It's Kaboom-Time for Billy Mays

By J. Thomas Duffy

Well, they say that the Grim Reaper, death, comes in threes, and, after Farah Fawcett and the Unconvicted Child Molester last week, that third shoe (or airplane ceiling), appears to have dropped, claiming its victim.

The world of direct marketing, and infomercials, will never be the same.



Reports today are that the vociferous pitchman Billy Mays is dead.

Billy Mays dies at 50; boisterous TV pitchman

Mays, 50, the emphatic and well-known hawker of the OxiClean stain remover, the Zorbeez super chamois, a sticky substance called Mighty Putty and many other items offered for an amazing low price, was found unresponsive in his Tampa, Fla., home Sunday morning. He was declared dead by a fire rescue crew at 7:45 a.m., according to Sgt. Christopher Ugles, a spokesman for the Tampa Police Department.

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Mays' surprising death came as he was enjoying an unlikely degree of fame and fortune as a practitioner of "direct-response advertising," the infomercial-style spots that drive a $150-billion industry. He and his sometimes-collaborator Anthony Sullivan have racked up more than $1 billion in combined sales, according to Fortune magazine. In April, the Discovery Channel began airing "Pitchmen," a reality TV show based on their exploits.

"I hate to say it, but the king is dead," Sullivan said in a statement Sunday. " . . . I'll always remember his booming voice -- him saying 'Hi, Billy Mays here.' He was the best friend a man could wish for. He was much more than people knew."

But wait!

We can't have a mega-celebrity death without some sort of titillating controversy, which those muckrakers from Hollywood provide the angle that will have lawyers running to Florida throughout the night;

FAA -- Billy Wasn't Wearing a Seat Belt on Plane

The FAA is already deflecting blame for the death of Billy Mays -- claiming the legendary TV pitchman wasn't wearing a seat belt when he took a shot to the head during a rough landing on a flight he was on yesterday.

Here's what we know -- Billy Mays was aboard US Airways Flight 1241 flying from Philadelphia, which landed roughly when the front tire blew out as it touched down. After the flight, Billy told FOX 13 in Tampa that something struck him in the head -- here's Billy's actual quote:

"All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

We had such plans for Billy Mays.

Just last November, The Garlic saw the perfect synergy for the frayed, tattered, falling-apart GOP and America's pinnacle pitchman;

Could This Be The Answer For The Torn GOP?

The secret, of course, is Mays, and his "Mighty Mendit."

Sounds like U.S. Air could have used some of that Mighty Mendit.

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Bonus Billy Mays (Was) Here Riffs

CNN: Billy Mays, OxiClean pitchman, found dead

People: Informercial Pitchman Billy Mays Dies at 50

BayNews9: Billy Mays remembered as 'hardest working man in TV'

Barry Crimmins: De-electable

As Seen On TV: Top Ten Billy Mays Commercials

Kaboom!



(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)