Around the Stations phantom

My second semester at USC, my video project was a discussion on the riveting subject of Los Angeles TV advertising. Not what about the advertising, does it suck or what, merely the ads. Harry Shearer, left, took me aside and gave me some much-needed advice. He said afterwards, "Look, when you have celebrity guests, you roll out the red carpet, have a green room, drinks, etc. Even though it's not a drama, you give them a script." My response was to offer him a joint. Right, Mal Sharpe, in glasses, Peter Bergman.

Harry Shearer and Firesign Theater comedian Peter Bergman generously agreed to appear in a student project I did my freshman year, long before I became Jed The Fish. Paisley curtains in the tradition-steeped Hancock Hall. Many years later filling in for Jason Bentley at KCRW, I finished my shift and was about to leave, and he said from the next studio, "Oh, you're too big a star now to say hello?" Embarrassed, I had seen him but had no idea he would ever remember me. Funny guy.