AdFreak HP Takes Its Newest Printer Back in Time to Blow Some Minds in 1983 It's the brand's second outing with retro series Computer Show By T.L. Stanley|August 16, 2017 Computer Show stars comedian Rob Baedeker as hapless host Gary Fabert.Share By T.L. Stanley|August 16, 2017 Share Is color printing even legal? Does it cost as much as a horse? And could the office’s fancy new all-in-one print-scan-copy-fax machine have an actual security guard living inside it?If it does, Gary Fabert wants to grab a brewski with that guy and “thank him for his service.”Fabert, host of the intentionally low-fi public-access homage called “Computer Show,” brings back his stuck-in-the-Reagan-era mindset for a new series of ads promoting HP’s A3 multifunction printer. The results from agency Giant Spoon and Sandwich Video are predictably and awkwardly hilarious. The character, played by actor-comedian Rob Baedeker, is tough to educate because he’s stubbornly analog, but he’s easily carried away when he hears about the equipment’s myriad features.“It chops, it blends, it purees,” he says. “If it could make a daiquiri, I’d marry it!”“Computer Show,” a cult favorite in tech circles that snagged its first sponsor deal with HP in February, launches three digital shorts and a blooper reel this week. The segments, dubbed “At the Office,” have Fabert again trotting out his lack of expertise, this time surrounded by co-workers like Duane, the unpaid intern, and Diane, the long-suffering office manager. While HP rep Janice Henler talks about the printer’s built-in security policy deployment, run-time intrusion, uptime and affordability, Fabert offers his stilted running commentary and tells Duane that he’s “getting replaced by a robot.”Linking HP with the ongoing “Computer Show” was a smart way to reach IT decision-makers, said Giant Spoon’s co-founder Jon Haber, because B2B marketing “needed to be completely blown up” with something that “speaks through culture.” Comedy and content, especially of the “Computer Show” variety, are proven winners, he said.The spots are book-ended by Fabert in the now familiar studio setting, circa 1983, spouting lines like, “We’ll be back next time, bringing yesterday’s tomorrow into the future today…always.” CREDITS Client: HP VP, PPS Marketing: Vikrant Batra Head of Americas, Print Marketing, Shuchi Sarkar US Commercial Printing Marketing Director: Flavia Paulella Kennedy Social Media Campaign Manager, Kathleen BarrettAgency: Giant Spoon Co-founder: Jon Haber VP, Brand Management: Pierre Parisot Senior Brand Manager: Jamie Yang Director of Strategy: Adam Wiese Assoc. Director of Strategy: Albert Kugel Senior Strategist: Elle Bass Strategist: Mariel Strauch Jr. Strategist: Madeleine Reeves Business Affairs: Catherine HuangProduction Company: Sandwich Video Created by Roxana Altamirano, Tony Altamirano, Adam Lisagor Director: Adam Lisagor Executive Producer: Shadie Elnashai Executive Producer: Adam Lisagor Written by Joshua Allen, Adam Lisagor, Roxana Altamirano, Rob Baedeker Producer: Anna Halberg Director of Photography: Lowell A. Meyer Art Director: Carlos Laszlo Wardrobe: Courtney Arthur Make-up/Hair: Regan Livingston, Afton Williams Head of Production: Lauren Cynkar Head of Post: Zach Hobesh Editor: Liam White Assistant Editor: Jeff Hodges Motion Graphics: Jarred Hageman Music: Adam Deibert Adweek Adweek