# ShamWow **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 19, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622 "2008-10-19T07:09:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/21 "2008-10-20T00:58:41Z")
I was amused by the suggestion that I’d spend twenty bucks on paper towels a month anyhow. (I’m a single guy, so I don’t think I spend twenty bucks a year on paper towels.) And I love the snide comment to the camera operator. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/22 "2008-10-20T01:19:36Z")
Vince doesn’t annoy me nearly as much as Billy Mays. Vince varies his delivery a lot more. Billy’s just loud. What’s Billy’s latest thing…selling health insurance? ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/23 "2008-10-20T01:31:25Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Billy’s just loud. What’s Billy’s latest thing…selling health insurance? You’re gonna be saying “ow” every time! ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/24 "2008-10-20T01:50:00Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > He’s ugly, but I like his delivery. > > By the way, has anybody tried the product? I haven’t tried it, but a sociology classmate of mine got some for his project on the “myth” of crappy as-seen-on-TV products. He ordered a few products and tested them out for himself; ShamWow was one of the actually crappy products. He showed us some footage he recorded of himself using them, and they’re not really any better than normal towels, and he ended up paying like a hundred bucks for a small set of them; way more than what he expected to pay (hidden fee shenanigans). Consider that in the [official commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwRISkyV_B8), there’s that bit where he pours cola on a swatch of carpet starting around 0:36. Keep an eye open for deceptive editing; there’s a cut at 0:45 and it’s clear that he’s putting the cloth on a much dryer swatch of carpet. Furthermore, the cloth that he places on the swatch looks like it could already be pre-soaked with cola so that there’s a more dramatic effect when he wrings it out. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/25 "2008-10-20T03:57:03Z")
Dude looks so much like\*\* Bill the Cat\*\*, I’m expecting him to hack up a fur-ball everytime I see him! “ACK!” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/26 "2008-10-20T04:39:34Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I was just commenting to my wife earlier this evening about how shady that dude looks. He’s a hustler, but he’s not like a used car hustler. He’s more seedy. Like a carny working a fixed arcade shooter or a guy running a 3 card monte table. > > I also wondered about the headgear. What is that about? Did he just come straight from his shift at the Jack in the Box? If you look closely, he’s in a booth at some type of public venue. Like maybe a carnival or fair. The mic is for the passers by. Your post made me chuckle because it’s so fitting. I still gotta say that Billy Mays is more annoying. Only because I see the guy is pushing health (or is it life?) insurance now. Really, words fail me. ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/27 "2008-10-20T06:14:34Z")
I find his carnival barker style delivery hilarious. He is so shameless and full of sh\*t in his efforts to trick you into buying his crappy product he is fun to listen to. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/28 "2008-10-20T08:32:10Z")
Okay, alright! He’s fun to listen to. But, good god, is he so full of shit. He may seem charming in an amusing carny sort of way, but just wait until he’s as ubiquitous at peddling shitbombs as Billy Mays is. But hey, at least he’s not yelling at me. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/29 "2008-10-20T16:32:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I was amused by the suggestion that I’d spend twenty bucks on paper towels a month anyhow. (I’m a single guy, so I don’t think I spend twenty bucks a year on paper towels.) And I love the snide comment to the camera operator. Yeah, we looked at each other when we heard that, too. Twenty bucks a month, eh? What are these people doing, eating them? ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/30 "2008-10-20T16:43:11Z")
I got some of the cheap knockoffs at the state fair one year. They’re good for drying hair; I’ve never done much else with them. ---
**Author:** ![truthbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@truthbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthbot)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/31 "2008-10-20T17:35:38Z")
It’s a _SHAM_. And people buy it. _WOW_!! ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/32 "2008-10-20T17:43:02Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > He’s ugly, but I like his delivery. > > By the way, has anybody tried the product? Tis’ true. He’s got that one big eyeball thing going on. I can’t remember where I saw it. Maybe that cartoon Daria, that was on MTV. Either way, he’s a freaky looking joker. Better freaky looking than a big mouth like that Billy Mays tard. Hey, somebody mentioned bill the cat? Pretty close. That Billy Mays dude, fuck, somebody needs to tase that fucker. As for the product, it’s been around for years. I still prefer a real chammy. You can’t wash them but you can squeeze them dry as a bone. ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/33 "2008-10-20T17:54:48Z")
I’ve been wanting to get a ShamWow. I should’ve known it was not the miracle product it seems to be. Not to hijack the thread but the [local free weekly newspaper’s](http://www.orlandoweekly.com)front page article this week is on Billy Mays. He lives right here in sunny FL and is an interesting rags to riches story. The guy who wrote the article is Billy Manes which I find strangly amusing ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/34 "2008-10-20T18:18:20Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Yeah, we looked at each other when we heard that, too. Twenty bucks a month, eh? What are these people doing, eating them? I have three kids. We can go through 2-3 rolls a day easy. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/35 "2008-10-20T18:45:51Z")
I spent a summer in Italy several years ago and despite not speaking the language I was mesmerized by an infomercial guy they had there. His name was Roberto and he would get so excited that he’d start to wheeze as he tried to gulp air between sentences. Then he’d start banging on the table so hard his merchandise would jump. “BLAH BLAH BLAH _heeeeze_ BLAH BLAH _heeeeze_ BLAH _heeeze_ **BANG!** ” Man, I loved that guy. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/36 "2008-10-20T18:46:03Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And I love the snide comment to the camera operator. “You catchin’ this, cameraguy?” A black velvet painting of Vince in the commercial really needs to exist somewhere in this world. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/37 "2008-10-20T18:47:38Z")
He reminds me of the character Johnny Knoxville assumes in The Ringer. That’s not an endorsement. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/38 "2008-10-20T19:51:30Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > The first time I saw this commercial, I thought it was a joke. Same here. Specifically, I thought it was a parody of [Billy Mays’ Zorbeez commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiQr30HXcmA). ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/39 "2008-10-20T20:05:44Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I have three kids. We can go through 2-3 rolls a day easy. Really? What on earth are you doing with them? I hate to say it, but the ShamWow does sound fascinating. I’d rather have a real chamois, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622/40 "2008-10-20T20:09:41Z")
Isn’t the Shamwow simply a microfiber towel? If so, I’ll bet that I could buy something similar more cheaply in a retail store or on the web. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shamwow/468622.md?page=3)