Is Santa Claus a hipster? He's got the unkempt mane and alternative lifestyle down pat. Yet he seems too obsessed with consumer goods and fourth-quarter commerce to qualify.
It feels like hipster humor played out years ago. Still, there's much to enjoy in "Hipster Santa Goes South," an affable two-minute spoof from Door Number 3 that celebrates the holidays and the independent Austin, Texas, agency's 20th anniversary—which happens to be today, Dec. 9.
"We thought about throwing a party," says agency president M.P. Mueller, "but creating something fun to share beat out warm beer, flowery speeches and tepid toasts."
Bill Wise—a bespectacled, middle-aged dude rocking a plaid scarf, matching sneakers and just a smidge of facial hair—plays Kringle. His laid-back, cranky delivery really scores as he bikes around East Austin, quipping about "free-range reindeer" and his sled running on "penguin tears and pure Santa sweat." At one point, he informs a young passerby, "I made my list, I checked it twice—you still have to move back to California."
"Bill generates one-liners like he's just picking dog hair off his pants," says Mueller. "He could make a sudoku tournament funny." (Wise most recently played Uncle Stevie in Richard Linklater's Boyhood.)
Hipster Santa even has some helpful advice for folks planning to make him a snack on Christmas Eve: "If you're leaving milk and cookies, I'm lactose intolerant—make it soy, gluten free. And as far as fruitcake bars are concerned, I'm into cleanses, but just not this time of year."
This schtick—directed in suitably casual, faux-doc style by Steve Mims—rates a six-pack of PBR at the very least. Though purists say that a different hipster is more emblematic of the season. Ho!
CREDITS
Agency: Door Number 3
Executive Creative Director: M.P. Mueller
Copywriters: Bill Wise, M.P. Mueller, Steve Mims, Karen Reiner
Art Directors: Ines Morel, Sally Robb
Director, Editor, Cinematographer: Steve Mims
Production Artist: Nicole Eckles
Production Coordinator: Melissa Hilgendorf
Sound: Alex Herrera
Gaffer: Kakii Keenan
Assistant Camera: Christian Benavides