Friday Morning Diversion: Morgan Freeman Will Pitch Anything

Friend of Chciagoist Mario (he hosts "News from the Service Entrance" on WHPK-FM every Thursday from 2-4 p.m.) has been playing one of the videos we're featuring this morning the past week or so on his program. It's titled "Morgan Freeman Cigarette Commercial" and purports to be an ad for "Long & Black" cigarettes, with Freeman providing the voiceover of a man who wonders why African Americans are still smoking white cigarettes with all the gains they made with the Civil Rights Act.

Problem is, the ad is a parody made by a comedian named Freddy Lockhart back in 2007. It's easy to see why some have been duped. Lockhart's Freeman impression is spot on and these days, when a company needs an authoritative voice to pitch its wares, Freeman is at the top of the list.

We did find a Listerine commercial from 1973 where he tells his pal he "hates the taste" of Listerine, but still uses it because it "kills germs."

Here are both.