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Good or bad everybody has their 15 minutes of fame. Here is mine. Some years ago, between Christmas and New Year the local Honda shop was having an open house, and the grand prize was a Honda Express. Myself and my friend Frogger whom I have mentioned before, ventured into the Honda shop at 3:55 pm to have a look around. As we entered, a girl shoved a donut and a cup of coffee in my hand along with an entry form for the grand prize drawing. I filled out the entry form and walked to the back of the shop to look at bikes. No sooner had I reached the back of the shop, at exactly 4:00, I heard my name called as the grand prize winner of the Honda Express. Now, I'm a dyed in the wool Yamaha man, and I didn't have a clue what a Honda Express was....until Frogger pointed to a little red step thru mo-ped sitting in the corner. I had visions of the Honda Express being a special edition of the Gold Wing or something exotic like that. Everyone got a good laugh at my expense when the truth sank in and I realized my mistake. To top things off, the local radio station 97.5 shoved a microphone in my face and asked me how it felt to be the new owner of a Honda Express. I did a Homer Simpson and couldn't think of a thing to say, I just turned red and stood there sputtering. It all turned out well, they allowed me to take free merchandise equal to the dollar amount of the Honda Express. True story...my 15 minutes of shame...err fame.

My 15 Minutes was probably in 2004, right after Nick Berg was killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Berg

Although a few years younger than me, Nick went to my high school, and my gym for a while. I didnt know him especially well, but he was friends with friends of mine, including my GF at the time. He was really good friends with her sister as well.

Anyway, after he was killed, there was a memorial fund set up in his honor.

Basically, my father and I decided to ride our bicycles from Chicago to Philadelphia over 10 days, camping along the way, handing out flyers sending people to the memorial website, taking donations. We had signs on our bikes with the website address, things like that. I had set up a website RideForNick.org and I did trip updates and pics there from the road.

Before we flew out to Chicago with the bikes I did a phone interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer about our trip and that story ended up getting picked up by the AP, and all during our trip our story got circulated to different news channels in Detroit, LA, Vegas, NYC, and I cant really remember where else. Actually when my friend picked us up at the airport in Chicago he told us he'd just seen us on his local news.

It was a great feeling, and kept us encouraged, especially in western pa when my dad blew his knee out in the Appalacians but we had to keep going.

The last day of the trip, we pulled into town and rode the last 6 miles or so with Nick Berg's father, to the house I lived in at the time where the Inquirer, and a reporter from the local paper was waiting. It was a pretty emotional event.

Anyway, in the end I don't really know what, if any effect we had on the memorial fund, or anything for that matter, but it is an event I will always remember, for the good and the bad.

Thats my story.

I get my 15 minutes of fame in small increments all the time. I've been pictured in the news (print and video) numerous times throughout my career as a volunteer firefighter and a paramedic. I've even done a few interviews here and there. Nothing major. Just a normal part of the job for folks that are out in the public eye.

Scoutmedic wrote:I get my 15 minutes of fame in small increments all the time. I've been pictured in the news (print and video) numerous times throughout my career as a volunteer firefighter and a paramedic. I've even done a few interviews here and there. Nothing major. Just a normal part of the job for folks that are out in the public eye.

+1, even transported some famous people to hospital right before they died.

I am the World Famous AZ rider.
Ya....
I guess I havnt had my 15 minutes yet.

Hmm... I was on a local commercial for like five years. Every year we had the computer show and sale at the Santa Rosa fairgrounds and on the TV commercial there was this little kid looking over the edge of a table at one of the displays(me). I got free tickets to the fair as long as it ran.

I can drink as much as i want and i only feel dizzy after a while... My "fame" is comming out at every party after a few hours when the drunk guys start whispering to each other "Look, this guy had 7 beers and two bottles of "orange vodka" and he's not wasted"

And if that doesn't count i guess i didn't had my 15 minutes of fame

Ow, came into my mind right after i posted...

Once i was going to meet some friends and on the way just after i took a corner, i saw the face of a desperate woman trying to reach her little kid that was running to the road... She had another baby in a carrige and she couldn't just run after the little guy letting the carriage loose... After i saw a vehicle comming towards the kid i jumped over a car and i let myself hit by the incomming car in the back while holding the kid tight to my chest beeing kneeled...

Even with a rucksack on my back, my back was really busted... But just on the surface, nothing broken... Made me wish i tryed to get out of the road with that kid, but i would have risked beeing hit by the cars comming from the other way.

Now, i wouldn't call it fame... But the look of that woman, before and after the kid returned to her... It's just printed to my mind... Reminded me of the times when i was little, and every time i came injured or bruised to my mom, she had that same scared face.

(Edited for gramatical disorders )

Last time I had my 25 (!) minutes of fame was yesterday when my band played the finals at the emergenza festival...

All those fans chanting your name while you do your guitar solo. Now if that isnt fame then what is....

I lost 2 days drinking with Sam Kinison,and gave Tim Allen the idea for Home Improvement, got yelled at by Rosie O'donnel, and slammed Rich Vos on opie and anthony.
I'm like the Pete Best of comedy, I have no talent but I used to hang around talented people.