COMEDIAN Jerry Seinfeld once quipped that men don't care what's on TV, they only care what else is on TV.
If you flick around the commercial channels on Sunday night, you will find a new episode of Seinfeld on TV.
And, more than a decade after his much-loved self-titled sitcom ended, Seinfeld still hits the funny bone with his observational shtick.
Only now he's flogging a building society.
As The Herald revealed yesterday, Seinfeld has replaced former NBN newsreader John Church as the face of Newcastle's Greater Building Society.
Gone are the customer testimonials, Church's fireside chats with Greater staff and talk of home loans with free holidays.
In comes Seinfeld doing stand-up comedy on the footpath in front of a Greater branch.
The first 60-second advertisement in a series of spots recently filmed in New York can be viewed now at theherald.com.au.
It screens on NBN, Prime and Southern Cross Ten on Sunday night following cryptic teasers on the three channels this week.
Securing Seinfeld is a coup for a regional lender like the Greater when you consider he has only ever spruiked for multinationals American Express and Microsoft.
But why would one of TV's biggest comedy stars do a Greater commercial?
He doesn't need the money. In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings to be $US60 million.
The Greater says Seinfeld signed on simply because he liked its campaign concept. And it's easy to see why he might.
The simple charm of the spot plays on his modest beginnings as a stand-up comedian and trades on the folksy wisecracking style made familiar in 175 episodes of Seinfeld.
The ad opens with Seinfeld pushing a shopping trolley overloaded with props, sound equipment and stage lighting rig across a street, wrestling it over a kerb and past pedestrians.
A tinny stage fanfare plays on his portable CD player as the comedian sets up his gear outside a Greater branch.
His opening line, "When it comes to your money, you don't want great, you want greater," segues into a quip about why he prefers pain medication that is "maximum" strength.
"Figure out what will kill me and then back it off a little bit," he says as a hint of his old show's boppy theme music is heard.
Seinfeld's use of the American term "drug store" instead of pharmacy or chemist is lost in translation.
Kookaburra laughter mixed into the ambient sound and window-dressing of background shopfronts can't completely disguise the streetscape's generic American look.
Australian banks using American accents and humour to flog their services don't always gel.
But, in reaching for this singular star, the Greater stands a greater chance of cutting through the commercial break clutter.
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