FOX Interview with Darren from Pepsi Commercial

I turned on the TV this morning to catch Mike Barz interviewing Darren Therriault on his participation in the Silent Pepsi Commercial:

Good Day Chicago.

A big thank YOU, hand wave and shout out to Michelle who took the time to type out the transcript and send it to me:

Announcer: For a lot of folks, the best thing about the Super Bowl are the commercials. This year one of the most creative ones comes from the folks at Pepsi that’s because the entire spot is silent. It’s designed to being awareness to the Deaf community, it’s closed captioned, as well, for us so don’t adjust your volume on your set, just watch.

(Commercial plays)

Announcer: Tell you what, it definitely gets your attention, and one of the big stars of the commercial, that’s what I’ll call you, the man in the passenger's seat, Darren Tourot (sp?), who is also, you’re not an actor, but you’re an employee of Pepsi and welcome to the show, we appreciate you coming by.

Darren: Thank you.

Announcer: How did this all come to be for you? Did somebody approach you at work and say do you want to star in this commercial?

Darren: Yeah, exactly. That happened over a year ago. Clay Wesser(?) from Plano, Tx. He came up and recognized that I was Deaf and working in Chicago, and so he came up to me and asked if I wanted to participate in the Super Bowl, and I’m like ‘Really? Are you serious!?’ (Announcer laughing) and I said, OK, I’ll give it a try, and I had more time to think about it over the year.

Announcer: I’m sure there are a lot of people at home thinking you are Deaf, since birth, correct?

Darren: Yes.

Announcer: But you have particularly an implant that you can…(Darren agrees). It really raises awareness, this commercial, for the Deaf community, my understanding is that’s a running joke in the Deaf community, is that correct(referring to the commercial)?

Darren: Right, right.

Announcer: So what is the overall goal for this commercial?

Darren: Yeah, you know, my passion is to be able to increase the awareness in the Deaf culture as well as with people with disabilities. Because, you know, it’s been awhile, and I thought that PepsiCo has treated me so well and I have learned so much about the diversity and the inclusion, and I had to do something to give back. And this is my way of doing it.

Announcer: So you work in the IT department, is that correct?

Darren: Yes.

Announcer You’ve been working there for a year, and now you’re the big star, the face of this. You know, and speaking of this, raising awareness for the Deaf community, as we were chatting right here you’ve got the implant so now you can hear with 90% of sounds?

Darren: Yes

Announcer: So, but it’s been like, you compared it to a rusty faucet, turning it on after 30 years (Darren laughs) explain that to me.

Darren: Yeah, it’s almost like when you turn on the implant for the first time, I, uh, it’s almost like you haven’t used the water you know in the faucet for over 20 years and then you turn it on, and then all of a sudden it’s yellow and rusty, you know, and it’s not clear, and you can’t drink the water yet or you can’t make use of it. So, and then after it gets cleaned out, you start to hear.

Announcer: Yeah, so how long were you, did you go without, ‘cause you read lips.

Darren: Yes.

Announcer: And obviously sign. How long did you go before you got that implant, how old were you?

Darren: I started it about five years ago.

Announcer: Oh really!?

Darren: So, I was only 40 years old when I had my first implant.

Announcer: I can’t imagine what that must have been like. With all these sounds that you had never heard before.

Darren: Right.

Announcer: Yeah.

Darren: Like the birds, and all the other sounds that I normally could never hear. It just amazes me.

Announcer: Yeah, well, we appreciate you coming by, (to camera) Darren Tourot, works for Pepsi, now is a big-time star, so I will be his agent, I will take, um, (to Darren) I’ll only take 4%, is that OK? (Darren laughs) So you can see him on the commercial Super Bowl Sunday and certainly go to our website if you want to find out some more information about that, it’s great to meet you (shakes Darren’s hand) and good luck with everything.

Darren: OK, thank you.