Rodriguez notes that it's worth gaining another pound of two on the road because he enjoys the celebrity the show affords him, especially "when some people see me, they tell me, 'You made my day.'" "I think that's too much," he said with a laugh. A bit of fear crossed his eyes when we told him that some of the possible items might be something called the "Peanut Butter Paradise" or a deep-fried BLT sandwich. Rodriguez says he had no idea what he'd be eating at the State Fair. He returned the following year to take a taste test of Mariano’s Hacienda's menu. The first happened in 2018 when he got to sample the epic ribs at Lockhart Smokehouse. His most recent remote in Dallas was the third time he visited the city before Kimmel's Brooklyn shows. "I think my favorite thing I got to do was when I did the red carpet for the Oscars," Rodriguez says, "and I got to kiss Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johansson." There, he's known to sneak in tequila to the guests and even a kiss with some famous women. One of the show's other annual traditions is to send Rodriguez into the press pit on the other side of the red carpet at the Academy Awards. "They offered it to and he said, 'Oh yeah, Guillermo would love to do that.' He likes to mess with me, but it's fun." "It was the show's idea," Rodriguez says, referring to the SkySlide stunt. climbing to the very top of the Empire State Building in New York City or riding the SkySlide, a clear, plexiglass slide that projects from the 70th floor of the U.S. Kimmel usually sends Rodriguez to do the remote segments that he doesn't want to do himself, like playing a scary game of soccer on the roof of the show's El Capitan Theater with Brazilian superstar soccer player Neymar Jr. Now Rodriguez stands off to the side of the camera every night during Kimmel's show, still in the parking attendant uniform he wore before he became a 21st-century Larry "Bud" Melman, the lovable, cackling sidekick from NBC's Late Night With David Letterman. Kimmel religiously watched and recorded Letterman's show during his teenage years in Las Vegas. He used to take me out to eat and I was about to pay and he'd go, "Guillermo, no, I got it. "He was always making sure you had lunch, making sure you ate and that you drank water and had coffee. "He was really a sweet guy," Rodriguez says of Potenza. He became so popular that when he died in 2011, The New York Times honored him with a featured obituary with a photo alongside his nephew. Potenza became known as an affable personality who often gave people (including celebrities) cash right out of his pocket. As with Rodriguez, Kimmel made Potenza famous as he sent him to interview celebrities. Rodriguez started on the show as more of a correspondent and a co-sidekick to Kimmel's beloved Uncle Frank Potenza, a former New York City police officer known for his extreme generosity. "I get to meet a lot of people, I get to eat different types of food and everybody is so nice to me," Rodriguez says. It's all part of his weeklong trip on the "Guillermobile," a large orange tour bus that has a huge picture of Rodriguez's face emblazoned on both sides. Rodriguez came to the State Fair of Texas on Tuesday to be one of the first to try some of the new foods that are finalists in the Big Tex Choice Awards. The show frequently sends Rodriguez across the country for remote segments that usually involve drinking and eating the local cuisine. Kimmel has taken his show from his homebase in Los Angeles to his original hometown of Brooklyn for a week of shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for three of the last six years. Barrett told Kimmel about it and the host said, "We got to put this guy in the show," according to an interview with Rodriguez last year in People magazine. A few months into the late night show, former Mighty Mighty Bosstones singer and then-show announcer Dicky Barrett caught Rodriguez, who was then working as a parking lot attendant for the studio, sleeping in his car. Rodriguez has been on the show almost since its premiere in 2003. I'm blessed to have a job working for him." "The show, it's fun for me and it's great," Rodriguez says. The great Hank Kingsley from The Larry Sanders Show once called being a late night host's sidekick "a dying art," but Guillermo Rodriguez, the parking lot attendant turned sidekick for ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, is bringing it back from the dead.
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