John “Jack” Palmer, the Hermon man whose failed attempts to say “buttery, flaky crust” while filming a Dysart’s commercial went viral, has died.
Palmer repeatedly – and hilariously – flubbed his lines about the landmark truck stop’s chicken pot pie while filming a commercial with his wife, Sonya, in 2012. A reel of outtakes was seen by millions and earned him the nickname “buttery, flaky crust guy.” It was parodied in a skit on “Saturday Night Live” with comedians Will Ferrell and Kate McKinnon six years later.
Palmer, a regular at the Dysart’s in Hermon, died Friday, according to an obituary in the Bangor Daily News. He was 86.
“I think they became the celebrities they are by being genuine, by being just a typical couple,” said Ric Tyler, who directed the Dysart’s commercial for Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications. “Jack was rather deaf from his years of working in the print room at the Bangor Daily News, and if you look at the outtakes, you can see Sonya kicking him under the table when it was time to say the lines. She was also mouthing the lines herself, willing him to get them right.”
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The Palmers found internet fame when the commercial outtakes video hit more than 5 million views. In the video, Jack Palmer is asked to say that the diner’s chicken pot pie has a “buttery, flaky crust,” which he repeats as “buttery flay crust,” “buttery flavored crust” and “buttery crispy crust” over a series of several takes.
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Part of the appeal was the couple’s ability to laugh at themselves on camera. When Sonya Palmer gets irritated with her husband’s flubs, she tries to read the line. But she also bungled it, coming out with “baked in a bake” and “baked in a buttery crispy flake,” much to her husband’s delight.
After the “SNL” skit came out in 2018, Jack Palmer told the Press Herald that going to Dysart’s for coffee had been part of their morning routine for years. So in 2012, when Sutherland Weston was looking for customers to film for a commercial, Dysart’s owners recommended the Palmers, Tyler said.
Palmer said he had trouble at the start when the director counted down “three, two” and then didn’t say “one” for filming to begin. So he didn’t start talking.
“We probably had to do it over about 40 times,” Palmer said. “I just couldn’t do it. My wife got a little perturbed, then they asked her to do it. That was fun, too.”
In the “SNL” skit, Ferrell, dressed in a red checked shirt very similar to the one Palmer wore for his commercial shoot, is asked to say “baked in a crispy pastry crust.” He manages to turn that into phrases that sound like “crispy pastry phlegm,” “baked in my bra” and “baked on my crabby butt.”
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“They probably used some language I wouldn’t use,” Palmer said after seeing the skit.
The Palmers embraced their celebrity, always glad to pose for photos with people who spotted them on their regular trips to Dysart’s, Tyler said.
The Palmers said in 2018 that they didn’t mind when people recognized them from the video. They enjoyed the free coffee Dysart’s gave them for helping to make the restaurant famous. The couple continued to frequent the Hermon location of Dysart’s into this summer, Tyler said.
“People were always tickled to get a picture of Jack and Sonya, but I think they were even more tickled to be asked,” said Tyler. “They were like the king and queen there, but never haughty about it.”
The Palmers came to Dysart’s in the morning for coffee but would also come in a couple nights a week to see a longtime server they were friendly with, said Jordan Dysart, the restaurant’s manager. Dysart said what struck him about the Palmers is that they were always together, and they always had time for others.
“They were just inseparable, so humble and authentically themselves,” said Dysart. “I don’t think they realized how famous they’d actually become.”
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Sutherland Weston sought out the Palmers for several more ads and videos for Dysart’s over the years, Tyler said, and the couple was always glad to cooperate.
Palmer’s survivors include his wife of 65 years, Sonya, and a daughter, Barbara Miller, as well as grandsons and a great grandson. There will be no services, at Palmer’s request.
Palmer had worked on the printing presses for the Bangor Daily News for 37 years, before finding internet fame. He told the Press Herald in 2018 that he did not want to be called “famous.” He thought people enjoyed the video so much because he and his wife came off as very real.
“We were just being ourselves, being natural,” he said.
