This has been a week unlike any other for celebrity deaths. Billy Mays, the cheerful, if relentless pitchman who hawked such items as Oxiclean and Orange Glo, was found dead in his home today.
Mays, 50, was something of the modern heir to types like Ron Popeil. But his pitch style was never greasy or ironic, and much of what he hawked had an apparent use and value. He was certainly nothing like Vince Shlomi, aka the obnoxious ShamWow guy, whose arrest on assault and prostitution charges was met with derision, if not cheers.
Here's a mash-up, Heavy from TF2 selling one of Mays' signature products, Kaboom. (It was a response back in May to the Scout hawking Shlomi's Slap-Chop.) R.I.P. Billy Mays - a man fortunate enough to do for a living something he truly enjoyed, and do it well.
TF2 Heavy Sells Kaboom [YouTube]
'Infomercial King' Billy Mays Found Dead in Home [Fox News]