Elvis Costello and Lexus. Well, Elvis, we loved him, we obsessed about him, we stood at the bar in the Spa Center (alongside Jerry Dammers) believing it must Elvis surrogates, Any Trouble (anyone else bother to remember Clive Gregson?) the supporting act, performing on the stage downstairs, only to discover that it wasn't when we arrived in the auditorium in time for Elvis' encore. Then we went off him for a bit. Like everyone. But this surprising Lexus commercial is surely evidence of a return to form. I am not even sure that he knew the cameras were rolling or whether he thought he was rehearsing in the rearview. He minces his lines a little in the middle doesn't he? Maybe Lexus checkbook only buys one take? Whatever, Elvis Costello's cackling laughter towards the end could be creepy enough to earn him a cameo in an Eli Roth trailer.
I hadn't previously thought of him as an obvious pitchman for Lexus or any other corporation. What's that Hoover Factory song about? But truly, he's a natural for a refined product attracting buyers with an average age of 49. He perfectly evokes aging relatively well. That mad professor hair has him looking better than he's looked in years, right?