Can Shaq act? Six Shocker seniors, now free to take jobs, star in comical new TV ad
The ref places his hands firmly and disapprovingly on Shaquille Morris' shoulders, prepared to call him for a foul.
The offense? Double-dipping.
Morris shoots up from his chair, towering above the now nervous member of the queso police.
"Can I help you?" he asks, brows furrowed.
"Uh," stutters the ref. "Just wanted to make sure you were enjoying your meal."
And cut!
On Tuesday evening in a mostly empty Carlos O' Kelly's restaurant, six Shocker seniors participated in what's become a rite of passage: starring in a Carlos O' Kelly's queso commercial. (Also known as getting paid for eating queso, a job any young college graduate would happily accept.)
It started back in 2016, when executives with the Wichita-based Mexican restaurant chain hired then-seniors Ron Baker, Fred VanVleet and Evan Wessel. The trio displayed impressive acting chops in a spot that still occasionally airs. In it, the players sit at a table lamenting how much they’ll miss Carlos O’ Kelly’s queso when they leave Wichita. Suddenly, a referee appears and calls a double-dipping violation on Baker. Just to be sure, he checks instant replay. Guilty!
Another installment was filmed last year with a new cast: graduating seniors and fan favorites Zach Bush and John Robert Simon.
Now on year three, it looks like the commercials will become a long-term perk of Shocker basketball, said Dave Phillips, Carlos O’ Kelly’s director of restaurant marketing.
"It sounds like this will be something we do every year," he said.
The spot filmed late into the evening on Tuesday should start airing in the next couple of weeks, Phillips said. It stars Morris, Conner Frankamp, Rashard Kelly, Zach Brown, Rauno Nurger and Darral Willis, and it follows a familiar script.
The six are seated at a table, munching on chips and lamenting how much they'll miss Carlos O' Kelly's queso when they graduate and leave Wichita.
Suddenly, a disgusted Frankamp notices Morris double-dipping in the queso. He looks to his teammates for backup.
"Are you going to say something?" he asks Kelly.
"Don't look at me," Kelly replies.
Brown motions for a ref who's enjoying a margarita at the bar, but the ref instantly regrets intervening in the big man's dipping. Morris, though, goes from stern to all smiles and reports that yes, in fact, he is enjoying his meal very much.
Though all of the seniors deliver their lines surprisingly well, playful and animated Morris is the star of the spot.
The annual queso commercial is made possible each year by the fact that the senior stars complete their eligibility to play with the team and become eligible to capitalize on their fame.
And the spot, it turns out, is something that Shocker seniors look forward to, Phillips said.
He relied this year on the most organized member of the group, Kelly, to gather the guys and get them to the restaurant. At the end of their conversation, Phillips said, Kelly told him: "We were hoping you were going to ask us."
This story was originally published March 28, 2018 at 7:57 AM with the headline "Can Shaq act? Six Shocker seniors, now free to take jobs, star in comical new TV ad."