"Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" (or: Lost story from my birthday party, number two)

Have you ever wondered how hard it is to ask “Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?” from inside a limo?

(For our non-North American readers: this is a gag based on a famous series of television ads in which a distinguished man with a vague British accent in a Bentley rolls down his window and asks passers-by by if they have a particular brand of dijon mustard.)

For our pal Chetan, it’s very, very, very hard.

(Chetan’s the creator of the comic character Tic Toc Tom, a character so cool that he’s open to all sorts of interpretations by different writers and artists. Tic Toc Tom is the predecessor of Jenny Everywhere, right down to the goggles.)

Two days before my birthday party, for her friend Kerry-Ann’s birthday, Sam rented a limo into which Paul B., Paul M., Chetan, Kerry-Ann, she and I piled into for a rye-and-coke-soaked city cruise, followed by a nice steak dinner at the Keg Mansion. While driving about the city, we got the goofy (and probably alcohol-induced) idea that one of us should try the “Grey Poupon” gag. Chetan, being near the window facing the sidewalk, was assigned. The following QuickTime video clips document what happened.

• Attempt #1 (130K). Target acquired, but no action taken.
• Attempt #2 (130K). Some fiddling with the power window, but the question is still unasked.
• Attempt #3 (250K). We pick out two likely candidates, we prompt him, and still…nothing!
• Attempt #4 (240K). Another likely candidate found, and the excuses keep a-comin’.
• Attempt #5 (725K). In which we get frustrated and I take over for Meekboy McShypants.