the dawn detergent butler

Here's an audition story with a twist ending.

Quite some time ago an advertising executive invited me to submit a video audition for a Dawn Dish Detergent commercial. In the ad, a helpful bottle of Dawn comes to life, walks around, offers its services, and dances a jig along with the theme from Lavern & Shirley.

Okay, so me and no doubt several other Toronto puppeteers made self-tapes and sent them in. I chose to simply dance to the theme song, nice and simple. We wait, we wait, we wait. Some of us even asked each other "Did you ever hear back from that Dawn thing?" "Nope, never did. You?" "Nope." "Hmmmm .... I wonder who got it."

Fast-forward a couple of months, and, by coincidence, my agent sends me out to audition for a commercial for Dawn - not as a puppeteer, mind you, but as a regular human actor. (I do that sometimes.) For this, it's for the part of a stuffy butler who's holding a bottle of Dawn on a silver platter, standing by, ready to serve.

At my audition -- in person, this time -- I deliver my one scripted line "Yes, of course Miss Mary" and I'm just on my way out the door when I stop and ask: "By the way, is this part of the same campaign where there's a bottle of Dawn that comes to life and dances around?"

"Um ... we were going to do that, but we've changed the entire scheme to this butler guy. How would you even know about that?"

"Because I'm one of the puppeteers who submitted a video for that!"

"Oh," they said. "Well, we're not doing that one anymore."

Right then. I could see them all jotting down notes as I walked out.

Well, by golly, I got the call last night: I am to play the Dawn butler. I'm being fitted for a deluxe tuxedo on Monday and we shoot next week!