Joe Sedelmaier obit

Joe Sedelmaier, director 

of classic comedy ads, dies at 92

 He was not on the list.

Joe Sedelmaier, the groundbreaking commercial director whose comedic TV spots helped redefine modern advertising and turned catchphrases into cultural touchstones, died Friday at age 92.

Sedelmaier passed away “peacefully of natural causes at home in his favorite chair,” his family told Ad Age.

Sedelmaier’s best-known spots included FedEx’s “Fast Talking Man” in 1981 and Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” in 1984. He became one of the most influential directors in advertising history in large part by jettisoning the past. At a time when TV commercials were dominated by conventionally attractive actors and rigid storyboards, Sedelmaier pioneered unconventional casting, improvisation, exaggerated comic rhythms and cinematic staging.

Born in Orrville, Ohio, in 1933, Sedelmaier spent most of his life in Chicago, a city that shaped both his sensibility and his work. Although his commercials aired around the world and earned virtually every major industry honor, he deeply identified with the Midwest and with ordinary people whose quirks and humanity became hallmarks of his spots.

Originally harboring dreams of being a cartoonist, Sedelmaier began his career as an art director at agencies including J. Walter Thompson and Young & Rubicam before moving into directing in the 1970s. His spots quickly earned a following for rejecting the vanilla tropes of the 1950s and ’60s in favor of eccentric faces and sharply observed humor.

Perhaps his most famous creation was Wendy’s famous “Where’s the Beef?” spot from agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample. The spot featured Clara Peller, a diminutive, elderly actress whose shouted complaint about skimpy hamburgers became a national catchphrase and even entered the political lexicon.

Sedelmaier had worked with Peller previously as an extra and immediately recognized her comic potential. “What made the spot work was Clara,” he told Ad Age’s Rance Crain in 2016. “If some other older woman said it, forget about it. Clara made that spot.”

FedEx’s “Fast Talking Man,” created by agency Ally & Gargano, was similarly shaped by Sedelmaier’s instincts. The spot is based around John Moschitta Jr.’s rapid-fire vocal delivery, but Sedelmaier gave the actor a mustache and directed him to stare straight ahead like a robot, creating comedy not just through speed but through the bewildered reactions of everyone around him.

“A lot of people said this was a funny script,” Sedelmaier told Ad Age in 2016. “Well, if it’s a funny script, it probably won’t be a very funny commercial, because humor doesn’t come from funny lines. It comes from the situation. In ‘Fast Talking Man,’ it’s all the other people trying to keep up, trying to keep their cool. That’s funny. … To me, it’s not funny when a guy slips on a banana peel. What’s funny is trying to pretend that you didn’t trip up.”

His work for brands including Alaska Airlines, Little Caesars, Timex, GMAC and numerous international brands displayed the same sensibility: ordinary people behaving in exaggerated but emotionally recognizable ways. His philosophy, often repeated, was simple: “You’ve got to entertain to sell.”

Sedelmaier fiercely guarded creative control over his productions, believing execution mattered more than ideas alone. (“An idea is very important, but the most important thing is the execution of the idea,” he told Ad Age.) He resisted rigid agency storyboards and often transformed campaigns through casting and improvisation. “You have to have a point of view,” he told The New York Times in 1992. “Some people go with that and some don’t.”

Sedelmaier was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 2000 and the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame in 2016. His film “OpenMinds” was an official selection at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

Friends and collaborators described Sedelmaier as fiercely original, demanding and deeply generous to younger creatives. Cliff Freeman, the legendary copywriter behind Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” campaign, once said, “I’ve learned more from him than from anyone I’ve ever worked with.”

Sedelmaier never lost faith in audiences or in the emotional power of comedy. To him, commercials were not interruptions but miniature films about human behavior. “They were little films about people—funny, awkward, vulnerable, unforgettable people. He changed advertising because he understood human nature,” a family representative said.

Sedelmaier was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara Sedelmaier. He is survived by his children, J.J. Sedelmaier, Rachel McElroy and Adam Sedelmaier; six grandchildren; three great-granddaughters; and generations of filmmakers, advertisers and comedians influenced by his singular vision.

Memorial arrangements will be announced later.