I know why the caged bird sings

Well, actually I don't, but I think I know why the ShamWow Guy wears a headset.

The Lovely Ricki linked to a story about ShamWow Vince's current battle with the Church of Clams. She now will not hate on him so much.

I had never hated on Vince because, I confess, I never heard of the guy, so my first thought was "WTF is a ShamWow Vince?" Well, I've actually seen the phrase "ShamWow Guy" or similar but didn't know who he was, though I had kind of gathered that he did infomercials. Still don't know what a ShamWow is, but after first reading Ricki and SkepChick, I saw part of the video here (via Instapundit), so I know he does food chopper things. And that his real name, apparently, is "Vince Offer". I find that kind of cool and appropriate.

Anyhow, Skepchick wonders why he wears a headset. As she puts it,

I’d like to talk to you about a man whom I’ve dubbed “Headset Vince”. He’s the guy from the ShamWow commercials. He wears a headset for reasons no one other than Vince can understand… maybe he’s expecting a phone call? From his agent offering him a better gig? Maybe his mom is calling to tell him that Stella from Bingo saw him on the teevee? I don’t know.

I think I can answer that burning question.

See, tomorrow I'm being dragged kicking and screaming* to yet another Home and Garden Show. These and other crafter-type shows always have several booths doing demonstrations of kitchen gadgetry, cleaning gadgetry, tool gadgetry, or other type gadgetry. And the folks doing these demonstrations generally wear headsets for the speakers (often they have a lot of chairs set up for the audience, sometimes it’s a continuous demonstration but with amplification).

If you're a Costco member, you've probably seen something similar there. They always have the food sample booths** but sometimes also have a larger one demonstrating the latest food processor or blender or sausages. And these, which are demonstrations rather then just samples, have someone wearing a headset for the amplifiers.

And I suspect that ShamWow Vince is evoking those Home and Garden Show demonstrators in his infomercials.

Of course, an alternative explanation may be that he's just a cheap bastard who refuses to pony up for grips and boom mikes and other common stage paraphernalia. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

*I exaggerate. I actually kind of enjoy the shows, though I'd much rather have the few hours they take to do other stuff.

**Heh. Just flashed on a bit from a Janet Evanovich novel I listened to a while back:

"I'm hungry"
"Me too. Wanna go to lunch?"
"I don't have any money"
"Me Neither"
[pause]
"COSTCO!"

Chuckle