Trivia / Wilkins Coffee

• Colbert Bump:
  • The inclusion of The Muppet Show on Disney+ resulted in a renewed awareness and interest in other Jim Henson projects, including these commercials.
  • Most younger audiences are familiar with the Wilkins coffee commercials via The Nostalgia Critic, who reviewed them as part of an annual commercial special. Wilkins has now gone on to be a recurring villain in these specials and other episodes, with the Critic and his team playing the Wontkins in increasingly elaborate and sociopathic ways.
• Missing Episode: While quite a few commercials are available online, numerous ads for the many companies Wilkins and Wontkins advertised are currently missing.
• Recycled Script: After the Wilkins Coffee advertising campaign ended, the characters of Wilkins and Wontkins were used for other brands, such as Nash’s Coffee, Kraml Dairy, La Touraine Coffee, Taystee Bread, Calso Water, Frank's Beverages, Dugan's Bread, Red Diamond Coffee, Merita Bread, Sohio, Martinson's Jomar and Faygo. Many of the gags seen in the Wilkins commercials were also used in commercials for these brands.
• Word of God: According to Jim Henson himself, it was rather easy for him to come up with the ideas for every commercial. Why? Jim hated coffee himself, and said that the scenarios he made are what it would actually take to get him to drink coffee.

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