00:06
Nearly 67 million people tuned into the debate.
00:10
And the surprise star was the man in the red sweater.
00:13
The internet has determined a clear winner.
00:16
♪ I’m your man to love ♪
00:18
The legend of Ken Bone.
00:20
Ken Bone, you’re so charming.
00:22
The New York Times calls you
00:24
America’s new sweetheart.
00:26
All day has been a media blitz.
00:28
[Man] Ken’s a good guy.
00:29
Everyone knows he’s a good guy.
00:30
[Reporter] You got the red sweater, cookie.
00:32
Ken bone, there you are, crossing the Delaware
00:34
with George Washington.
00:36
Does it feel strange
00:37
to sort of become an overnight sensation?
00:49
Are you famous, Daisy?
00:51
Are you famous like daddy?
00:53
Your famous like daddy.
00:55
Scene one, take one.
00:59
Can I take this thing off?
01:01
It’s like hot and I don’t like wearing it.
01:04
Nice, careful it’s a collector’s item.
01:11
I’m a blue collar worker or started out as one at least.
01:15
I work at a power plant,
01:18
and I’m just a regular dude.
01:21
Wait, one more question from Ken bone
01:23
about energy policy Ken?
01:26
What steps will your energy policy take
01:29
to meet our energy needs?
01:30
I guess folks decided
01:33
that I was worth looking at for a while.
01:40
Y’all are ready for this?
01:47
My wife never liked all the media stuff.
01:49
How busy it would make me.
01:51
How anxious it would make me.
01:52
She could see the toll that it would take on me sometimes.
01:55
Not being able to sleep at night.
01:57
Not being able to go to the grocery store
01:59
without being mobbed by a bunch of people
02:00
that want to talk to me and take pictures and stuff,
02:03
that went on for months and months.
02:06
I’d get up and I’d start doing media
02:07
about five o’clock every morning,
02:09
and I’d be so anxious about the day ahead
02:11
that I’d be shaking.
02:16
I’d try to get out of the shower
02:17
and my wife would have to help me towel off
02:19
so I could get dressed.
02:22
It’s not the part about being looked at
02:23
or being on camera or whatever.
02:25
It’s the expectations that people have,
02:28
along with recognition people heap responsibility on you.
02:40
And I had trouble feeling like
02:42
I’d be able to live up with that,
02:43
because my self image has always been very, very poor,
02:46
ever since I was a little kid.
02:48
It led to some mental health issues.
02:51
And now that everything’s over,
02:54
it leads to its own mental health issues
02:57
and different kinds of anxiety,
02:58
and almost a like withdrawal symptoms
03:01
from all that positive attention and praise.
03:10
♪ You know watch your soul ♪
03:12
♪ Are you ready ♪
03:15
Every piece of fan mail I’ve ever gotten
03:18
At least to my knowledge.
03:20
If I missed one and you’re watching this,
03:21
I’m really, really sorry.
03:27
People would come by the house sometimes just to see me,
03:31
but more than people that knocked on the door
03:33
they were people driving by,
03:34
like they’re doing tours of Hollywood stars’ homes
03:37
in Southern Illinois.
03:40
I still don’t get it.
03:40
I don’t understand why people wanna talk to me.
03:44
I know it was a neat life experience and everything,
03:46
but I don’t get why it was so big.
03:50
I guess the whole election season
03:53
is just hatred and vitriol and nasty things.
03:57
And folks saw me and they’re like,
03:59
He looks like kindness.
04:01
He looks like love.
04:02
Which I don’t really get.
04:03
I thought I just kind of looked out of shape.
04:07
That’s why people latched onto me,
04:09
because I have this look.
04:10
Maybe it’s who I am inside, maybe it’s not.
04:13
But I look like the dude that greets you
04:16
with the dumb joke about golf.
04:18
You know, says hi to you at the barbecue.
04:20
The uncle that everybody liked to joke around with.
04:22
And I think that’s why they loved me so much
04:38
Once you realize that that your time is over,
04:45
You have this thought in your head.
04:46
Your whole life you’re like,
04:48
is this really all there is to life?
04:51
Like, getting up, going to work, coming home,
04:54
eating dinner, watching reruns, going to sleep.
04:57
I’m gonna do that again forever.
04:59
But you think maybe something amazing
05:01
will happen to me someday.
05:04
I have literally been in stadiums and theaters
05:07
where they’ll announce that I’m there
05:08
or show me on the screen,
05:10
and tens of thousands of people will chant my name
05:13
and cheer for me and scream,
05:15
like I just won the world series.
05:18
That’s never gonna happen again.
05:20
So it’s real easy to get down on yourself and be like,
05:24
better than peaking in high school, I guess, but it’s over.
05:27
And I’ma live 50 or 60 more years of just existing.
05:32
So I think that’s the reason why I’m engaged these days
05:38
so I can feel like it was worth it.
05:41
So I can feel like I still have worth as a person,
05:44
even though I’m not getting
05:45
that external validation anymore.
05:49
This is Ken bone wishing you a very happy father’s day.
05:52
I’m the dude, the debate, the sweater.
05:54
You have more love than you have anger.
05:59
I still got like 160,000 followers on Twitter,
06:02
and four years later,
06:04
I still get people like responding to my dumb jokey tweet
06:08
or once a month or so I’ll get a fan letter.
06:11
And they say like, you’re my hero.
06:18
You know, having other people tell you you’re great
06:20
for no reason feels good.
06:23
I don’t really get it.
06:24
I just do my best to live up to it.
06:28
♪ And I’m sitting here waiting ♪
06:32
♪ I’m watching that turn start with service left town ♪
06:37
♪ But I’m thinking it will come round soon ♪
06:39
♪ So I’m gonna keep waiting ♪
06:43
♪ Waiting on that big time ♪
06:46
♪ And you know what that means ♪
06:49
♪ Cause you need it too ♪
06:52
♪ So show me show me where the line starts mister ♪
07:00
♪ I need to catch this flight ♪
07:03
♪ Cause I’ve been here before ♪
07:06
♪ And I still got my ticket I wanna ride some more ♪
