Billy Quan was a fictional television character who originated in the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

TV comedy series ''

Almost Live! ''Almost Live!'' was a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, Washington, USA, produced and broadcast by NBC affiliate KING-TV from 1984 to 1999. A re-packaged version of the show also aired on Comedy Central from 1992 to 1993, and episod ...

'' in the 1990s. Quan was featured in a series of recurring skits called ''Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan'', intended as parodies of the films of martial arts star and former Seattle resident

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines th ...

. The general format of the skits, which averaged one to two minutes long, featured Quan being offended by the rude manners of another unnamed character, usually

host John Keister. When Quan pointed out the offensive manners, Keister's character would challenge Quan in a highly exaggerated martial arts battle using such things as pool cues, golf clubs, bowling balls and garden tools. The skits would usually end when Quan would launch himself toward Keister in a preposterous two-legged martial arts kick. The camera would show Quan's two legs aiming toward Keister, who often ran away. Quan's legs would stay in the air and follow Keister, sometimes around corners or waiting outside of doors. In the end, Keister was always defeated. The announcer would close with "Remember, kids: be like Billy. Behave yourself!". Quan was played by ''Almost Live!'' cameraman Darrell Suto. The voice and mouth movements of the characters were greatly out of sync, a reference to some of Lee's early martial arts films. The titles were parodies of

Enter the Dragon ''Enter the Dragon'' ( zh, t=龍爭虎鬥) is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and written by Michael Allin. The film stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. It was Lee's final completed film appearance before his deat ...

Game of Death ''The Game of Death'' (Chinese: 死亡的遊戲) is an incomplete Hong Kong martial arts film, filmed between August and October 1972, directed, written, produced by and starring Bruce Lee, in his final film project. Lee died during the making ...

, or

Fists of Fury ''The Big Boss'' (, lit. "The Big Brother from Tangshan"; originally titled ''Fists of Fury'' in America) is a 1971 Hong Kong action martial arts film produced by Raymond Chow and starring Bruce Lee in his first major film in a lead role. The ...

. Quan's voice-over was done by ''Almost Live!'' cast member

Pat Cashman Patrick Cashman (born September 16, 1950) is an American comedian and television and radio personality based in the Seattle metropolitan area. Early life and education Born and raised in Bend, Oregon. He has a younger brother named Mike Cash ...

. Keister's voice was his own. Later the character was seen on Fox TV's series '' Haywire'' and on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

series ''

Bill Nye the Science Guy ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' is an American science education television program created by Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by television station KCTS and Mc ...

''.

External links

KING-TV ''Almost Live!'' website
* {{IMDb title, qid=Q4733971, title=Almost Live! American television sketch shows Local television programming in the United States Mass media in Seattle