Man, this has been one really strange week. We always say that bad news comes in threes, but that theory has been absolutely blown out of the water this week. Word today is that Billy Mays, probably the most well-known TV pitchman around, was found dead at his Florida home this morning. He was 50.
For those of you keeping score, that makes four passings this week, and if you're counting unbelievable news stories on top of that, the Mark Sanford tryst would make Number Five. Are we really having that bad of a week, or is it just that there are some amny people that we classify as 'celebrities', that their loss seems like a daily event? Yes, the media is everywhere now, so it's no surprise that these deaths seem to be coming so fast and furious. With Mays' passing, it now leaves it between Vince and Anthony Sullivan to fight for the title of Top TV Pitchman....
Billy Mays hawked everything from OxyClean to MiniBurger Grills to Health Insurance, which we discussed previously. But , half of advertising is breeding familiarity and confidence. Billy Mays sure had familiarity. You knew him when you saw him, and everyone can do some type of imitation of him - usually by talking at the top of your lungs - but hey, it worked.... I ran into a website on Mays, and it has some Chuck Norris-type 'Facts' about him. Here are the best ones......
Billy Mays interrupted Bill O'Reilly once, causing O'Reilly to profuselyapologize for speaking out of turn.
The GDP of Billy Mays is greater than the entire European Union - before the Recession.
In 2006, a man in Arkansas accidentally hit the Bass Boost button during a Billy Mays informercial. We know this because a forensic team in radiation-proof suits recently had finished their meticulous inspection of the blast crater.
Narwhals wash their tusks with OxyClean...
Billy Mays attributes the power of his on-screen persona to an incident as a teenager, when he accidentally ingested the Cap Lock button on his IBM PS/2 keyboard..
Vin Diesel waxes his head with Liquid Diamond....
After hearing a Billy Mays infomercial, R. Lee Ermey (Gunny Sgt. Hartman) reconsidered his own personal commitment to perpetually yelling.
Billy Mays once sold Pain to Chuck Norris..
Joe Piscopo tried to outsell Billy Mays once.......... ONCE.
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1 comment:
Maybe this is how Obama is going to cure the recession? Lots of A-B-C list celebs passing away, everyone sends flowers, FTD demand skyrockets, gives new meaning to "Say it with flowers"...teg
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