"I had a great cut and still had $10!"

LOOKING FOR MY BARBER……INFO? – $1000 (reward for your help,thanks)

(1993)… I was a college student at St. Rose University located in Albany, NY. And like most college kids: I had no car, very little money, and no real desire to be in school. I really needed a haircut so I went back a barber shop where I was brought only once before by some of my classmates who played on the St. Rose Baseball team.

There was no one waiting so the barber waived his hand to come right over and sit down. Though I had met him only once before, he remembered my name.”Your name is Jimmy, right?” Yes I replied surprisingly. “The guys from the baseball team brought you in a few months ago. Great to see you!” Boy, was this a cheerful guy, I thought to myself. For the next 20 minutes he cut my hair and neither of us spoke a word. When he was done, he spun me around to face the mirror and smiled. He could tell I was very happy. So we walked over to the register, again the barber surprised me with his memory. “I think one of your friends mentioned to me that you do amateur stand-up comedy at the St. Rose once a month in the gymnasium, right?” …that’s right I said.

“Well, listen….at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning in Troy, NY, there is a professional audition being held for a pilot comedy show and they are looking for 13 young comedians.” He went on to tell me that a client of his (Donald Metzner, who owns a huge car dealership in Albany and has a lot of connections) is teaming up with Fox23-TV and Metroland Magazine to host a pilot for a comedy called “Metroland’s Loose Camera.” He suggested to me to go and audition. “Thanks Ron, but I don’t have a car or even know how to get to Troy.” He said that if I like, he would come to my dorm at 7:30 a.m., pick me up and bring me to the audition and introduce me to Donald Metzner, himself. This is kinda weird I thought to myself, but said “sure”. I gave the barber my dorm address and my last $10…..he took the address, but handed me back my $10….”NO charge, just be ready at 7:30.”

I had a great cut and still had $10!

So I went about my day and really didn’t give too much thought of this 7:30 a.m. audition stuff.

“WHO IS BEEPING THEIR HORN!!!! It’s only 7:45 in the morning, for crying out loud!… I look out my window only to see the barber waiting outside honking his horn….oh, yeah, the audition. I poked my head out and yelled I would be right out. Boy, I guess this guy wasn’t kidding. So I jumped into his car and we drove fast to somewhere called Troy. I remember we were late, I remember a 2-story house, going in and seeing about 200 people sitting everywhere waiting to audition. I signed my name on clip board. We sat down and waited while names were slowly being called. As we were waiting a really sharp guy comes in and my barber jumps up and says,” Donald!” as they shake hands . Ron whispered something to Donald, then came over and introduced me to him. “Donald, this my friend Jimmy, he does stand up comedy at his college.” “Nice to meet you, Jimmy. I stood and shook his hand. Then I sat back down and waited for my name to be called……3 days later after cuts and call-backs, I was picked as a member of the cast!

For the next several months, we shot the pilot. During the filming, myself, the 12 other cast members, and my barber, filmed a series of commercials in the Armory Garage Show room featuring the late-actor Geoffrey Holder. “You can’t get Armory off your mind” summer of 1994 campaign.

Finally the pilot was finished and had a big premier showing and though it was a very funny comedy, no networks were interested. But Donald Metzner and other talent scouts liked me and asked me to quit school and go to California where they would set me up with an agent and some comedy work…..I quit school immediately and flew off to CA!

Things happened very fast for me. 18 years have gone by since the day I walked in for that haircut by Razor Ron. I never really ever thanked him, or even paid for my haircut…..Just when you think you are going to have a boring, regular day, things can change in an instant….Thank you Razor Ron for taking the time to do more than just your job. You went out of your way for a stranger that day. Finding out later that you had sad things going on in your life at the same time you helped me and never let anyone know, you did a very self-less act of kindness which changed my life. I would like to have you on my late-nite talk show and thank you publicly. Sincerely, Jimmy Fallon