Rick Springfield Remembers Embarrassing "Do You Know Who I Am?" Moment, Says He "Felt Like an Idiot"

The "Jessie's Girl" singer and General Hospital alum made his comments in an interview with Oprah Winfrey

By Corinne Heller Mar 27, 2015 9:21 PMTags
Rick Springfield, Oprah Winfrey’s Where Are They Now?OWN

Next time Rick Springfield wants to buy a gun, maybe he should start talking cute instead. And save the receipt.

The 65-year-old rock star, best known for the 1981 hit "Jessie's Girl," who also played Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital, recalled in an interview with Oprah Winfrey an embarrassing story that should serve as a lesson to all celebrities: A time he pulled the ol' "Do You Know Who I Am?" card.

"It was pathetic," he says in the video, posted online this week as an outtake from an interview that aired during an episode of Winfrey's OWN show Where Are They Now? in February.

"It was in Vegas, I was doing the big show at MGM Grand. You know, my billboard was all over frickin' Vegas and on every taxi cab and like, 40 feet high on the MGM Grand," Springfield said.

He does not specify which show he is talking about. In 2001, Springfield was the head performer at an elaborate, multi-million dollar stage show in Las Vegas called "EFX Alive." Here's a program, which is listed on eBay for $9.99 (plus shipping).

ebay

"My young son Josh would come up and hang with me," Springfield said on Where Are They Now?. "I bought him his first air rifle and it didn't work. I took it back to this lady and I said, 'This doesn't work. Can we get another one?' She said, 'Well, where is your receipt?'"

Fair response. And a frustrating one for the rocker-actor, who is not unlike a general percentage of the overall population of the First World.

"I mean, I'm the paper anti-Christ—as soon as I have a piece of paper, it's gone, instantly," Springfield told the interviewer. "So I have no receipt. And she's like, going, 'Well, we can't really...' And I actually said, 'Do you know who I am?'"

"I'm like, failing in front of my son and I'm going, 'I'm Rick Springfield, damnit!'' and instantly felt like an idiot as soon as I did it."

He didn't need to break out the guitar or give her a smoldering Dr. Noah Drake stare. The salesperson was a fan. D'oh!

"She said, 'I know, I really think you're great,'" Springfield said.

He may never have to resort to pulling the "Do You Know Who I Am?" card again; Springfield will appear in the upcoming, anticipated season 2 of True Detective, which premieres this summer.