Tony Hale Had To Lie To His Daughter About Shooting That Beyoncé Super Bowl Commercial

On Sunday night, Beyoncé used a Super Bowl ad to announce her new album, Renaissance: Act II and drop two country songs. Before the official reveal, Bey teased her new music at the end of a Verizon Super Bowl ad. The premise was that Verizon’s network is so strong, not even the great Beyoncé can break it. Not by opening an actual lemonade stand, unveiling an A.I. clone, or performing in space. Her co-star is Tony Hale, who plays a Gary from Veep-esque assistant.

Yesterday, Tony spoke to Variety about shooting the commercial. He compares working with Beyoncé to his roles in Veep and Arrested Development:

“I love the contrast of, like, just the most powerful icon, and then … me! The guy who typically plays emasculated sidekicks!”

Tony said the whole thing came together quickly. He got a call from his agent about a potential Super Bowl ad, and he was like, “That’s great.” Then, the Beyoncé bomb was dropped:

And then they said it was Beyoncé, and I was like, “What?” My daughter had gone to her concert and was telling me all about it. I didn’t go, but she and I had just seen the “Renaissance” film. I’m obviously a fan. The whole thing was incredibly cool and exciting.

Because everything Beyoncé does is top-secret, Tony couldn’t tell his daughter what he was actually shooting. He said this was “the hardest part”:

My wife is a makeup artist, so she worked with me on the commercial, and for the three weeks after we couldn’t mention it. We were like, “This is killing us.” She had asked, “What are you guys doing?” I said, “Oh, we’re just shooting this industrial for a tech company.” She didn’t think twice about it.

Last week, Tony appeared in some Verizon teasers. In one, he’s working at a lemonade stand. In another, he chats with the Renaissance crystal horse. His daughter put two and two together:

They sent out these teasers throughout the week. I get this text. She goes, “Dad?” I was like, “Yes?” She says, “I’m with my friend, Lola, and we’re breaking this down, and … Dad?” She coded it. She’s a big Taylor Swift fan, too, and it’s all about hints and coding. She picked up on the lemons and me saying “hold up” in the beginning of the teaser. I kind of didn’t want her to see the teaser, because I wanted to tape her when she was watching the Super Bowl, but these teenagers are just too smart.

See, if I were a teen, and my dad worked with Beyoncé and didn’t tell me, I would be furious. “You kept this from me? You didn’t take me to set? Where’s my autograph? I hate you!” To be fair, we once got into a screaming match because he slightly burnt my grilled cheese. Full-on teenage nightmare.

Here’s the Verizon commercial: