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HI, BILLY MAYS HERE!
—Billy Mays
Without a doubt, Billy Mays is my favorite salesman. I quite enjoy his signature loud, energetic delivery, which gives him an incredible charisma and makes him appear to be truly enthusiastic for whatever product he is trying to sell.
His many commercials aired throughout the 2000s, but initially I did not consider them to be anything special, and instead simply regarded them as more advertising that I had to sit through. He definitely grew on me over the years, though, and I recall that, in the late 2000s, I actually enjoyed watching his commercials—which can hardly be said of the great majority of television advertisements I've seen—and once again having his shouting voice and friendly, familiar face appear on my TV. I remember his OxiClean commercials the best, of course, but I also remember pretty well the ones for the Big City Slider Station, Kaboom, Mighty Mendit (which we actually bought—thanks, Billy!), Mighty Putty (which we also bought—thanks again, Billy!), and Mighty Tape.
He most certainly died before his time during the Great Celebrity Death Wave of June 2009 (which, most notably, also included the death of Michael Jackson), and I genuinely felt sad back then over the loss. I also remember that his various commercials continued to air on television for probably around a few weeks after his death, but were afterwards pulled; the advertisements for OxiClean, in particular, I recall as having no pitchman for a while after his death, to then switching to Anthony Sullivan, but to me, it simply wasn't the same—Billy Mays will always be the OxiClean guy.