Don’t quite know how I missed this, but when Fern Cake mentioned Jack Rebney, aka ‘Winnebago Man’ to me the other day, I’d never heard of him. A google and youtube search followed and I find out that Jack was a salesman of Winnebagos (motor homes to anyone this side of the pond).
The story goes that the out-takes from Jack’s promotional videos far outweighed the final cuts. The out-takes first became an unofficial VHS hit with tapes being passed around and copied at a furious rate. In more recent times he became a viral internet ‘sensation’ and then even a film documentary in 2010.
He seems like a morph between Basil Fawlty and Father Jack. A kind of angry middle-aged man afflicted by tourettes.
There is even an official Winnebago Man Website and the rest of the scoop on him is here
Strong language warning! but here are some of Rebney’s out-takes.
My theory on his popularity is that he is expressing vocally what many of us manage to bottle up. On a daily basis I meet people who could easily drive me to the worst excesses of Rebney’s invective were I not so wrapped up in being courteous and polite. The other thing that struck me is, and why I drew the comparison with Basil Fawlty, is that much of his annoyance is with himself and his hapless attempts at doing his job competently.
Great stuff for a Monday morning but probably not safe for work!
Filed under: Featured Videos, Humour | Tagged: jack rebney, winnebago man |
A friend in Australia says that he can relate to the video as this was him after stopping smoking a few years ago. He is now marginally better. I suggested that perhaps a film may be made about him called Angry Dumbarton Expat but I then thought it would be an idea as too many guys would be claiming that the film was about them;-)