The 20 Best Allstate Mayhem Commercials, Ranked

You may not know the Allstate Mayhem commercial guy's name, but you know his wickedly snickering game. Dean Winters plays "Mayhem," the mischievously menacing star of Allstate's insurance campaign turned pop culture phenomenon. Each spot features Winters as Mayhem, taking on the role of a texting teenager, distracted tailgater, destructive animal — anyone or anything that could ruin your day if you don't have Allstate. Mayhem is the sassy, sardonic embodiment of Murphy's Law in a series of spots that have been warning customers about the true cost of "cut-rate" insurance since 2010.

If it seems like Mayhem is a part the rough, wry Winters was born to play, it might be because the role was written for him. Winters told Backstage, "Matt Miller, who created the campaign in Chicago, he had written the character of Mayhem for me because his three favorite shows were '30 Rock,' 'Rescue Me,' and 'Oz.' He took my characters from those three shows and created Mayhem." The TV-watching public (and sure, fine, insurance salespeople) are glad the role was created — and that Winters finally said yes to it, after initially turning the role down. "My smartass remark was that I became an actor so I wouldn't have to put on a suit and sell insurance," Winters joked to HuffPost Live. 

According to Winters, there are 116 Mayhem spots and counting. We've run our 20 favorites through a rigorous rubric judging each commercial based on laugh factor, destruction level, and how good the best line is. Batten down the hatches, keep your eyes on the road, and read on for the 20 best Allstate Mayhem commercials, ranked.

In all the Mayhem ads, Dean Winters wears a great suit — then trashes it by embodying his insurance disaster. Watching this sharp-dressed man go ham on people's homes, cars, and lawn furniture really makes you think twice about what kind of protection you have in place. With cheap insurance options flooding the market (not to mention the commercial landscape), Allstate uses the Mayhem ads to remind customers that sometimes you get what you pay for — and Mayhem just loves a bargain shopper.

Mayhem is all about personifying insurance disasters, and this straightforward early spot still makes us snicker. It begins, as many Mayhem ads do, with no problem in sight, but Mayhem lurking in the form of a faulty hot water heater, ready to blow. "I'm your hot water heater. You hardly know I exist. And that's too bad," he deadpans — then launches through the ceiling to crash-land on the front lawn.

Will this spot make you chuckle out loud? Maybe. Will it make you gasp at destruction? Perhaps. But will it make you stare at your own hot water heater in a mixture of reverence and fear, then double-check your own insurance coverage — or at least think of backup living options should your own heater blast through your roof? Heck yes. And all ye Mayhem historians, take note: This spot contains no signature Mayhem giggle, nor the tagline about being better equipped to handle "Mayhem, like me." Go on. Take that trivia. Impress your friends.

When you think of the Allstate Mayhem ads, maybe the awesome violence of nature comes to mind first. A bunch of wind, a tree branch, a terrible storm, wild animals — there are so many untamed elements that will destroy you and your ill-insured prized possessions the first chance they get. But there's another powerfully destructive force in the natural world: children. So God help you if you leave them unattended with a toilet.

The genius of this ad — and the entire Allstate Mayhem canon, of course — is they know Mayhem is all around us, and Mayhem can get weird. But no one can get weirder or wilder than children. The havoc kiddos can wreak on unsuspecting neighbors is the premise of "Kid in 5B." In this spot, Mayhem embodies the Kid in 5B who is "making it rain" in apartment 4B by gleefully stuffing anything he can get his hands on into an overflowing toilet.

Stuffed animals, toy planes, a disturbing amount of chemical products — Mayhem drives them deep into the belly of the toilet, and the renter's insurance heart of darkness. It's terrifying, it's snicker-inducing, and contains an excellent Mayhem-grade evil cackle. The best line isn't a line at all, but Mayhem spitting out a mouthful of toilet water at the top of the spot. Toilet water in the mouth of a destructive child: Truly, the champagne of fears.

Ah, the mayhem of Mother Nature. She cares not for whom the bell or tree branch tolls, but just know, it tolls for thee. The best Allstate Mayhem commercials make the destruction Mother Nature is capable of seem personal somehow, and like anyone who gets insurance with another company just made the target on their back — or street-parked car — bigger.

That's what we see in this early, effective spot that features a breeze rustling softly in a tree's leaves, and Mayhem grinning out from the branches, proclaiming "I'm a random windstorm." He starts the spot gashed and bruised, presumably fresh from all sorts of other off-screen tomfoolery. Mayhem proceeds to jump up and down on the branch, willing it to finally crash into the car below, smashing it nearly flat.

What makes this ad great is how frighteningly relatable it is — and how it's like a horror movie playing out in 30 seconds. Plus, the Dean Winters cackle factor is strong here. He lets out a brief, powerful pop of malice before he breaks the branch — and shows insurance customers why they really shouldn't go out on a limb.

Part of Mayhem's charm (and advertising power) lies in how he can use everyday activities — like searching for a lost phone — to prove that mayhem truly is everywhere. And that basically, mayhem is us. It's absolutely chaotic that people hunt around for dropped phones while driving. Mayhem and the divine Dean Winters take that chaos and feast upon it.

In this later-career Mayhem spot, Mayhem is a driver's phone, lost between the seats. He taunts the driver, and does a vocal version of an old-school midi ringtone that would do Winter's alter ego as Dennis Duffy, Beeper King of "30 Rock", proud. The driver fishes around for his phone so intensely that he takes his eyes off the road long enough to smash into the car in front of him. "Jackpot," Mayhem says, with the understated gusto of Dennis saying "Hey, Dummy" to Liz Lemon.

This spot has it all. It's gasp-worthy, gets a snicker out of you, and should put the fear of phone-hunting while driving deep into your mortal soul. And yes, we're totally counting the phone vibration noise Winters makes after he drop-rolls out of the car as the best line.

Of course, it's not just children and tree branches that cause mayhem. Pouty adults can be plenty dangerous, as well. And what's even more dangerous than a pouty adult? A rich one. Who's also a lawyer! Mayhem plays this triple threat to those with "15-minute insurance" in this early Allstate Mayhem commercial.

He's a filthy-rich executive with vanity plates, having a bit of a meltdown moment because "the market's down a million points." He spills hot espresso on himself, hits the brakes, and the unsuspecting driver behind him hits his car. "Uh oh. Your fault," Mayhem-as-lawyer says, with relish, presumably before taking the driver for all he is worth.

The beautiful thing about this particular spot is how gleefully unhinged it is. All the Allstate Mayhem commercials are at least smirkingly funny, but they're truly great when they start to get a little weird. In this one, Dean Winters taps into similar hot-headed power like his Ryan O'Reilly role on "Oz" to play the lawyer. Though "Uh oh. Your fault," is a gem of a line, it has nothing on the look of sheer self-interest and self-destructive madness on Mayhem's face as he pours hot coffee into his own lap. Sartre said Hell is other people, and Mayhem said your worst insurance nightmare might just be super-rich executives with time — and coffee — on their hands.

These days, "GPS" is a term the ancients used to describe the maps app that lives inside every phone. But back when this Allstate Mayhem commercial arrived on the scene, GPS units were separate gadgets entirely. They needed to be updated regularly. They behaved poorly in major cities or anywhere there was a lot of concrete around. Sometimes they directed drivers to turn head-on into lakes. And we, as a people, were wholly reliant on them.

This early Mayhem spot takes driver devotion to GPS and turns it hilariously on its head. Mayhem shouts out contradictory directions from his laid-back position in the console. He has a bandaged, bloody head which gives the impression that he's been at this awhile. Finally, he provides un-updated recalculated directions, and the driver turns right into traffic. Mayhem cackles gleefully. Another day, won!

Cars — and our foolish devotion to the gadgets in them — are often the focus of Mayhem ads. This one is still funny, a few modes of GPS later — and it's all down to the truth in comedy, and the evil glee of Dean Winters as Mayhem.

One of the oldest Allstate Mayhem commercials is now also the cringiest. Allowing for the blatant sexism of the past, we can still appreciate the dark comedy of the "Teen Driver" gone wild in this Mayhem spot. It was a different time, right? Sigh. The commercial begins with Mayhem behind the wheel of a glittery pink SUV, announcing — with murder in his eyes and the devil in his throat — that he's a "typical teenage girl."

He's a wronged one, of course, and Dean Winters plays the role deadly straight. And we do mean deadly. Text message alerts go off and Mayhem narrates that her BFF Becky kissed her crush, Johnny. "And that's a problem," the menace ratchets on Mayhem's face, "Cause I liked Johnny." Mayhem tells us he's "emotionally compromised" and proceeds to smash into any car unfortunate enough to share the mall parking lot with the pink SUV. Best line status: "I'm all, OMG. Becky's not even hot!"

The victim Mayhem addresses here isn't Becky or her parents, but rather poor saps like you and I who happened to park near the latest victim of a teenage dirtbag. The ad is admittedly sexist, but also sharp, funny, and apparently what hooked Winters for the role. Winters tells The Chicago Tribune he was initially hesitant about playing Mayhem, until, as he says, "They showed me the teenage girl script, the one where I was texting in the SUV, and it made me laugh out loud. I had a good idea of what I could do with that."

Mayhem always looks like he's gone a couple of rounds in the ring before he announces his current brand of disaster in an Allstate commercial. In this first-phase Allstate spot, he looks even worse for wear. He's got a lightly bloody bandage on his temple, double black eyes, and a grin that means we really should see the other guy.

The other guy in "Blind Spot" is, well, the average driver's car after paying for "name your own price insurance." Mayhem hangs off the side of the driver's car, announcing that he is a blind spot, and his job is easy: "to hide big things." The car spins out dramatically as it attempts to handle a hidden surprise, and after a primal scream, Mayhem rejoices at the damage done.

The spot comes higher up in the list because it's simple, effective, and something that drivers deal with every day, depicted with horrifying yet relatable humor. The best line here is Mayhem's extended scream, full of joy to contrast with the driver's terror. We always knew our blind spots were plotting to destroy us — at least Mayhem does it with flair.

This list has favored plenty of older Allstate Mayhem commercial ads, but "Promposal" is a solid newer offering. This spot will hit home whether you or your younger loved ones have suffered the indignities of proposing a prom date to someone in hopefully viral high style — or if you've just shaken your head in awe at such events on social media.

"I'm the sizzle of this promposal," Mayhem announces in the best line of the spot, lying down on a lawn while covered in lit votive candles. Nearby, a sweet summer child calls out to his lady love in an attempt to woo her to the prom. Soon enough, Mayhem's touch of romance becomes a four-alarm fire — and a blaze consumes the suburban front yard, as well as the kid's chances at getting a yes to prom.

Keeping the Mayhem ads fresh could be a challenge even in their initial year of release, let alone 10 years later. Hitching Mayhem's plan-crushing cart to a "modern" phenomenon like the proposal keeps the old devil kicking — and the ad format relevant. Like Mayhem's giggle and this promposal fire, we think that's pretty hot.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The relatively recent "Car Replacement" Allstate Mayhem commercial is an even weirder, yet more relatable, take on the GPS gone wrong format.

In the spot, Mayhem is "all that techy stuff you got crammed into your brand-new car." His head is literally sticking out of where said techy stuff would be, and the driver is mesmerized by tapping and swiping his face like she's Tindering for her life. Of course, such "Black Mirror"-like obsession with tech can't lead to anything good. Soon, the distracted driver has crashed her car into a low-tech, yet highly effective, retention pond.

The times, they are a-changin', and Mayhem can't help but change along with them. He also can't help but fish while the driver desperately tries to free herself from the sludgy water. We're giving best line status to "I can do anything you want ... except keep your eyes on the road," as well as extra style points for Mayhem's classic wicked giggle as the driver loses control of the car.

Mayhem turns up the heat on the comedy — and the stadium parking lot — in this fairly recent spot featuring the destructive powers of still-lit tailgate grills. As you'll see, tailgaters are up there in the Mayhem world of disasters waiting to happen, right alongside natural disasters and wild animals. Sorry, sports fans.

The spot features Mayhem holding a flickering flame in the palm of his hands, announcing that he's your friend's tailgate grill, that you both forgot to fully put out before heading into the stadium. Then he spits out the best line of the ad, in delicious deadpan: "I see you bought the industrial-sized bottle of lighter fluid. Smart." Almost as soon as the words are out of his mouth, Mayhem, as the grill, explodes out of the car in a stream of flame.

The newer Mayhem ads never shy away from violent destruction, nor throwing Mayhem himself into the proverbial fire. Still, he shakes off the damage that cut-rate insurance purchasers never can — though the man's suit budget must be limitless.

Anything can be the enemy in a Mayhem commercial — including a bit of pleasant weather. This newer Allstate Mayhem ad takes a sunny day and makes it all seem worth investing in good insurance, because even sunny days can prove treacherous.

Here, Mayhem's introduction is also the best line in the spot: "I'm a warm spring breeze. I've got like, 7 billion fans worldwide?" He goes on to extol his own virtues while blowing dandelion silk off near a beautifully lit swingset. He cites the poets that want to write about him and the deodorant that wishes it were him — then walks over to a house's open window, and gently "blows" some loose paper towels into a hot burner making tea on the stove. Soon, the warm spring breeze is burning the place up — literally.

The world isn't safe. We know this, but still, it takes serious comedy chops (and gorgeous cinematography) to be reminded of this plain fact in a way that makes us laugh instead of cry. If you excuse us, we might just go and write a poem about it ... or about how good this Allstate Mayhem commercial is.

Holiday and Super Bowl ads are catnip for commercial-makers, and with good reason: A super-solid entry in either category can get mileage far beyond the season in which the commercial was made. Judge for yourself if this hilarious holiday edition of Mayhem is one to stand the test of time. It definitely is on our naughty list — which, in this case, is a good thing.

"'Twas" is the only holiday Mayhem offering we could find, and it's a doozy. It features Mayhem wearing mouse ears and a mouse nose, snuggled up by a cozy fire, speaking in rhymes over a chiming soundtrack. A home has been decked with garland, wreaths, and all manner of twinkling delights. But when the Mayhem mouse scares the owner of the house, she swats at him with a pillow, but hits a lamp instead. It takes down the Christmas tree and pine garland — part of which winds up aflame.

It's a Rube Goldberg machine of Christmastime disaster, and regardless of which holidays you may celebrate, a festive reminder that even the littlest lights can become blazing fires.

There was a time when Mayhem playing a destructive animal did not require the use of facial costume pieces — and the early-campaign "Guard Dog" ad was just such a time. This spot is silly, scary, and features Mayhem growling like a not-so-fearsome beast. It may not be at the top of our list, but it's truly 10/10, no notes.

The ad begins in a house at night, robbery in progress. Mayhem is the collared guard dog the house's owners left behind, and who the thieves bought off with a juicy bone. Mayhem "barks" once at the intruders. "Hey!" They freeze, and he delivers the spot's best line: "You guys are great!" The thieves get back to work, and Mayhem gets back to roasting the absentee owners for not having Allstate so they can better handle Mayhem — like him.

While this spot came out years before "John Wick" was a glimmer in Keanu's eye, we have to note that the lighting and fashion choices for Mayhem, along with the stylishly creepy face masks the thieves wear, bring to mind John Wick's world — and remind us that Dean Winters showed up in the very first film as a counselor to the ill-fated Viggo Tarasov.

This commercial gives us so much: The phrase "bunch of wind" strikes fear into our hearts, while giving us a newfound fear of patio furniture in the rain. All Allstate Mayhem commercials deal with destruction, but usually, Mayhem is just along for the terrible ride. In this spot, however, he is an agent of his own chaos. Bunches of wind are out here, doing devious deeds for themselves.

The spot starts with a woman out eating "strip mall sushi," watching her security camera in horror as Mayhem's "bunch of wind" lays waste to her patio furniture and giant picture windows during a rainstorm. If you didn't know this was an insurance commercial, you could one hundred percent confuse it for a scene starring a bad boyfriend in a Lifetime thriller movie. Here, Mayhem is vengeful, gleeful, and spits out both the best (and most terrifying) line: "What's the matter, Tonya? I thought you loved being spontaneous!"

Honestly, if Lifetime's KFC mini-movie can exist, why can't there be a Lifetime Mayhem mini-movie thriller tie-in? Give the people what they want, Lifetime — aside from not-so-cut rate insurance.

Dean Winters has been playing Mayhem for more than a decade, and you know what? He's still got it. The "Bear" spot is one of the more recent entries in the Allstate Mayhem commercial canon, and it's like a cooler packed to the gills with treats. Treats, of course, that Mayhem's hungry bear is ready to absolutely crush.

Mayhem, as the bear, comes out of hibernation with a rumbly in his tumbly. "Papa is hungry!" Mayhem hollers, then proceeds to sniff a cooler through the cracked window of a car. Winters, as with everything he does as Mayhem, does it with his whole chest — then proceeds to rip the door off the car and go hard at the cooler and its contents.

It's physically aggressive, visually funny, and elevated to comedy gold status when Mayhem, mouth stuffed full of bread, excitedly tells the viewers at home, "I've got hot dog buns!"

Is it any wonder that perhaps the most destruction in a single Allstate Mayhem commercial comes down to a cat? This later-era Mayhem ad takes a look at just how much malice our most loved creatures may have for us — and our poorly insured homes.

The spot starts innocently enough, with Mayhem posing as a pampered cat. But soon the kitten gloves are off, and the home destruction game is on. He reveals that he's been plotting his owners' demise since the day they brought him home. Mayhem swats anything (and anyone) he can, starts a flood, collapses a ceiling, eats a bird, and generally chooses violence.

"You think this is love?" he hisses, even as his loving pet parents photograph him being "cute." "This is a billion years of tiger DNA just ready to pounce." The spot also benefits from Dean Winters hissing while riding a roomba, which really should have been a bigger Halloween costume than it was.

Tailgating concerns loom large in the Allstate Mayhem ad cinematic universe, and this spot about a cheap bungee cord failing to hold 800 pounds of tailgating gear in place in a speeding truck is the perfect demonstration as to why. As hilarious as it is terrifying, "Cheap Bungee Cord" might strike a chord with certain viewers who play things fast and loose with bargain buy goods.

Mayhem sneers out at the viewer from the back of a speeding pickup stuffed with fan gear, all held together with what Mayhem is personifying today: A bungee cord from the gas station that would be "perfect for holding down the lid on a box of sweaters." As soon as the words leave his mouth, stuff starts flying off the truck and into traffic. A cooler, chairs, a grill — all are dust in the wind when a cheap bungee cord is entrusted.

The resulting street destruction looks like a scene out of "Mad Max." Of course, it brings Mayhem no small measure of glee. His final act, after taunting viewers to get Allstate, is to pound back a fistful of cheese puffs — before, of course, letting the econo-size bucket of puffs fly on the wind.

Allstate's 2013 Super Bowl campaign shows off the sheer power of Mayhem throughout human history. If the typical Mayhem ad follows the same format (and trust us, it has, for the better part of 13 years and counting), the Super Bowl commercials take that format — and super-size it.

Mayhem is the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden, and whispers "atta girl" to Eve and winks at Adam. He welcomes the Trojan horse into an ancient city's gates. He is Mrs. O' Leary's cow, kicking over a lantern to burn Chicago to ash. He's also the cause of the lean in the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the crack in the Liberty Bell, and the Sphinx losing its nose.

The final shot returns the forbidden apple to frame. Mayhem grabs it, takes a bite, then tosses it behind him as he goes sauntering off into the street. It's a funny ad, if a bloated one — but it's an astounding example of how powerful this long-running campaign is, and just how plausible it feels that Mayhem has always been, and will always be, a force for destruction.

The best Allstate Mayhem commercial is one from the campaign's early days. It's simple. It's sharp. And it stars Mayhem as an eyeliner-wearing raccoon who will ruin your life and love every second of it.

Mayhem introduces himself as "the smartest raccoon I know." He makes a meal of home insulation. He has "like, four babies." He blows fuses. He scratches wood. He scratches pipes. He chews through the roof of the house and taunts the viewer through it: If they have subpar insurance, he won't just have won the battle. He will have won the war.

Then, he has the audacity to tangle himself in important-looking wires and cackle like the devil himself. It is an essential, and essentially perfect, Mayhem commercial. Dean Winters is at his physical and unhinged comedic best. The raccoon is both every raccoon, and a specific raccoon we wish could star in a "Nobody" style crime film. Winters gets us as invested in this raccoon as Allstate does the idea of insurance to handle Mayhem, like him.