The New York Times reports today on a new MasterCard commercial starring the old Saturday Night Live character, Mr. Bill. I guess the idea behind the ad is to use Mr. Bill’s constant destruction as a stand-in for consumer fear about a tanking economy. Although as one observer in the article points out, in the original Mr. Bill sketches he would just get demolished and yell “Oh nooooo!” but in this commercial Mr. Bill puts a positive spin on everything. Which makes sense. It’s hard not to be positive when you think about predatory lending or the grave economic damage the credit card companies are doing to American families. You can watch the ad here.

But what really stands out from the article is the history of Mr. Bill himself.

Mr. Bill made his debut on “Saturday Night Live” on NBC in 1976 when his creator, Walter Williams, won the show’s home video contest using a reel of film that he shot in his living room with a budget of $10. “No one hired me to create Mr. Bill,” said Mr. Williams, now a filmmaker in New Orleans, in a telephone interview.

Mr. Bill appeared on the first five seasons of the show, and Mr. Williams became a staff writer after three years, which is when he started being paid for Mr. Bill for the first time. He owns all the rights to the character, and he directed the MasterCard spot.

After this week’s MTV Movie Awards Spoof Contest fiasco, it’s hard not to reflect fondly on the ’70s as a simpler time for home video contestants. Those heady pre-YouTube days of gasoline crises, hostage crises, and collapsing urban infrastructures were the best (not the best).