Mr. Bill and New Orleans

September 2, 2005 6:20 PM

The creator of SNL's "Mr. Bill" tried to get the potential problems of New Orleans noticed for several years. He made a 45 minute documentary shown on PBS (very interesting, watch it (windows media file) here), and even did a public service spot (another wmv). His home page (yes, www.mrbill.com) also has a recent radio interview (MP3) with the Mayor of New Orleans blasting the non-response from the feds to date.
posted by centerpunch (7 comments total)

oh no...
posted by ernie at 8:00 PM on September 2, 2005

Oops, I see the radio interview was already posted below! Please don't hurt me.
posted by centerpunch at 8:07 PM on September 2, 2005

That interview with the Mayor is a remarkable thing. He seems to be so angry about the way the federal government is responding to the problem that it's provoking a level of candour that is almost totally unknown.

Was it just me, or did he appear to be choking up with tears at the end of the interview?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:08 PM on September 2, 2005

a clay doll knew more than the President, the FEMA director, and the Director of Homeland Security--reassuring, huh?
posted by amberglow at 8:34 PM on September 2, 2005

To be fair, Mr. Bill is just the public face of the entire America's Wetland effort -- which is, of all things, an effort coordinated by the State of Louisiana, and begun under a Republican governor. The sympathetic Williams has produced several TV spots for the group beginning last year, each with a different "Estuarian" character. The hope was that including Mr. Bill would bring attention to the issue outside of Louisiana.

That appears not to have gone as far as was hoped. They got their logo on Tabasco products, for instance, but I just checked -- I'm still using an old bottle.
posted by dhartung at 9:08 PM on September 2, 2005

well, I guess Jon Stewart wasn't kidding about this administration making writing the show easy.

Bush claim's no one could have predicted the failure of the levees, but even a Mr. Bill public service announcement spells it out. How much plainer do you have to speak to get it through to a numbskull?
posted by Busithoth at 9:42 PM on September 2, 2005

I can't wait for the next episode of the Daily Show.

SPECIAL ONE HOUR DISASTER PORN SPECIAL!
posted by blasdelf at 12:03 AM on September 3, 2005