Ross Perot has died. In addition to flipping the script on the 1992 presidential election, and giving Dana Carvey another impression, Ross Perot is responsible for my moment of local TV notoriety in 1993.
’93 was the year that David Letterman announced his move to CBS. This was pretty big news at the time, and I can imagine CBS urging its hundreds of affiliated stations to promote, promote, promote Dave’s imminent debut.
In the summer of ’93, as I wrote about in detail on another blog, I had a lousy job and lived in a lousy place. It was not a good time. So I took minor moments of happiness wherever I could find them. WRGB-TV6, Albany’s CBS station, was hosting a series of “Stupid Human Tricks” events at area malls–including, huzzah, our area mall! The Aviation Mall in Glens Falls, within whose walls I spent countless hours between 1990 and 1993–dining at McDonald’s, gaming at the arcade, shopping at Record Town, Caldor, all the big chains.
I made my way to the mall for channel 6’s shameless promotional stunt because anyone who got up and did something stupid–whether it be a genuine “stupid human trick” or any generic capering–received a “Letterman On Channel 6” T-shirt! So, I got up and did my Ross Perot imitation.
Now, of course, “my” Ross Perot imitation was really Dana Carvey’s Ross Perot. But I did a blockbuster Dana-Carvey-doing-Perot. (I’m also fairly decent as Carvey-doing-Johnny-Carson and Carvey-doing-Regis. Our voices must be in a fairly close register or something.)
So I did Perot for the assembled mall masses, replete with “Can I finish?” and “Now that’s just sad” and so forth. And when I went to get my free T-shirt, a reporter from Channel 6 grabbed me to participate in a live shot. And so, I did Perot on live TV to Albany, the capital district, Glens Falls, Queensbury, Whitehall and all points in-between.
When I called the folks that evening to tell them how I had spent my day, they surprised me by saying they knew I was on TV in Albany! Turns out someone from our church was going to college in Albany and saw my appearance.
That day at the mall was one of maybe two or three joyful moments in an otherwise grim summer. So for that, I thank Ross Perot.