Another Celeb Dies - RIP Billy Mays

[DanMcQ]

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obit_billy_mays

The field is open for the ShamWow guy now.

[TC]

Cue easyed posting about how he was an alcoholic and should be remembered as a drunk.

[Nevada Hoya]

HE WAS AMUSING TO WATCH! MAY HE RIP!!!

[EasyEd]

Jun 28, 2009 13:35:13 GMT -5 TC said:

Cue easyed posting about how he was an alcoholic and should be remembered as a drunk.

Cue TC posting making fun of easyed.

[derhoya]

Sham wow guy (Vince Shlomi) is donezo too ---


RIP Billy Mays, aka Just For Men's best customer for years, you will be missed.

[hoyainspirit]

Yes, RIP. I admit, though, that whenever I heard his voice, I immediately changed the channel.

[theexorcist]

Jun 29, 2009 11:04:55 GMT -5 hoyainspirit said:

Yes, RIP. I admit, though, that whenever I heard his voice, I immediately changed the channel.

Search for the Billy Mays ad that discusses ESPN360 while avoiding the Japanese mafia.

[Boz]

Juist out of curiosity, anyone ever buy any of these things he pitched? (the ESPN ad doesn't count; that was more spoof than ad).

Or did anyone watch that "Pitchmen" show on Discovery?

I caught one epsode of that once, but it seemed to be all about Billy's childhood, not the product. I always wanted to see more of that because I was always curious about how much guys like Billy Mays actually cared about the quality of the product versus how much they were getting paid to pitch it.

Also, I'll reveal a little of my own ignorance here. It probably wasn't until the last couple of years that I realized that Billy Mays was just a pitchman. When I first saw him on TV, I figured he was involved in the companies that developed these products. How stupid am I?

[Bando]

Billy Mays orders from McDonald's drive thru

[jgalt]

Jun 29, 2009 11:59:00 GMT -5 Boz said:

Or did anyone watch that "Pitchmen" show on Discovery?

I caught one epsode of that once, but it seemed to be all about Billy's childhood, not the product. I always wanted to see more of that because I was always curious about how much guys like Billy Mays actually cared about the quality of the product versus how much they were getting paid to pitch it.

Also, I'll reveal a little of my own ignorance here. It probably wasn't until the last couple of years that I realized that Billy Mays was just a pitchman. When I first saw him on TV, I figured he was involved in the companies that developed these products. How stupid am I?

I wached the show a few times. That episode you saw must have been an odd one. usually they were more about the production of the ad for a product and it development.

I think he cared about the quality to an extent. From an interview with CNBC (or msnbc one of the two) i learned he gets five figures to do the ad (not an outrageous amount) but gets a percentage of ALL sales. That adds up even if it is only a couple percent. the total industry (direct sales) does more than 1.5 bn a year in revenue. He is probably accounting for 15% of those sales. that could easily be 8 figures for him a year. He drove a Bentley and flew around in a private jet that he owned- he was loaded.

But this should be lesson to everyone- NEVER fall asleep after a concussion, EVER.

[Nevada Hoya]

One more celebrity died: Karl Malden. He lived to the ripe old age of 97. RIP.