“Surprise your friends with this rare catch!” exclaimed the product description for the now legendary Big Mouth Billy Bass novelty product, which debuted 20 years ago, early in the year 2000, at an Atlanta gift convention. “This realistically-detailed Large Mouth Billy Bass looks ordinary enough. But when he senses an unsuspecting admirer, he flaps his tail and sings them a song!” Two decades later, it’s truly hard to imagine anyone ever “surprising their friends” with such a kitschy product, or anyone ever thinking a Big Mouth Billy Bass would be a good gift. After all, Billy has spent the last 19 of his 20 years as a tired joke — a novelty relic that invites as much derision as nostalgia. But for a short time there — a few months, at least — Big Mouth Billy Bass truly was an awe-inspiring product. Billy was such a massive success that it was estimated to have made over $100 million in that first year alone, and it found its way into the homes of the world’s most famous and important people. It also appeared in movies like WALL-E and some of the biggest TV shows of all time, ensuring that Big Mouth Billy Bass would never truly be forgotten.
