Disappointed: No Love from the Colbert Report

On March 26, I arrived in NYC earlier than usual for a unicycle Saturday. The plan was to meet in the courtyard of the Union Theological Seminary at 11:30 or so. The associate producer and producer were there, along with a cameraman, sound man, and an assistant. It was about 35° outside, but for some reason, they'd chosen this spot for the interview. Planes flew overhead at odd intervals, and trucks rumbled by on occasion, so there were several times when I had to repeat an answer, sometimes more than once. The interview lasted about 45 minutes.

Afterwards, we all made our way to Grant's Tomb, a short walk away. The crew interviewed some of the members, especially the kids, and they filmed us riding around. They stayed for 3 hours, and got some adorable shots of Adam Cohen's son Ziggy, 4, who is the youngest rider on the East Coast. They also asked him a few questions.

Three weeks later, the piece aired. My interview was completely absent, replaced by a kook law professor who thinks that unicycles should be banned from sidewalks because they're as dangerous as linebackers rushing at you. The piece was ok, and there were some funny bits at the expense of the law kook, but I was quite disappointed: I was really looking forward to at least a few seconds of screen time, but they didn't even include more than about 3 seconds of Ziggy, and there was no mention made of the club. The piece was also not especially funny or cute, and it made Kyle look a bit doofy, too, when it could easily have made unicycling look totally safe (by showing more of the club and of Ziggy) or totally crazy (by showing people riding around crowded sidewalks). Instead, it stayed somewhere in the middle.

With the exception of Adam Cohen and, of course, Kyle, I think the members of the club were at least a bit disappointed; after all, there wasn't much to be happy about. I'm bummed that I wasted my time helping out, and I'm disappointed that I got nothing fun out of the experience.

Oh, and if you're dying to see me on TV, I'm the one in the floppy hat on the right side of the screen at the 4:24 mark. Don't blink.