John Madden in pop culture

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

John Madden announced his retirement today, a sad moment for those of us who grew up with him in our living rooms. The move was inevitable with the true retirement of Brett Favre. The news will be toughest on comedian Frank Caliendo, who may need a 24-hour suicide watch.

I love Madden as much as the next guy, but you can’t deny that he became a caricature of himself. Look no further than the 20 most viewed search results for “John Madden” on YouTube. As of this morning:

• 14 are Caliendo doing impressions of Madden.
• 1 is another comedian doing Madden’s voice and using puppets to tell the story of Thanksgiving.
• 1 is a cartoon parody of Jerry Seinfeld, where a cartoon Madden tries to give commentary on a joke. The cartoon was done by ... Frank Caliendo.
• 1 is a highlight of Madden saying “bootleg” repeatedly. In the description of the video, the poster muses that this Madden guy sounds an awful lot like Frank Caliendo.
• 1 is a montage from the 1992 version of John Madden’s video game where a computer glitch shows an ambulance running over a player on the field.
• 3 are instant replays where Madden unintentionally draws a phallus on the telestrator.

Not a single clip involves the real Madden on camera. The 16 that feature fake Maddens are done out of love and tribute, of course. The last three just make everybody giggle.

Thanks for the memories, John, and enjoy retirement. You earned it.

-- Adam Rose