Entertainment

'The Suite Life' Fans Will Love Mr. Moseby's Birthday Video For Cole & Dylan Sprouse

by Emily Mae Czachor

It's been 12 years since Zack and Cody Martin thought it'd be a good idea to start off their mom's 40th birthday rap with the rhyme, "Your body may be saggin' / but we can still be braggin.'" But after watching The Suite Life star Phill Lewis' birthday video to Dylan and Cole Sprouse (well, mostly just Dylan, really), it sounds like slightly underhanded b-day gestures aren't quite a thing of the past for these comedically-inclined Disney Channel veterans.

Now, Suite Life fans likely remember Dylan and Cole best for their enduring onscreen stint as Zack and Cody, Boston's quippiest pair of pre-teen twins. For many of us, those roles probably have — to a certain extent, at least — forever iconized the duo as a staple of mid-2000s pop culture. But in reality, "Zack and Cody" are all grown up now. In fact, as of Saturday, August 4, 2018, the Sprouse twins have officially clocked 26 years on this planet together. And if that's a tough pill for fans to swallow, just imagine how Mr. Moseby must be feeling right about now.

Thanks to Lewis' birthday video to the twins, which the actor shared with his Twitter following Saturday afternoon, fans don't have to wonder about that for too long. The sweet, silly birthday video only runs for a fleeting 19 seconds, but it feels like Lewis still managed to infuse a bit of his Suite Life character's signature snark into the clip nonetheless. "Happy birthday to youuuuuu," Lewis croons off-screen at the start of the video, before the camera finally settles on him.

Those of us who were of prime Disney-consuming age during the mid-2000s probably won't have a tough time recognizing Lewis as Mr. Marion Moseby, the tightly-wound, ruled-obsessed manager of the fictional Tipton Hotel. Loosely inspired by the real-life Hilton hotel franchise, most Suite Life enthusiasts worth their salt will remember the Tipton fondly as Zack and Cody's indefinitely permanent home base, as well as the primary backdrop for the series itself. (Or, the first leg of it, anyway. Those fans might also remember that, in 2008, The Suite Life of Zack And Cody earned itself a spin-off called The Suite Life on Deck. As its title suggests, the spin-off series saw our favorite hotel-dwelling twins embark on a semester at sea, aboard a luxury cruise liner by the name of the S.S. Tipton.)

Well, the S.S. Tipton docked for good back in 2011, but it seems The Suite Life crew — here's looking at you, Mr. Moseby — still enjoys a good ol' fashioned round of shenanigans, even after all these years. "Dad, what're you doing?" a playfully chastising voice —presumably belonging to one of Lewis' two daughters, Piper and Annie — asks from behind the camera, after stumbling upon her father in the midst of his vocal exercises.

The seasoned television actor, for his part, doesn't flinch. "Oh, well, I'm just warming up," Lewis tells her, totally matter-of-factly. What for? "I'm about to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Dylan Sprouse," he continues, without so much as a smirk. "Today is his birthday." Before his daughter has a chance to get a word in edgewise, Lewis is already careening into his second round of "Happy Birthday." That being said, Dad has hardly gotten through the first few syllables when she cuts him off.

"What about Cole?" she deadpans, laying the groundwork for what seems to be the punchline of her father's silly birthday-centric video, a la Suite Life. At his daughter's remark, Lewis goes totally blank-faced. Then, after taking a few moments to really milk the "bewildered pause" look for all it's worth, he cracks, "When's his birthday?"

Suffice to say, Lewis' daughter reacts in the way any frustrated young person might, given the fact that the Sprouse twins are fairly obviously, uh, twins. "Ugh!" she scoffs exaggeratedly with a mock air of disgust rivaling the one Zack and Cody arguably harbored against Moseby for the vast majority of the Suite Life's series run.

But, while neglecting to mention one-half of the Sprouse duo might've been a purposefully spiteful move characteristic of his Suite Life character, it's easy to see that Lewis' 26th birthday jingle for his former co-stars and arguable onscreen nemeses was crafted all in good fun. Which is to say, it doesn't seem like Moseby's real-life counterpart could possibly forget that, when it comes to the Sprouse twins, we're pretty much always seeing double.

So, who just canceled the rest of their weekend plans in favor of an impromptu Suite Life throwback marathon? Much like this latest bout of birthday hijinks to come out of the series' cast, it seems pretty safe to say that The Suite Life never really gets old. But talk to us again when the Sprouse twins turn 30.