Entertainment

Who's Singing to This Pretty Woman?

by Marisa LaScala

Oh, to be invisible. If you didn't have to worry about what other people thought when they looked at you (if you were inclined to fret about such things in the first place), you could walk around in the buff, go for a spritz in a car wash (just watch for oncoming cars), and eat ice cream straight from the tub — while in the store. At least, that's what happens in the Super Bowl commercial for Nationwide insurance, where these feats are done by Mindy Kaling to the tune of a cover of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman." The stinger: She may not be as invisible as she believes she is.

"My writers and I had so much fun brainstorming ideas for this ad because it was all about wish fulfillment," she told Good Morning America. “All of us, even beautiful, young Hollywood celebrities like me, have been in situations where we feel invisible." Only the teaser for the commercial is out now — the full thing will obviously run during the Super Bowl. (And you can see where it's going, with Nationwide proving that its customers don't feel invisible, and yadda yadda.) But you can take a sneak peek at the #invisiblemindy commercial here.

During the ad, while I was wondering about the corporeal existence of Mindy Kaling, I was also thinking about what was going on in the background. Who's cover of "Pretty Woman" is playing during Kaling's Super Bowl ad?

After doing some research, I found out that this version of the song isn't new; it's actually been around for quite some time — and it's Van Halen. The band recorded the song for their Diver Down album, which came out way back in 1982. Never heard it? Maybe that's because you lacked the patience to wait around for the song to actually get started — it takes forever for the words to kick in over the guitar noodling. Don't believe me? Watch this totally bonkers, non-insurance-company-backed video.

I wasn't kidding when I said the video was crazy, right? And I don't really think it's crazy-in-a-good-way crazy, either. It was actually one of the first videos ever to be banned by MTV, which must've been a bummer for David Lee Roth, who directed it himself. For my money, I'll stick with Doug Liman — director of Swingers,

The Bourne Identity, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith — and his Nationwide ad. Invisible Mindy Kaling is a lot less terrifying.