COLUMN: Macon meteorologist remembers comedian Saget as ‘regular guy’

His mom and dad kept a book to record his childhood milestones.

His first words. His first steps. They wrote down how tall he was when he was 3 years old and how much he weighed when he turned 4.

A year later, when Ben Jones was in kindergarten, they asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.

A comedian, he told them. And they wrote that down, too.

Ben dreamed of being on stage, in lockstep with the audience as he tickled its collective funny bone. If laughter was the best medicine, he aspired to be a doctor with a prescription pad.

He held onto that dream for a long time, and part of it still clings to his bucket list. As chief meteorologist at WMAZ-TV, he now tells folks how cold it is going to be in the morning and – sleeves up – when a bad storm is rolling across the radar screen.

On camera, his quick wit has its fun and funny moments in front of the green screen in the studio. And, for several years, he emceed the annual Cardiac Café at the Macon City Auditorium and was the opening act for a number of headline acts.

He admired plenty of talented comedians, but Bob Saget always was at the front of the line. He appreciated the depth and breadth of Saget’s comic genius. Saget was the backbone of two No. 1 shows – “Full House’’ and “American’s Funniest Home Videos.’’

Although he had a reputation as “America’s Dad,’’ he held a different persona on stage. He would let it rip. No filter was applied, no expletives were deleted. Fellow comedian Jim Carrey described him as having a “big, big heart and wonderfully warped comic mind.’’

Ben was shocked and saddened when his son, Benjamin, sent him a text on the afternoon of Jan. 9 to tell him Saget, 65, had been found dead in an Orlando hotel room while on a comedy tour in Florida.

Ben’s thoughts raced back to February 2001, when he interviewed Saget at WMAZ’s studios. He went back and watched the old VHS tape. People have told him he looks like he was barely old enough to have his driver’s license in the video clip. Actually, he was 26 years old, half a lifetime ago. In October, Ben will celebrate his 25th anniversary at station at the top of Gray Highway.

“It was just a ho-hum day,’’ Ben recalled. “We had done the morning show, and the midday show was coming up. I was bored and walking down the hallway near the newsroom. The producer came up and said it looked like we were going to get Bob Saget on the midday show. I said, ‘Tomorrow?’ and the producer said, ‘No, he will be here in 45 minutes.’’

Saget was in Macon to perform at the now-defunct Comedy Café, which was part of the Whiskey River entertainment complex on Pio Nono Avenue, south of I-75.

“I knew about Bob Saget. I had followed his career,’’ Ben said. “But I didn’t have any time to prepare for the interview. I didn’t even know he was in town and, all of a sudden, boom! I was going to have to wing it.’’

From the moment they shook hands, it was as if they were kindred spirits. Ben called it “instant, old friends.’’ He said Saget was a “regular guy’’ and a “12-year-old boy at heart … and so am I.’’

Saget appeared on camera with Ben as he did the weather forecast from the “Backyard Garden” at WMAZ, where he joked he had come to Macon to do a study on the smell of the paper mill.

“Literally, from the first sentence out of his mouth I felt like I had known him forever,’’ Ben said. “We just bonded.’’

That night, Ben attended Saget’s show at the Comedy Café. Later, they began exchanging e-mails, and Saget gave him advice about the entertainment business and stand-up comedy.

“He always took young talent under his wing, helped them along and coached them,’’ Ben said. “His e-mails were encouraging about trying to be yourself and playing by the rules. He said to stay in the lane they ask you to stay in the business but to never lose yourself. Always keep your voice and stay who you are. Don’t ever get boxed in.’’

Six months later, Ben traveled to Los Angeles for a workshop to prepare for WMAZ’s participation in the annual Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy on Labor Day weekend.

Ben wrote to Saget to let him know he was coming to LA. While he was there, he took time out to take a tour of Paramount Studio, where he knew Saget was shooting a sitcom.

“I was on the tour when I got the brilliant idea to ditch out of the back of the line and go rogue throughout the facility,’’ Ben said.

He found himself in the commissary, where he spotted Saget carrying his tray in the buffet line. Saget looked over and smiled, “Hey, Ben. What are you doing here?”

Embarrassed, Ben said, “I’m not sure.’’

Saget took him around the cafeteria and introduced him to several cast members on the show. It was a great memory, Ben said, and a “bonus” he didn’t get arrested.

Knowing the Macon meteorologist wanted a shot at comedy, Saget had his agent arrange a three-minute slot for Ben on open mike night at the Comedy Store and Laugh Factory.

“I chickened out and never took him up on it,’’ Ben said.

A month later, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 changed with world forever.

“I have kicked myself ever since,’’ he said. “But who knows where that would have led or if it would have been the life I even wanted.’’

Ed Grisamore teaches journalism at Stratford Academy in Macon. His column appears on Sundays in The Telegraph.