When I first got a computer and signed on AOL I had heard that Rosie O’Donnell had her own website. So I went there, went into her chat room, Rosie’s place, and asked all those stupid questions that every newbie asks. Later on when I became a host in her chat room I set up my computer with canned answers so whenever someone asked one of “those” questions I could hit a quick key and the answer would pop up.
Does Rosie really come here?
– Yes she does
How do you know it’s her?
– Her screen name is THEROSIE
When was the last time she was here?
– That one would change now and then, but towards the end of her show it changed less and less
And on and on and on…
She had message boards too
On The Gay and Lesbian boards I posted once about how a local talk show had said that Rosie was going to come out. This was years before she did. A few days later she came into chat and I was there, she said “Don’t believe everything you hear from morning talk show hosts.” She had read my post. She never posted on the GLBT boards, but they were the only boards that were allowed to stay off topic. All the other off topic boards, like the misfit board, ended up being closed.
Not to long after I first started going to chat she went into the chat room and I missed it. I was very disappointed but got a chance to read the log. 47 people all asking questions at once and the screen would fly so fast its amazing Rosie answered any questions at all. So I knew I needed a gimmick to get her attention. I decided I wanted to ask Rosie what color her toothbrush was. Sort of a commentary on the incredibly stupid and personal questions people would ask. I even ended up asking John, her piano man, what color his Toothbrush was. Blue, I think.
Rosie ended up posting to the show message board, so I figured I would post my question there. I only posted it once a day, but I got in trouble for it. You are not allowed to post the same question more than once. I couldn’t believe I got in trouble for asking about her toothbrush when there were people making all kinds of nasty comments and not getting yelled at. So I started posting every day a different question, Chunky or smooth peanut butter? Charmin or Cottonelle TP? Every day a different one, but at the bottom I would post, but I’d really rather know what color your toothbrush is.
People went nuts. Every post turned into these huge wars. People who thought my posts were funny and people who were annoyed. The threads would regularly get over 80 posts.
Then Rosie mentioned me on her show.
During her chuffa (that’s the part where she rambles at her desk before any celebs come on) she said, “There is a wacko on my web site that won’t stop asking what color my toothbrush is.” Then she went into a 20 spiel about her tooth care habits. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was meant as a joke and now Ro thought I was a complete nut job.
I went online and people were going nuts. I became a mini celebrity. For months people would come into chat and ask if the toothbrush wacko was there. I had to defend myself from people who thought I was crazy, I had a ball.
A few weeks after this a bunch of Rosie’s Place regulars had a trip to NYC planned. It was May 1998, There were over 50 of us. We had T-shirts made up. They even put a toothbrush on mine. Some of us had tickets to the Emmy’s. This was the 2nd year of the show and we were pretty sure Rosie would win again. We ended up meeting David Evangelista who said that if we got into Rosie’s show he’d introduce us to her.
How they run standby for the show changed because of us. At about midnight the night before the show we went and sat on the sidewalk outside of 30 Rock in NY. We ended up getting in on standby. The B52’s were on the day and Jack Wagner, they even filmed an interview with Matthew Perry to be shown later in the week. We had a ball.
After the show we hung out and waited while Rosie took pictures with the kids. She came over to us and smiled at me. I told her who I was and that I really wasn’t a wacko. I’m not sure if she believed me, she knew that we had done standby since midnight and wasn’t very happy about that. She ended up drawing a picture of her toothbrush. It was pretty funny. I was never really sure if she really thought I cared what color her toothbrush was or not. She ended up putting her arm around me for the picture of the group of us.
After that every time she came into the chat room if I was there she would talk to me. The first time she said “I met you in NY right” I confirmed that she had. It was kind of cool, but it was hard convincing people who saw her talking to me that I did not have her phone number and I could not send their emails to her.
It’s a weird story but it’s mine.
KeroRocks 