Senor Mortgage

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Revision as of 13:19, 30 October 2005

This article is about the short. For information on the mortgage company, see Senor Cardgage Mort-gage.

"No probalo!"

Senor Cardgage has a mortgage commercial. Or something.

Cast (in order of appearance): Balding Man, Senor Cardgage, Visor Robot

Places: The Office

Date: June 29, 2004

Running Time: 1:22

Page Title: Need A Loan??!!

Transcript

{We begin with a newspaper background with Balding Man in front of it.}

VOICEOVER: ERHT! {buzzing noise}

{NOT APPROVED flashes across the screen. Balding Man sighs and frowns.}

VOICEOVER: Are you having a problem buying a home {thought bubble appears with a blue house in it} or something {another thought bubble appears with a half-eaten Pop Tart}? Fret no more!

{cut to Senor Cardgage}

SENOR CARDGAGE: Hi there Belindas. I'm Senor Cardgage for Senor Cardgage Mort-gage. {logo appears for Senor Cardgage Mortgage} We can help you get a leg up on the pile! Low rates, percent signs... I dunno... {as Senor Cardgage says this, the words "low rates" and a bunch of percent signs fall from the logo}

VOICEOVER: Bad credit? {the words "BAD CREDIT" appear on the screen, with a frowning face in the A, a thumbs-down in the D of CREDIT, and a blue background with the word "YES!" repeated. The thumbs-down grows larger and changes to a thumbs-up, and the background changes to yellow with the word "YUP!"}

SENOR CARDGAGE: No probalo! {the words "NO PROBALO!" appear in the thumbs-up}

{Cut back to Senor Cardgage in the office.}

SENOR CARDGAGE: Home Lawn, Escrow, Re-Financin' {these words appear in boxes coming out of Senor Cardgage's mouth}—you name it, we've got it! Come along down for a free canceltation {the words "FREE CANCELTATION" flash for a few seconds} with one of our handsome talking experts. {points to empty chair behind him} One o' them said they'd buy me lunch. But I don't see nobody taking me to Chick-fil-A.

{Cut to Visor Robot with a caption that says "Not a Robot!"}

VISOR ROBOT {in a robotic voice}: Senor Cardgage Mort-gage helped consolidate my whole life into this tiny box. {He holds up a small wooden crate labeled 'Fresh'} Thanks Senor Mort-gage!

{back to Senor Cardgage}

SENOR CARDGAGE: You're every welcome, Valerie. Act now {the words "ACT NOW!" flash on the screen} and see if you can stand to talk to me for more than four seconds!

{A countdown appears on screen, counting down from four seconds}

JINGLE SINGERS: Get a leg up on the pile and refinance your dreams! {the words appear on the screen} Come along down and dial {as they sing, the phone number 555-55-55855-55-5-SENOR-MORT-GAGE-TODAY appears on the screen, and Balding Man dances} five five five five five five five eight five five

ROBOT and JINGLE SINGERS: Five five five SENOR-MORT-GAGE—{at this there is a slight pause for dramatic effect, and Balding Man falls off screen}—TODAY!

SENOR CARDGAGE: {phases through logo} No probalo!

Easter Eggs

• Click on the dollar sign in the 'g' at the end to see a short scene with the Visor Robot.

VISOR ROBOT: Priority deoverride seven dash forty deuce. Directive six R? {voice speeds up, becomes unintelligible} Malfunctionmalfunction Cardgage mortgage {head spins and emits smoke} mortgagemortgagemortgage help consoli— help consoli— help consoli—

{An explosion throws the Visor Robot's head off, revealing a flashing red light bulb. The light bulb emits smoke and grows dimmer as the VISOR ROBOT trails off.}

VISOR ROBOT: My name is nooot Vaaleeriiieee...

Fun Facts

Explanations

• This short is making fun of TV mortgage ads, specifically ones that have witty phone numbers that are included in the jingle. (For example "770-916-1234-OPEN-THE-DOOR")
• When this toon debuted, The Brothers Chaps were ambiguous as to whether Senor Cardgage was real or just an example of how Strong Bad would look with a creepy comb-over. This is evidenced by its description in the Toons Menu: "Wait, is Senor Cardgage real!?!" By the time of the commentary on garage sale, they acknowledged that he was indeed a separate character.
• Senor Cardgage calls the robot "Valerie" because of his habit of referring to everyone as females even though they're not, as he does in kind of cool.

Trivia

• The phone number 555-55-55855-55-5-SENOR-MORT-GAGE-TODAY would translate as 555-55-55855-55-5-73667-6678-4243-86329. "TODAY" is part of the phone number, but meant to be part of the jingle.
• The cubicle in the background is from dullard and, later, other days.
• The classified ads in the beginning are apparently actual real estate listings from the New York Times for the East Coast. While it's largely illegible, one can make out headings for Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties (all in New York State), Manhattan, and the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Georgia, and Florida.
• The robot voice in Senor Mortgage is actually Microsoft Sam from the program Microsoft Narrator.
• This toon was one of the last ones to have the old non-Flash Navigation Bar. It was changed to the new Flash bar sometime after the release of this toon.
• This is the first time we see the Visor Robot from the front. Previously he was only seen from the side.

Remarks

• Senor Cardgage's creepy comb-over switches sides when he talks to the Visor Robot (it switches back though, after he moves his head) and again at the very end as he is walking forward while the phone number jingle is being sung.
• The Visor Robot's voice is still computerized, but it is different from his voice in Everybody to the Limit.

Real-World References

• "No probalo" is a mangled version of the phrase "no problemo", which is mock-Spanish for 'no problem'. (Actual Spanish would be "no hay problema".)
• The jingle has the same chord progression as The Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout".
• Chick-fil-A is a fast-food restaurant chain based in Atlanta, Georgia.

External Links

• watch "Senor Mortgage"
• view the Flash file for "Senor Mortgage"