From the Vault: Billy Mays OxiClean/Car Phone Commercial Parody from 2003

After connecting with the son of the late, great Billy Mays on Twitter, I was motivated to go deep into the King's Tower Productions vault to pull out this never-before-released skit from 2003. This was made with one of my oldest friends, the very funny Erik Jastrowski, when we were 13 years-old. Erik really had some great comedic timing and I was lucky to have someone so funny to collaborate with when I was first starting out. His performance holds up and still makes me laugh, even if my camerawork and the VHS transfer itself have not held up so well.

The fake commercial is for an unnamed car phone. Dr. Phil calls Billy Mays on it as a bill collector, Mr. Dink from Nickelodeon's Doug calls in with a prank call, and eventually it turns into a commercial for OxiClean instead. It's quite silly. We were inspired by shows like Saturday Night Live, MadTV, and All That.

Billy Mays himself had a delivery like no other pitchman and his appearances on my TV screen were always something I looked forward to. It was a blow when he passed away 11 years ago today. It happened right after Michael Jackson had died, which made it all the more difficult hearing not one, but two legends had left us in an instant.

In loving memory of Billy Mays.

(Apologies for the glitching effect from the VHS transfer.)

- Jozef

Erik Jastrowski in 2003 as Billy Mays with a bucket of OxiClean and a Sharpie marker beard.

"Billy Mays OxiClean/Car Phone Commercial Parody" was directed by Jozef K. Richards and completed at age 13. It stars Erik Jastrowski as Billy Mays, and features Jozef K. Richards as the voice of Dr. Phil and the voice of Mr. Dink.

"Billy Mays OxiClean/Car Phone Commercial Parody" was recorded on Janaury 19, 2003 in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, United States.