You know what?
I used to be something of a big deal.
There, I said it.
Nope, I don’t blow my own trumpet much around here these days. I don’t like the spotlight I guess, I prefer to stay in the shadows. But I know what it tastes like to drink from the fountain of fame.
“Yeah I walked away, broken by how cruel and fickle people could be. But I also remember thinking: who has cracked this fame game? Which of my fellow brother men has got this thing down pat? Let’s take a look at some contenders.”
“But how? How did you fly so close to the sun?” I hear you ask.
By being the lead singer in an influential Dad-rock outfit based in the East Midlands, that’s how. Playing to crowds of up to 7 or 8 people, we lit up the stage in some of the most frightening pubs ever built. But it all got too much. How could we match energy like this?
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So it was goodbye to the adulation.
Farewell to the relentless pressure.
And ta-ra to people asking me if I knew how “divorced” I looked.
Yeah I walked away, broken by how cruel and fickle people could be. But I also remember thinking: who has cracked this fame game? Which of my fellow brother men has got this thing down pat? Let’s take a look at some contenders.
Ben Affleck
Big actor. Even bigger donut fan.
He’s been on/off with that Jenny from the Blocks woman for years. But despite having the world-famously beautiful girlfriend, and having been in some huge films, he seems haunted by the spectre of his success.
A man with a face that says: leave me alone.
Russell Crowe
The OG Gladiator. At the time, one of the most famous faces in the world.
Now? Doing this.
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A warning to us all that too much fame can lead to questionable career choices.
Nick Knowles
The Don of Daytime TV.
Knowles has thrilled people who watch television between 11am and 2pm for what feels like decades now, passive-aggressively helping hard-up homeowners ruin their kitchens and front gardens.
But what is it that drives him? Can’t be more DIY, surely?
No. It’s a quest for musical godliness. Cool.
Jake Humphrey
Jake had it all going on. Presenting duties on the BBC. Doing the Formula 1 “oooo look a fast car!” thing.
So how to build on that platform? The Hollywood squeeze? A shot at the (even) bigger screen?
No. None of that for Jake. He’s done a podcast for people who spend all their lives on LinkedIn. Weird one, but he’s nailed it to be fair. If you like that sort of thing.
So just a few of the boys there, smashing the fame game, in their own sort of way I guess. All of which makes me thing: can I still make it? Maybe the kids will help me out, help me crack the internet?
Probably not, thinking on. Comment end
