David Letterman use to have a spot on his show called “Brush with Greatness.” Audience members would volunteer to share their experiences with celebrities, shorts figures, etc. And then they would read from a card (written by Dave’s staff), which “embellishes” that brush with greatness.
I’m an ordinary dude. If there’s anything I’m good at, it doesn’t rise to the level of greatness.
But there have been some strange things that have happened, in my 57 years of earthly existence.
After I present mine, I’d like to call on all you all to present some of your own.
So, what is your
Brush
With
GREATNESS?
Scoring will be as follows:
Being a famous person = 100 points
You are friends with the coolest (un-famous) person in the world = 75 points (must share story)
Being married to a famous person = 50 points
Being otherwise blood-related to a famous person = 25 points
Meeting and touching a famous (or infamous) person = 10 points
Meeting a famous (or infamous) person = 5 points
Meeting the relative of a famous (or infamous) person = 3 points
Knowing someone that a TV character is based upon = 2 points
Reading this diary = 1 point
EVERYBODY GETS A POINT!!!
Brush with Greatness #1
Dave Chappelle’s sister Felicia once spent the weekend at our house. 3 points
The Story: My first wife Donna matriculated at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. While she was there, she became friends with a group of “interesting” people. Most of whom have gone on to successful and soulful lives. Well, as you probably guessed, Felicia Chappelle was one of Donna’s closest friends.
Fast forward about five years or so……..this would be 1993 maybe? Donna told me that her best friend from college, Felicia was going to come up from D.C. to spend the weekend. I had heard about Felicia and was looking forward to meeting her. Well, she showed up, and it was quite the magical weekend. She and I hit it off well, and well, she’s as talented and as deep as her little brother Dave.
So, fast forward 13 years or so……..this would be around 2006. Donna and I are watching a DVD called “Inside the Actor’s Studio” Perhaps you’ve seen some of these interviews? Anyway, we wanted to see this one because James Lipton interviewed Dave Chappelle. So we’re watching the first few minutes, and they start flashing up pictures of Dave as a baby, and Dave’s Mom Yvonne who was a college professor, and Unitarian Universalist Minister.
Then a picture came on the TeeVee that Donna and I knew very well. I had seen it a few times. It was a picture of Felicia with her brother Dave, shot in D.C.
Shot by Donna herself.
Donna jumps out of her seat, and yells “I TOOK THAT PICTURE, I TOOK THAT PICTURE!!!!”
Donna even stakes claim for getting Dave high for the first time. This claim is unsubstantiated.
But should I ever meet Dave, I’m definitely going to ask him.
Brush with Greatness #2
I met Harvey Pekar in Oberlin, Ohio at the premiere of his one and only opera, “Leave Me Alone!” 10 points
The Story: I was good friends with a guy named Paul. He was a lover of opera. We met as employees of a city opera company in New England. Paul aspired to produce operas of his own, and after meeting his future wife at the city opera, they went right ahead and started their own company. Paul then asked me to be on the board of his company.
So, after some success with new operas staged across the country (and one in Bali), Paul was asked by a musical colleague, if he’d like to help him persuade (famously) curmudgeonly Harvey Pekar to create the libretto for a new jazz-opera, he was writing the music for.
It was called “Leave Me Alone!”
It premiered at Oberlin College in northwest Ohio, in December, 2008. Harvey is most famous for writing graphic novels (comic books, he calls them), “American Splendor” being his most famous. For being close friends with Robert Crumb (one of his illustrators), and there was even a movie called “American Splendor,” with Paul Giamatti playing Harvey.
They say when you meet someone famous, you don’t know what to say and your tongue becomes tied. I never believed it would happen to me. But when I was introduced to Harvey, I shook his hand and promptly said, “How do I do?”
He stared at me for two seconds and then grumbled something and walked away……….
Here is Harvey, being interviewed about the opera:
Harvey was also a Jazz Critic, known for his insight into music.
Brush with Greatness #3
I worked with the real Andy Bernard — 2 points
The Story: If you’ve seen the TeeVee show The Office (U.S. version), then you know a rather irritating character by the same name.
My girlfriend loved The Office. I mean, L-O-V-E-D the show. So, one day she persuaded me to watch it. I wasn’t impressed. I thought Michael Scott was a cruel asshole, and wasn’t amusing at all. My girlfriend never gave up though, and after another year or so, she tried again, and as it turned out, the show grew on me. Now I love it too. I don’t know it as well as my girl-friend, who could recite most of the lines in real time, though.
So, we’re cycling through the series and get into season 3, and I meet a few new characters. One of them is an aggressive, but dweebie guy who went to Cornell. No, you don’t understand, HE WENT TO CORNELL!!
And the first time I heard someone on the show say his full name, I nearly swallowed my tongue.
I told my girlfriend “that’s funny, I WORK with an Andy Bernard.”
We both figured “what a coincidence,” and went about our lives.
Until one day when I heard his damn name again on the show, and I decided to see if I could find out where Greg Daniels (the show’s (U.S. version) creator/producer) got that name.
I then read an interview online with someone talking to Greg. He was asked how his real life had leaked its way onto the show, if at all. He immediately started talking about his friend named……………...you guessed it…………. Andy Bernard, being the inspiration for the name of one of the characters. And that his friend had attended, and was currently a professor at, Dartmouth College.
So, at this point, I guess I should tell you where I worked at that time.
I worked at a church on the Dartmouth Campus, that was founded in 1787. Founded by the same guy that founded Dartmouth itself. And the Treasurer of the church at that time was a guy named………………...you guessed it…………….Andy Bernard.
So, now I was 95% toward knowing for sure if the two dudes were in fact…………………..the same dude.
But I wanted to be ABSOLUTELY 100% sure of this, before I told (bragged to) my girlfriend.
I got onto Wikipedia and found this:
The character [Andy Bernard] is named after American economist Andrew Bernard, professor of international economics at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Now, I was 99% sure. I mean, it still could have been some other Andy Bernard, right?
So, I went to the source.
I had some checks that I needed Andy to sign, and while he was signing them I took the dive.
“Hey, by the way, did you know there’s a character on a TV show with your name?”
He looked up, with a grin and turned a bit red.
“I know, he said.”
And after he finished the last check, as he was walking away, he said, “yeah, my friend Greg thought it would be hilarious. I was not amused.”
But he was smiling…………………
So, tell us about your “Brush with Greatness”