Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee and Charles Barkley hit the road in new March Madness ads

As far as entertaining road-trip companions go, you could do worse than Charles Barkley.
 By 
Patrick Kulp
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

As far as entertaining road-trip companions go, you could do a lot worse than Charles Barkley.  

Capital One has once again packed the NBA player-turned-analyst into a car with Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee for a new series of Final Four road trip commercials, reprising an award-winning campaign it ran with the same stars last year.  


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This time around, the three celebrities have become best friends -- they finish each other's sentences weigh nickname options and even dress alike. Or as Barkley puts it, they are "hashtag twinning."

Like last year's, the four new 30-second spots, from ad agency DDB Chicago, were directed by Lee.

Barkley is the clown of the trip. He causes a pile-up at a ticket booth as he struggles to shoot a coin into the meter, and he also pitches ridiculous nicknames like "Chuck-alicious."


But all three eventually get a chance to exercise their comedic chips with a enthusiastic rendition of Rupert Holmes' classic “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” 


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Topics Advertising

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Patrick Kulp

Patrick Kulp is a Business Reporter at Mashable. Patrick covers digital advertising, online retail and the future of work. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a degree in political science and economics, he previously worked at the Pacific Coast Business Times.

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