Bill Laimbeer is best remembered for his days as one of the Detroit Pistons Bad Boys, but today spends his time as the head coach of the Detroit Shock. However, unbeknownst to most people, Laimbeer, while in high school had a pretty awesome summer job; he served as a Sleestak on the original Land of the Lost TV show in the 70s.
“I was the original Sleestak because the costumes were molded out of my body,” said Laimbeer, whose 6-foot-11 frame was what the producers wanted. “That was the TV show, this is the movie.”
“It was a great summer job. The entertainment business pays a lot of money. It was fun. You know, like I said, it paid well and you got residual checks, too.”
While the acting part wasn’t too difficult, Laimbeer did say that there was one major drawback, the suits themselves. “It was a wet suit with scales put all over it, and the mask was hot,” he said.
The actual filming involved little on Laimbeer’s part, “We’d just put our costumes on, go to our spots and stand there,” he said. “We weren’t very mobile, so we didn’t walk around any. We didn’t even make any noise, it was all dubbed in.”
Despite winning two championships as a player and three as a WNBA coach, Laimbeer said that to this day several times a year fans come up to him wanting to talk about Land of the Lost. It’s pretty awesome, almost cool enough for me to forgive him for fighting Larry Bird. Almost.
The Slanch Report 
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