RIP Pillsy

By Scott Willson · 2026-11-11

The Pillsbury Doughboy has died. Known to his friends as Poppin’ Fresh, he spent more than 60 years getting poked in the stomach on TV, giggling every single time. He was a fixture at Thanksgiving tables across America and the only guy in the kitchen who never once complained about the oven. He is survived by the crescent rolls, the cinnamon rolls and the biscuits.

Fuck, this one hurts. I’m not usually into celebrity passings, cause like, you don’t know them, so why are you emotionally attached to them when they die? But Pillsy (that’s what I called him) was a legend, and we all had a bite out of Pillsy at one point. I mean, arguably the cutest laugh in all of baking.

Think about how many times that giggle played in your living room growing up. Some hand pokes him right in the stomach, he lets out that hoo hoo, and next thing you know your mom is grabbing three tubes of cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. The guy took a finger to the gut on national television since 1965 and smiled through every one of them. He sold more biscuits than every chef on Food Network combined.

Honestly I don’t know who’s going to giggle at Thanksgiving this year. He showed up to every family’s holiday dinner for my entire life and never asked for a thing. Rest easy, Pillsy. I’m popping a can of crescent rolls tonight in your honor.