The Wrong Man

Jesse Walker | May 16, 2006

The BBC interviews the wrong Guy:

Guy Goma, a graduate from the Congo, appeared on the news channel in place of an IT expert after a mix-up.

But Mr Goma...was really at the BBC for a job interview.

Mr Goma said his appearance was "very stressful" and wondered why the questions were not related to the data support cleanser job he applied for.

The fellow who was supposed to be on the air was Guy Kewney, editor of Newswireless.net. You can see the interview that transpired instead here.

Coming tomorrow: Goma gets his own show on MSNBC.

Comments

|5.16.06 @ 1:23PM|#

Hillarious. I hope that Goma gets the job he was applying for.

|5.16.06 @ 2:02PM|#

Data support cleanser? What is that, the guy who sweeps up all the bits that leaked out of the internets?

|5.16.06 @ 2:32PM|#

I watched this video, and the expression on his face when he realized what was going on was absolutely worth the price of admission.

Not only that, but he was really quite articulate in answering the questions posed -- more so than most people might be on finding themselves suddenly on national television. =8-o

|5.16.06 @ 2:48PM|#

I can't wait to get home so I can watch this video with sound. Er, listen. It sounds like the world's best Candid Camera episode.

At first I noticed the story because my colleague was looking at Guy Kewney's website and I saw his picture; I used to work with Guy at ZDNet in London. At the time, he probably was the UK's most respected IT journalist. He's a swell fellow, has great stories about the founding of the computing industry.

One of the first times I felt at home in the UK was a few months in, when I ran into Guy in the office, or the pub maybe, and he said "hello Larr...Lazza!" (spontaneously applying to me a typical style of nicknaming in the UK)...I was very pleased!

|5.16.06 @ 2:54PM|#

This is hilarious. I assume Guy Coma was surprised that his job interview was being so heavily monitored.

I saw the video, and I think the guy handled himself pretty well, although he didn't speak as clearly as the interviewer. I hope he got the job.

The only way this would have been better is if Guy Coma's cousin, Claude Coma, had also been at the TV station to interview for a job as an optical titles technician, and at the same time optician Tiedel Teknikos was sheduled to be interviewed on-air about glaucoma ... and meanwhile another cousin, plumber Imina Coma, was there to fix the shower in the women's locker room, while medical ethics expert Nina Plumber-Showers was there to discuss the Terri Schiavo case ...

|5.16.06 @ 4:18PM|#

Oops, "Coma" = "Goma." But strangely, my post makes no less sense than it did before.

Larry A|5.16.06 @ 5:52PM|#

Reminds me of when Three Mile Island went red, and the newshawks interviewed the janitor about what was going on inside the reactor. Except that they knew he was the janitor.

|5.16.06 @ 6:56PM|#

TV Network news is a total farce on all contintents. This is the best laugh all day though. He had more to say that half the jackasses they drag out.

|5.16.06 @ 7:41PM|#

At the very least the guy should get a guest shot on Letterman.

|5.16.06 @ 9:25PM|#

I think Goma should be on Conan.

|5.17.06 @ 10:57AM|#

I think he did pretty well. I would hate to think how I would come off doing an impromptu interview on that, or any topic.