[Description by contributor R.J. Heim]
I have no idea what creative well I had to tap into to find “The Reverend Bob” character. All I know is that it was exhausting. Listeners of WLAN-FM 97 would call in on the station’s 800 number with questions for Reverend Bob. I would go through that list, jot down some notes, go into the recording studio, and ad lib the whole thing on tape for broadcast the next day.
I knew I wanted a career in television news, not one as a comedian. Then, the Lancaster Intelligencer newspaper interviewed me for a feature story. It wound up taking up the whole front page of the “Lifebeat” section, with a fish-eyed lens picture of me, recording a segment, my fist clenched jutting in the air. Then the Associated Press picked up the story.
It ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and dozens of other newspapers around the country. The Reverend Bob was starting to take on a life of his own. Talk Radio stations around the country were calling, asking for interviews with the guy who was shaking up Amish country with an irreverent Reverend. The whole thing was getting out of hand. Fortunately, I got my next television gig, in Naples, Florida, and “The Reverend Bob” has not been heard from since!