Cleveland Browns helmet logo “change” plays right into comedian’s joke

When the Cleveland Browns announced the NFL team would be changing its long-standing logo, fans anxiously awaited to see how the new football helmet would look. Few people as anxious or eager as stand-up comedian Dan Wilbur, who has been mocking the Browns onstage repeatedly for their very lack of a logo.

As depicted above, he jokes: “The way I can tell the Cleveland Browns gave up awhile ago is that their logo is just a football helmet. Most other logos in the NFL are fearsome animals. But the Browns logo is basically saying: ‘Safety first!'”

And it’s not even brown, at that. The Browns helmet is orange.

Wilbur, a Cleveland native who co-hosts two regular New York City comedy showcases (Two-Book Minimum tonight at Union Hall in Brooklyn, and Lasers in the Jungle every Thursday at UCBeast) told The Comic’s Comic he had been doing the joke “a full year” now. “I hope the new logo becomes the punchline somehow,” Wilbur told me last week.

The new logo, unveiled today: Same as the old, with two tweaks. From the official team description: “Our updated helmet logo is reflective of today’s modern Cleveland – the design honors the past while evolving into the future. The iconic brown and white stripes stand tall over the orange helmet – a new orange color that matches the passion of the Dawg Pound. The new brown facemask represents the strength and toughness of Cleveland.”

Why no logo? “Departing from that would be too radical a departure,” team president Alec Scheiner said, according to an ESPN report.

Wilbur’s reaction?

“Big thank you to The Cleveland Browns for barely making an effort so that this joke may live on for another few months,” Wilbur told friends today.

Wilbur also encapsulated other funny opinions on the Browns logo change today for Someecards.

For what it’s worth, one of Cleveland’s most famous comedy alums also weighed in on the helmet redesign. Take it away, Drew Carey!

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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