1.18.2007

Regular Cone

There's an ice cream parlor in upstate New York. Local legend has it that Rick Moranis once stopped in for a double scoop of chocolate mint (regular cone).

This doesn't seem too weird, almost not worthy of mentioning. Except, I too have been in this particular ice cream parlor, and I have seen the autographed 8x10 glossy headshot of Rick hanging on the wall. It reads "Honey, I love this ice cream! Best, Rick Moranis." I too, have read the 4 paragraph plaque that hangs next to the picture commemorating that days events.

As I ordered up a strawberry (regular cone), I remember thinking that it was pretty pathetic how this place was so proud of the fact that Rick Moranis had once happened to stop in. I was even laughing to myself. Then I noticed how genuine the older woman was who had scooped my cone and how her eyes lit up when she mentioned Moranis. I started to feel like an ass. I had been to hundreds of ice cream parlors in my life and none of them had put up a plaque summarizing my visit. Who was I to belittle Rick Moranis? And more so who was I to look down on his hundreds of fans?

I remember leaving that parlor trying to figure out what had made me think I was better than Rick Moranis. I thought about it for most of that afternoon. The only thing that I could think of was that he has been in at least 3 "Honey, I shrunk the kids!" movies, and I none. But when you factor in that he is Canadian that kind of cancels those out. Then I remembered he was in "Little Giants" too, and it all made sense. But then I remembered Strange Brew and SCTV and once again I was inferior.

After days of beating myself up about this, and sleeping in my car on the side of the road in upstate New York I realize this whole comparison was ridiculous. It was that day, that I decided that I wanted to meet Rick Moranis and tell him this whole silly little story. We would enjoy a couple of ice creams (regular cone) and watch "Brewster's Millions" and have a good laugh.

That never happened.

2 comments:

fAtHanD said...

His role as Louis in Ghostbusters 1 and 2 and his sublime portrayal of Dark Helmet in Space Balls made him fourth or fifth on my list of Canadian Comedians. It was his work in Little Shop of Horrors that prevented him from moving up the list.

Anonymous said...

There's a ruler posted next to 7-11 exit doors so that the clerk can gauge the height of whatever welfare recipient is robbing the store before he jumps into his Benz. Note that this measurement is only taken if the clerk was not stabbed to death. Why not also weigh and check the cholesterol of this waste of skin? Preventative care saves Medicaid dollars.