Archive for September 2026

The “Mayhem Guy’s” Wooden Performance…

September 13, 2026

Dean Winters, aka the Mayhem dude, is an incredible and often surreal mimic who has impersonated both living and inanimate creatures and things as an Allstate insurance advertising spokesman. Those things have included dogs, cats, bears, raccoons, the Elf on the Shelf, a deer, Santa’s Helper, and many others. We haven’t seen Mayhem in a while, but now thankfully he’s back, this time as a decomposed limb on a 200-year old elm tree. As usual, Winters portrays the tree limb in his usual conservative suit, with no attention at all given to prosthetics or special effects. Mayhem doesn’t need them. He just hangs absurdly in defiance of gravity from a tree trunk…

Falling, Winters as a ” dead on the inside” major tree limb does major damage to a house that he’s situated by, crashing through the roof. “It just feels so good to let go!,” he remarks from the ground. If you don’t have the right kind of insurance, Winters tells us, this kind of thing could really wipe out your bank account. Laughing at the destruction he’s caused, Mayhem tells us he will find his own way out…

I think that Mayhem would be more than a match for any of the other insurance spokesmen, including Flo, the Gecko, the Limu Emu, and certainly the Liberty Biberty. This of course is just the humble opinion of a timid woodland creature…

Comic panel reading “MAYHEM IN THE CAGE!” with chaotic political characters
(I’d pull up a chair to watch this match!)

The “Liberty Biberty” Horror!

September 2, 2026

One of the most bizarre creature commercials to date involves the Liberty Biberty, a furry, yellow ball-like thing in Liberty Mutual commercials that manages to be cute, ridiculous, and creepy all at the same time! While lacking appendages (visible, at least), the Liberty Biberty unnervingly or disarmingly has both big, blue eyes and teeth! (*shudders*) It’s head wears a Statue of Liberty -type crown. I have no idea what sex this Biberty is, or even if it has any. It is wearing a Statue of Liberty crown, and that iconic figure is usually portrayed as female. The voice of the creature sounds male, so perhaps it is gender-confused or ambiguous. I don’t want to even consider the mechanics of how or if it reproduces…

The Liberty Biberty is actually a physical embodiment of the mangled speech of a previously-featured fumble-mouthed spokesman for Liberty Mutual, whose articulations are so poor that he wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes on my college radio station. The Biberty creature just seems to somehow appear on the roof of cars, and has no visible means of ambulation, although it seems capable of being launched by force. In one commercial, the creature (designed by the Jim Henson studio) appears in a location where the human spokesman is also present, and clearly idolizes him, asking for an autograph!

The Liberty Biberty reminds me somewhat of the furry, ball-like creatures that roll around in the 1986 science fiction horror-comedy film called Crites, better known as Critters. That film I believe drew inspiration from the superior 1984 film, Gremlins…

At any rate, I’d advise you not to take any chances should you run across the Liberty Biberty, at least until they’ve been investigated by Monster Quest, Unsolved Mysteries, or a similar paranormal show. They do have teeth, after all, and might prove carnivorous…APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION!

Comic panel with fox and character labeled LIBERRY BIBERTY; text reads HUH?, D'OH!, WHAT IN THE WORLD...?
(As I walk through my forest, many strange things I see…)