-By Barry Janoff

MC Hammer alarm clocks and copier machines will be the stars of new spots for ESPN to support its NFL Monday Night Football programming.

Two of six spots in the campaign will break tonight to tout the first MNF games on Sept. 8, which will feature an NFL doubleheader, the first game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers and the second between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders. The others will air during the season. Creative is via Wieden + Kennedy, New York.

In "Alarm," we see a guy in bed as he is woken up by his beeping alarm clock. A voiceover offers: "Monday. Back to the grind for you and your alarm clock. Reluctant to accept this, you keep dreaming about laying down tracks with MC Hammer." The action cuts to a recording studio where Hammer is singing and the guy is playing keytar. But the voiceover asks, "What is that beeping noise?" Hammer stops singing and asks, "Whose beeper keeps beeping and beeping?" The scene returns to the guy in bed as we realize the beeping is from his alarm clock.

However, there is redemption as the voiceover continues, "But with Monday comes the glorious return of Monday Night Football on ESPN. Tagline remains: "Is it Monday yet?"

In "Paper," a guy is at work as the voiceover says, "Monday. The day that 73% of paper jams occur." The guy then runs to fix the copy machine, to no avail. But the voiceover returns with its message of hope and football on Monday night.

Separately, ESPN is teaming with Geico and will use the insurance company's cavemen in promo spots for SportsCenter. The Geico-inspired Cavemen show bombed last season on ABC, which is a sibling of ESPN under The Disney Co.