Terry Tate: Office Linebacker
| Terry Tate: Office Linebacker | |
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| Directed by | Rawson Marshall Thurber |
| Written by | Rawson Marshall Thurber |
| Starring | Lester Speight |
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Release date
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2000, 2003 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Terry Tate: Office Linebacker was a series of short comedy television commercials created by Rawson Marshall Thurber, for Reebok, based on a short film pilot he created in 2000; Tate was first shown at Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. The short films feature Lester Speight as "Terrible" Terry Tate, an American football linebacker who "gives out the pain" to those in the office who are not obeying office policies.
Originally, Reebok produced 6 episodes between August to December 2002 with another episode Terry Tate, Office Linebacker: Sensitivity Training being made on February 1, 2004. Even Reebok in the United Kingdom made an episode called Late Lunch on January 22, 2005. There are a total of 9 episodes. The advertising campaign was one of the most successful of those in the history of the Super Bowl halftime shows.
The catchphrases include "The pain train's comin'", "You kill the joe, you make some mo'", "You can't cut the cheese wherever you please!", "'Cause when it's game time, it's pain time!", "Don't bring that weak-ass stuff up in this humpy-bumpy" and "Woo-woo!" After tackling a worker, Terry usually leaves him with a "WOOH! Bitch!!!"
While the first episode of the series implies that hiring an office linebacker is a highly unorthodox practice (one described as "thinking outside the box"), future episodes depict office linebackers as a common occurrence.
Though successful in attracting viewers and attention, the ads' ability to increase recognition of the Reebok brand has been questioned, with only 55% of respondents on an on-line poll indicating they realized the ad was affiliated with the company. Despite being aired only once on national television, the short was downloaded more than seven million times from Reebok's website.
Lester Speight as "Terrible" Terry Tate (a.k.a. The Pain Train a.k.a. Triple T) - Hired by Felcher & Sons as an office linebacker. He enjoys his job, attacking his fellow office co-workers who are lazy or make mistakes of any kind. Terry is also in charge of office supplies, this is why all his interviews are done in the supply storage room, his office.
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