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Kind World

Kind World Presents: Endless Thread's look into the life and legacy of Bill Mays

Kind World

WBUR

Kindness, Society & Culture, Profound, Personal Journals, Uplifting, Stories

4.71.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2021

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Remember those OxiClean commercials with the in-your-face pitchman? That was Billy Mays. Mays died years ago, but he’s lived on in meme form. Why? We ask his son Billy Mays III, his biggest frenemy, and a host of others to explain why someone who was squarely in the age of television continues to appear online in strange and provocative ways. It’s the story of an American staple whose consumerist existence belies a personality that, in the end, was surprisingly wholesome.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, KindWorld listeners, this is Amory Severtzin, senior producer in WBUR's podcast department.

0:06.7

And we have something a little different for you today.

0:09.6

So I co-host a show called Endless Thread with my colleague Ben Brock Johnson.

0:14.5

Hey, hey, and we've been doing a whole series about memes, internet memes.

0:22.0

And we had an episode that we wanted to share with you because we think it really hits

0:25.7

on some themes of kindness in unexpected ways and unexpected places.

0:31.1

So this is an episode called I'm Not Done Yet.

0:34.3

And it's about a little known early Aughts TV pitchman that you may have heard of, Billy

0:40.0

Maze.

0:41.0

So here's the episode, I hope you'll take a listen, I hope you enjoy it.

0:44.6

And if you like what you hear, head on over to the Endless Thread feed right after this

0:48.9

and hit subscribe.

0:49.9

Okay, here's the episode.

0:55.7

This is a story about two men, friends, rivals.

1:09.2

One is no longer with us, but still around in his own way.

1:12.6

The other one, the rival is definitely still with us, and he won't shut up.

1:18.1

I was told as a kid that I had the gift of the gab in verbal diarrhea.

1:22.5

I think verbal diarrhea was when people didn't like what I had to say, and the gift of the

1:26.1

gab was when I was saying something that people actually thought was somewhat worth listening

1:31.0

to.

1:32.0

We'll say Anthony Sullivan has the gift of gab.

1:35.3

Former, you're welcome to call me Mr. Sullivan.

...

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