The most embarrassing role of Jack Black’s career: “It was kind of a lame gig”
When an actor talks about their first-ever gig, they usually leave a few details off the list. It’s lucky that filmography lists usually only start when a person is cast in their first feature film or sometimes an arthouse short. Because if performers were honest, that list would start out with some embarrassing moments, and Jack Black knows that well.
But hey, you’ve got to get a leg up where you can. While some are lucky enough to land straight into Hollywood through the luck of a fateful opening call, or some have parents who can open doors for them, it’s not true of everyone. Jack Black had no help as the son of two engineers, so he had to find his own way into the industry.
So, he did what any kid desperate for stardom would do – he auditioned for a low-budget commercial. As perhaps the most accessible audition there is, never really requiring Oscar-worthy acting but more just performers with some enthusiasm, it’s really adverts that have launched the careers of so many legends. If filmography honoured that, there would likely be a list of random TV commercial break slots on people’s lists before any level of big break or cinematic debut.
It’s something to put on the resume; it’s something that pays, and, in Jack Black’s teenage hopes and dreams, it was something that might get him a bit of respect in high school.
“I really wanted people to pay attention to me and like me. And the class clown thing, you know?” Black said to NBC. To him, getting on his classmates’ screens was a way to level this up. “I remember I prayed to God. I was like, ‘Just let me be on TV’. Let my friends see me on TV in a good thing,” he said, essentially serving as the initial motivation for the lengthy career he’s gone on to have.
He pulled it off. “I got the commercial. I was on TV. My friends all saw me. And then I was a kind of a star at school for like three days,” he said, but the hit soon faded, and he needed more attention; “I was hungry, and I had to like to make another deal with God.”
So, as Black’s desperation got higher, the artistic value of what he was willing to appear in got lower. “I did another commercial right after that; that was a real bummer — for Smurf Berry Crunch Cereal,” he told NBC as if this moment was his ultimate shame.
“I did not get, you know, the high fives at school for that one,” he admitted as his bid for stardom amongst his peers fell flat. But obviously, these things take time. No on can expect to go straight into making high art, a performer has to pay their dues. Either way, Black found a silver lining for the embarrassing commercial appearances of his youth as he said, “It was kind of a lame gig. But it taught me a valuable lesson: not to do lame gigs“.
