About
Lincoln MKC Commercials are TV and online video advertisements for Lincoln Motor Company’s new line of crossover SUVs in which American actor Matthew McConaughey delivers a series of moody monologues behind the wheel in the style reminiscent of his character Rustin Cohle from the American TV crime drama series True Detective. Upon launching in early September 2014, the commercials quickly inspired a variety of parodies poking fun at the overly serious demeanor and vaguely introspective quotes delivered by the actor.
Origin
On September 4th, 2014, Lincoln Motor Company’s YouTube channel uploaded a series of new commercials featuring McConaughey behind the wheel of the MKC compact crossover (shown below).
Spread
On the same day, Redditor KyleSJohnson submitted the “Bull” commercial to the /r/TrueDetective[1] subreddit, remarking that McConaughey seemed to be playing a character similar to his portrayal of Rust Cohle from the television drama series True Detective. On September 22nd, The Ellen Show aired a parody of the “Bull” commercial in which host Ellen DeGeneres appears in McConaughey’s back seat (shown below, left). On October 15th, South Park featured a parody of the Lincoln commercial in Season 18 Episode 4 titled “Handicar” (shown below, right).
On October 25th, 2014, Saturday Night Live aired several parody versions of the commercials in which actor Jim Carrey mimics McConaughey (shown below). The following day, a YouTube upload of the parodies was submitted to the /r/television[2] and /r/videos[3] subreddits, where it gained over 3,900 votes (89% upvoted) and 4,500 votes (94% upvoted) in the first 24 hours respectively.