Re-shared on 11/5/2024
From Richard’s staff:
Richard shares about filming a segment with Jay Leno.
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Wednesday, November 5, 1997
I’m a bit overwhelmed by your response to my venting message. I can remember when I was a kid in a school yard. I remember the guys trying to hurt me and throw me on the ground, but Linda, Joanne, Pat and Jeanette saved me from a lot of bruises and broken bones. I felt like I was in the school yard again, and all of you came to my defense! I will continue on and answer emails until there are G-mails and H-mails and J-mails!
Not a moment’s rest, especially when a friend calls me and asks me for a favor. Stephanie R. at “The Tonight Show” asked me if I would do this vignette with Jay, and of course I said, “Yay!” So they sent a nice car over to pick me up, and on the way we were stopped in a traffic jam. We pulled up next to this guy in a white GMC truck. I always sit in the front with the driver. I don’t sit in the back because I’m all alone, so I sit in the front and listen to the radio.
Oh, back to the story! So we were at the stop light, and he rolled his window down to say hi, and I rolled mine down to say hi back. I had just finished doing my pushups about a half hour before, so I asked him if he had done his pushups today. He sort of looked like that guy in the Diet Coke commercial — you know the one where the all the women in the office press up against the windows to watch him drink a Diet Coke?
He said, “Hey, Rich, I’ll do them tonight!” I proceeded to ask him what he did for a living, and he told me he was a construction worker, and he built homes. Now, we’re still at the red light, mind you! I bowed my head, and I said, “Dear Heavenly Father, please protect this construction worker because it’s such a dangerous job, so keep him safe. Amen.”
The guy started laughing and held up his hand. He had lost his index finger, and he said, “Hey, the last time I did pushups, look what happened!” Then he explained that he had been in an accident and lost a finger. The light started to change, and he hollered one last remark back. He said, “Every night I do 300 9-finger pushups!”
I thought about that for a while. If he could do that many with 9 fingers, well, we have no excuse, do we? So along with all these days of drinking only water as a beverage, I now have added lots of pushups every day!
Oh, so now we get to the studio! I didn’t tell Jay I was bringing my boom box and some of my exercise music cassettes. So here was the bit. We were in Burbank in the parking lot of the Pavillions Supermarket, and Jay would stop people and look in their bags. If they had fattening food, he would call me over, and I was supposed to go through the food and give them a lecture!
Well, he stopped this guy — mind you, it was 9:45 in the morning — he stopped this guy, and the guy had six bottles of wine in his bag. So Jay called me in, and . . . you guessed it! I blasted my music, and I made him dance!
Then a lady came over and wouldn’t let Jay go through her bags, but she taught me how to dance the minuet right there in the parking lot! Then there was this couple that came out with a lot of frozen pizzas in their cart. They sadly told us the story that they both signed up for ball room dancing classes, and after the first class, the instructor asked them not to come back. So we proceeded to cha-cha and tango right there in the fakakta parking lot! I’m not kidding!
I’m not telling you any more. Okay . . . one more thing! A fire truck pulled up, and I made the firemen dance the full monty with me! That’s all I’m gonna say. You can watch the rest on “The Tonight Show” some night during Thanksgiving week.
Some of you got “Wheel of Fortune” last night, and some of you will get my appearance tonight! Monday night football seems to take first place. If it’s on at the same time as my chat, tape the show, and come to my first auditorium!
Again, lots of hugs and kisses back! Thank you for being my David to the Goliath.
Love
Richard
