Normal Bob Seal Press, Celebs & Media Coverage


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Celeb Praise & Endorsements


2008, March 14th
I gleefully delivered a set of Jesus Dressup magnets to Richard Dawkins at a Barnes & Noble booksigning just in time for Easter. (Also included in gift package: 1 "Heaven Is Awesome" flyer).


2006, April 28th
Sarah Silverman is WAY too fucking adorable. And she was all smiles when I approached her telling her that I loved Jesus Is Magic. Loved that movie. Love her.


2006, March 28th
"NormalBobSmith.com is a fabulous site. Normal Bob Smith is a beautiful writer and a great artist, and he does the Jesus Dress Up magnets, which I have a set of in my home."
Penn Jillette, PennRadio.com.
Of course I am flattered to no end by Penn's comments. I have enjoyed his comedy and magic since the early days of Saturday Night Live, and his show BullShit I've praised on my site.


2005, June 10th
I've seen Janeane Garofalo around NYC for a while now but this was the first good opportunity I had to approach her and ask her to pose with the magnets. She was so sweet and insisted on paying me for the set I wanted to give her.


2004, June 26th
I have to admit that this picture is all blurry because I was actually nervous taking David Cross' picture. I mean, fuck. It's David Fucking Cross! But I was thrilled when he told me that he'd heard of the site and been there before. Those are 'God Is Fake' fliers he's holdin' onto in his other hand.


2004, June 15th
Jim Jarmusch is a film director that I grew up with. He directed such greats as Stranger Than Paradise, Down By Law, and Night on Earth. I saw Jim in the East Village and when I told him about Jesus Dress Up, he told me he was already a fan! Unbelievable.


2004, March
When the magnets made the news for being thrown out of Urban Outfitters even Ed Koch had somethin' to say on Scarborough Country. He said the magnets were "Offensive," and even called all of us involved (me and Urban) "schmucks!" can you believe it? "Schmucks!!!" Read the transcript for yourself!


2004, November 14th
Not only did John Waters love the magnets but he suggested taking a picture with them for maybe some free publicity! Thanks John!


2002, October
Captain Sensible of The Damned told me he loved my site. Nothing compares to getting praise from the one you once praised. I got to meet him and the band backstage and the works. Read more about that in the left side bar of punk mail.

 

2007, Oct 10th
Gothamist.com reported on my groundbreaking story about the Peepers of Union Square.


2006, August
I was hired to do several celebrity dressup games, one of which was Mel Gibson, and it appeared on Fox News. "No response from Mel's camp yet!"


2005
I was asked to be part of a film about 7 different Bob Smiths, each of us more bizarre than the next. Bob Smith, USA is one of the funniest movies you'll ever see, featuring me, my magnets and The Unholy Army of Catholic School Girls!


2004, March
The Catholic Standard Times made my day finally being the first to give me credit for Jesus Dress Up, even talking about my Unholy Army, God Is Fake pamphlets, even my personalized Dress Up Revenge page! Needless to say they only had negative things to say. It's a fun article.


2004, March 24th
My favorite press is the religious press. That's when I know I'm doing somethin' right. This is what ChristiansUnite.com had to say about Urban Outfitters and my kooky magnetic game.


2004, March 19th
Clayton D. Harriger, a pastor of the United Methodist Church, even gave a sermon on the topic of Jesus Dress Up.


2004, March
The controversy of Jesus Dress Up fridge magnets being sold at Urban Outfitters appears on Telemundo news, "al Rojo Vivo." Reporter shows magnets to shoppers, including a priest, and gets several negative reviews.


2004, March
I got a phone call from Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. They wanted to feature my magnets on the show. It was a great show with guests Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall), Greg Giraldo and Kathy Griffin. Click here to view.


2004, March 31st
Then when my site got shut down by the Laptop Lobbyists The Times reported on the story.


2004, March 23rd
The Washington Times did a story on the whole Urban dropping my item and the controversy that followed with protestors and my site getting shutdown by the religious right. It was crazy!


2004, March 21st
But my favorite publicity from this whole affair was the protesting on the streets publicity! Nothing made me happier than to see protesters out in the streets in front of Urban Outfitters waving down traffic and holding their signs.


2004, March 16th
Then MSNBC picked up the story and the Jesus Dressup magnet story appeared on MSNBC Countdown with Keith Olbermann! Keith made the comment about it not even being possible for Jesus to wear men's brief's until 1952 when they were first invented. Wise guy.


2004, March 16th
Everything changed when NBC Philadelphia did a story on my magnets. I made hundreds of sales off my site, other news affiliates picked up the story to run along side Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ stories, and a few days later Urban dropped my product from their shelves (March 17th, 2004).


2004, March
One of my favorite magazines, The Face, featured my magnets and they even went so far as to tell about my shananagans with dressing up as Satan and running around Manhattan with my Unholy Army of Catholic School Girls. Click and see!


2003, April 22nd
Chicago's Daily Harold gave the American Atheists a hard time for inviting me to speak at their convention on Easter 2003.


2001, December 15th
Mancow Meuller had a popular show in Chicago for jocks and meatheads. His people emailed me pretending that they were all into the site, but I knew better. Everyone in Chicago knows that not only does Mancow suck, but another part of his act is pretending to be a good Christian. I got a lot of other radio shows after this one wanting to interview me, but no word from Howard yet. I'm not holding my breath for that. You can read more about the Mancow interview here.


2001, Jan/Feb
One of the first big mentions I'd ever received was in the Jan/Feb '01 issue of FHM magazine. I remember it was a coworker of mine that discovered it on his lunch break, and he dropped the issue on my desk in front of me to page 28 just like you see in the movies when people slap down the morning headline. FHM gave Jesus Dressup a raving review, but notice when this was published I didn't have the URL "jesusdressup.com" yet, and instead the plug directed people to "www.normalbobsmith.com/jesusdressup.html."

They were the first major publication to give me the time of day. After that my webpage started to become a news item.


Other articles & mentions

* Wikipedia: Normal Bob Smith, Jesus Dressup
* American Family Assoc: Urban Outfitters dumps "Jesus Dress Up" (Mar 23, 04)
* About.com: Christians Shut Down "Dress-Up Jesus" Site (Apr 1st, 04)
* Variety: Bob Smith USA (Jun 15th, 05)
* InterNETview Mag: Featured Artist (Aug. '05)
* Arizona State University: Bob Visits ASU's Secular Freethought Society (Mar 15th, 06)
* New York Times: A Cafe's Evolution, a City With a Little Less Grit (Apr 8th, 07)
* Gothamist: Peeping the Peepers in Union Square (Oct 10th, 07)
* CoilHouse: Normal Bob Smith Knows What He Knows (Oct 27th, 08)




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