Kevin Harlan is the undisputed king of making a sports broadcast fun and the master of ad reads. No one does it quite like Harlan, who Awful Announcing named 2024’s Play-by-Play Announcer of the Year, not only for his performance but also for his memorable ad reads, proving that he could make even a phonebook sound interesting.
He showcased this talent once again with a brilliant ad read on Thursday night during the Memphis Grizzlies’ game against the Houston Rockets. During Brandon Clarke’s free throw attempts in the third quarter of their 120-119 win, Harlan, on the verge of becoming one of the voices of the NBA on Amazon, promoted a new show streaming on Max called The Pitt.
Kevin Harlan remains the king of ad reads. 🏀🎙️😂 pic.twitter.com/oTjqZHJouV
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 31, 2025
“From John Wells, the executive producer of ER and The West Wing comes The Pitt. Not the story about the Lobos in Albuquerque, New Mexico — uh huh. This is The Pitt, a new medical drama starring Noah Wyle. It’s got 15 episodes! 15 hours in one shift! Don’t miss a minute. Thursday at 9 ET, streaming exclusive on Max.” And if Harlan could figure out how to access the Max streaming service, he’d certainly binge-watch The Pitt. “Now that we’re on, don’t touch it, and let’s just watch,” he quipped.
For those trying to stream The Pitt and catch all episodes of Noah Wyle’s latest drama, you’ll need Max for that, as the show is exclusive to the service. So, unless you’re already a subscriber, you might need to put in some effort to get in on the action. Just don’t ask Harlan for help! However, for those already in the loop, Harlan deserves credit for making the ad read just as entertaining as the show promises to be. Perhaps he should even host a few of those 15 hours of medical drama himself.
