Mrs. Dangerfield’s Call

“Hello, is this Chris Casey?”, the voice on the phone asked me. “Yes it is”, I answered, as I usually do to that question. “This is Joan Dangerfield calling,”… long pause awaits some recognition from me that’s not coming, “as in, Rodney Dangerfield’s wife.”

It was 1996, and sure, I knew who Rodney Dangerfield was, but why would his wife be calling me?

“Did you write a book called The Hill on the Net?”, Joan asked. In fact I had, and it had only just been published. “I have a flier here about your book that someone gave to me. Why is it bad news that Rodney is #95?”

Aha, now I’m starting to get it. In 1996 there were many new Internet magazines trying to become THE must-read of the hoardes who were rushing online. One of them, Websight magazine, had in their April issue published an article titled The 100 Most Influential People on the World Wide Web. And I’m still flattered that I came in at #96 for my efforts to promote use of the Internet on Capitol Hill.

My publisher, seeing an opportunity to capitolize on the honor, created a flyer plugging my book. It noted my position at #96 and added, “Good News… Bill Gates is #100! Bad News… Rodney Dangerfield is #95!”

Again Joan asked, “Why is it bad news that Rodney is #95?”.

“It’s a joke Mrs. Dangerfield. If I’m #96 to Rodney’s 95, it means I get even less respect than he does.”

“Oh… ha ha ha. That’s funny. Thank you then, goodbye”.

By the next year, Rodney had climbed Websight’s list with a bullet, and was on the cover of their Websight 100 issue. I had begun the slide to my present obscurity (if there was a ranking now, I expect I’d be in the upper ten millions), and Joan hasn’t called me since.

Rodney Dangerfield dead at 82
CNN, 10/5/2004

Rodney Dangerfield, Beating Troubles To the Punch Line
Washington Post, 10/7/04