Classic Rant #1,028 (November 6, 2013): Smile, You're On Candid Camera!

Well, not quite, but it will probably be the closest I ever came to being on such a show.

Yesterday, after I voted and as I was exiting the polling place, I had a microphone and camera thrust before me, and I was asked about who I voted for.

No, not "Candid Camera." Alan Funt didn't care about politics; he cared about laughs.

This was the local cable TV news station, News 12, that was in the hallway of the school that I voted in, and they wanted to get the voting opinions of the populace.

I was only too happy to oblige, mainly because it surprised me that they were there.

I got to the polling place a little after 6 a.m., as I always do, so I can vote early and then go to work.

I did what I had to do, and was in the place no more than five or six minutes.

News 12 probably got there around the same time, and set up as I was voting.

I was totally unaware that they were there until I left.

Unlike "Candid Camera"--where the cameras were hidden so as to catch unsuspecting people doing very funny things--the camera I saw was out in front of me, in plain sight.

This very young, tall, overly bleached blond reporter stuck the microphone in front of me, her cameraman taped me, and I did what she and he wanted me to do.

I did give them my opinion.

And yes, I did make the morning news.

I don't have News 12, as that is a Cablevision enterprise, and I have both Dish Network and Verizon on my home televisions (another story for another time).

So while I couldn't watch my little segment at home, I could watch it via streaming video on the Web, and that is just what I did.

I saw myself on the computer at work, and yes, it is always a little unsettling to see yourself--and hear yourself--like that.

But once I got over the initial shock, I think I did pretty well, taken unawares as I was.

As such outlets do, News 12 reruns the same thing for two or three hours, and then they post new reports. I was on the 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. news feeds, and then, I vanished from the airwaves.

But I had time to tell the world through Facebook, alert my wife and mom and sister, and show my co-workers my very less than 15 minutes of fame.

It felt good while it lasted, I guess, but I can't give you an address to see my appearance, because on News 12, once it's gone, it's gone.

I had nobody to record it at home, so my appearance was as fleeting as Tiny Tim's career.

Well, at least I was a TV star for a brief moment.

It was fun while it lasted, I guess.