Things that were everywhere when I moved to New York, Part 1: TV Ads

When I moved to New York (which was 25 years ago next week), one of the two or three things I saw more often than all those hookers on 46th Street between 9th and 10th was this guy:

On a good TV day, you saw at least two of these every half hour. On a bad TV day, when you were watching a local station like Channel 11, it seemed like every commercial break had the Crazy Eddie guy screaming at you for 30 or 60 seconds. And you could not look away. Ever. It was biologically impossible. These commercials were keyed to grab the attention of the monkey brain inside every human being in the Tri-State Area, and they never failed. I often wonder what happened to this guy after the stores closed down. I’ve never seen him do a guest shot on Law & Order (which would be a total hoot), and I've never seen him do any other ads, which is a shame, because if I saw him on a TV set telling me that Starbucks’ coffee prices were "Insa-a-a-a-a-ane!" my monkey brain would send me running out to buy enough lattes to gag a goat.