I was in the end credits of terrible UK kids TV programme ‘Wacaday’ as they needed to bulk out the crowd who were doing the, ahem, ‘Wacawave’.
I met The Proclaimers, who were wearing matching black leather jackets and trousers. The knobs.
Been in the audience of Top Gear a couple of times, both times was moved to the front so pretty visible.
In my youth I was shown in the audience on Top Of The Pops, dancing to the UK`s answer to Britney, Billie. Hangs head in shame
My cubesat group got a few-minute segment on the local news that was filmed in my garage.
A device I built recently (Android-powered flipdot display) was on the news in New Orleans for a brief “tech toys” segment (thanks, sis). Though only my fingers are visible.
In the late 1980s, I was a hospital volunteer (long story) and they needed someone to play a patient. So, I put on a gown, they taped some tubing to my arm, and took a bunch of still photographs to use in a commercial. And one of them did get on the air. No, I wasn’t paid for this.
Several years later, there was a bone marrow donor drive in my town, and I went to it because I wanted to get on it. While I was having the blood draw (which was how it was done then), someone stuck a TV camera in my face, and it was used on the local news that night.
I was on an episode of a local kid’s show called The Trooper Yancy Show when I was a kid.
When I was in high school, I was on a team for a local quiz show Scholars for Dollars. We did well enough to come back a couple of times but lost the final championship round.
When I was in college, there was a college TV station. It didn’t do regular broadcasts - it was only on the college cable system. But they had a quiz show. Me and a couple of friends formed a team. We won one episode (our prize was a gift certificate at a local pizza place) but lost the next one.
And that’s the sum of my TV history.
In my senior year of high school ('71/'72) the A Capella Choir was selected to go to a choral competition in Rome, Italy. We needed to raise $33K so the whole choir could attend. One of our events was a half-hour local TV show singing a bunch of Christmas carols - I think the sponsors gave us a chunk of money for our drive. At some point, I had a close-up, 3/4 view, singing a prolonged “AAAAAAAHH”. Sadly, this was pre-VCR days, so I can’t share it.
PS - we raised the full $33K plus some, we all got to go for free, and we won a bronze medal. With the extra money, the choir master made replicas of the bronze medals for all of us. I think mine is in my jewelry box.
I was attending the Atlanta Olympics when, by sheer random chance, I bumped into a sportscaster working in the town where I went to college and resided in for a while afterward. So he gave me a few seconds of airtime. It was neat.
Several times on national tv (Canada) in relation to my work.
A few times on local tv when tricked out in Rider gear at games, home and away.
Video store commercial, counter clerk (which I was).
A couple of months ago, there was a transit meltdown where a train wheel broke and damaged the track. News helicopters were flying around, shooting video of thousands of people jamming the train stations for the evening news, and I was just barely visible in the mob.
There was also a commercial for the Renaissance Festival in Charlotte a couple of years ago that had a brief glimpse of me in a parade.
On the news in Orlando, FL with Jimmy Carter.
A grad student from Cuba was accused not of being a spy, but of conveying reports from an actual spy to the Cuban consulate in Montreal. I have no idea whether he was actually guilty or if what he did was an actual violation of the law, but the Mounties escorted him to the airport and sent him back to Cuba where, according to a friend of mine who vacations in Cuba sometimes, our student became a professor of mathematics and has led an uneventful life.
Naturally a local TV station sent around a reporter to investigate. My office door was open so he asked me if I would answer a few questions. Sure, so we went into the corridor and, with the cameras grinding, he asked me if there were ever strange looking people in our halls. Of course there are; this is a math department. I doubt if it lasted over a minute. Unfortunately, I had to go out of town that night so I never did see the segment, but my wife did and she said it was hilarious. Here was this bearded, jeans-clad professor saying there were all kinds roaming the halls of our building! My 60 seconds of fame!
Follow up: The Mounties called me and asked if they could talk to me. Sure, so they sent an agent around. He insisted on talking to me not in my office but on a bench in the entry hall of the building (so he wouldn’t be embarrassing me, I assume, not that I cared). The questions he asked meant he didn’t have a clue. Basically had I witnessed a full-scale cloak and dagger operation. They confiscated the contents of the students desk and never returned them. Included were all the marks from the course he was TA-ing in and they were never returned. The chair finally had to authorize As for all the students. We used to speculate that some poor code-breaker spent months trying to break the code in the mark sheets.
Last year I was on public TV in Alabama, part of a documentary about shapenote singing. I was part of a class (so I guess I was heard as well as seen, since we were singing), but I wasn’t interviewed.
Edit: found the show.
My face has been seen on PBS, locally, when I answered phones during pledge drives.
Once, back in the 90’s, during the initial heyday of Westboro Baptist Church picketing in Topeka, a local minister, who had no clue how crazy these people were, confronted them on a street corner, asking questions. They surrounded the woman, and looked really pissed, so I eeled my way in and told her, in a low voice, she needed to get out of there right now. A TV crew happened to be filming, so you could see both of us getting out of the gauntlet.
When I lived in Michigan a traveling Dr. Who exhibit visited East Lansing, and I attended, dressed as the fourth Doctor. That got me interviewed on local tv.
I think there have been a couple of other times, but can’t recall.
Wait! If anyone from Kansas City is reading, do you remember Whizzo the Clown? I was on his show as a little kid.
Interviewed by local TeeVee news when the college newspaper I edited was “removed” by the administration (completely illegal) and then the admin wanted us to provide them with advance copies and get approval (completely illegal).
Also, was a major character in a university Shakespeare play, and was filmed and put on TV with the “crap to do this weekend if you are desperate” stuff.
Featured local business on a daily morning show
Interviewed about cryptolocker viruses by local news
When I was 7, which was 1982, I was one of the kids on an episode of the game show Child’s Play. My word was guessed by the adult contestant and I won a Casiotone keyboard and a $100 EE bond.
Postscript: I decided to save the bond for the right occasion. I cashed it in 2001 for $160ish dollars, and used it to buy a horse.
yeah, once. back in high school I was one of two guys in my auto shop class who went into the Student Auto Skills competition. We won the state-level contest, and I think we had 10 seconds of face time on one of the local news channels.
nowadays, if you point a camera at me I’ll hurt you.
Jerry Springer show twice in the 90’s.
I was an audience member on Deal or No Deal, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Judy, Family Feud, The Naked Trucker, and The Greg Behrendt Show when I lived in LA in 2005-06. From there I moved up to background talent (glorified term for “extra”) and can be seen on CSI, CSI: NY, Shark, The Loop, 24, Las Vegas, Ghost Whisperer and Miss Guided.
It was fun and we got decent pay. I learned that Josh Duhamel is reallllly tall, Jennifer Love Hewitt is really short and Keifer Sutherland does his own stunts. Judge Joe was cool and hung out on stage between shows. He kidded around with the audience and didn’t take himself too seriously, unlike Judge Judy.
Also, it seems that contestants on most game shows are lobotomized shortly before the cameras roll. If you think the responses that make it on to the Feud are bad, you should see what gets edited out! Example: Q “What animals eggs would you not eat?” A “Rat!” Don’t think I’ll ever forget that one!