Unlike the author above, I instead, continue to marvel at the career of Dave Holmes.
In 1998, MTV had a contest called Wanna Be a VJ. Holmes finished second based on winning every single Survivor type Rock and Roll trivia event, but lost to Jesse Camp, who could barely remember his name and skated by on goofy stoner charm. Camp could easily have been on Beavis and Butthead and would have been the one that was the least intelligent.
Strangely, MTV for the first and only time in its history was seemingly embarrassed by the results, hired Holmes and conspiratorially made sure that he stayed on the network long after the Camp phenomenon was well over. Because you know, MTV VJ is such an important job and needs to be held by someone with lots of intelligence. This is the network that treated Tabitha Soren as if she was Barbara Walters. The same Tabitha Soren, who after hearing Bill Clinton discuss Thelonius Monk, wondered aloud about who indeed the loneliest monk was.
Amazingly, Dave Holmes is still on television, as one of those guys who hosts a movie with a hot chick so they can make it last an extra half hour or so. It’s true he’s on right now, which is how I stumbled across the above article in the Onion.
The author seems to be attempting to make a point on the banality of modern pop culture, which after all is obviously a favorite subject of mine. But here’s the thing. Jesse Camp deserved to win. Jesse Camp was something that Dave Holmes has yet to be in his 9 year television career – somewhat amusing. It’s not Jesse’s fault some idiot gave him a record contract. It’s not Jesse’s fault that Rick Neilson was desperate enough at the time to work on it. Was Jesse the next Kurt Loder? No, not by a long shot, but I still fail to see how that justifies a decade of Dave Holmes!
Sure Jesse Camp’s fame lasted 15 minutes, but to this day that’s 15 minutes more entertainment than Dave Holmes has provided in the last 9 years.
As of last year Jesse Camp was working at an L.A based pet store… true fact!