Vanity Cards
I was talking to a friend today about the TV show called The Big Bang Theory. I asked him if he ever read the Vanity Cards at the end of the show. He said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I couldn’t believe he had never seen the vanity cards at the end. They are only flashed up on the screen for one or two seconds, but still, it’s one of the best parts of the show. The cards are usually a slice of life story or they are about some humorous way he came up with the idea for the show.
I decided to look up the Vanity Cards on Chuck Lorre’s site after talking to my friend. It was the first time in 9 seasons of The Big Bang Theory that I checked these out. When I got to the site, I was surprised to see that Chuck Lorre was on vanity card #502. After reading #500, I decided to post it here and to apply it to myself.
I’m on blog post #237, and this one makes #238. I might not have a hit TV show, but I know one day I will be at post #500. And when I get there, I hope I can gain some of the wisdom and insight that this guy has over the years of writing these things. For now, I write these just because I can. (And like to.)
…Chuck Lorre Vanity Card #500
When I sat down to write this, my five hundredth vanity card, my first inclination was to use self-deprecating humor. Something along the lines of how proud I am to have a large body of work. Sure, it has no real value, but hey, it’s still large. If a person were to sit down and try to read all my cards, the verb “wade” might come to mind. But then I thought, “No. I am not going to waste this momentous event with false modesty. I am going to trumpet my accomplishment. I am going to take a well- deserved bow for eighteen years of hard work. Unpaid work. Work done just for the love of doing it. And let’s not forget, I’ve really spilled my guts in some of these things. A man’s life and innermost thoughts exposed for all to see. And oh, how I’ve labored over the jokes. Literally thousands of hours, grinding away, trying to find just the right combination of words to make you laugh. What was I thinking with the self- deprecation? Five hundred vanity cards. Who else has done that? I’ll tell you who. Nobody. Just me. Yeah, that’s right. You heard me. And I’ll tell you another thing. No one ever will do it. You know why? Because you have to produce five hundred friggin’ TV shows first!”
Okay, I’m done trumpeting.