Just Say "Row"! LITG Member Hits The Big Time!

[Ed. Note: When one of our own makes it big, we have to brag....]

Squeak jokes around with a human actor on the set before the shoot.

(AP)-Los Angeles. A member of Montgomery's "Lunch in the Gump" gang has been featured on a nationally broadcast commercial for Geico Insurance that has surpassed the gecko and caveman commercials in popularity. The character known as "Squeak" to LITG followers, plays the part of a chubby coxswain on a skull propelled by a crew of guinea pigs to generate power. The extended commercial runs much longer than a normal 30 sec spot.

Squeak and the other members of the "crew" during a break.

Squeak is a member of the locally famous "Gump Guinea Pigs," a fearless and expendable group of taste testers with the speed and stomach linings of Russian Cossacks. They are used to try new and or exotic restaurants in Montgomery or to try menu items not normally associated with an established restaurant. But Squeak recently became bored with the lack of missions and took a vacation from the rat race, he said, which led him to Los Angeles and his discovery at a meat and three diner near Hollywood and Vine.


From Hollywood, Squeak said "I know the commercial sort of plays upon the stereotype of weak and stupid Southerners, but it is all in good fun to make a point about how you can save money with Geico." He assured this reporter that he not only already knew how to say "Row" he often writes his own posts on Lunch in the Gump, purportedly the world's most popular blog concerning a variety of subjects in Montgomery, Alabama. When asked if he understood how GIECO keeps rates down Squeak said, "Sure. They nickel and dime claimants."




Adoring fans, extras and expendables wait behind the barricade.


With the popularity of the commercial going off the charts, Squeak said he is getting a lot of fan mail from young guinea pigs seeking advice on how to make it in television. Squeak also said he was having quite a bit of fun in tinsel town when not doing appearances.


"The food here is okay. Sometimes pretty good," Squeak said. "But tell all my fans in the Gump that I really miss Chris' Hot Dog and Hamburger King right now."