As both NFL offenses floundered in what was an utterly forgettable Super Bowl last night (Feb. 3), one man dominated the proceedings from start to finish—and he wasn’t a football player.
Jordan Peele, the do-it-all director, producer, and comedian who has become one of the busiest people in Hollywood, was featured in three different Super Bowl advertisements. First, he dropped the second trailer for his upcoming horror film, Us, before the game:
Then he appeared as the narrator in CBS’s reboot of the classic sci-fi anthology series, The Twilight Zone, which he’s also producing:
Finally, after the game mercifully ended (the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams to win their sixth Super Bowl in 18 years), Peele surprised viewers who had stuck it out with a brief Toy Story 4 promo, in which he and his comedy partner Keegan-Michael Key stole the show as talking stuffed animals messing with Buzz Lightyear:
Together, the three ads served as a microcosm of Peele’s versatility, and his growing imprint on the film and television industries. Us, Peele’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2017 film Get Out, shows off his talent as an emerging director. The Twilight Zone revival underscores Peele’s role as Hollywood curator and producer (it’s just one of several exciting projects he’s developing). And the Toy Story 4 teaser highlights the skills that made Peele famous in the first place—his comedic acting.
The Super Bowl, of course, is the biggest night in American advertising. That Peele was part of three separate, big-time ads is unprecedented—we went back at least 10 years and could not identify another Hollywood player who was such an integral part of the Super Bowl experience. Nearly a quarter of all the TV and movie trailers broadcast during the game featured Peele in some capacity.