Friends before Fame

Just like most Americans I'm infatuated with the lives of celebrities. For example,I admittedly read two pop culture blogs daily. Also, when I'm home I don't hesistate to flip through my mom's People and US Weekly magazines. I think what I find most fascinating is what celebrities were like before they became famous. It's also really cool to find out that two celebrities knew each other well before either of them hit it big. For example, for those of you that didn't watch the new HBO show "Joe Buck Live", sportscaster Joe Buck and actor/comedian Paul Rudd were boyhood friends in Kansas.


Rudd is on the left, Buck is second from the left

Along the same lines, I recently stumbled across this site that highlights pairs of celebrities that were roommates before becoming famous. For those of you that stubbornly/lazily avoid clicking on my links, here are a few of the notable former roommates.

Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler-lived together in L.A. before making it big. Actual footage of the onetime roommates is shown at the beginning of their new film Funny People.

Al Gore/Tommy Lee Jones- roomed and partied together as upperclassmen at Harvard.

Kiefer Sutherland/Robert Downey Jr.- Hollywood bunkmates for 3 years. Imagine the kind of drugs these two did together.

Dustin Hoffman/Gene Hackman- shared a tiny NYC apartment together in the early '60s and starred together with the following pair in the 2003 film Runaway Jury.

John Cusack/Jeremy Piven- grew up together in Evanston, Illinois and lived together in Chicago while they studied acting. The two have shared the silverscreen 10 times.


Now naturally this got me thinking about my own former roommates. I don't think there's any doubt that I'm going to hit it big, but I can't figure out if any of my former roommates have what it takes to join me in the world of celebrity. Let's take a look at the candidates.

1.) My cousin, who for reasons I don't even know myself has yet to be mentioned by name since the conception of this blog.



Roommate from: Sept. '04-May '05, Sept '05-May '06, Aug. '07-May '08 (28 total months)
Current Location: Hoboken, N.J.
Hobbies/Interests: Michael Jordan, basketball, golf, youtubing panda bears making spaghetti, rap music, lax, talking to me online for 4 hours a day, capturing Bigfoot, Jimmy Buffett
Best chance at becoming famous: He actually has a pretty good movie idea, but needs someone (i.e. me) to write the screenplay. He has also appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine.

2.) Glancy



Roommate from: Sept. '06- May '07, Dec. '08- Apr. '09 (14 total months)
Current Location: Chicago, Illinois
Hobbies/Interests: America, Tobacco, sleeping with the TV on, recruiting websites, Notre Dame football, waking up with one sock on, Bill Simmons, Miller Lite, 24, movies, all Chicago and New England based professional sports franchises, pulling his shirt over his head and pouring beer onto his covered mouth
Best Chance at becoming famous: Despite being the Illinois State Player of the Year in hockey in highschool and the #1 baseball recruit back in college his athletic prowess has all but evaporated. As a former co-host of my weekly sports talk radio show, his best bet is probably becoming the Jack-O to my Bill Simmons.

3.) Dylan



Roommate from: Sept. '06- May '07 (9 total months)
Current Location: Redding, CT
Hobbies/Interests: becoming a member of the Navy SEALs, biking, going to Arthur Ave in the Bronx 5 times a week to get fresh mozzarella and tortellini, UNC basketball, driving aggressively, techno music, talking about getting into fights without ever actually fighting anyone, tearing his labrum, wearing flannel shirts.
Best Chance at becoming famous: Even though he "ran shit" in highschool, I don't really like Dylan's chances at hitting it big. I think his celebrity potential peaks at something like creating a website like college humor and starring in the videos.

4.) Kess



Roommate from: Sept. '06- May '07 (9 total months)
Current Location: Brewster, NY
Hobbies/Interests: fixing computers, the Jersey Shore, Penn State Football, doing Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions, googling, certain kinds of whiskey, lifting oversized tires, biology, serving up moonshots, cooking, eating without drinking a drop of anything, snoring, mononucleosis, dry heaving.
Best Chance at becoming famous: I'd like to think that he could somehow turn his aspirations of becoming a doctor into fame, but I don't know how feasible that is, so I'll say creating a fact website similar to the ones about Chuck Norris and Tim Tebow about someone we all know...

5.) Pete



Roommate from: Sept. '06- May '07 (9 total months)
Current Location: Larchmont, NY
Hobbies/Interests: Greek Thanksgiving, the New York Yankees, doing John Sterling impressions, swinging at sliders in the dirt, slanging, video games, baseball, powdering
Best Chance at becoming famous: Reality television. If you put a camera on this kid, Truman Show style, it'd be must see TV.

6.) Max



Roommate from: Sept. '07- May '08 (9 total months)
Current Location: West Babylon, NY
Hobbies/Interests: Soccer, wiffleball, how NFL fields are painted, singing this song, Billy Joel, darts, hookah, being a stud, chewing on paper towels/napkins, Spain, Amsterdam, being bilingual, Las Vegas, Lionel Messi
Best Chance at becoming famous: Because he is a sexual being, I can see Max getting involved with a South American model and then intertwining himself with the Hollywood elite after a few more forays with supermodels/actresses.

7.) Greg



Roommate from: Sept. '07- May '08 (9 total months)
Current Location: This kid could be anywhere from Portland, Oregon to Saigon and I'd believe it.
Hobbies/Interests: gardening, chopping wood, operating machinery, wearing a pencil behind his ear, building shelves, breaking hearts, fishing, being sketchy, knowing "a guy" for everything, fixing flat tires, having flabby arms, reading blueprints, boating
Best Chance at becoming famous: Being the first person to drive John Madden's bus, the Goodyear blimp, Air Force One, a cruiseship, and a racecar at the Indy 500 all in the same day.