John Swartzwelder, a writer for the Simpsons, used to write episodes while sitting in a booth at a coffee shop "drinking copious amounts of coffee and smoking endless cigarettes". When California passed an anti-smoking law, he bought the diner booth and installed it in his house.
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The first Ronald McDonald was Willard Scott in 1963.
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In 2005, there was a TV show in Germany called “Sperm Race” where contestants’ sperm was raced towards an egg. The winner got a Porsche.
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Rick Harrison of the hit reality show Pawn Stars, dropped out of high school in 10th grade because he was making $2000 a week selling fake Gucci bags.
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In 1987, a Chicago TV station had its broadcast interrupted by a pirate signal that shows a man in a Max Headroom mask mumbling and being spanked with a fly swatter. Despite investigations by the FCC and FBI, this became the only known incident in which a hacker interrupted a major TV broadcast without getting caught.
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HBO passed up "The Walking Dead" because they thought it was too violent. They also passed up "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men".
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Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart had no idea how to play chess when they appeared in X-Men 2.
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