Though it's been less than a year since Happy's Cannes debut in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase, the globe-straddling directorial collective - comprised of Guy Shelmerdine, Richard Farmer and Lucas Spaulding - has compiled a reel that should make even Frank Budgen envious. With spots such as "Dog Breath" for Wrigley's, "Hallway" and "Kitchen" for Teen AIDS, "Yetiballers" for Sportlife, and "Hero" for Fray Bentos, Happy has proven its ability to elicit the comic side of human nature and make viewers squirm - often in the same spot.

Repped by Smuggler stateside and Arden Sutherland-Dodd in Europe, full-timers Shelmerdine and Farmer (Spaulding is a preferred editor) boast backgrounds so culturally diverse it's little wonder Happy is able to capture the weirdness of human behavior for an international client roster. Shelmerdine, 29, a former Cliff Freeman & Partners AD and British ex-pat living in New York, brings his UK humor to the table. California-based Farmer, 31, who grew up on an Oklahoma ranch and majored in computer science, mixes dry wit with the outrageous - a trait evident in all of their spots.

Happy first hooked up at the Burning Man festival in 2001 and "our shared philosophies grew from there," says Shelmerdine. With agency and production experience under their belts, their philosophy was to make clients happy - hence the duo's moniker - with the finished product. It's an attitude that has earned them the respect of peers, and cherry jobs to boot. Their "Hero" spot from Mother of London, for Fray Bentos meat pies, saw the duo directing from three different continents over 12 days.

"That is my favorite spot so far," says Farmer. Shelmerdine adds that the concept and the budget harkened back to the 1980s. "When we told Mother how we wanted to shoot it, they just came back with the money." (He won't say how much.)

The pair are basking in the notoriety of the Abbott Mead Vickers Wrigley's spot, which features a hungover man who looks like he's about to throw up, but instead a live dog is ejected from his throat. While they're enjoying the attention, Happy needed a week off after the shoot. Directing, says Shelmerdine, has turned out to be "harder work than we thought."

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