Considering how long he has been around and how popular he has been, it's remarkable how few people know who the man behind the rubber nose is. Despite countless appearances (in makeup) it's rare that J.P.'s alter ego is seen in public1. In part this is from his policy of "Play the Game!". It was important that the illusion of J.P. and the world of the city dump was maintained.
But the anonymity is also because the man, Chris Wedes, is a sweet, humble guy when he's not in the spotlight.
Audio Clip:
1 In the mid sixties, a local newspaper(which shall remain nameless) published a National Enquirer - type scoop. Someone snapped a photo of Chris Wedes, without make-up, as he was being loaded into an ambulance after being injured in a car accident (not his fault). The picture distressed many local children and would remain an embarrassment to the local media if they actually had any shame.
"Who, when he saw the first sand or ashes, by a casual intenseness of heat, melted into a metalline form, rugged with excrescences, and clouded with impurities, would have imagined, that in this shapeless mass would turn into smething useful like a glass? Neat huh? I mean without glasses we couldn't see or have anything to put Kool-Aid in!
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