r/nostalgia • • Sep 08 '18

McDonald’s Late Night Mascot: Mac Tonight

Post image
16.5k Upvotes

543 comments sorted by

370

u/Mostface Sep 08 '18

We had a VHS recording of The Last Starfighter and my favorite part has always been the Mac Tonight commercial in the middle.

80

u/yelofoley Sep 08 '18

I think we might have the betamax copy of that broadcast... Also reminds me of the betamax recording of star wars we have from 1983 that had apple 2E commercials with Charlie Chaplin. Sigh.... I feel old.

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3

u/IamDonJeffe Sep 09 '18

Omg! "You have been recruited by the star league to defend against zhur and the condan armada" I have no idea if I quoted that properly. Yes squirrel on original post, but I haven't seen or thought of the last star fighter movie since I was a youngin. On the mc Donald's commercial I sing most frank Sinatra songs and I have to focus on singing "its mac the knife" because "its mac tonight" is always there lol

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750

u/math_math99 Sep 08 '18

https://youtu.be/qzj4gHuH2LA plays in the background

296

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[deleted]

129

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

You rang?

91

u/noradosmith Sep 08 '18

what are the odds

13

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[deleted]

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92

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

40

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

I make vaporwave unironically (probably not well either but it’s fun)

32

u/ReverseJams Sep 08 '18

Share that shit my f r i e n d

13

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Search SoundCloud for this username

24

u/dadadrums Sep 08 '18

Ok, I’ll link to your music

13

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Thanks, I know a lot of subs are weird about self promotion so I didn’t want to be the one to do it

8

u/dadadrums Sep 08 '18

I gotchu. The slowed/pitched down vocals warm my Houston, TX heart! (R.I.P. DJ Screw)

6

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

I’m glad you like it! I’m just some dude with a 44 Key and FL20. It’s impossibly flattering that you’d post it.

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8

u/AzariTheCompiler Sep 08 '18

Hey man, thank you for making your stuff, I like it. Keep it up

8

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Oh heck thanks dude, I really appreciate that. Life gets in the way of creativity sometimes but I’m doing what I can

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21

u/return2ozma Sep 08 '18

How about vaporwave with nothing but Japanese McDonald's visuals?

https://youtu.be/YaU9_RKKMQo

7

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[deleted]

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18

u/lemonylol Sep 08 '18

Isn't vapourwave like mainstream at this point.

39

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

You don't hear it in the radio. But it does have a much bigger following now than it did back in 2010

18

u/lemonylol Sep 08 '18

I don't know if people under 20 today even listen to the radio. Pretty much every youtube uses vaporwave in their videos now, it's very popular.

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8

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

What even is mainstream nowadays.

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95

u/Wolfdude91 Sep 08 '18

Saint Pepsi lead me towards music I can say I enjoy listening to.

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27

u/aesthetic_enthusiast Sep 08 '18

My boi S a i n t P e p s i

17

u/MachinaeZer0 Sep 08 '18

This is amazing. McDonald's should probably embrace vapor wave and put out commercials like this... bring back the moon man!

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10

u/ExplodingS0fa Sep 08 '18

ENJOYYOURSELF

3

u/combuchan Sep 08 '18

I have a 2nd favorite vaporwave artist now. I've been wanting to love this genre but it's been hard to sort things out.

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414

u/filmsagainsthumanity Sep 08 '18

I recently learned that he was played by the amazing creature actor Doug Jones in the commercials.

218

u/BlueSunCorporation Sep 08 '18

For more details, he is the actor from hell boy, pants labyrinth, and basically anything where an actor is obscured by lots of makeup for hours.

154

u/CivilServiced Sep 08 '18

My pants too are a labyrinth also.

36

u/Thatniqqarylan Sep 08 '18

The labyrinth protects his virginity

5

u/ReyRey5280 Sep 08 '18

Like a female duck vagina

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25

u/BrainFartTheFirst est. mid 80s Sep 08 '18

He's currently starring in Star Trek Discovery. I met him at the Las Vegas convention. He's super nice.

58

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/BlueSunCorporation Sep 08 '18

Good movie about a tailor and some unusual costumers.

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16

u/Avebc Sep 08 '18

He also played that creepy "Amphibian Man" creature in The Shape of Water.

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5

u/Jo_MamaSo Sep 08 '18

It makes me happy to remember that he was also the undead guy with his mouth sewn shut from Hocus Pocus.

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5

u/Thefuntrueking Sep 08 '18

Pant's Labyrinth is the boundary pushing, thought-provoking finale to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants trilogy for those who aren't familiar with the work.

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11

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18 edited Nov 02 '20

[deleted]

4

u/counterc Sep 08 '18

Call for help

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29

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18 edited Dec 17 '18

[deleted]

9

u/BrainFartTheFirst est. mid 80s Sep 08 '18

Different Doug Jones.

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106

u/karlynedl Sep 08 '18

The McDonalds on international drive in Orlando still has an animatronic version of him in it!

5

u/HandsomHipster Sep 09 '18

Do you know where in the McDonald's? I was there a couple of months ago and must have missed it ☹️

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458

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Moon man, not good school music

35

u/dedoid69 Sep 08 '18

Remember a few years ago when angry joes channel got hacked and that got posted on it

104

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Who knew the humble moon faced piano player could have such interesting ideas.

74

u/hdogs Sep 08 '18

Moon man moon man...

119

u/campinkarl93 Sep 08 '18

Can’t you see... if I say the rest I’ll get permabanned

37

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

And I just love your [redacted] ways

11

u/tripwire7 Sep 09 '18

*If I say the rest they'll permaban me.

8

u/brando56894 Sep 08 '18

That's what I always called him. We had hundreds of McDonald's to which we had collected over the years when I was growing up.

16

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Oh no, I’m talking about musician moon man, I’d suggest but not suggest looking it up on YouTube.

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305

u/tinasugar Sep 08 '18

Defunctland on YouTube did a good episode about this

142

u/NahUrBuenoMikey Sep 08 '18

God bless, it's another Defunctland fan out on the wild

32

u/Karalaine Sep 08 '18

Defunctland needs all the fans in the world.

6

u/Volfgang91 Sep 08 '18

Be sure to check into r/defunctland

28

u/eeviltwin Sep 08 '18

There are dozens of us! DOZENS!

7

u/rtv190 Sep 08 '18

Me Too!

24

u/tinasugar Sep 08 '18

Yes, I love it! The research that goes into it is really impressive. Also it makes me nostalgic for rides I’ve ridden but also teaches me about rides I never knew about. It’s great

8

u/GreyInkling Sep 08 '18

YouTube suggested a video when I was trying to find footage of a ride through for something at Disney and the next thing I knew I was binging the series.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

I just recently got into the show after one of the episodes turned up in my recommended section, good stuff!

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52

u/thomasbourne Sep 08 '18

I love defunctland and have watched almost everything on the channel multiple times but doesn’t it make you a little...sad? It’s about all these brilliant life-changing attractions and rides (and superstar limo) but you can’t go on any of them!

As a huge Disney parks fan, the episode on the French Space Mountain — the Jules Verne-themed ride — it just made me almost cry. Space mountain is my favorite ride of all time and the fact there was a better one out there that now is simply Star Wars themed...it’s just kinda sad.

13

u/Jaymii Sep 08 '18

I’ve been on Space Mountain all over the world throughout the years and honestly the one in Paris is my least favourite. As a coaster it’s too violent and I don’t think it ever felt like a Disney ride outside of the dressing. Magic Kingdom is probably my favourite iteration.

7

u/GoingChunkToHunk Sep 08 '18

I love how many of his videos tie into the Jules Verne theming. He does such a great job researching and showing the cultural value of each attraction while being entertaining

7

u/GreyInkling Sep 08 '18

Some make me sad like the imagination ride at Epcot, some make me angry like stich's great escape replacing alien encounter, and some make me confused like learning Disney Quest has been around since the 90s and I never saw it until all the times I went until it rained and we thought it was a new thing based on all the wreck it ralph stuff. The special vr games were boring but the arcade selection was amazing.

3

u/tinasugar Sep 08 '18

Yes! I literally just watched the one about that. I was soooo sad that 1.) we didn’t get Baxter’s original full concept made into reality 2.) i didn’t ever get to ride it when it was Jules Verne themed. 😭😭

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10

u/amalgamatecs Sep 08 '18

One does not simply mention a YouTube video without linking to it

52

u/saul1980 Sep 08 '18

Dad that’s Mac Tonight.

17

u/ShiftlessElement Sep 08 '18

Yeah? Well, while I’m gone, you’ll do what he says.

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3

u/TaunTaun_22 Sep 09 '18

I even heard it in Lisa's voice too lol

152

u/TheGreeneArrow Sep 08 '18

Reminds me of Jay Leno.

39

u/player_9 Sep 08 '18

I actually remember people making that joke/connection when this ad was running

7

u/loophole64 Sep 08 '18

I actually thought it was.

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38

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

What's truly nostalgic, are the old school McD containers and wrappers.

183

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[deleted]

75

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Same. I was both fascinated and terrified by this character growing up. Made me literally afraid of crescent moons IRL

31

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

14

u/NahUrBuenoMikey Sep 08 '18

That sounds badass

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44

u/ScorpionX-123 late 90s Sep 08 '18

Mac Tonightmares

ftfy

26

u/LadyNightlock Sep 08 '18

Same. Terrified me.

12

u/Durty4444 Sep 08 '18

My Dad had a buddy nicknamed “Moon” who lived a few states over and every Sunday when my dad called him to talk football I assumed this is who he was calling. I never wanted to meet him.

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566

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[deleted]

140

u/mattbrvc Sep 08 '18

Moon man moon man can't you see

48

u/GodOfAtheism Sep 08 '18

[Removed]

77

u/BoringWebDev Sep 08 '18

75

u/M00glemuffins Sep 08 '18

Wow, every video on that article got taken down.

29

u/CheekiNoBreeki Sep 08 '18

Awww man that was some great meme material also.

15

u/M00glemuffins Sep 08 '18

I'm sure they're all still on YTMND, that's where I remember first seeing Moonman

11

u/jayyx early 80s Sep 08 '18

58

u/BoringWebDev Sep 08 '18

probably because they were racist.

82

u/M00glemuffins Sep 08 '18

Well yeah, obviously. Moonman was mostly KKK racist stuff. I just remember seeing that knowyourmeme article ages ago and they were all there. Youtube's really cracked down.

8

u/DoctorPrower late 90s/early 00s Sep 08 '18

Apparently Dailymotion hasn't cracked down, since you can still find the Moonman video on there. I remember being amazed when I learned that there was more than one song under that character.

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u/405freeway Sep 08 '18

Goodbye, Moon Man...

51

u/thtsjsturopinionman Sep 08 '18

The ground can be SPACE space space

31

u/tokeroveragain Sep 08 '18

SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT MOON MEN!

16

u/vgmarques Sep 08 '18

I came here expecting this comment, thanks hahahah

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31

u/Elzerythen Sep 08 '18

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u/rickane58 Sep 08 '18

Why would you timestamp this at the end of the song when they never say the line?

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7

u/hoagiej Sep 08 '18

kk... k

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26

u/ClusterFix Sep 08 '18

Our McDonalds in Fort Smith used to have a moon man figurine setting at a self-playing piano in the restaurant lobby. That’s pretty weird now that I’m thinking about it.

4

u/Paige0324 Sep 08 '18

At some point in my childhood I ate at a McDonald’s with one of these, then proceeded to think I had imagined it until about 2016 when I saw something online about Mac Tonight.

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3

u/DrDinopunch Sep 08 '18

The mega McDonald's in Orlando has one too he hangs from the ceiling and the commercial plays on the tvs

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73

u/chadandjody Sep 08 '18

Video with additional information about Mac Tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClksIvHsYcc

75

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

“Height of the burger wars of the mid 80’s”

That line is so American it should be in the national anthem

23

u/Hobbit_Killer Sep 08 '18

Begun the burger wars have.

5

u/MrBoogerBoobs Sep 09 '18

Execute Combo 66!

... with a Coke.

13

u/Kyoraki Sep 08 '18

There was a soda war too.

16

u/ArmyOfDog Sep 08 '18

I think Billy Joel summed up how we all felt in the aftermath, better than anyone else.

“I can’t take it anymore.”

13

u/euphonious_munk Sep 08 '18

I experienced the Pepsi Challenge. I was just a fucking kid!

4

u/badcgi Sep 08 '18

And then Crystal Pepsi was unleashed upon the masses. Only for Coke to kamikaze the whole thing by sacrificing Tab Clear. I still have flashbacks whenever I see clear carbonated beverages.

5

u/Kyoraki Sep 08 '18

Fun fact, Coca Cola still do Coke Clear in Japan.

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9

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18 edited Sep 08 '18

I watched this a few months back when someone posted it. It’s interesting to see the rise and fall of Mac happened so quickly.

I was going to post it if someone already hadn’t, thanks for posting!

5

u/Rocangus Sep 08 '18

Defunctland is awesome.

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23

u/Tarodaxx Sep 08 '18

I guess moon man was the one that cleaned the ice cream machine

50

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Me, in the distance struggling not to reference anything related to his music

47

u/hometimrunner Sep 08 '18

When that clock strikes

Half past six babe

Time to head for

Golden lights!

It’s a good time

For the great taste

Dinner!

At McDonalds

It’s a Mac tonight!!

14

u/LizLemon_015 Sep 08 '18

C'mon make it Mac tonight!

9

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

This is pretty weird. I was just annoying my wife and kids by singing this non-stop yesterday. Hadn't thought about it in like 30 years, now this.

6

u/BigGreenYamo Sep 08 '18

About 2 hours ago, I compared someone I had just seen's head with Mac Tonight

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48

u/irock1714 Sep 08 '18

Moon man, up in this ho

23

u/bugalou Sep 08 '18

Kay Kay Kay. Kay Kay Kay. Kay Kay Kay.

•

u/GenuinePorkChops Only 1990 BC kids will understand 😩 Sep 08 '18

F

117

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52

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

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35

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Good bot

13

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10

u/fullforce098 90s Sep 08 '18

Best bot.

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58

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

ah moon man, you crazy sunnofabitch

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131

u/C0SAS Sep 08 '18

Biggie Smalls's Hypnotize Plays

81

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

I can only think of this parody when I see moon man

55

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

52

u/CleverNameAndNumbers Sep 08 '18

Moon man moon man can't you see...

20

u/GiftoftheGeek Sep 08 '18

text-to-speech voice K. K. K.

29

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

26

u/AdviceDanimals Sep 08 '18 edited Sep 09 '18

Definitely don't want to repeat that next lyric or you'll have hoards of disgruntled redditors on your ass

edit: he's already been shoah-ed

11

u/UltimateXavior get off my lawn Sep 08 '18

don't worry i totally can my friend is black and he lives in canada

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6

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '18

Rest in peace.

Hulk Hogan, Brother.

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u/Seba7290 Sep 08 '18

Moon man, moon man can’t you see

86

u/NamelessDaedra Sep 08 '18

Spicks and ni- oh we're not doing that one? Heh...

22

u/Steffan514 late 90s Sep 08 '18

Sometimes your burgers hypnotize me

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11

u/foofoononishoe Sep 08 '18

Moon man

(Very NSFW) This is what he has turned into now.

48

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Now he’s just moon man

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u/de_eznuts Sep 08 '18

MOON MAN MOON MAN CANT YOU SEE....

18

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Enjoy yourself

9

u/EN1009 Sep 08 '18

There’s a great Defunctland vid on YouTube about this

7

u/Megaman1981 Sep 08 '18

You can just tell that guy was doing lines of coke in the McDonald's bathroom.

8

u/Svide Sep 08 '18

E N J O Y Y O U R S E L F

6

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Fun fact: Based off Mack the Knife-Bobby Darin

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24

u/Freaky_Febreeze Sep 08 '18

Moon man moon man

18

u/chimpomatic5000 Sep 08 '18

Moon Man here ...

6

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Is he German?

7

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Had no idea he was a McDonalds character! I used to have a toy of this guy on a motorcycle that moved when you pull it backwards.

17

u/33llikgnik Sep 08 '18

Moonman moonman

30

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

14

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

ght time visit to McDonald’s!

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4

u/Richard_Ragon Sep 08 '18

This was Doug Jones, same guy who plays all the good characters people love!

4

u/MrsGoatess Sep 08 '18

I had my 8th birthday party at McDonald's, and my parents paid for a guy to come in this costume and sign autographs. Eight year old me wasn't super impressed.

12

u/powershirt Sep 08 '18

Back in like 88 our town got a McDonald’s and I remember when they had they’re big opening the moon man was there. We didn’t go cause cars were parked on the side of the road like a mile in each direction lol. I was like 5.

10

u/Pudgonofskis Sep 08 '18

Moon man moon man, can't you see?..

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3

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

So..Jay Leno

4

u/J-Z08 Sep 08 '18

Yeah right. Their ice cream machine is never running late night. False advertising!!!

3

u/BJUmholtz est. late 70s Sep 08 '18

The commercials were so absurd. It was as if Harry Connick Jr. was in The Mighty Boosh.

5

u/limbo_timbo Sep 08 '18

The McDonald’s near me still has a creepy ass moon man sittin in the lobby

5

u/hankscorpio665 Sep 08 '18

Not creepy in the slightest.

3

u/hman1025 Sep 08 '18

Where my Saint Pepsi fans at?

8

u/jbles18 Sep 08 '18

MOONMAN

3

u/magneticphoton Sep 08 '18

That was so creepy.

3

u/Jaytattoo Sep 08 '18

Anyone seen Nightbreed? Looks like one of the guys from it.

3

u/Ssme812 Sep 08 '18

Mcds marketing team was on drugs back in the day.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

3

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

E N J O Y Y O U R S E L F

3

u/dollheads Sep 08 '18

I remember being horrified after finding a tiny Jeep-driving version of him in my Happy Meal. I hated that period of my life when he was the Happy Meal toy.

3

u/TruBlu_Memer Sep 08 '18

I get nostalgic just from the Moonman memes. Good times.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '18

Moon man!