Watch on NHL game on U.S. television, and the Discover Card "Peggy" commercials are as ubiquitous as Mike Milbury mouth froth as he bellows about "wussification" or "pansymorphosis" or some nonsense.
For the uninitiated: a befuddled, duplicitous Romanian works for "USA Prime Credit" and pretends to be a woman named Peggy while he provides epically terrible customer service over the phone. The NHL is now in on the act, as Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas makes his debut in the campaign:
Not to spoil the punchline if you're reading this before you watch that, but we'd be totally down for a remake of "Misery" with these two. ("What are you doing with the tire-pump Annie?" "I'm going to pump your tires, Timothy …")
Also in the campaign: Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks, as Peggy gets sidetracked by a slot hockey game while Kane is stranded in the lobby of a hotel fully clothed for once.
(Can't believe the NHL and Discover Card decided to let Thomas have the taxi cab spot instead of Kane. Oh, the joy that would have created.)
Both players follow in the grand tradition of Lou Holtz in these ads, and we'd obviously love for it to continue with NHL players. At least until we can have Geno Malkin filling in for Peggy and doing the same line readings.
Read more about the Peggy ads from Ad Age. On the grand scale of painfully repetitive commercials, this are at Level: Tolerable. Which is a place the Geico Cavemen never resided.
For the record: Still the best commercial Patrick Kane has ever done, or ever will do.