Famous People I Have Met (Or Spoken To)

Dick DeBartolo - Millions who have been young in the past 40 years or so have probably enjoyed his writing, whether they know his name or not! He has been a writer for MAD Magazine for nearly 40 years, and has been in every issue since he started. He is also the "Gizmo Wizard" or the "Gizmo Guy", depending on which website or TV show you see him on. I talked to him on the phone back in 2000 I believe, when I was in technical support at Network Solutions. I was a team lead at the time I believe. (I still work there, but I am in finance now.) Since then, he has had a number of website problems, most of which I was able to fix. Unfortunately, he had one of the most "cursed" accounts I have ever seen, poor guy. It seems to be ticking along pretty well now though, which is good. He even gave me a signed copy of his book, as well as several magazines! A truly funny and nice guy. 

 

Colin Mochrie - In 2000, Network Solutions (then owned by Verisign), had a Christmas party with a comedy theme. They had some impersonators and various real comics there, mostly local people. They did a version of "Whose Line is it Anyway", with Colin and a few local comedians doing all kinds of improv. It was great to see! After the performance, he was talking to various people, and I came up and introduced myself. I shook his hand, and told him that his TV show was very refreshing, and that it was nice to not have to watch people do the same stupid things all the time, like in regular sitcoms. He joked that instead, people could watch him do different stupid things all the time! He then excused himself to get ready to leave. Few people have the gift of improv, but he definitely has it. 

Jill Cunniff - I talked to her back when I had just started as a tech support representative at Network Solutions in 1999. She was very nice. She was trying to register names related to Luscious Jackson. She said she was in the band, so as I was working on her issue, I asked why that band name sounded familiar. I knew I had heard of them, but couldn't think of a specific song. She said they had just done a "Gap" commercial where they did a rendition of "Let it Snow". I said that I had heard it, and I liked it. It was catchy! They apparently broke up as a band a couple years ago. I think some of them may have solo stuff out, but I'm not certain, since I don't really follow them. 

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