Description: "Television That Won't ROT YOUR MIND" - Original UBER Rare Hard to Find VIDEO TAPE NETWORK, with COMPLETE & UNCUT plain art early edition.1977 First Printing with unique SIDE ENTRY Tape Insert and Content label. Label reads THE MR BILL SHOW As Seen on "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" 26 min. Color. Fast & Safe Delivery. 1976. Mr. Bill is a clay figurine star of a parody of children's clay animation shows created by Walter Williams in 1974. "The Mr. Bill Show" got its start on Saturday Night Live as a series of Super 8 films sent in in response to the show's request for home movies during the first season. Mr. Bill's first appearance occurred on the February 28, 1976, episode. After five submitted films, Williams became a full-time writer for the show in 1978 and wrote more than 20 sketches based on Mr. Bill. A rubber Mr. Bill doll Each Mr. Bill episode started innocently but quickly turned dangerous for Mr. Bill and his dog Spot. He would suffer various indignities inflicted by "Mr. Hands", a man seen only as a pair of hands (originally performed by Vance DeGeneres). Sometimes the abuse came from Sluggo, another clay character. The violence inevitably escalated, generally ending with Mr. Bill being crushed or dismembered while squealing "Ohhhh noooooooooooooo!" in a falsetto voice. The concept for Mr. Hands came from Williams' observation that children's cartoons in the 1970s were so static, he expected the artist's hands to enter the screen at any moment and physically start moving the drawings around. Initial Saturday Night Live sketches featuring Mr. Bill were self-contained episodes with no direct continuity, with the earliest installments featuring higher-pitched character voices. After Walter Williams joined SNL's writing staff in 1978, Mr. Bill formally moved to New York at the start of the season. Later sketches saw Mr. Bill become aware of Mr. Hands and Sluggo's mistreatment, with the 1979–80 season harboring an extended story arc where Mr. Bill lost his home, sought psychiatric help, attempted to get Mr. Hands and Sluggo arrested, and was ultimately thrown into prison. Williams left Saturday Night Live after that season, but Mr. Bill returned for a Christmas short film in December 1980, as well as the sixth-season finale, where guest Chevy Chase found Mr. Bill in a garbage can. The last Mr. Bill sketch on SNL aired early in the 1981–1982 season, where Mr. Bill moved to Los Angeles. After SNL, Mr. Bill has appeared on numerous other television programs and advertisements, including regular new sketches on the USA Network series Night Flight in the 1980s and the Fox Family Channel series Ohh Nooo! Mr. Bill Presents in the 1990s. A library of 20,000 to 30,000 video items from 1978 forward, including multiples, is being offered for the first time to the eBay community. ALL inventory is OFFSITE from eBay listing center, so singular items may not be described individually, but in general to the collection. Some images may be representative. The quality of playback and visual presentation is GOOD to VERY GOOD to FINE. Some items may be Brand New Factory Sealed, while a few may slip through in a lesser quality. These items are inspected but individual items slip through occasionally, and we apologize for this inconsistency. Please, ask questions before purchase, we will do our best to oblige you.
Price: 129.95 USD
Location: Wake Forest, North Carolina
End Time: 2023-12-19T16:33:09.000Z
Shipping Cost: 5.95 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Director: Walter Williams
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Studio: Video Tape Network
Actor: Mr Bill, Sluggo, Mr Hand
Language: English
Movie/TV Title: MR BILL SHOW (1976)
Edition: Uber Rare Video Collectible, Full Screen
Special Features: Made For Television, Art/Indie Film, B-Movie, Cult, Deleted Title, Nouvelle Vague, Expressionism
Genre: Comedy
Leading Role: Mr Bill, Sluggo, Mr Hand
Signal Standard: NTSC
Sub-Genre: Made for Television, Camp Absurd Satire, Dark Humor, Family, Parody/Spoof, Screwball, Sketch, Slapstick, Teen