Plane Fills With Laughter As Flight Attendant Preforms Comical Instructional Safety Demonstration

Apr 09, 2021

For those who travel regularly, there’s typically nothing more boring than the pre-flight safety demonstration. Having likely repeated the phrases “fasten your seatbelts” and “in the unlikely event of a water landing” countless times, flight attendants often recite the safety instructions like robots — well, except for Michael McAdam. McAdam, a Canadian flight attendant who moonlights as a voice actor and comedian, performs his safety demonstrations with flare. This 2019 clip from a WestJet flight shows McAdams as he hilariously goes through all the steps of the pre-flight safety instructions. And if the passengers’ laughter is any indication, McAdams’ routine is a hit.

This isn’t the first time a clip of McAdam’s pre-flight comedy routine has gone viral either. In a 2011 video uploaded by Bryan Cuerrier, McAdam’s has the whole plane in stitches over his comedic safety instructions. What makes McAdam’s comedy so impressive is that he doesn’t really talk in either video. As another flight attendant reads out the flight instructions, McAdam mimes putting on a seatbelt, wearing an oxygen mask and inflating the under-seat life jacket with pizzazz.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that besides his day job as a flight attendant, McAdam has several more creative pursuits underway. After all, he went viral for an in-flight safety demonstration, which is no easy feat. Not only does the Calgary resident pursue comedy and voice acting, but he also writes and creates comic books. One of his most recent projects was Twilight Detective Agency, for which he accumulated more than $2,000 of funding on Kickstarter.

“He’s that likeable guy next door. The nice guy. Believable, funny and warm, Michael McAdam is LIVE MIKE – manic or moderate, a mile-a-minute or gentle and upbeat, he has the voice and experience to ensure that your project sounds exactly the way you want it, every time. If you want quality, you want LIVE!” McAdams writes on his website.

As McAdams’ intro makes abundantly clear, “Live Mike” isn’t just some tired and boring flight attendant; instead, he’s “manic” and “mile-a-minute,” which are good descriptors as you’ll see in the video below.

What makes this guy so funny is his slapstick sense of humor that’s full of exaggerated movements and crazy facial expressions. But describing why it’s funny is no substitute for watching the actual video.

Since its upload in 2019, it has accumulated more than 600,000 views from YouTubers around the world. Hundreds of viewers couldn’t help but leave a comment, speaking to how funny McAdam’s routine is.

“I was on this plane...I was laughing my (butt) off🤣🤣,” one commenter wrote.

“The lady recording this is about to have a pulmonary collapse 😂,” Isabel Diaz added, referencing the camera woman's incessant laughter.

While there’s no denying McAdam’s talent and originality, it turns out that the funny flight attendant safety spiel is a genre in and of itself. In a viral clip from a Southwest flight, the sassy flight attendant jokes, “Now ladies and gentlemen, in the event that you have not been in an automobile since 1942, we’re going to show you how to fasten a seatbelt. Watch closely.” 

And in case the passengers don’t like his humor, he has this to say: “Folks, you don’t like the jokes or service tonight, (then there are) six ways out of this airplane. Feel free to use them.”

The thing is that flight attendants and airlines likely know that the pre-flight safety instructions are boring; that’s exactly why they make them more entertaining by throwing some jokes in there. In fact, there are many companies, like British Airways, that include celebrities in their pre-flight safety videos.

In 2017, Bloomberg CityLab even ran a story about the “Evolution of Airline Safety Videos,” which documented a shift in pre-flight safety videos.

According to the article, airlines introduced in-flight entertainment screens in the 1980s, which also gave rise to the video safety videos we all know well. But in the decades following those first safety videos in which “smiling flight attendants” were “assisted by earnest graphics,” something happened. 

“... (S)ince the late Aughts, these straight-faced public service announcements have almost completely disappeared, to be replaced by spunky pop-culture riffs, irreverent humor, and eye-catching production,” Benjamin Schneider writes in his article for Bloomberg. 

“In an industry governed by such strict regulations, there is very little airlines can do to differentiate themselves from their competition. So, in 2007, when the airline startup Virgin America sought to carve out its niche as the airline that ‘can make flying fun again,’ in the words of its flamboyant founder Richard Branson, the in-flight safety video was one of the few features that could be tinkered with.”

McAdams’ below video is exactly in that spirit. While these days flying coach might feel more like taking a bus than embarking on a grand adventure, McAdams and flight attendants like him have made flying just a little bit more special.

Have you ever had a funny flight attendant before? What did they say? Let us know — and be sure to pass this story and video on to your friends.