Mr. Bill is a clay figurine star of a parody of children's

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

shows created by Walter Williams in 1974. "The Mr. Bill Show" got its start on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' as a series of

Super 8 film Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted ...

s 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 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

and wrote more than 20 sketches based on Mr. Bill. SNL MrBill 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 Vance Elliott DeGeneres (born September 2, 1954) is an American actor, comedian, musician, film producer and screenwriter, known for his work in television and movies. Early life DeGeneres was born at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, Louisiana t ...

). Sometimes the abuse came from Sluggo, another clay character, which Mr. Hands usually jokingly brands as one of Mr. Bill's "best friends". A running gag in the sketches is whenever Sluggo would make his appearance, Mr. Bill would get worried and say, "He's gonna be mean to me!", to which Mr. Hands often gives him reassurance by responding with, "No!". The violence inevitably escalated, generally ending with Mr. Bill being crushed or dismembered while squealing "Ohhhh noooooooooooooo!" in a

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentou ...

voice. The concept for Mr. Hands came from Williams' observation that children's cartoons in the 1970s were so

static Static may refer to: Places *Static Nunatak, a nunatak in Antarctica United States * Static, Kentucky and Tennessee *Static Peak, a mountain in Wyoming **Static Peak Divide, a mountain pass near the peak Science and technology Physics *Static el ...

, 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 ''SNLs 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 Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of '' Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...

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 Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. After ''SNL'', Mr. Bill has appeared on numerous other television programs and advertisements, including regular new sketches on the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

series '' Night Flight'' in the 1980s and the Fox Family Channel series ''Ohh Nooo! Mr. Bill Presents'' in the 1990s.

Characters

* Mr. Bill – The star of the show. His catchphrase is, "Oh, no!!!" * Spot – Mr. Bill's dog, who dies in most episodes. * Sluggo – The main villain. * Mr. Hands – A pair of human hands (originally played by

), which subject Mr. Bill to abuse, often at Sluggo's prompting. Mr. Hands also serves as the narrator of the show. * Miss Sally – Mr. Bill's girlfriend, introduced in October 1979. * Mr. Bill's Mom – Introduced in January 1979, primarily seen in flashbacks. * Billy – Mr. Bill and Miss Sally's son, who appears in some post-SNL shorts. * Sluggo clones – duplicates of Sluggo, often seen in crowd shots.

List of ''SNL'' episodes featured

#February 28, 1976 (The Mr. Bill Holiday Special) #October 16, 1976 (Mr. Bill Goes To A Party) #January 22, 1977 (Mr. Bill Goes To A Magic Show) #March 25, 1978 (Mr. Bill Goes To The Circus) #April 8, 1978 (Mr. Bill Pays His Taxes) #October 14, 1978 (Mr. Bill Goes To New York) #October 21, 1978 (Mr. Bill Moves In) #November 18, 1978 (Mr. Bill Goes Fishing) #December 2, 1978 (Mr. Bill Is Late) #January 27, 1979 (Mr. Bill Goes To Court) #February 24, 1979 (Mr. Bill Shapes Up) #March 17, 1979 (Mr. Bill Is Hiding) #May 12, 1979 (Mr. Bill Runs Away) #May 19, 1979 (Mr. Bill Goes To The Movies) #May 26, 1979 (Mr. Bill Visits ''Saturday Night Live'';

cold open A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Amer ...

) #October 13, 1979 (The All-New Mr. Bill Show) #November 3, 1979 (Mr. Bill Stays Home) #November 17, 1979 (Mr. Bill Builds A House) #January 26, 1980 (Mr. Bill Gets Help) #April 5, 1980 (Mr. Bill Strikes Back) #May 10, 1980 (Mr. Bill Gets 20 Years In

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

) #December 20, 1980 (Mr. Bill's Christmas Special) #April 11, 1981 (cold open with

) #October 17, 1981 (Mr. Bill Goes To L.A.; final appearance)

Film

The character's popularity spawned the 1986 live-action Showtime

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

'' Mr. Bill's Real Life Adventures'', with

Peter Scolari Peter Thomas Scolari (September 12, 1955 – October 22, 2021) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Michael Harris on '' Newhart'' (1984–1990), Henry Desmond on ''Bosom Buddies'' (1980–1982) and Wayne Szalinski on ''Hon ...

as Mr. Bill. A new Mr. Bill short film entitled ''Mr. Bill Goes To Washington'' premiered in theaters in 1993, preceding the movie '' Ernest Rides Again''. The short, which sees Mr. Bill elected as

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

, was also featured on the ''Ernest Rides Again'' home video release. Two new Mr. Bill home videos were released in the mid-1990s featuring new content, including 1996's ''"Ohh Nooo!!! It's Mr. Bill's 20th Anniversary"'', and 1997 straight-to-video ''Ho Ho Noooooo!!! It's Mr Bill's Christmas Special!'', the latter featuring a guest appearance by former SNL contributor

Don Novello Donald Andrew Novello (born January 1, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, singer, writer, film director and producer. He is best known for his work on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1978 to 1980, and again from 1985 to 1986, often as the ...

Father Guido Sarducci Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character created by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci is a chain-smoking priest with tinted glasses, who works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper '' L'Oss ...

Notes

References

External links