Brushes with not-so-greatness

Right now I'm holed up in the promotional office, trying to avoid the mess downstairs. The Sarah Silverman Show is filming an episode in our art books section, and there are so many cables, lights, dollies, etc. lying around that I just did a quick tidy-up before retreating to the relative calm of my desk.

I haven't seen Ms. Silverman yet (though I did spot someone who could have been her when I was buying some java in the coffee bar; I wasn't really paying attention), but it's a 12-hour shoot and she may show up later. I did see this guy:

I recognized him immediately as the guy who played Kevin on Just Shoot Me! In fact, I looked him up on IMDB and learned that he is often referred to as "that guy from Just Shoot Me!" I also found out that it's his birthday next week, so everyone wish Brian a big happy b-day. He is three months younger than I am, which I find vaguely depressing.

This show has a strangely enormous crew; about half of them are doing nothing at any given time. They just seemed to be wandering around, browsing the shelves and occasionally checking their phones for IMs. While I was trying to fill in displays this morning, some female flunky stopped me and asked, "Are you with the store? Do you have anything by Camille Paglia?" Camille Paglia? Jeez, lady, go back to the nineties. Then some guy browsing over by the graphic novels kept trying to engage me in conversation about the artist Banksy. Couldn't he see I was trying to work? (Although it turned out we share the same favorite piece of Banksy's work.) When the subject shifted to tattoos and he started yammering on about how unethical it is to get your pets tattooed because they can't consent, I chirped, "You're right!" and walked away. I'm sorry, there's not much that's less interesting to me than idle production assistants on a Comedy Central sitcom.

Speaking of tattoos, I spotted these delights on display at the register this morning:


Sweet!

*** UPDATE ***
The production hung a huge banner on the front of the store saying that Larry Bird would be signing his new book today, so all morning long we've had calls from people driving by who want to know if it's true. I'll be so glad when The Sarah Silverman Show packs its trunks and leaves.