I have a funny story about mistaken identity and fan mail, back when I lived in New York City in the 1990s. I was working at Pace Gallery and lived downtown, near Wall Street. I was doing as much painting as I had time for after my “day job,” and it was the tail end of my art dealer activities. It just so happened that I was living in Manhattan around the same time that the actor Mark McKinney had his stint on Saturday Night Live from 1995-1997. He had been on Kids in the Hall for 7 or 8 years prior to SNL, so he was pretty well known.
Keep in mind that in the 1990s, there was still a hard copy “White Pages” phone book that listed names and addresses of people who lived in NYC. I’m guessing that Mark McKinney the actor had an unlisted address somewhere in the city, but this Mark McKinney, the artist and former art dealer, was listed in the White Pages. It just showed the name “Mark McKinney” and my home address, so there was no way for anyone looking for the actor to know whether the White Pages listing was him or not. At some point during his stint on Saturday Night Live, I started receiving fan mail for him!
The mail arrived for “Mark McKinney,” so I opened it, of course, not realizing that it was for a different Mark McKinney. Most of the time I just discarded it, somewhat amused at the adulation and the fact that it wasn’t really for me, even though the name was right. One exception, however, was a letter from a kid – I don’t recall exactly how I knew it was a kid – maybe he said he wanted to be like me (or rather, the actor Mark McKinney) when he grew up, or something like that. Also, he said how he thought I was the funniest guy ever. In that particular instance, I felt bad just discarding the mail, and having some kid out there disappointed that his “hero” just ignored him. So I wrote him back, said I was indeed Mark McKinney, but that I was an artist, not the actor, and just let him know that he reached the wrong guy. Perhaps I forwarded the letter to the SNL studio or offices, I don’t remember for sure, but never knowing if it would ever indeed be seen, I just wanted the kid to know he wasn’t being ignored.
On a final note, the picture above shows me – artist Mark McKinney – but was generated by A.I., as I wanted to have something with a vintage tv in NYC, since it happened about 26 years ago.