Farewell Trench Coat Guy

I've had a soft spot for Trench Coat Guy ever since he first appeared as the Sprint spokesperson--not, I hasten to add, so soft a spot that I've ever actually subscribed to Sprint's services. He had such a perfect deadpan delivery. Lately, though, I had begun to worry about what would happen to the actor who plays him when Sprint decided to ditch him. That time has come.

Trench Coat Guy gave a fresh face to an otherwise faceless, multibillion-dollar telecommunications behemoth (and helped make it successful enough to buy another faceless telecommunications behemoth). He was all about underselling. Trench Coat Guy never pushed, never grated, never tried to get you to take the premium plan. He just laid it all out in that unemotional way, as if it was common sense.

Trench Coat Guy solved cell phone problems in a way that suggested Sprint knew there was more to life than solving cell phone problems. His commercials were offbeat mini-sitcoms that disarmed the viewer with their gentle absurdity and mocking self-awareness.

Brian Baker, the actor, seems confident that he can rise above typecasting and go on to future success. But I wonder: You never saw Mr. Whipple after Charmin flushed him.