Me and a couple of friends got to participate in one of his film bits last fall when he was on his book tour. He was trying to demonstrate how absolutely rich Bill Gates is by pretending to hold a housewarming party for him at his big new house (40,000 sq.ft, mostly underground, in a very visible location by Lake Washington), because clearly there is nothing appropriate to give to Bill Gates at a housewarming. He took us on a boat, pretending to be his neighbors holding pies, casseroles, a dirt devil and a weed whacker, and drove by the front of the house shouting through his megaphone. There was almost no response for an hour until a policeboat came to tell us to go away. When he went to the corporation, he said that the front gate people didn't drive him away like usual, but instead invited him in to walk around and talk to everybody, and he thought they were unsettlingly open and nice.
Anyway, this was going to be for a new talk show. He filmed the first week last winter and it sounded really good, and it had lots of his TV nation type skits, plus interviews with OJ Simpson and so forth. But I have the feeling it's not going to be broadcast. But later he said that he's writing a sitcom about some layed off workers which might start this fall. I think his documentary style is a lot better than his fictionalized script writing. CP