Dude, you're getting a drink: Dell dude now a waiter

Oh, how the mighty have fallen: Ben Curtis, famous just a few years ago as "Steven the Dell Dude," is now a waiter / bartender at Tortilla Flats in New York. Although the Steven ads were hugely popular and generated tons of buzz (and revenue) for Dell, the company eventually dropped the campaign after Ben got arrested for buying pot in 2003 -- shocking no one who actually watched the commercials, but apparently not the message Dell wanted to send the parents fronting the cash for all those machines. Although he's down to slinging drinks, Ben's taking it in stride, saying "There were times when I made boatloads of money as an actor, but here I can be myself." That doesn't mean he's given up the dream just yet: he's hoping to score big with his band, Whale, which he says has "the green light," but has "decided to take a little time off to record our EP and package ourselves properly." Hm, seems like a perfect opportunity to get back together with Dell, actually -- it could use some new music after getting caught using GarageBand's built-in loops in that XPS One teaser.

[Derbeste @ Nov 8th 2007 3:13PM]

This is your Dell....

This is your Dell on drugs.

Most effective anti-drug commercial EVER.

[BludElf @ Nov 8th 2007 3:32PM]

HAHAHA

Thats great man...

Sersiouly though, I like how dell tried to be "hip" with their commercials and it ended up biting them in the ass...

I will admit i boght a dell during that campaign, but subsequently moved on to apple. At least their commercials don't have druggies in them.

When will dell just go under? ther new commericals with teh color laptops SUCKS. I mean jesus, look at the nano and imac commercials, seroisuly they should take a note.

[getz76 @ Nov 8th 2007 3:36PM]

Depends who you ask.

I tried to buy my wife a Mac laptop for her graduate school classes, but she wanted nothing to do with it because of the PC guy and Mac guy commercials; the Mac guy hipster gave her the creeps.

[John @ Nov 8th 2007 3:40PM]

@Bludelf

I will admit i boght a dell during that campaign, but subsequently moved on to apple. At least their commercials don't have druggies in them.

You don't think Eminem has ever used drugs?

[Homer J @ Nov 8th 2007 3:48PM]

What tool buys a computer based on who is slinging it?

[ryan bean @ Nov 8th 2007 3:51PM]

@ BludElf

No apple just has ex- druggies who's thinning ponytails are the last vestige of their of their former selves. Their black turtlenecks proclaim to the world "I swear I'm not the man"

[Derbeste @ Nov 8th 2007 3:52PM]

Thousands.

What do you think a "fanboy" is??

[oGMo @ Nov 8th 2007 4:02PM]

@BludElf: Never saw the Ellen Feis "switch" commercials I take it. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2-UuIEOcss

[Phreak511 @ Nov 8th 2007 4:51PM]

err...dude....you don't need to travel to far to see evidence of drug induced brain damage.


Just travel to your nearest Apple store and see the hipster / petuli oil wearing "genius bar" pot-heads.

[junk @ Nov 8th 2007 6:31PM]

@Bludelf

What about Ellen Feise? :p

[Z @ Nov 8th 2007 8:26PM]

@ BludElf

Yeah, and here's a movie clip with the "Mac Guy" from the Mac vs. PC commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaa2X0g9bhA

[stitifier @ Nov 8th 2007 3:15PM]

The way he is looking at the camera in that picture is moderately frightening to me.

"In my spare time, I like to check out teenybopper chat rooms."

/shudder

[Derbeste @ Nov 8th 2007 3:16PM]

By the way Engadget....

He's at TORTILLA Flats. Not Tequila flats.

[dataminer49er @ Nov 8th 2007 3:18PM]

"Dude, you got a daqari!"

[Whiplash @ Nov 8th 2007 4:11PM]

LOL!

[Jeffrey @ Nov 8th 2007 3:21PM]

wait, is that tequilla flats, or Tortilla Flats? Tortilla flats is an interesting place, not half bad is you can make it before the insaney crowds...

[Derbeste @ Nov 8th 2007 3:22PM]

It's Tortilla flats.

He's just the Tequila dude.

http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/11/dell_dude_now_tequila_dude_at.html

[Jay @ Nov 9th 2007 1:33PM]

Is Tortilla Flats on Greenwich *Street* in the Village? Nice place. I wouldn't mind getting Dude's tortilla.

[Ian @ Nov 8th 2007 3:25PM]

Good for him for getting on with his life. Good luck.

[Tonicboy @ Nov 8th 2007 3:25PM]

He got arrested? Really? I thought marijuana was decriminalized in NY state. Must have been his third offense, or > 25g, which is a lot of pot!

http://norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4554

[PDubNYC @ Nov 9th 2007 10:36AM]

wrong. You still get arrested. But you won't spend the night in jail.

[unkone @ Nov 8th 2007 3:30PM]

Dude, your getting minimum wage.

[Derbeste @ Nov 8th 2007 3:33PM]

Plus tips.

[Mickey Jones @ Nov 8th 2007 6:40PM]

umm. it's actually "you're". How much are you making professor?

[Reader @ Nov 8th 2007 6:54PM]

Maybe he has a Ph.D in computer engineering and doesn't ever have to spell for shit? Misspelling one word in a comment on engadget doesn't make him an idiot...

[John @ Nov 8th 2007 9:02PM]

That's not misspelling; it's using an entirely different and incorrect word. Or, in other words, it is a homophonic error characterised by using a possessive adjective ("your") when "you're", a contraction of "you" and "are", should have been used.

[Nex @ Nov 9th 2007 4:15AM]

even being a computer programmer you should know how to spell.. i mean in html.. one and your page is assed up..

[unkone @ Nov 9th 2007 1:45PM]

Dude, refill my coffee.

I could come up with these all day

[strider_mt2k @ Nov 8th 2007 3:33PM]

Waiters get the best weed.

Not that I'd know.

[Matthew @ Nov 8th 2007 4:00PM]

Because your not a waiter and your weed sucks?

[Thataboy @ Nov 8th 2007 3:39PM]

Looks like the Dell Dude has gone the way of Dell... wayyyyy dowwwwwwn. Therefore, it stands to reason that Ellen Feiss will soon be Secretary of State.

[Paul @ Nov 8th 2007 3:54PM]

I would much prefer Ellen Feiss to the current inhabitant of that office...

[Thataboy @ Nov 8th 2007 3:39PM]

Oh, and there was already a band named Whale. Maybe if he weren't stoned, or if he were on a computer that worked, he'd know that!

[joey @ Nov 8th 2007 4:23PM]

Yeah, and thats his band dofus.

[Thataboy @ Nov 8th 2007 4:36PM]

What's a dofus?
Whale was a Swedish band from the 90s. Do you really not remember Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe?

[painty @ Nov 8th 2007 6:10PM]

a dofus is someone who yaps before thinking..errr...kinda like joey

[Josh @ Nov 8th 2007 10:24PM]

that video was freaky...with the girl in the dress and braces licking the lollipop and looking at torsos of naked men...

[Scott Neary @ Nov 8th 2007 11:07PM]

baby we love you, baby we love you, baby yea!

[bongo @ Nov 8th 2007 3:45PM]

definitely looks like the interior of Tortilla Flats, not Tequila Flats

[Robert Aitchison @ Nov 8th 2007 3:46PM]

Would be hilarious if this guy hooked up with Ellen Feiss.

[TK101 @ Nov 8th 2007 3:46PM]

That made me laugh out loud (which is not always a good idea in a quiet office).

TK

[James @ Nov 8th 2007 3:47PM]

Heh, I still loved the headline of "Dude, you're getting a... -rrested". Priceless.

[ohne hosen @ Nov 8th 2007 4:17PM]

My favorite joke at the time was, "I thought pot was a Gateway drug!".

[andrew @ Nov 8th 2007 3:47PM]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=215280268
his band is a joke! better find something else to hope for dell dude.

[SFO Kevin @ Nov 8th 2007 3:48PM]

Hes off Broadway too
[img]http://images.broadwayworld.com/columnpic/joy07.jpg[/img]
http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=4575

[jonathan @ Nov 9th 2007 5:52AM]

Dude you band name is taken by the actual band 'Whale'.
Hobo Humpin' Slobo-Babe!

[NHAnimator @ Nov 8th 2007 3:54PM]

What??? An out-of-work actor waiting tables???

[John @ Nov 8th 2007 4:06PM]

I don't think he made boatloads of money. Unless it were an itty-bitty boat.

[bob @ Nov 8th 2007 6:12PM]

I don't believe it.

[Oprah @ Nov 8th 2007 8:51PM]

Habeeb it