Before comedian John Hodgman made his mark on "The Daily Show," played the human embodiment of a Windows computer in a series of television ads, or controversially tried to make the case in The New York Times that a hot dog is a type of sandwich, he was just a kid growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Now, after a career that’s lead him into many an exclusive enclave, he’s written about his experiences and reflected on what it’s like to be recognized on the street by strangers. That's the subject of his new book, "Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms."
“You know, I was never supposed to be on television," Hodgman told Jim Braude on Greater Boston Thursday. "I got kidnapped by Jon Stewart after I promoted my first book on his show, and was suddenly given a very strange and unexpected and frankly implausible career acting and performing comedy onscreen.”
“I did not expect to walk through life with people saying ‘It’s John Hodgman!’ as though I were a ghost from their television set,” he added.
In "Medallion Status," Hodgman marvels at the access to even a small amount of fame — he describes himself as a “very famous, minor television personality” — can unlock.
"I've gotten into a lot of secret room and parties in my life. Even the minorest of fame affords you access to things that you'd never believe," he said.
But there have been two exceptions, Hodgman said, both coincidentally in Florida: Flag Land Base, Scientology's headquarters in Clearwater, and President Donald Trump's resort, Mar-a-Lago.
"We got scared away from Scientology because they took pictures of us as we were walking around," he explained.
"But Mar-a-Lago was deserted. We probably could've gotten in. We now know that anyone can walk in there easily. But I'm an only child, I was a little nervous about it, and there was no one home," he added.
