Becoming Famous

It happened last night. Maybe not on the level that many of you are used to thinking about when someone is “famous,” but I’m damn proud of it. And as many of my loyal fans might have noticed, I was called out by Laura, who saw it all go down on television. I guess I should tell you all how this thing got started.

The severe back story is that about two years ago, we got word at the station that Antiques Roadshow was going to come to Reno. We weren’t allowed to talk about it because it was really preliminary. But, eventually, it all came together and they planned their trip. As the data for the event approached, we had hired a pretty talented new producer/director. This guy is capable of making movies. He was tasked with running around the event with a camera and interviewing people, getting the story of why they were there – before they met with the Roadshow producers – and basically coming up with a behind-the-scenes special for us to use to promote ourselves around the airing of the actual episodes. Well, the first episode was last night, and we aired our special just prior to last night’s broadcast.

With so many of our station’s employees working on the crew for the production, and a guy running around taping the production itself, you’d maybe think that’s how I made it on television. You’d be wrong. Folks, this is mrjerz.org. We don’t screw around by walking in front of cameras so we can wave to our friends here. We do serious shit. I am an actor. There is a story that our producer found about a lovely little vase. A guy found it in the rafters of his grandmother’s basement, or something like that. He had no idea where it came from, so he used to make stuff up. Our producer took a cue and made up his own little story of that vase, and that’s what my role is. I am a player in that vase’s journey to where it lies today.

The piece you are about to see was broken up and mixed in with the entire half-hour special. This is the first time it has been released in the director’s cut version. It runs around five minutes in length, and the download may be a bit slow, but it is worth it. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, The Ryan Jerz Show.