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"Look at the silly, sloppy look on his face." - Stan Laurel, "Swiss Miss"

jk.jpgAfter our tour of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum on Tuesday, October 4, 2005, Jimmy and I decided to do some exploring around Hollywood Boulevard. When we stopped by the front of the  Chinese Theater, we were offered free tickets to see the Jimmy Kimmel Show filming across the street. We only had a couple of hours to kill before they began letting us in at 7:00pm, with taping commencing at 8:00, so we grabbed a bite to eat at the Hollwood and Highland Center, where we opted for the French Crepe Company.

Soon it was time to line up at the El Capitan Entertainment Center. We were entertained by a large rapper with ridiculous hat, who would incorporate your name into an on-the-spot, made-up rap. Donations were welcome. It was worth it to drop him a buck to create a rap about me, aka Ed Greim. Eventually we were herded into the studio. I called Carolyn from our seats to tell her to tune into the show and videotape it.

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Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue

The guests for the evening were Jane Kaczmarek from Malcom in the Middle, Survivor host Jeff Probst, and stand-up comedian Kevin Shea. I always have enjoyed Jimmy Kimmel’s sophmoric, slow and dry comedy delivery, so I rather liked his stand-up monologue at the beginning of the show. He is rather stiff with the guests, but holds his own for the most part.

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Jane Kaczmarek 

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 Jeff Probst

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Kevin Shea

I’m a moderate fan of Malcom in the Middle, so it was nice to see Jane Kaczmarek in person, but I wouldn’t know Jeff Probst if he came up and bit me. Ironically though, it was Mr. Probst who indirectly brought Jimmy and me our five seconds of fame that evening. Just over midway through the show, Probst was talking about the ‘Pontiac Curse’ on Survivor – whereby contestants who receive the Pontiac are ultimately usually booted off the island (this might make more sense if I actually watched the show).

Jimmy Kimmel likened the phenomenon to the Sports Illustrated curse. This supposed curse was that anyone who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated would have something bad happen to them (ie. injury) soon after. Probst had never heard of this curse, and asked the audience “am I the only one who doesn’t know about the curse?” Kimmel followed this up by asking “who knows about the Sports Illustrated curse?” Most of the audience cheered wildly, and Kimmel added “only the guys know about it!”

Naturally, Jimmy and I, each possessing less-than-enthusiastic personalities when it comes to cheering and simulating phony excitement, just sat there blankly staring. So the camera zoomed in for a close-up of us – looking like geeky, insipid wallflowers. This elicited wild laughter from the crowd and gave Kimmel the chance to utter “except for those guys.” We peeled our eyes away from the monitor to address the camera and attempt a “well-how-should-I-know” shrug before they cut away from us. So there it was, our opportunity to be known nationwide for a few seconds. At the tail end of the show, the monitors showed us once again, but alas, our second scene didn’t make the final edit when the show was broadcast. I called Carolyn and told her that she had to stay up and look for me when the show aired in the midwest.

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I was hoping we would catch on and become Jimmy Kimmel’s answer to David Letterman’s Mujibur and Sirajul

Jimmy and I would later select thoseguys as our email address for our Wax Apple website. We left the studio somewhat relishing our fame, with Jimmy blaming me for his bad luck. On the way home we stopped at In-N-Out Burger, and then went back to his place in San Pedro and set his TiVo to record the show. We also scanned in the photos that I had borrowed from Steve Cox, left in Bob’s car on Sunday, and then received in an overnight shipment that afternoon.

The 2005 California trip will continue…

5 Responses to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!: How We Nearly Became the New Mujibur & Sirajul”

  1. That’s a hilarious story! The screen grab of your expressions is funny enough alone. I’ll bet the live version is really entertaining.

    Dave Chasteen

  2. It sounds priceless! Any chance that moment could be put on YouTube?

    Peter

  3. I blame you for my bad luck.

    Jimmy

  4. Yeah, I remember staying up late that night to see you. Tell the Wileys I said hello!

    Carolyn Gelm

  5. Well I suppose “geeky, insipid wallflowers” is certainly one way of putting it! …It was good that you guys “dressed up” for the show!

    Bob

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