How a Hilton Head man and SC kazoo manufacturer enjoyed a moment during the Grammys
The humble kazoo is enjoying a Hollywood moment spawned in South Carolina.
The instrument was at the center of a television commercial for social media giant Facebook that aired twice during the Grammy Awards on Sunday. The spot featured the International Kazoo Players Association, a group started by Hilton Head Island resident Rick Hubbard, founder of the Beaufort-based Kazoobie Kazoos — the only plastic kazoo manufacturer in the country.
Hubbard made a cameo in the ad, in which strangers wielding kazoos come together while humming a tune from New Orleans hip-hop artist Big Freedia, who appears at the end of the video. The 60-second spot aired twice during the awards show and was shared on Facebook’s pages.
Many of the instruments in the commercial came from Kazoobie Kazoos, which also includes a museum and gift shop and is now owned and operated by Beaufort resident Stephen Murray, a city councilman who is also an administrator of the enthusiasts’ Facebook group.
“We want to promote kazoos, even if it’s not ones we made,” Murray said. “One of the cool things about Facebook is you can bring people with similar interests from all over the world together.”
For Hubbard, who started the company in 1997 and later sold the operation to Murray, the message of the production spoke to his decades-old feelings about the instrument that has been unfairly maligned as a child’s toy.
“It was something I’d always wanted to do was show how a kazoo brings people together,” Hubbard said.
The ad was filmed in Los Angeles over eight days in December as part of Facebook’s campaign to highlight the unique communities of its groups as it fends off criticisms of its role in stoking political divisiveness.
The company contacted Hubbard about highlighting the kazoos group, wanting something musical and inclusive.
Hubbard and others spent up to 16-hour days to film what would be boiled down to a minute of footage. In a second behind-the-scenes clip posted on Facebook, Hubbard and his fellow Facebook group members talk about their shared passion for the instrument.
Multiple members of the kazoo-loving Facebook group were invited to appear in the commercial and were given their own motorhome and makeup artist while on set.
The Facebook group began in 2011 and had about 500 members before the commercial aired. More than 1,700 people were members as of Tuesday afternoon.
Newcomers have shared messages about how kazoos have been used in their families, with senior groups and therapists.
“I’ve discovered kazoos are bringing joy to a lot of peoples’ lives all over the world in ways I haven’t expected,” Hubbard said.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 3:17 PM with the headline "How a Hilton Head man and SC kazoo manufacturer enjoyed a moment during the Grammys."
