your entire face looks like! (Almost ironically fitting, with today's subject matter)

[@luisreyes1963]

20:40 The voice of Rod Serling.

[@joshm264]

We get to see more of his face! (yes I know he showed his full face in season 1 but now we get HD)

[@bobrogers4019]

He should wear a facemask. Everyone looks like him now in the supermarket etc!

[@ChuckD79]

Great episode, as always...I remember the Cats car seat PSA being shown in my local theater during the late 80s.

[@edbateyjr.517]

At least this doesn't have the "Words Hurt" PSA. I'm sorry, that PSA hits too close to home for me!

[@DanZero77]

Not gonna lie - I thought 5:22 was another stroke of editing genius by Ed, but I guess not (much like the Frank Azur commercial riff from episode 117) Also I genuinely thought the Street Pajama PSA was gonna be a LaserKaraoke video!

[@rogra2087]

☆awesomeness! That first psa, with the mini clown was probably Hobo-Kelly (spelling?). Was a great show I saw early in the morning late 70s early 80s! I used to luv the antidrug psa where a person dives into a pool, with no water-lol. Another classic were all those SCHICK drug rehab clinics, scary stuff, Steven King was inspired in that Cats Eye movie segment. Thanx for the great vids, totally subbed up. ☆

[@lascheque]

Now I need to listen to The Dickies' "Just Say Yes".

[@soonerterp]

Black Flag's "Drinking and Driving" seemed more succinct and to the point on the subject of drunk driving, a lot more so than that fantastically over-the-top production number at 25:05.

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

Wow, I remember that McGruff "Users are losers, and losers are users" jingle, I haven't heard it since childhood. Thanks for the memories!

[@Kenneth_Mac_Pherson]

NICE! FIRST episode of the year! Looking VERY forward to it (as I ALWAYS do)! :-)

[@ElizabethMorbiddoll86]

"let's kick it!" "Aw damn, he got up!"

[@RocketboyX]

Woo hoo, RetroOntario made an appearance!

[@thatguyontheright1]

The cats make up is better than the 2019 movie.

[@AjaxTheRoo]

That is an understatement.

[@Brillemeister]

Thank you for introducing the rest of the world to Street Pajama, Benny-boy

[@wendyokoopa7048]

I feel like Benny boy missed an obvious joke during the cats psa segment where he could have written where were these guys to issue a psa against cats 2019?

[@JuanDaMajikOne]

Oh wow! I remember the first cats smoking psa and the last one with Hootsie the owl " GIVE A HOOT DON'T POLLUTE!" Hey Ben, in your research of these PSAs did you come across the Star Wars psa? I believe it was C3-PO snd R2D2 doing a lung psa. By the way that was Regina with McGruff. She hit it big in 1986 with Baby Love!

[@holyshard530]

Wait, the star wars one? I've seen that one all over the web, the one where R2-D2 actually smokes! If that's the one you mean.

[@Flamingbro69]

23:04 BABY LOOOOOOVE!!!

[@JuanDaMajikOne]

Yup she hit it big with that one. I had the 12" single on vinyl!

[@JL-sm6cg]

The NARC, which became NARCA, before it became The Arc. My aunt worked for them because I had a cousin (her own son) with Down's syndrome (I refuse to use that politically incorrect word anymore) who lived to be 44 and died in 2009.

[@MALAKYT]

23:05 - my younger step-brother was "McGruff the Grime Dog" who would travel around to all the elementary and middle schools with... you guessed it... my oldest stepbrother, "Officer Friendly" - don't know if youve heard of him, but he was McGruff's "partner" or handler. things were cool until they got to Beyer Elementary when they thought itwould be fun to tease their younger brother by making me volunteer for EVERY DAMN THING (thr raculty was already aware of the situation, sinmemy mom was the secretary, and my aunt was the principal. those two assholes gave me SO MUCH SHIT that day that I STILL get teased about it almost 40 years later. granted, 8n retrospect, some of is worth a chuckle or two... but FUCK NO. but hey, at least MY marriage still works, I'm graduating with a Master's in Psychotherapy in a few more months, and I'm already getting job offers... they're both divorced, one just finished rehab for the fifth time, and the other hasn't spoken with his in years because he treats them like slaves. OH WELL... 🤷🏽‍♂️🍾🥂

[@jamesslick4790]

Thanks Ben, I spent the last 45 years TRYING to keep "🎶...You mind very much if they smoke...🎶" out of my head. Come to think of it, that's about how long I've been smoking! 🤔 😂

[@GeoNeilUK]

I think these lame PSAs (Public Service Announcements) versus the horror films that we British call PIFs (Public Information Films) are why more and more parts of legalising cannabis while the UK aren't and why I see so many clips of Americans falling out of their cars, blind drunk, convinced they're good to drive, while we in the UK take drunk driving _extremely seriously._ Stories Untold is a British game that very much addresses that, and I remember getting annoyed at an American feminist saying "if she's too drunk to drive, she's too drunk to consent!" because our drink driving limit is broken by a single pint of lager, so by British standards a girl is too drunk to consent before she even gets a beer buzz!

[@VictorCowo]

I get to see more of Ben's face today 😂

[@davidcurry2390]

This Is One OF MY FAVS BEN AND ALSO YOUR 1-900 EPISODES,!!

[@jasonsouvannarath5789]

Anyone watching this whilst out of it on pain meds, medical canibous, etc?

[@dylaninpieces2]

The Oddity Archive (including the show's host and editor) is NOT ableist. Seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Flamingbro69]

The Perfect Transition doesn’t exist 5:22

[@mandolinsara]

It’s always nice to wake up to a new Archive episode.

[@Flamingbro69]

Yes, another PSA Episode!!!!

[@Moneytane1976]

That was hilarious, the late 80s, early 90s rap - good lord we had heaps of crappy rapped up ads here in NZ around the whole 1989/91 period. Have you seen that 1989 Wendys Burger making video - hilarious - "Meat"s got grain just like wood, but you have to grill it down to make it taste good"

[@svinjamaria]

I audibly gasped when I almost saw a cm of Ben’s lower face

[@FailSafe161]

Ah, Mr. Yuk! I tried to do a commentary video about that PSA when I was much younger. I’ve since deleted it because it was pretty embarrassing, but I do have fond memories of making it! Anyways, great video, Ben!

[@nils-olofohman1079]

The "Do you know where your children are?" PSA is another thing that I've heard people referencing for years without actually having seen the source material. Until now. What can I say, I've been living under a huge, California-shaped rock.

[@figureheaduk]

0:06 Andy Warhol looks a scream...

[@artistwithouttalent]

10:34 WELL you can tell this was made a while ago.

[@gogglespisano24]

I remember we used to make fun of the Cats accident "The humans had an accident!" especially

[@Rashaed]

How many of these people were high when they did these anti-drugs PSAs?

[@adrienfourniercom]

I want to have Meth now. I want to be a part of some community, too!

[@NaviciaAbbot]

I remember those Mr. Yuk stickers.

[@waterandafter]

Those easter seals stamps said "Christmas greetings" not merry Christmas. I thought the war on Christmas was new?

[@prismstudios001]

A mime is a terrific thing to waste.

[@wilikerdinkles100]

Only you can prevent forest fires, in the Twilight Zone.

[@THExDEVILxHIMSELF]

I really don't know if Danny Elfman did drugs or not. On one end while in Oingo Boingo he made some great music including the theme to Weird Science and went on to be one of the greatest minds in music with his contribution to countless movies and work on The Simpsons. On the other hand he did once create a song (which includes a music video) where he revealed to the world how he loves little girls and they make him feel so good.

[@Flamingbro69]

Oh yeah, that song was featured in American Dad, it's freaking hilarious

[@wakefieldoutlaw]

Because the word "retarded" has been offensive in the UK for longer than the US, it's always jarring to hear it. "Spastic" is another taboo word here too, probably because it was used as an insult in the playground. We're still in fear of being killed by a slippy floor though too.

[@ironwolf56]

In the US now retarded will get you called out if you use it but spastic here is still meaningless. Like at most it's the most mild of joking insults, it's the kind of thing a mom would say to her kids "stop acting so spastic." It really doesn't have any baggage here in the States.

[@wakefieldoutlaw]

@@ironwolf56 The UK and the USA, two countries divided by a common language! 😀

[@ltvg]

Nice vid mate. Good job!

[@QueenSephy2002]

Mr Yuk is mean, Mr Yuk is green

[@SirChubbyBunny]

The drug music videos probably would have had the opposite effect on me if I was a teenager in the 80s and 90s. Plus, who wants to be a normie DARE square? I'm sure you would have fun with the anti-drug and workplace safety films from the 60s up to the 90s, like the Sonny Bono marijuana scare film, Killing Time (a 90s railway safety film), and Shake Hands with Danger (a construction safety film sponsored by Caterpillar).

[@KurisuYamato]

Well, I didn't think I'd ever see 1st stage sep on a Saturn V on Oddity Archive but here we are.