Netflix Tries to Remind You They’re Funny With “Netflix is a Joke” Emmys Commercial

A few weeks ago, we covered the emergence of some strange billboards that simply stated, “Netflix is a Joke.” While we all figured out that this was the beginning of an ad campaign from Netflix themselves, the billboards inspired less intrigue and more confusion.

With the Emmys telecast last night, Netflix finally progressed their push to highlight their stand-up comedy specials from notable comedians, with a video that inserted talents like Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle and Ellen Degeneres into Netflix shows like House of Cards, Stranger Things and The Crown.

Obviously the humor is derived from the juxtaposition of the seriousness of Netflix’s prestige dramas and the silly antics of these comedians. But superimposing funny people into well-known serious dramas (usually in a cheesy or poorly done fashion) is something that the Academy Awards has been doing for decades—heck, didn’t the Emmys do that just last night?

Despite the underwhelming conclusion to an already-underwhelming marketing campaign, Netflix’s video has gained some traction, and is one of the top-trending videos on YouTube as of this writing, so perhaps our complaints are utterly pointless. Seinfeld’s special Jerry Before Seinfeld is hitting the streaming service very soon, on Sept. 19.