"Sign Offed", Way to Die #298, is the first death featured in "Getting A Rise From The Dead", which aired on February 16, 2011.
Plot[]
Mickey, a sign spinner, shows off his skills of spinning an open house sign to Alice, a barista. Later, Raheef, another sign spinner known as "The Dark Knight", shows up on the other side of the street, also ready to show off his skills to Alice. Mickey and Raheef then get into a sign-spinning competition. Early on, Mickey is almost hit by a car, but backs away soon enough for the competition to continue. However, later, Mickey accidentally slashes his jugular vein on the edge of the sign, which had become jagged from being hit repeatedly on the sidewalk, exsanguinates, sending him to heaven so he can sign-spinning whenever he wants, and much to the shock of Alice.
Transcript[]
(A young man walks with a sign)
Narrator: Kids, when you think about what you want to do in life, aim a little higher than Mickey.
(London Kentucky Death is playing, Mickey spins the sign)
Narrator: He's a sign spinner. The thankless job that pays only minimum wage, but for Mickey it wasn't about money, it was all about... the spin, and he was one of the best.
Elmer Reyes: Sign spinning is a form of outdoor marketing, the employees stand on the street corners with the large arrow shaped sign, they attract attention from passing drivers. Just like skateboarding and dancing, sign spinning has a lot of moves, with names and tricks, used to just be in Southern California, now it's a national and even international.
(Sexathon is playing)
Narrator: Mickey had been spinning at the same corner for a month, showing off for a cute barista named Alice.
(Alice shows off, Mickey looks at her, smiling each other)
Narrator: He was hoping his spinning skills would whip her libido into a steaming frothy love latte.
(Then Alice looks at the other sign spinner, seems like an adversary to Mickey, Bold Spaghetti is playing)
Narrator: And then, a challenger appeared: Raheef, known in the sign spinning world as... (Batman-like voice) the Dark Knight.
(Raheef starts showing his own sign spinning skill)
Narrator: This homeboy had the skills to pay the bills.
Alice: Oh my god!
Mickey: This guy's trash! He doesn't know how to spin.
Narrator: It was full-on spin off. Mickey was pushing the envelope... right off the curve.
Alice: Oh!
Mickey: Woah!
(Mickey nearly got hit by a GMC van, gets back to the pavement)
Alice: Careful...!
(The show continues, Master of Death is playing)
Narrator: It was only spin-spinning that these two went at it like it was life or death. Unfortunately for Mickey...
(Mickey accidentally slashes his jugular vein on the edge of the sign)
-Narrator: that's exactly what it became.
-Mickey: Ah!
(Villain Death is playing)
Alice: Oh my god! (screams) Oh my god!!
(Flashback of Mickey's cause of death, Future Worlds Music is playing)
Narrator: The tip of Mickey's sign had hit the pavement one too many times.
(The sign board touches to the pavement)
Narrator: Leaving a jagged corner of exposed coroplast. The shredded plastic sliced right through Mickey's jugular.
(Replay of Mickey slashes his jugular vein)
Mickey: Ah!
(CGI human spins the sign board, accidentally slashes his own vein)
Dr. Steven Burstein: The jugular vein drains the brain of life, and if lacerated, it's often very catastrophic, it looks gory, the patients panic, shock is usually caused by exsanguination or bleeding out. That is the mode of death.
(Recap, What goes up is playing)
Narrator: Mickey could spin the heck out of a sign. Too bad he didn't stop to read them.
Alice: Oh!
(Mickey nearly got hit by a GMC van, gets back to the pavement)
Narrator: If he did, here's how it might've went down: Caution. Stop.
(Mickey accidentally slashes his jugular vein on the edge of the sign)
Mickey: Ah!
Alice: (screams)
Narrator: Dead end.
Cast and Interviewees[]
- Sarah Foushee - Alice (Lead)
- Elmer Reyes - Former Sign Spinner
- Dr. Steven Burstein - Interventional Cardiologist
Trivia[]
- This death takes place a Same Day As Bad Assid
- The sign Mickey is spinning reads "You're Dead" during the CGI re-enactment.
- This death has a similar name to Signed Out.
- Mickey's death is similar to that of Lumpy's death in Happy Tree Friends web series episode: "The Way You Make Me Wheel".
- Raheef's nickname, "The Dark Knight", is an obvious reference to Batman.
Segment Nicknames[]
- Spin Head (Spike TV)
Foreign Names[]
- Señalizado (Signed) - Latin American Spanish dub
- Señal Asesina (Murder Sign) - Spanish dub
- Tabela Okunmuyor (Unreadable Signboard) - Turkish dub
- Desemplacou (De-signed) - Brazilian Portuguese dub
Gallery[]
