Bob Ross. Just his name brings a calm. The soft-spoken painter who didn't make mistakes, only "happy accidents," painted on PBS stations in the 1980s and 1990s. His untimely death in 1995 at the age of 52 occurred just when he was exploding on the pop culture scene. He even appeared in a hip MTV spot back when MTV was hip.
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00:00Bob Ross
00:01Just his name brings a calm.
00:03The soft-spoken painter who didn't make mistakes, only happy accidents, painted on PBS stations
00:08in the 1980s and 1990s.
00:10His untimely death in 1995 at the age of 52 occurred just when he was exploding on the
00:15pop culture scene.
00:16He even appeared in a hip MTV spot back when MTV was hip.
00:19MTV, the land of happy little trees.
00:23There's a lot people don't know about Bob Ross, so get ready for some surprises about
00:27the guy with the sweet pipes and the sweeter fro.
00:29If this is your first time with us, let me extend a personal invitation for you to drag
00:33out your brushes and your paints and paint along with us each show.
00:36I think you'll enjoy it.
00:38To the viewer, Bob Ross is that happy guy who paints happier trees and clouds and rivers.
00:42To the artist, Bob Ross is a guy who paints in a very specific and unique way, wet-on-wet,
00:47where paint is applied on a still-wet coat to create the finished piece.
00:51Ross himself began painting in Alaska and learned his technique from a famed wet-on-wet
00:55painter, Bill Alexander.
00:57The German-born Alexander appeared on public television before Ross ever did, in the 1970s.
01:02Ross dedicated an episode of his Joy of Painting program in Season 2 to his teacher and mentor.
01:07I would like to dedicate this show to my beloved friend and teacher, whom we've all watched
01:13and loved for many years on public television, Bill Alexander.
01:17But things soured from there.
01:19By 1991, Ross wouldn't even mention Alexander by name.
01:23As for Alexander, he said,
01:24I invented wet-on-wet.
01:26I trained him and he's copying me.
01:28What bothers me is not just that he betrayed me, but that he thinks he can do it better."
01:31Hard to imagine anyone being mad at Bob Chillpants Ross, but it goes to show you, everyone has
01:36a rival.
01:37Someone out there probably hated Mr. Rogers, too.
01:46Bob Ross is the last guy you'd expect to be angry with anyone, but he wasn't always a
01:50soft-spoken painter.
01:51Ross was born in Daytona Beach, Florida, and made his home in Orlando.
01:55If you're wondering how a Florida man made it up to freezing Alaska, he did it the honest
01:59way, by joining the military.
02:00I spent half my life in the military.
02:03And I used to come home, take off my little soldier hat, put on my painter's hat.
02:09Bob Ross enlisted in the Air Force at age 18 and was stationed in Alaska.
02:13Ross served 20 years, achieving the rank of Master Sergeant before retiring.
02:17Ross wasn't the softie we know and love during his time in the military.
02:20He explained,
02:21I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy
02:25who screams at you for being late to work.
02:27After Ross left the Air Force, he vowed never to yell and scream again.
02:31Shoot.
02:32That's the joy of painting.
02:35That truly is the joy of painting.
02:38As recognizable as his sweet voice, the afro Bob Ross sports is the stuff of legend.
02:43It's a meme in itself, but Bob's fro is as real as his rivalry with Picasso.
02:47The trademark hair is just a perm.
02:49He initially got a perm to save money.
02:51No need to waste precious cash on a haircut when it will all just grow into a big ball
02:55of awesomeness.
02:56And he hated it, but he couldn't undo his money-saving strategy.
02:59The afro became the logo for his company.
03:01His business partner Annette Kowalski said,
03:03He could never, ever, ever change his hair, and he was so mad about that.
03:07He got tired of that curly hair.
03:09Still, you can't call it a mistake.
03:11We don't make any mistakes.
03:12We just have happy accidents, so anything that happens here, you can work with it.
03:17Bob Ross achieved fame for his PBS show, but it didn't pay the bills.
03:20In case you forgot, PBS stands for Public Broadcasting Service, as in a non-profit station
03:25that gets 15 percent of its funding from the government.
03:28So obviously Ross wasn't swimming in it as a PBS star, but he had to make something,
03:32right?
03:33Well, not really.
03:34Ross said that he never got paid for his Joy of Painting program.
03:37As in nothing.
03:38He said,
03:39People see you on television and they think you make the same amount of money that Clint
03:41Eastwood does.
03:43But this is PBS.
03:44All these shows are done for free.
03:46Ross made his money teaching and selling books and, of course, selling some of his paintings.
03:50Ross also sold videos of his painting system, which were really three-hour workshops that
03:54went into more detail on his style.
03:56Shake it off, and just beat the devil out of it.
04:04In 2014, the statistical website FiveThirtyEight finally answered the paradox that has kept
04:09Mortal Man up all night.
04:10What exactly did Bob Ross paint?
04:13Joy of Painting aired 403 times.
04:15Ross only painted 381 times, since the other episodes featured guests.
04:20You know what Bob liked?
04:21Trees.
04:22A whopping 91 percent of his paintings contained at least one tree.
04:25And if Ross painted a tree, there's a 93 percent chance he'd paint a second tree.
04:29Because trees shouldn't be alone, obviously.
04:32Is that a nice way to make a happy little evergreen?
04:35Let's give him a friend.
04:36He only painted palm trees two percent of the time, but what do you expect?
04:39They're everywhere in Florida.
04:40He was probably sick of them.
04:42Surprisingly, for a guy known for his happy little clouds, his paintings only featured
04:46clouds 44 percent of the time.
04:48We'll go right up in here, and maybe, maybe there's a happy little cloud lives right there.
04:53And all you do is just tap.
04:55And the only thing he hated more than palm trees were people.
04:58In his 381 paintings, only one featured a person.
05:02It was a silhouette against a tree, a lonely cowboy.
05:05In technical terms, that's known as laziness.
05:08Actually coming across an original Bob Ross isn't as easy as it seems.
05:12In the 381 programs he recorded, he painted three per show.
05:16One he painted on camera, one beforehand that he used as a guide, and one for close-ups
05:20and photography later.
05:22That means he produced 1,143 paintings during his show.
05:26Where are they?
05:27For starters, he donated most to PBS stations, who auctioned them off.
05:31But if you have a lot of cash around, you can purchase an original Bob Ross, and they
05:34ain't cheap.
05:35A Ross can run over $10,000.
05:37That's a whole lot of happy trees.
05:39Maybe these son of a guns just… there they go.
05:43Go right on off the top of the canvas here.
05:47The reason Bob Ross became so popular wasn't a sudden interest in wet-on-wet painting.
05:51He had a unique look, and his soothing voice just sent people to their happy place.
05:55The chickens grew up, and they became my friends.
05:59There's something about watching a guy paint clouds and trees in a pacifying voice that
06:03relaxes people.
06:04Ross once said in an interview,
06:05We've gotten letters from people who say they sleep better when the show is on.
06:09And that's the truth.
06:10There's this thing called Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR.
06:15What people with ASMR get when they hear Bob Ross is the tingles, a calming, pleasing feeling
06:20that is usually associated with intercourse.
06:23God was really having a good day when he made Alaska.
06:28We'll let you decide if the phenomenon is real or not, preferably by listening to him
06:31alone in a darkened room.
06:33Ooh, see what happens?
06:35When you think of the fame of Ross, you don't consider it on a global scale.
06:38Yet, somehow, Bob Ross has a following worldwide.
06:41There are certified Bob Ross instructors around the world, but for some reason, Japan in particular
06:46took to Bob Ross.
06:47Japanese television station NHK aired The Joy of Painting twice a day for years, and
06:52despite a Japanese voiceover translation, something most foreign countries airing the
06:56show did not use, the smooth pipes and relaxing mannerisms carried over perfectly.
07:00Ah, that feels good.
07:02You're in a good mood, aren't you?
07:06Next time, use a clean brush.
07:08Of all the Joy of Painting episodes, the most frequent guest was Bob's son, Steven.
07:12Thanks, Dad.
07:13Hi, glad you could join me.
07:16With his hairband looks, Steve certainly didn't look the part of painter, but his technique,
07:20without a doubt, was on par with his dear old dad.
07:23These days, Steve doesn't have a lot to do with the Bob Ross empire.
07:26A falling out of sorts happened after his father's passing, and Steve left Bob Ross
07:30Inc.
07:31Steve Ross still paints, as does his half-brother, Morgan Ross.
07:34The two maintain a low profile online, but Steve is best known for making enough double
07:38entendres in one of his Joy of Painting appearances to become a short-lived meme.
07:42Push nice and hard.
07:45You know if your wrist is wore out by the time you get done doing this, you did something
07:48right.
07:49No wonder he keeps a low profile.