Buffalo Wild Wings - Johnny Lawrence (2015)

Let's Talk - Cobra Kai
Episode 58: Buffalo Wild Wings - Johnny Lawrence (2015)

Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez break down the Buffalo Wild Wings "Karate" commercial featuring Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka).

Original Episode: S03E17

Recorded: 06-03-21
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

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Transcript

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Jason Connell: 7:27:20

Welcome to Just curious media. This is let's talk Cobra Kai. I'm Jason Connell.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:27:24

And I'm Sal Rodriguez.

Jason Connell: 7:27:26

All right, Sal, we are back for a special episode.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:27:32

Yeah. And this is something that's kind of been on the back burner for a while because this was on our radar a while ago.

Jason Connell: 7:27:38

It was it was definitely one and then we led up to season three of the actual show Cobra Kai and then got overwhelmed with that. So the special episodes just stopped being created. And now is the time and today we are covering Buffalo Wild Wings Johnny Lawrence 2015.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:27:59

Nice. And I've been to Buffalo Wild Wings many a time in particularly kind of coincidentally, to watch UFC pay per view. So I am one of those guys, either at the bar at a table watching UFC pay per view at a Buffalo Wild Wings or similar.

Jason Connell: 7:28:14

So it's like the commercials you look just like you fit right in.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:28:16

I would fit right in but I would be okay with what was on the screen, which we'll get to in a second.

Jason Connell: 7:28:21

Yeah, it's funny. I have never been to a Buffalo Wild Wings. But just today, I was running an errand and I passed one and I nearly pulled over and sent you a photo. Like okay, I know we're covering this tonight. There is a Buffalo Wild Wings. Now I have been to yard house. And of course a local favorite of mine, which is big wings. Yes. Yes. Which is very similar. I would say you could be blindfolded and without any logos or anything representing the brand. You wouldn't really know the difference.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:28:53

Yeah, they're both wings. I just realized that Buffalo Wild Wings are big wings. It's all about the wings either place. So these are definitely places for the wings, lovers.

Jason Connell: 7:29:02

Well on these types of places have the TV's just lined up above the bar and all over the place and sounds everywhere. So yeah, it's very similar. But today this episode is at Buffalo Wild Wings because they put the commercial out. And the official name of the episode because I saw the website that talked about the actual commercial. And it was Buffalo Wild Wings TV commercial, karate featuring Steve Rana zeusie. Now, so if this had been filmed more recently, like since Cobra Kai was out there, William Zabka would be getting first billing. But instead this comic got it now. Are you familiar with Steve?

Sal Rodriguez: 7:29:44

Well, I'll tell you what, in years past when I was doing stand up. And then I saw this commercial here that we're gonna be talking about. I thought that guy looked familiar. The guy on the left, there's a white guy on the left a black guy on the right, and the white guy. I think he looked very familiar. So I may have run into him in years past who stand up comedy, but I didn't know his name. And I tried to look for these two guys names or even the waitress, anybody. I couldn't get anybody's names anywhere.

Jason Connell: 7:30:05

You should have asked me. So Steve was actually an Paul Blart Mall Cop definitely recognized him from that. He was on a TV show called The League, which is a lot of fun. And he was also in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Wow, nice, quite a chef and 2017. So

Sal Rodriguez: 7:30:25

see, that sounds familiar to. And this is also sort of a campaign, you know, because there's a similar commercial with Zabka not involved. Same two guys. So it's like this commercial we're talking about today was one of a few. Well, yes to heroes. They're enjoying Buffalo Wild Wings.

Jason Connell: 7:30:39

Yes. And the other guy was Courtney Richards. And he's also really good in this commercial. And he's in game shakers, Alex Inc, which is actually about a podcast company being formed and run and it starts Zach Braff as well. And he's in the show called insecure, which is currently running. So two actors working actors. Now the server had no information on her on the website, so I was unlucky there.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:31:06

That's the thing that Jason about commercials. It's different than a TV show or a movie. Any one of us can always turn to IMDb to find names and information about people in TVs and movies. When it comes to commercials. You see a commercial, you might like the commercial, you might like somebody on the commercial, but then it may be difficult to find out who these people are. So kudos to you for finding out who our two main leads

Jason Connell: 7:31:24

are. Yeah, I lucked into it. Yeah. Especially a commercial that's back in 2015. Sure, yeah. Six years old. There's not a lot of stuff on there. There's a lot of people that posted the commercial, but not a lot of backstory. So now let's get into the commercial itself. We open at a packed Buffalo Wild Wings. And we see two guys, I'd say late 20s, early 30s at a table full of food. And Sal, I love that one guy's got a beer. Yeah. And the other guy's got a soda with a perfectly placed Pepsi logo. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. As the server walks by, and she's carrying more food and a Pepsi for another table, cross promotion, a lot of product placement going on there. Sure. So what is called them Steven coordinates so why don't you take it away with a dialogue.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:32:11

Okay, so here we are at a typical fun evening out at Buffalo Wild Wings. Steve says to the waitress, excuse me, um, do you realize this televisions on a channel with men and silk rope slapping each other. And then we cut to see the screen. And we have two guys doing karate and I couldn't tell maybe you can tell Jason where they sparring and look like maybe it was more of a sparring match than a competitive match.

Jason Connell: 7:32:34

Yeah, it also looked like it might have been staged for the commercial because these two guys are just kind of walking around. They have keys on they have black belts, but it's a tight room. You're just seeing like a corner. Yeah. And there's no fans. It's more like an instructional. I don't know if it was something that they also just shot themselves and put in so they could own the rights to it. But yeah, not a lot of action. Not a lot of production value, but it's karate. You can see it but you're in and out very quickly.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:33:03

Yeah. So then Steve continues. He says to the waitress, maybe we could just switch it to where the athletes are wearing shoes.

Jason Connell: 7:33:11

Now, this of course, summons a super sweaty somebody who's been watching this channel from a barstool style at that

Sal Rodriguez: 7:33:21

moment reacting to what Steve says William Zabka. In Black Cobra Kai ghee are Johnny Lawrence as Johnny Lawrence. Yes. It's William Zabka. As Johnny Lawrence. Absolutely. Yeah, I was wrapped up in him being sweaty. Why is he sweaty? sitting at the bar, watching the guys doing karate. But yeah, he's dripping in sweat. He's got a headband on. He turns around, and he looks over at the guys. And the waitress says to Johnny, and she points at these two guys, Steven Courtney. This gentleman and this gentleman want to know if we can change the channel. And then of course, Courtney says, I love karate. And he points to the guy on the left, which is Steve. He doesn't like karate. And then of course, Steve comes back with what? No me. And now we cut back to Johnny and he's standing. You don't like karate? And then Courtney says, No, I love it. And then Steve says, Are you kidding? I've been telling you how much I want to join a dojo. And then John is just leering at them. And then Steve says, Could you recommend a dojo?

Jason Connell: 7:34:19

That's a great line, by the way.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:34:21

Yeah, so Johnny just totally intimidates these two guys, standing there, sweating. The way that this was shot. I think it's highly possible and probable that William Zabka was not even in the same room as these two guys in the waitress, because there's never a shot with all of them. It goes from the two guys in the waitress back to William Zabka. Back to the two guys in the waitress back to William Zabka.

Jason Connell: 7:34:42

You're absolutely right. I'm not sure if William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence worked with or even met his co stars, because there was no master shot with all of them in frame. And the way it was done like yeah, Johnny only got off the barstool, looked ahead, looked in rage had his line. And that was it. And so I should also point out that he was not only wearing a black gi he had the cut off arms. You mentioned the bandana. And there was like a red logo, but it sure as heck wasn't Cobra Kai was too muted, or I couldn't tell what it was. But so he looks really

Sal Rodriguez: 7:35:16

young. Yeah, and this is only six years ago. Not to say

Jason Connell: 7:35:19

he looks old now. But I wouldn't have been shocked at this would have been filmed in 2010 or sooner. It just looked like wow, he was just stepping out of Karate Kid to. I mean, who knows? This could have been shot with him in it. And what on hold forever. They didn't know what to do with it. And I used his insert shots and a commercial built to commercial rounded. I don't know, I'm speculating here. But it did seem strange that he did not interact with them.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:35:46

Well, this is one of those things where it could have been the commercial was gonna go another way. Right? They had to secure William Zabka. And then once they can secure Williams aqua, you know, because let's go back to the flagship Cobra Kai itself. Apparently the creators of Cobra Kai teased ally for being on the show before they actually secured the actress Elizabeth Shue to be on the show. So they were just hopeful. So this is one of those things where maybe they just shot this. And then eventually they actually got him.

Jason Connell: 7:36:16

So let's go back to the time 2015 Why would William Zabka even want to do a commercial to reprise the role of Johnny Lawrence now I know he did the no marking slipped a leg video, but he wrote and directed that and work with the group. So I don't know unless it was a big payday. But it wasn't like he was going around trying to do this all the time, although he did pop up and How I Met Your Mother and you know, so he was never against it. But it wasn't like his only thing. That's why I just was like, Yeah, I wonder how this even came about. I mean, it's great. He really is good in the role. I love that he's sweaty. I love that he's at a Buffalo Wild Wings staring at the one TV that's has karate, which also brings up another point a sidebar to that. How come Steve and Courtney couldn't just look at another TV. I mean, there's only like 20 or 30 or 40 TVs in there. They get his pan their vision left or right but they want to karate off because they're making fun of it which is too funny to me.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:37:12

Well, that was their main TV in there. I know. It was definitely their main but But hang on. I did want to mention that to Jason because I was a little confused when I looked up at all the other school means I saw baseball happening. I saw a sport that looked like soccer. But if I'm not mistaken, was it something different? Or was it baseball on the screens and soccer,

Jason Connell: 7:37:29

it was a lot of random sports, the something I've learned, in my time of working in the biz, is you're not always going to see the actual thing. You've got a license that that's why I think that the karate footage, that mini shot of a two guys was probably shot by the production team. In fact, as you pull away and see that it almost looks like it's superimposed on the TV, that particular thing. So I don't know, I could be wrong, but I'm speculating again. But a lot of times, you have to license all that stuff. So you're not gonna do a wide shot from a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial and see an NFL game or an NBA game. In fact, I've even read an incredible article recently about someone that used to license and maybe still does USFL footage for movies and TV that need football, and USFL is the defunct United States Football League that tried to battle the NFL last. It was like three seasons, and it's went under, and they still have all that footage, all those games, and they license it very cheap. I'll be watching a show or a movie. And sure enough, sometimes they'll pay into the television, that's USFL footage, or sometimes it's CFL, the Canadian Football League, it's just so much cheaper. So some of that stuff you were seeing was probably a lot of obscure sports. I tried to zoom in and we're seeing some weird things. But it was a mishmash of things on the screens for sure.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:38:53

Okay, so one of the things I definitely identified as baseball, I think, unless it was cricket, but it could have been like baseball. The other ones I was certain was soccer. But then I thought it could be lacrosse or maybe rugby. I couldn't make it out because at one point I got could have swore it was throwing a ball with his hand into the net, which obviously wouldn't be soccer. Right. But at first glance looked like soccer. But you're right. It could have been anything. It could have been anything.

Jason Connell: 7:39:17

Yeah, I found that commercial really funny, Sal their reactions and we kind of just glossed over that. But I want to talk about a little bit. Stephen Courtney and the server for that matter are all wonderful in their roles, then why they're just sitting there. And Steve those Courtney under the bus and you know, basically they didn't like karate, Courtney was very quick to say, oh, no, no, no, I love it. I mean, you got to see it. I highly recommend to go online and look it up. It's funny. And Steve's lying the paws and the wide shot of him. Like, could you recommend a good dojo? That was really well delivered style. It made me laugh out loud. But what I thought was missing was after we cut away and because we cut away to a typical commercial. And it's like Buffalo Wild Wings, wings, beer sports, I was hoping there was like an end tag, like one more joke, you know, like a button at the end, like either Johnny's now training them and they're all in GIS, or he's sweeping the lake, or just one more thing at the end could have pushed it over the top, which again, makes me think they definitely didn't shoot this together. And like I said, William Zabka. could have shot it years prior for all No,

Sal Rodriguez: 7:40:28

no, it would have been funny at the end. If maybe Williams Africa walk over to their table, start drinking their beer. Yeah, you know, right in front of them that would have been finishing

Jason Connell: 7:40:34

whatever they did would have been funny. I would have trusted them to find the humor based on what I'd seen. But yeah, because it quickly this ended. I thought, Oh, that was a missed opportunity. We're used to seeing that one more thing. Yes. But

Sal Rodriguez: 7:40:45

thank you, Jason, for giving props to commercial actors. Because, you know, as someone who's done a lot of commercials myself, a lot of people don't take commercial acting seriously. In fact, I've heard some actors downright say that commercial acting is not relaxing. But as someone who's done commercials, I will tell you it is absolutely acting. Obviously, it's not Shakespeare, but it's acting nonetheless. And yeah, these guys do a great job on this commercial. Absolutely.

Jason Connell: 7:41:08

Well, I'm glad you brought that up. So because my last note is one of your commercials. Oh, as I was watching this, it just popped up in my head. I thought, wow, I saw commercial of you one time that you were if I'm not mistaken. an NBA fan. I think it was the Spurs. Yeah. And I remember watch. I got Oh, I hadn't seen you in a while because the festivals had ended. And this is pre just curious media. So describe that commercial to us.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:41:36

That was a campaign we shot three of them. That was a camp right? When the San Antonio Spurs were in the playoffs? Yeah. And this is a bittersweet memory because we shot three commercials for the San Antonio Spurs where I played the straight man, sort of the goofy friend reacting to the crazy friend. So my friend was the crazy guy doing outlandish stuff, like doing the t shirt cannon in his living room and stuff like that. And I'm just sitting there reacting to him. So I'm the Reaction friend. But what was going to happen? What we were promised was if the San Antonio Spurs were going to win that season, they were going to fly us out to San Antonio, they were going to put us up in the stands. They were going to shoot more commercials it was going to be a larger campaign. So believe me even though I'm not the biggest basketball fan, I kept thinking please San Antonio Spurs you Please go all the way. No, unfortunately, they did not. So the campaign ended. But yeah, that was definitely one of my earliest commercials as a goofy fan reacting to the crazy fan for the San Antonio Spurs.

Jason Connell: 7:42:31

Love it. Well, I really enjoyed them. Did you get to keep the uniform?

Sal Rodriguez: 7:42:35

No, no, no, no. Yeah, I should have kept that. You may be able to find it. But it's been so long. It's been several years now

Jason Connell: 7:42:43

are very good. And anyway, lots of fun. It's just a one off guys. We only had the one commercial. It was random. It was fun. It's worth seen. Of course, I should say William Zabka. nails it. He hadn't done Johnny Lawrence in a while. He definitely looked apart. And he looked mean and menacing at it. He was really good. I just wanted to see more of him. In fact, as you said, Steven Courtney went on to do many more. I would have liked to seen Johnny do some more thing. So we're going to be on the hunt. We're looking for more. I mean, this did come on our radar last year, but most recently a fan exposed another one to us so we have many more of these fun nuggets these fun special episodes lining up and getting ready to record and publish and share with you

Sal Rodriguez: 7:43:28

oh yeah, just when I thought we had reached the end of the line for the special episodes like oh what we've seen all the shows that Macho has been on we've seen all the shows that because no there's a whole lot more. There's the Karate Kid and now Cobra Kai is so far reaching as a matter of fact while we're talking brand new Cobra Kai action figures and I say specifically Cobra Kai because it's action figures were Karate Kid. These to my knowledge are the first Cobra Kai action figures we got a Johnny Lawrence, a Daniel Russo and a sense a crease. It's a three pack I believe it is the 2021 Comic Con exclusive by Diamond Select so look out for that. We're not sponsored by Diamond Select but hey, Cobra Kai action figures who wouldn't want them if you're a fan? So be sure to check those out. There'll be coming to your toy retailer at some point.

Jason Connell: 7:44:17

Absolutely. So thank you so much for listening and please be sure to subscribe to Let's Talk Cobra Kai wherever you get your podcast. You can also really help us by giving the show a five star rating on Apple podcast

Sal Rodriguez: 7:44:28

and for all you listeners that enjoy sharing your thoughts you can leave us a review on Apple podcasts, send us a direct message or post a comment on our social media which is at let's talk Cobra Kai, as well as at just curious media.

Jason Connell: 7:44:41

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