I impersonated John Corbett on the internet

Corbett only drinks on days that end in sometimes vowels

I have a confession to make. I've been impersonating John Corbett on the internet. You know this 47-year-old actor, who lives in the woods with Bo Derek but dates Kate Hudson in the movies, from Northern Exposure, Sex and the City, and, of course, as the voice of Applebee's. While the latter is possibly the least cool thing one can do, Corbett is also the lead singer of a country-rock outfit, which will play into the story later.

It all started when I wrote a post dissing Corbett for the Applebee's gig, and then, for April Fool's Day, pretended he responded in a drunken stupor, insisting to be more sexually skilled than Matthew McConaughey and to be sleeping with young sexpot Agnes Bruckner.

From there I had Corbett giving a presidential endorsement, guest blogging (during which he physically threatened Darren Star) and even authoring his own advice column.

In the process, the story was picked up by New York Press -- whose reporter thought Corbett was actually collaborating -- and Defamer. Little did I know I would end up interviewing Corbett himself a few weeks later. His band was playing in Orange County, and so I ended up talking to him for a story in OC Weekly.

Our chat was more than a bit awkward, especially when I fessed up to impersonating him on the internet.

 Heard about that guy impersonating you on his blog?

No.

Well, I just wanted to fess up that I penned a few humorous entries as you. It’s only read by my friends, so I figured you probably didn’t read it.

No. [Half-chuckles] What is it called?

It’s called The Healthiest Man in Park Slope. My blog is sort of independent from my journalism, and on this one I sort of pretended we were buddies, and that you came to New York and hung out. But, everyone knew it was a joke. So, just in case you had heard about it I wanted to fess up that it was me.

Oh. You didn’t paint me in a bad light, did ya?

I made you sound kind of silly and genial.

Oh, okay. I’ll have to try to find it. What do I look up to see it?

I can send it to you if you want.

I don’t even have email, believe it or not.

I can let you write down the URL if you want. It’s really long. It’s healthiestmaninparkslope.blogspot.com.

“The Healthiest Man in Park Slope” -- What does that mean?

Park Slope is the Brooklyn neighborhood where I used to live. It started out being about health and wellness, and then it kind of evolved to being more about music and pop culture.

Gotcha. So, this interview today, what are you going to do with that?

This is for OC Weekly. But, since I have this on my blog I wanted to see if you’d heard of it, and if you had I thought that would be pretty cool.

[Takes a deep breath]. Man, you know, I’m just not a real computer dude. Believe it or not, I know it’s weird, but...

He concluded with a friendly warning.

All right, Ben. Quit impersonating me, now.

[Laughs] Okay. All right.

I think it's fair to say that JC and I are BFFs. You can read our entire conversation here.