Billy Mays goes "Kaboom"

**14509glenfield** · June-29-09, 02:19 PM

Uncluttered and peaceful exit.

**LEOQUEEN** · June-29-09, 03:32 PM

Turns out he suffered from heart disease, hypertension, and had a heart attack in his sleep. I'll bet the rough landing of that plane sent his blood pressure numbers sky high, which played out later that evening as an infarction. Rest his soul. I always laughed with his commercials, and especially one skit he performed on the Tonight Show a few months ago with Jay Leno. I wonder if that is on you tube, because Jay had him doing his spiel to sell a politician, I think...

**rb336** · June-29-09, 03:45 PM

he was more than willing to skewer himself. always a plus

ccbatson · June-29-09, 04:09 PM

He, and others in that field are were/are comical by virtue of their absurdity.

**Detroitej72** · June-29-09, 08:03 PM

He was entertaining and people sure knew when he was on a commercial by his yelling.

RIP, Mr. Mays...

ccbatson · July-19-09, 01:32 PM

What ever happened to the be speckled English or Australian guy that would pal around with Ron Popeil?

**sturge** · July-20-09, 11:08 AM

Was surprised to see a commercial with him in it yesterday. I figured all those ads would be pulled.

**Sstashmoo** · July-20-09, 01:19 PM

Sturge, I saw that and was surprised by it as well.

**CornBot** · July-20-09, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by sturge

Was surprised to see a commercial with him in it yesterday. I figured all those ads would be pulled.

I don't know what cable station my kid had on not long after Billy Mays passed, but whichever it was blared out one of his ads and caught me by surprise, too. I was thinking they were being pretty darned insensitive, but at the end of the spot, they put on a full-screen photo still of Billy, with tags of 1957-2009 and "he will be missed." That actually seemed thoughtful.

Since that one time, however, the ads are same-old same-old with Billy shouting, "I'm Billy Mays and I'm back..." which make me cringe even more than they used to, because now they are not just annoying. Now it seems like using them is pure exploitation and really poor taste.

ccbatson · July-20-09, 08:28 PM

Huh? since when do they need to stop running recorded works of people that have passed away?

**Detroitej72** · July-20-09, 08:33 PM

I'm sure there was a contract that provided the companies with permission to run the commercials for the duration of whatever length of time they and Mr. Mays agreed upon.

ccbatson · July-20-09, 08:36 PM

And what is the problem with running them?

**Detroitej72** · July-20-09, 08:40 PM

Nothing. Like I said, they have a contract.

Although, I'm sure some find them to be distasteful, but is it really any different than showing a movie with an actor after he died?