In 1989 he was dubbed nothing but a passing "haircut and a forehand" by the irascible Ivan Lendel but here we are nearly two decades later and Andre is now known for his two handed backhand and bald head.
Over the years the 5' something impresario has transformed himself many times over whether it involved his hair do (from bleached mullet, to goatee, to baldee) whom he was doing (from Brooke Shields, to Barbara Streisand, to Steffi Graff), or the companies for which he served (Nike, Canon, Twinlab, Kia, Genworth).
In the 1980's image was everything and two decades later Andre is still an iconoclast. In fact Andre's ever changing but "always in" image could just be his legacy. Although at times we felt it all went to his head (we thought the Nick Bollettieri boy wonder saw himself as a little too cool for school) whether it be his earring, bandana, etc.
In any event here's our review and ranking of some of Andre's most memorable commercials (special props to the youtubers who put these vids up).
1. Nike "Agassi's Rock & Roll Tennis Camp" Parts 1 & 2(1991) Who knew this Madison Ave. mash up of the late 1980's would feature such a lasting cast of characters who would all be going strong 15 years later. Interestingly enough the tennis bass liner and Chili Pepper bassist never got to compare notes as Andre, Anthony K. and Flea's segments were always shot apart. We prefer the second "unplugged" installment where Andre et. al get tripped up due to an untied shoelace.
CLICK TO VIEW ROCK & ROLL TENNIS CAMP 2
2. NIKE/CBS "NYC Guerilla Tennis" (1995) - Pete and Andre try to settle things once and for all as they take it to the NYC streets, swinging away in midtown Manhattan. The special spot was shot in 1995 to promote the USOPEN for CBS. Move over U2... the streets have names and even though these two were filmed near a Broadway... they were 3000+ miles away from Broadway NYC. If you look closely the street signs appearing near the end (:48) say Sansome Steet and the bus (:54) reads Market Street two clues that this segment was really shot in San Fran.
CLICK TO VIEW NYC STREET TENNIS
3. Canon "EOS Rebel" (1990) This is the one that started it all. Image is indeed everything as we still to this day can't figure out where Andre got those designer duds from... Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album or Don Johnson's "Miami Vice" wardrobe trailer? Oooh rebel indeed!
4. Nike "Rules of Golf" (1993) - Years before Adam Sandler would make us slap happy with "Happy Gilmore" Andre perfected the running slapshot golf swing (check it out as he makes pretty solid contact). It is interesting to note that Nike would take a shot at the stodgy game of golf as they would turn to the sport only a few years down the road for their next big poster boy... Tiger Woods.
5. Genworth "Kid" (2004) - In this funny send up Andre's son Jaden goes head to head with Taylor Dent. Incidentally there are often multiple cases of mistaken identity with this clip as people don't realize that Jaden was actually played by an actor and that his opponent wasn't actually Aussie Mark P.
6. Nike "Vegas" (1993) - Andre drives down the strip and ala "Taxicab Confessions" he reveals the pull of Vegas on his personality. In contrast with all his previous spots featuring flashy fluorescents and gaudy getups this commercial is filmed in stark B&W.
7. Honeycombs "Andre Treehouse" (1983) - Sorry we couldn't help but sneak in this clip on the other great Andre of the 1980's. Come to think of it they do share and number of similarities.... perhaps thewadeblogs.com will have to do an in depth comparison bewteen the two Andre's.
CLICK TO VIEW ANDRE THE GIANT HONEYCOMBS COMMERCIAL
7. Canon "Change" (1995) - This montage shows the "change" that Agassi has undergone... from his hirsute hairdo to his clipped cropped cut. We can't help but get over how much the goateed short hair version of Andre resembles that of Vegas regular and poker powerhouse Daniel Negreanu.
8. TwinLab "Would you like to be..." (2000) - Borrowing a page from Nike's nostalgic Tiger commercials showcasing the talented tot on the Mike Douglas Show, this supplement commercial supplements it action footage with clips of Andre at age 6. It is interesting to juxtapose this commercial with the aforementioned Genworth commercial.
9. Canon "Change - Croquet" (1993) - In this first in a series of "change" commercials Andre turns heads at stuffy croquet playing country club wearing a yellow paisley and purple ensemble that even my cataract stricken grandmother wouldn't be caught dead in.
10. Nike "Sampras Vs. Agassi" (2000) - Pete says one thing then Andre shoots back with something else. Pete.. repeat. Okay, Okay we get it, so these guys are different. However when Andre admits to liking "A-Ha" and Pete prefers Pearl Jam... this commercial is just trying way too hard.
Also note hats off to the gang over Deadspin for digging up this classic Ben Stiller Show clip featuring a cheesy 80's cop caper called "Advantage: Agassi"
In number 10 - Nike "Sampras Vs. Agassi" Agassi does not say "A-Ha", he says "Ahhh, Santana." Big difference :)
Posted by: PtMD | 09/03/2006 at 09:48 PM
Well, I was expecting Canon Rebel commercials to be more ... i don't know....not that cheesy or smth
Posted by: smily | 11/03/2006 at 01:18 PM
In number 5 the oponent for Jaden is Taylor Dent.
Posted by: arturo | 03/07/2007 at 10:29 PM
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