Q: Whence derived “Heck of a Guy?”
A: The contract for perpetual residency in the Boy Wonder phase, it turns out, includes a mandatory “Early Death” clause, which I opted to decline. Since I’m not ready to file for my Curmudgeon credentials, especially given that stage’s proximity to the Tuesdays With DrGuy category, I hit upon Heck Of A Guy as a transitional identity that offered certain advantages:
1. It is unquestionably a worthy aspiration.
2. It strikes me as a reachable goal compared, say, to Hero, Superman, Salesman of the Year, International Man of Mystery, A Man For All Seasons, Man About Town, Messiah, Mr. Right, MVP, …
3. The competition is limited.
So, some time ago, Heck of a Guy became my touchstone, serving, for example, as my online dating persona, in this (no longer running) Match.com ad:
A Heck of a Guy” has indeed become the unique selling proposition for my online dating campaign, replacing the theme “He’s Sexy, Smart, Virile, Funny, Muscular, Rich, & One Good-Looking Son Of A Gun,” which failed to differentiate my profile from 86% of the other “men looking for women” ads. Another promising headline, “Don’t Tell Anyone, But I’m Really Tom Cruise,” was nixed by persnickety lawyers. “Hunka Hunka Burning Love” turned out to be still under copyright. “Emperor of Time & Space” just didn’t scan. And the hoped for groundswell for “Dr Studalicious” inexplicably never developed.
The success of this ad prompted me to check into the status of the heckofaguy.com domain, which was available. Consequently, I am not only a Heck of a Guy (on a good day) but also have the dot-com to prove it.
