I’m the least likely person to ever write a review about a celebrity since I remember performances, but not names (except for the names of bad performers). In fact I’ve never done anything remotely similar to this before in my whole life, but...
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I’m the least likely person to ever write a review about a celebrity since I remember performances, but not names (except for the names of bad performers). In fact I’ve never done anything remotely similar to this before in my whole life, but neither is DJ Qualls remotely similar to any other celebrity recently renowned that I can think of.

On late-night TV, I generally I prefer to surf right past Conan O’Brien, but tonight this lithe, lanky man in a tightly striped suit caught my immediate attention and I lifted my thumb from the remote. The name “Cyrano de Bergerac” tumbled around in my mental rolodex of the famous – all twelve of whom I’m ever lucky to remember, but this guy’s nose was much less pronounced. I knew I’d seen that “nerdy” look before….but where??? Then Conan mentioned the movie 'Hustle and Flo' and there it was-- I’d seen the trailer! (You’re right, I should get out more.)

I actually don’t remember a single word or question that cam from Conan’s mouth but I remember every unaffected, delightfully-genuine word spoken by DJ Qualls. When he talked about always ending up on the floor in bar room fights he never picked, I didn’t feel sorry for him because you can tell there’s something about this unassuming guy that nobody will ever be able to put down. When he commanded his upper body to dance the way Michael Jackson does his feet, I didn’t mentally critique him. Instead I felt guilty for being a closet nerd myself but without benefit of his unaffected self-esteem.

I’m glad to have had the opportunity to spend a few minutes getting to know DJ Qualls tonight. And although this was only a Conan rerun, take my word for it… there’s nothing “rerun” about DJ. Through him came an epiphany of the totality of loss unknowingly suffered by the pretentious crowd we all grew up with, the loss of not much sooner knowing people like him (…. or perhaps even me).