Jeff Ragsdale goes from 'Lonely Guy' to celebrity with new book

BY PAM LOBLEY

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

NOW THAT'S FUNNY

Back in October 2011, Jeff Ragsdale was a lonely guy. He had just been through a painful breakup and posted fliers all over New York City advertising: “If anyone wants to talk about anything, call me (347) 469-3173. Jeff, one lonely guy.”

He got a few calls. Actually, he got 65,000 calls, according to the NY Post. And now he has a book. It came out Tuesday, on Amazon.

Does everybody have a book now?

If you don’t have a book, you have a TV show, or, at the very least, can yowl your way to fourth place on “American Idol”.

It used to be that in order to write a book, you were supposed to be a writer. And in order to be on TV, you were supposed to have talent. Luckily, those parameters are now considered outdated, and all that is needed for success if a gimmick. Did you know that the Huffington Post reports that there’s a new TV show, “American Digger”, which features a former pro-wrestler tooling around digging up people’s backyards?

Gosh, if I had known better, I could have gotten my woodchuck a great gig.

I miss the days when people just wanted to have regular jobs and then come home and read books by writers or watch TV created by writers/actors. It was such a tidy system. You either created entertaining content, or you consumed it. Now, the least little thing in your life is fodder for fame. (What a great name for a show: "Fodder for Fame!" Consider it copyrighted.)

Case from my own life: our dog sings along with the saxophone. It is hilarious, and adorable, and my family has been saying for years that we need to get it on YouTube. We are sure we would get a million hits and get our video run on "The Today Show," and that perhaps our dog would get some lucrative commercial deal. Alas, we are too disorganized to even record the darn thing, so our dog remains an unknown, except to his family, neighbors, and local squirrels.

But back to "Lonely Guy" and all his messages. Many people called up to say how they themselves were lonely, and they confided in him in that way that people do when they’re speaking anonymously. He is still taking calls, in fact, because the number went viral. I wonder if people will still call him now that he is famous, or will they get nervous talking to a celebrity?

Here’s my bet: his callers will now tell their tales and then ask, “Can I be in your next book?”

Pam Lobley writes the “Now That’s Funny” column. Follow her on twitter @plobley.