David Theune Goes Goofy-Creepy for Stanley Steemer

In one recent Stanley Steemer commercial, a carpet cleaner, played by David Theune, earnestly recounts how "awesome" it was to clean up after an alpaca. In another, he urges an intimidated customer not to "coddle" the newly shined floor "like a young Theodore Roosevelt." But perhaps the most vivid one features him sobbing over a rug that has been dumped at the side of the road. "I could have saved this one," he says, before throwing his arms up in futility and despair. Theune has taken goofy-creepy to new heights. He's turned it into an art form.The actor says he had a wonderful time doing these spots. So far, 13 have been shot, five this year and eight last year, with each series of ads taking three days to complete. Though they are scripted, Theune was given lots of leeway in trying out comic ideas. "It was the first commercial audition where I was allowed to improvise," he says. A major challenge was simply not cracking up, he adds, but more daunting was the memorization, made more difficult by not knowing in what order the ads would be shot.Theune felt additional pressure because he had never done anything on this scale, coupled with the ads' national visibility. As spokesman for the company, he felt an enormous sense of responsibility to the client. Prior to Stanley Steemer, Theune had appeared in one TV commercial. Before moving to Los Angeles two and a half years ago, the Wisconsin native's credits were largely in community theater, short sketches, and dramatic re-enactments, such as one for the Discovery Channel involving postpartum depression. But his heart was in comedy.Even as a youngster, Theune knew he wanted to be a comedian. At the University of WisconsinMilwaukee, he majored in theater. But improvisation changed his life. During his final semester and continuing for eight years, he took improv classes at ComedySportz. Now he frequently appears at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and iO West."Improv has helped me as an actor in that it allows me to be comfortable rolling with new ideas that the director may have," he explains. "The confidence I have knowing that I've had to create scenes from scratch in front of a live audience allows me to calm down a bit when I realize that in the acting world, all the lines are already there for me. I just have to play the part."Shortly after arriving in L.A., Theune landed commercial representation with the Reign Agency, his first agency. As thrilled as he was to get the Stanley Steemer gig, he was a little worried about being pigeonholed by the commercials and finding his casting opportunities limited. "I talked to my agent about this," he says, "but she assured me there was nothing to worry about as long as the commercials were good."The spots have not yet opened doors for him, he reports. "If they have, I'm certainly not aware of it," Theune says, "though people comment to me about the ads." Still, he no longer needs a day job thanks to Stanley Steemer"and the fact that my wife is an E.R. nurse."Watch "I Could Have Saved This One" below: To watch more Stanley Steemer spots, visit David Theune's YouTube channel.