Before Youtube, Facebook and Reddit we got most of our comedy from television. Well, television commercials that is. Short videos that popped up in between programming was all the rage in the early 2000s, giving coworkers something silly to send via the company email. The era gave the spaghetti-o concert, The E-Trade Baby, and most notably, the Starburst Berries and Cream Lad.
Do You Remember the Starburst Berries and Cream Commercial?
This Starburst commercial took the world by storm when it was introduced. The commercial starts in a Greyhouse bus station with two boys snacking on Berries and Cream Starburst fruit candy. A small man wearing clothes from the 1600s, donning a pageboy haircut and carrying a briefcase walks up to the strangers with candy and asks them what they are eating. When he realizes they are eating berries and creme, he jumps into an impromptu little lad dance and sings, "Berries and cream, berries and cream! I'm a little lad who loves berries and cream!" He ends the viral video with a kick and the commercial ends.
Toted by AdAge as one of the best Post-Modern ads, the little lad dance is still popular today, inspiring memes and laughs. But what happened to the Little Lad himself?
The Little Lad Today
Meet Jack Ferver. He's a New York-based writer, choreographer, teacher, and director and is more than happy to put the little lad behind him. He doesn't mention anything about the ad on his personal website and according to one Redditor, he is less than thrilled when students quote the commercial to him in class. It's safe to assume that to him, the Starburst's little lad is dead.
Most recently Jack Ferver premiered Everything is Imaginable, an interdisciplinary performance work described as manic and poetic. It looks like the little lad really grew up from one of the funniest commercials.
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