I like to start fundraising dinners with this story about my short-lived career as an actor.
I was on the TV show Castle a couple of times. Castle was a mystery-comedy about a crime writer who partners with a beautiful NYPD detective. Just like in real life, right?
In my two appearances, I was part of a high-stakes poker game the show’s hero, Castle, threw with real-life writers Michael Connelly, the late Stephen Cannell, and myself.
Okay, so now it’s a couple of years later. My acting career is a memory. I’m minding my own business, strolling down the aisle on a flight from south Florida to New York.
A woman starts jabbing a bejeweled finger at me from her seat in first class. She’s clearly very excited and she starts saying, “I know you! I know you.”
So I stop to talk to her and calm her down. Who knows; maybe she’s a distant cousin? Or maybe she’s pointing at somebody walking behind me?
I’m kind of used to this routine by now. People will come up to me in restaurants—often as I’m guiding a trembling spoonful of chicken noodle soup to my mouth—and they almost always say, “I’m so sorry to interrupt you.” But they do it anyway. That’s cool. Why cry over spilled chicken noodle soup?
So the lady on the plane gets out one more “I know you.” Then she delivers a great line: “You played Patterson on Castle.”
I laughed out loud. And I’m still telling the story.