I've Had Plenty of
Inappropriate Relationships
the commune's Clarissa Coleman is no stranger to high-infedility 

Monday, March 4, 2002
You remember back when that hillbilly president was accused of poking the office help? In the end he never admitted he got his jolly roger vacuum-cleaned, but he did admit to an “inappropriate relationship” with the lady. That’s classy, man. Never say the fuck word. Oops, I mean F-word. I’d like to have an inappropriate relationship with a guy like that.

Not that I haven’t had my share of inappropriate relationships. I’ve been saying it that way ever since I heard it, because I, too, am a class act. So here’s a quick list of some inappropriate relationships.

A lot of smarmy journalists and water cooler gossipers always insinuate I had some kind of inappropriate relationship with the actor who played my father on Who’s Your Daddy?, Brad Van Danner. That is entirely sick, people, he was in his 40s and I was only 8 or 9 at the time. It’s also grossly inaccurate as the inappropriate relationship was with Chip Fleckner, who played my brother Chip. What a dumb dildo that guy was, they had to name the character the same name so he’d respond when you talked to him! Still, I was young and impetuous and he looked and smelled like that Huckleberry Pie doll.

It’s legendary among the non-famous that actresses sleep their way to the top, and then back to the bottom, but I’ve never lowered myself to that, I’ll say on record now. I have never slept with anybody, casting director, director, producer, actor, or anybody for a job that I wasn’t going to get anyway, and I’ve made it implicitly clear before we go to town.

Around 1993 that alternative band Flat Chest had a moderate hit with that song of theirs, “Clarissa Coleman Gone Crazy.” A lot of people think I had some kind of inappropriate relationship with the lead singer Dill Warner, but I assure you, he had a girlfriend and we weren’t an item, even though it’s obvious his girlfriend was a big lesbian and totally giving me a look, and I tried to tell him that. It probably adds to the confusion that I had an inappropriate relationship with the drummer of that band twice before he went on stage at Woodstock ’94, though I assure you I thought he was the lead guitarist.

When I was on “Teen Stars Week” of Jeopardy, rumors abounded about me and Alex Trebek. Come on, people, he’s like a hundred and I was a teen-ager at the time. Plus, he doesn’t actually meet any of the stars until he’s on set and has thick security around his dressing room. You’d think he’s the president. Ooo, I’m Alex Trebek, I’m so smart and I know everything. Everybody knows you’ve got the cards with the answers on them right there, Alex, you’re not the king of information about imports and exports of Mexico.

There was a year I was on the Conan O’Brien show regularly as a guest. I wasn’t the “sit down” variety of guest, just the “walk on and eat Corn Flakes” variety of guest, I’m not sure what was so funny about it, Conan and the guys just get a kick out of seeing me eat Corn Flakes I suppose, and the audience loved it. Without saying too much, I wouldn’t have minded having an inappropriate relationship with Conan, or maybe that delicious Max Weinberg. Andy Richter was pretty sexy, too, I like funny guys. I suppose I wouldn’t have totally shot down that puppet dog that smokes cigars either, I wonder what the guy who does the puppet looks like. Anyway, I had a few inappropriate relationships there, but it was mostly with guys I thought worked for the show and turned out to be big fat liars.

Like the ex-hillbilly president, I’m not proud of my inappropriate relationships. Well, some of them, especially that one with the famous CNN guy who said he’d sue if I ever mentioned his name. They’re all in the past anyway. Unless Conan O’Brien or Flat Chest’s Dill Warner call me up again. Yeah, I’ll play hard to get—like cold sores are hard to get!