Google (Again) Brings a Comedian to a Tech Keynote

On the plus side, it wasn't as bad as last year. On the minus side, it was still pretty bad.

Look, I'm clearly – clearly – not the intended audience for the 'Made by Google' events. But then again, shouldn't I be? I'm a sort of tech-obsessed user that upgrades my smartphone every year. Yes, that's been an iPhone for the past 19 years,¹ but I often tend to buy a Pixel device too because I'm curious! Yes, that's crazy. And yes, I'm not at all a typical user. But with the cards – and devices – played right, I could, theoretically, be someone who moves to a Pixel phone as my primary device one day, right?²

I mean, not if I'm watching this presentation.

Again, Trevor Noah was a far better MC than Jimmy Fallon was last year. But the bar was so comically low – pun actually intended – that almost anyone would have been an upgrade. Sure, my own personal preferences naturally finds Noah funnier than Fallon, but he also just seemed decidedly more chill than Fallon and, as such, a lot of his jokes were actually funnier. Of course those jokes were almost always ruined by the Google employees he was playing against. And it's hard to blame them, they're not comedians nor actors. But they are asked to be here.

It's a fucking weird strategy for a product unveiling!

Again, clearly I'm not the audience. But who that audience is, I don't know. People who are fans of the various celebrities they showcased, I guess. But even then, is that really a good acquisition strategy? How much are they paying these people to hawk these products and how many purchases will it actually lead to? Clearly Google can measure this. Are they? Or are they just hoping for some kind of halo effect? Are they just hoping for more views on YouTube? What's the ROI?

I would like to give Google credit for trying something different. This is not an Apple keynote. But I gave them credit for that last year. It didn't work, yet they doubled down. Again, Noah is an upgrade over Fallon, but the format just doesn't work. At least for me. And I assume for many. It just feels like an infomercial.

It's like when Meta has tried to do keynotes with laughably scripted "candid" conversations. But at least those were actual Meta employees who, script aside, were presumably actually excited about what was launching. Here, half of the presenters were actors and/or celebrities. Are they genuinely excited about new Pixel products? Maybe. But also maybe mainly because they're getting paid to be excited about them. Start the countdown to shots of them in the wild using iPhones...

The other half of the presenters were actual Google employees, but they were faced with the impossible task of acting against professionals. Just like last year, they were actually better at it, but still failed because it all just looks so scripted. Because it was so scripted! What is the point?!

At least the events are live! (Aside from the many pre-recorded videos Noah would tee-up throughout.) As such, they do feel actually more alive than the last several years of Apple events. But again, sort of in an awkward way here.

Staging aside, there was also this weird undercurrent throughout the event, constantly highlighted by Noah, which boiled down to: we know we promised the last wave of AI was cool, but didn't really do much for you, but this time, it's really cool. Okay, but why would anyone buy that, quite literally, this time?³

Noah veers between seemingly improvising well – as you'd hope! – to awkwardly being forced to come back to the script. And again, that just serves to undermine the entire "performance".⁴ Is he actually excited about any of this? Even if he is, when we're asked to believe that he knows these random Google product managers well, casually sitting on the couch with them, it just all feels so fake.⁵

It's like Google doesn't quite understand what actually makes an Apple keynote work. It's not the current, slick variety. It's the history behind them dating to when Steve Jobs would be on stage, clearly excited and enthusiastic about what he was showcasing. That's what translates and what people want to see. In that regard, hiring actors to do this is the opposite of the point.

¹ Yes, even for the 11 of those years that I worked at Google. Sorry, Google!

² I can't decide if it was weird or smart to set up Alex Cooper as the Switcher-in-Residence. If it's legit, probably smart. But again, better not capture any shots of her with an iPhone!

³ Also, it all honestly felt decidedly AI-lite versus what you'd expect?!

⁴ The parts with his fellow South African, Noel, while obviously staged, were also the best. Fun/funny banter.

⁵ Which is honestly a bit annoying when say, the ASL demo is so awesome. In ways, this felt like a distraction from the technology.