Here are a couple of rarely seen TV commercials from a Vancouver staple in the 1990's, archived by Rob Richardson. The Captain, a dude who ran a secondhand store and drove an AMC Eagle with a makeshift sail on top, was generally all about hawking his wares on low budget commercials on late night TV, and you never really get insight into his true character aside from the fact that he seemed jovial.
The first clip below reveals his dramatic 175 pound weight loss and the thing he's trying to sell is actually a healthy lifestyle. He uses 30 seconds of broadcast time in the second clip to tell us that "15 years ago I was a chain smoking, obese alcoholic on welfare" and that religion helped him find his way out of it. Very interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vEXqG54hCw
As a side note, somebody named Tim B reached out while I was typing and let me know the whereabouts of The Captain present day! He's now married with children and lives in Burnaby, selling seconhand goods regularly on Craigslist. He can be contacted through any one of his many ads (HERE are a few).
So there you have it. The question of "whatever happened to The Captain?" is all but solved thanks to keen V.I.A. readers. Aye aye and good buy!
