Published November 14, 2002 in issue #41 of The Hook

BY HAWES SPENCER

For the second time in two years, Jody Matzer will be hanging out on national television with Regis Philbin. However, there's little chance that the Stanardsville author will earn a six-figure sum this time around-- unless his new book starts moving really fast.

Two and a half years ago, Matzer won $125,000 on the once-popular ABC show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and then parlayed his fame into a book: Millionaire Boy: The Adventures of a Game Show Contestant.

Last week, Matzer, 37, returned to New York to promote his self-published book. After finagling his way past security with charm (and free books), Matzer found himself chatting off-air with Good Morning America co-hosts Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson as well as weather guy Tony Perkins. Best of all, he got a second face-to-face with Regis-- not to mention a national television appearance.

On Thursday, November 14, Matzer says, ABC will air a short interview with him as part of Live with Regis and Kelly.

Matzer says he worked his way into the second row of the show's studio audience on Tuesday, November 5, and Regis recognized him.

"I thought he was just talking to me in the audience, but it turns out they were filming it, he says.

Soon, Matzer found himself backstage chatting with producers and getting Regis to autograph a laminated copy of the August 22 Hook story on Matzer-- as well as a copy of the book.

"I said, 'You're in it,' and he said, 'Well, I hope so.'"

ABC saw Millionaire shoot to the top of the ratings not long before Matzer appeared on the show in May 2000. But, as critics have charged, ABC killed the goose that was laying golden eggs. Because they ran the show nearly seven days a week and occasionally populated it with celebrities, the idea of the common bloke striking it rich lost its edge, and ratings sank. ABC cancelled the program in June, but a new syndicated version with Meredith Vieira (whom Matzer says he also met that day) as the host still airs to a fraction of the old audience.

Matzer, a freelance writer and illustrator, says his book sells just one or two copies per week on Amazon. So how on one trip did he get to meet Regis, Kelly, and Meredith, as well as David Letterman, Ben Affleck, and the Good Morning America team?

"I'm just kind of a brazen, not-so-shy guy," he admits, not modestly.

Jody Matzer

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