Today is the last episode of this WMBIP Video Thursday series—I’ve gotten a little tired of it and I’m guessing some of you are too. It’s a little too similar to what I do on Sunday with the Sunday Links, so I’ve come up with a new Thursday idea that would be fairly quick for me to do, but still be interesting and entertaining. And since this is the last WMBIP Video Thursday I thought I’d turn the spotlight on...me! Below are four videos starring yours fooly along with an explanation about that video. Then below that are four links to MBIP segments from Good Day Central Illinois. Turn on and tune in to the jabberjaw and sometimes awkward experience of...me!
This is the video that started this whole series out back in August! It’s what kind of put me on the writing track that led me from Peoria to New York and then back to Peoria again. If you know me you know the story behind this but in a nutshell, back in 1985 myself and my friend, Greg Owens collaborated on a satire of Trivial Pursuit called, Trivial Trivia: The Idiot Edition. Well, it started getting publicity and kind of got out of control and we ended up on the Today Show in 1986 being interviewed by Jane Pauley! It was so exciting and it was the first time I had ever been to New York City. I immediately fell in love with New York and said to Greg while walking around, “I’d like to live here some day.” Seven years later in 1993 I was living in New York in an apartment on 75th and Broadway. Pretty crazy and it all started with this video!
2010 was kind of a repeat of 1986 for me. I was doing a blog called, A Guy Walks Into 365 Bars. Basically I was going to a different bar every night for 365 days and documenting my experience. I was living in New York at the time and the NY Daily News did a feature story on it that led to the U.P.I. Wire Service picking the story up and they put it out on an international wire. Things went nuts and hundreds of newspapers all over the world picked the story up. I did tons of radio interviews, local New York TV stations reported the story and I ended up on the Australian version of The Today Show called The Morning Show. Due to the time difference there’s a little delay in what I could hear and that’s why it seens a little off sync. I loved the fact that my parents got featured in it and they mention my mom's birthday that we celebrated in New York that year. I got a huge following in Australia after this which was great! I even met and made friends with some Australians that came to New York. You out there, Clacky and Shannon?
In 2008 I wrote a book of true-life short stories called, The Boy Who Would Be A Fire Truck. I was promoting the book via MySpace and other online portals and I made some videos for YouTube to put out there. My friend Luna Hirai shot and directed the videos which were me talking about the book and reading a short section from a chapter. It was a lot of fun shooting the videos and Luna made a blooper reel of me fucking up repeatedly while shooting them. This was my favorite video of all of the ones we shot, plus you can see glimpses of my tiny New York apartment on 16th Street!
I started doing segments on Good Day Central Illinois with Lindsey Mills, Clay Gordon and Lauren Rainson in 2015. It’s always fun and they really put you at ease and are great interviewers. This is the only clip of us on YouTube and it was a fun Halloween segment from last year and Lauren wore the mask I got her during her weather report! It’s always a blast going on there and this one was no exception!
MBIP On GDCI
As I mentioned above, I’ve been doing guest segments about the blog on Good Day Central Illinois for almost two years now. I can’t believe it’s been that long! Below are links to four of my favorite segments on Central Illinois' finest morning program.
Here’s my first appearance back when my hair was blonde!
This is a segment discussing the always awkward “Can I Eat My Lunch In Here” series.
We're discussing seeing and meeting Cheap Trick at the LImelight in this segment.
I love this one, it’s a segment with special guest star, Tito!
Okay, that's the end of the WMBIP Video Thursday series and next week we start a brand new Thursday segment with a little more human interaction! We'll see you all tomorrow!
Related Posts: WMBIP Video Thursday: Goodfellas, Joe Friday Speeches and Captain Jinks And Salty Sam.