Billy Mays

B.M.: When I used to work full-time with OxiClean, I used to go to the naval base at Pearl Harbor, where they had the biggest mall in the world. I had a reception there, where people were waiting for me to sign autographs and come in with Kaboom and OxiClean and they get the best price in the world. It must've been hundreds and hundreds of people, and I kid you not that I gave them a pitch that was almost ridiculous. "Send in the marines! Kaboom! And the stain is gone! Let's use this on all the enemies, including the dirt!" Probably within a half hour I sold everything out. It was just hundreds and hundreds of people just loading up, in between signing autographs. People appreciate the military. I'm having a little rough time trying to get over to Iraq. I would love to do that somehow. I think it would be nice because I've heard too many times that OxiClean, the little sample packets they get, they use out in the field to clean their clothes. So I would love to go over there with a couple hundred thousand little packets, thank them, hand them all out, you know, have it be part of their kit because they deserve it. That's something I really want to do. I don't know if it's going to happen.

L.G.: Well, maybe somebody from the U.S.O. or the Pentagon will see this and follow up. Let me ask you, without in any sense prying into your own different contractual arrangements with these various companies, do you have a sense of the aggregate volume of all the products you're involved with and pushing?

B.M.: Well, look, we sell millions. Ten million units for Mighty Putty right now. On TV it's $20. Most of it is sold in retail, like 8 million to 10 million, something like that, I'm just kind of guestimating. In the past 11 years, all the products together, as far as gross sales, it's well over a billion dollars. OxiClean is one thing-I don't get paid on a commission there, I get paid on a very handsome retainer. But OxiClean for years and years, doing $300 million to $400 million a year. I have smaller companies that do $30 million to $40 million.

L.G.: With the economy slowing down and by some lights going into recession, has that had any impact on your business?

B.M.: Well, somewhat. I feel that with Mighty Putty and some of the products that we sell on TV, people want a good value. I'm getting more involved in pushing value, value, value. Let's just say the reason Mighty Putty has done so well is that people go out and buy it instead of paying a plumber, $60, $80, $100 to fix a leak or whatever.

L.G.: And that's the thing that's green and you cut it and knead it and it turns white?

B.M.: Yeah, and it's ready to hold on tight.I think, the bottom line is that people are now spending a little more money at home, not going out, with the price of gas. They may have to pay the shipping, but they'll stay at home, order it off TV. A lot of people would like to be the first to order it off TV.

L.G.: So, interesting, you think that because people have less disposable money to spend on plumbers and whereas before they might've just thrown stuff out, they're more interested in keeping things, repairing them and stuff like that?

B.M.: Absolutely.

L.G.: So tell me about the reality show, how did that come about?

B.M.: Well, you know Anthony Sullivan-the Swivel Sweeper? English guy. He used to live next door to me. He's from Petticoat Lane over in England, while I came from Atlantic City, the boardwalk, two worlds, and our paths crossed on the road and we ended up shooting some commercials together. I was a pitchman for OxiClean, he did a lot of the production, he went his way a little bit, we do work a lot together, we work separately, he does different things. We had a guy come in from L.A. Chris Wilson is actually from HSN, we worked with him as a producer.

L.G.: That's Barry Diller's outfit, HSN.

B.M.: Oh yeah, that was the Billy Mays network at one time. They'd call me and say, "Get on there, kid, and sell! Have you had a few?" "I'm fine, get the stuff ready, I can get in there." I made it a point to be on call 24/7. But Chris Wilson just flew in and said, "I just think there's something there-Pitchmen!" The name of the show is Pitchmen, and we were going to go with Warner Horizon. They flew in-the hokeyness, I didn't really like the direction they were going. Sully by chance met Thom Beers, who's the owner of Original Productions, at some type of retreat, just to get away, where you go in there, eat right, and hike. You know, a place where you go and get your mind and body cleansed out. So they start talking a little bit and he says, "I know who you are." Sully says, "I have a reality teaser." Thom took it to Discovery, and right now they're inking the deal.

L.G.: When does it start filming, in a couple of weeks?

B.M.: Yeah, we're going to start [filming], which is probably going to be in Vegas in a few weeks. But Discovery likes to kind of do the P.R. about it.

L.G.: Well I've seen it described as just walking the viewer through how a pitch is put together, from start to finish.

B.M.: Right, and it's going to be behind the scenes, it's going to be about getting to know the people who do this, like me, Sullly, and my 22-year-old son will probably be in it.

L.G.: What's his name?

B.M.: Billy Mays III.

L.G.: He must thank you for that-and you have a small child as well?

B.M.: Elizabeth, she's turning 3, and my wife's Deborah.

L.G.: So Deborah will be in the show rolling her eyes every so often?

B.M.: She's fine with it. I would prefer if my daughter made a cameo once in a while but I'm not real excited about showing her to the world.

L.G.: Since you have become a celebrity through this business, have you experienced some of the wacko side of life?

B.M.: Yeah, a little bit. I'm pretty fortunate that, you know, I have a lot of kids that watch. It's really strange, my demographic runs from really young to really old.

L.G.: I would've thought that a large component of your customers or potential customers are derisively described as shut-ins who are watching television a lot.

B.M.: Right, but I have a lot of kids that will be sometimes the first to recognize me, like 4- or 5-year-olds. "He's on! He's on!" We run a lot on Noggin and Sprout and Nickelodeon, OxiClean and Kaboom. I've been very fortunate as far as people don't give me a hard time. If they don't like me, everybody has their opinion, they just kind of leave me alone. I had a drunk guy once I can remember, "Your products don't work!" What I do, Lloyd, I take the time. Like on the plane yesterday. I find out everybody's name, I write them an autograph, "How are you?" I really take the time and ask, What are you doing? Where do you live? Where you from? I think that's important. I don't want to get this big ego. There's Tony Little down here. He's a nice guy. There's Body by Jake, and Ron Popeil-he's not very friendly. Ron won't give you a business card. I like Ron. At shows or whatever, he'll take the time to say hi to me and not too many other people. I used to work with his family in Atlantic City so we came from the same background.

L.G.: How long do you see yourself doing this? Ron Popeil is in his 70s, isn't he? And he's still doing it.

B.M.: He's not really doing that much. Since I turned 50, I am really taking measure of my life and really reflecting, and my motto is, because I ran the road so heavy and hard over the years with state fairs and home shows, "I don't want to age 10 years in five but I want to work 10 years' worth in the next five years." I want to notch up a schedule that's really just non-stop because I have the new hips. I had a surgery in January, and then it wasn't healing right. I went to Greece and Italy and I fell. I kept having some problems, so did an emergency surgery when I got back in July.

L.G.: Did you bang yourself up playing football?

B.M.: Yeah, football, played a little semi-pro, played at West Virginia, high school ball. From January to July, I had a staph infection, and didn't even know it. I'm so fortunate that I didn't lose my leg and I'm not dead.

L.G.: Oh my God. Did I mention my back hurts? How pathetic are we, two old guys talking about our pain?

B.M.: You know, it's really good now, a friend of mine sells the inversion table. That's amazing. You hang upside down. I've used that for years. You can go online, the Teeter Hang Ups. His name is Roger Teeter. I bought a reconditioned one. It's pretty much brand new. They're a little pricey, it was $200-something a couple years ago. I got my dad one, and man, what a difference. I mean, you get your posture back and it really stretches out your back!