Smile Like You Mean It

Many of the karaoke-industry veterans I've been speaking with for the book have mentioned a brief television-ad campaign to introduce karaoke in the U.S. in the early-to-mid '80s. I haven't been able to find any such clips on YouTube yet, but there are some amusing Asian commercials floating around there, such as this '70s ad for a karaoke-style television that comes equipped with a cassette player (presumably for recording musical performances) and a microphone (presumably for singing along with said performances). Note that the salesman never, ever loses his jarringly smiley expression.


YOUTUBE: Toshiba TV with a built-in casette late 1970s