• by P.J. Bednarski  @pjbtweet, November 18, 2019

Remember Colon Blow Cereal? Schmitt’s Gay Beer? Or Swiffer Sweepers, the “crawl-around, roll-around dust-picker-upper” for toddlers?

Of course! Those are just a few of the brutally spot-on phony commercials shown on “Saturday Night Live” over the years.

Now there’s Robloncho. That’s right, Robloncho.

As in “Robe. Blanket. Poncho. . .Robloncho,” the first words of a new commercial from Dollar Shave Club.

Unlike the products in the “SNL” parody ads, Robloncho is actually for sale in real life, for the holiday season. The gift set, which includes the garment and a three-ounce container of hand cream, retails for $100.  

.“The man who has everything,” the whispering male voice in the ad intones, “does not have Robloncho.” It’s explained as “versatile, active loungewear from Dollar Shave Club.” 

In few scenes, we see Robloncho in action, so to speak. “Robloncho riding” says the narrator as the wearer strikes a pose on a horse. “Robloncho roasting” shows the actor, and a chicken, at an outdoor barbecue spit. A final vignette shows him, cross-legged in the sand at lake’s edge, pondering the universe. “Robloncho realizing,” the ad says.

Robloncho over the top.

Dollar Shave Club, now owned by Unilever, claims that even before the ad launched — it’s now showing on digital platforms — over 8,000 people signed onto the wait list to get one.

Among the nine YouTubers who have commented on the ad since it first appeared Friday are two comments that seem to indicate some are laughing about it.

“If I didn’t know better, I would think Robloncho was a type of fancy European dog,” wrote someone called I-Yell-A-Lot. Another wrote, “Hi. My name is Robloncho and I pool dance all night for $50.”

Dollar Shave Club is no stranger to humor. It doesn’t hurt that co-founder and CEO Michael Dubin  has pretty perfect comic timing and a keen sense of mockery.  His 2012 video introducing the company  is considered an internet classic. It crashed the company’s website for two days after its debut, and helped bring the idea of  subscription retailing into vogue.

Besides razor blades, creams, lotions and now, Roblonchos, the company also sells One Wipe Charlies, because as Dubin has explained in another video, “Great things happen when your ass smells fantastic.”

The Robloncho product description extols the convenience of the garment, calling it a “small, easy-to-pack cover-up for those windy boat trips or chilly strolls with an ex” and says it’s “perfect for swaddling a brand new babe, child or otherwise.”  

The new ad, shot in Sweden, was created by Dollar Shave Club. The creative  executive creative director was Michael Knapp and it was written by Tim Green. It was produced by Hobby Films.