Eleven Other Things About Me

Outside of the advertising world, and in no particular order.

11. I once interviewed Vanilla Ice on his tour bus. He yammered on about aliens for quite a while.

10. I’ve also interviewed the Chief Engineer of the Solar System Exploration Directorate at NASA.

9. My ninth book, To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing, will be published on February 28, 2025, from Schiffer Books. My tenth book, You’re Not Supposed To Know About This: One Man’s Deep Dive into the Government’s Secret Projects to Control Minds, Train Animal Spies, and Secure American Dominance at All Costs will be published by Quirk Books in January 2026.

8. I’ve been featured on the Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum as an expert on Missile Mail; on the History Channel’s UnXplained with William Shatner, where I discussed the Weird Wild West; and I’ve talked about the history of Mars on two episodes of Xploration Outer Space.

7. I hold 8 world records in lightweight juggling.

6. I was on Maury Povich’s show with my bearded lady friend after helping her reunite with her long-lost son.

5. WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show had me on to make New Year’s predictions for 2003. I, as the publisher of Backwash zine, was joined by writers from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and others.

4. My wife and children are related to Mark Twain.

3. I won a scholarship from the Denver Nuggets (academic, not athletic).

2. CNN’s Jeanne Moos came to my apartment to film my collection of eBay oddities for a segment after my book Found on eBay was published.

1. I’ve been a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. (And made it to the bonus round!)