'Verizon Guy' Paul Marcarelli Breaks His Silence

Verizon Wireless's "Can you hear me now?" slogan brought a curious kind of fame into the life of Paul Marcarelli, the carrier's "Test Man" spokesperson.

After a nine-year stint as the "Verizon guy," as he is informally known, Marcarelli is finally opening up about his time in the spotlight as the face of Big Red.

His silence, he told The Atlantic, was more or less required as part of his contract with Verizon. Since the company has informed him that the curtain will soon fall on the "Test Man" character, Marcarelli now feels comfortable speaking about the role.

Before signing on as "Test Man" in 2001, Marcarelli had been a struggling actor sharing an apartment with his boyfriend and another actor friend. By 2002, he was appearing onstage at a pro football halftime show and reciting Verizon's tagline in front of a crowd of 85,000. "Up to that point," Marcarelli told The Atlantic, "I hadn't played to a house larger than 99 seats."

But this celebrity would have some painful effects on Marcarelli's personal life.

According to The Atlantic, "A few months ago, he attended his grandmother's funeral. As her body was being lowered into the ground, he heard the hushed voice of a family friend: "Can you hear me now?"

Marcarelli also recounted several incidents in which neighborhood youths drove by his house and yelled homophobic taunts. Once he considered filing a police report, but changed his mind because he was unsure about exposing himself as Verizon's "Test Man."

"I definitely think that my reticence to have any kind of persona outside of this job was that I didn't want to be put in a position to have to answer any uncomfortable question that would affect my income stream," he told The Atlantic.

As his time with Verizon winds down, Marcarelli is distancing himself from his "Verizon Guy" persona by promoting personal creative projects and even ditching his signature black glasses.

Visit The Atlantic to read more about Marcarelli's take on life in and out of Verizon's spotlight. To watch one of Verizon's early "Test Man" commercials starring Marcarelli, see the video (below).

WATCH:

Comments

[StansDad]

03:46 PM on 04/16/2011

RULE THE AIR!!!

monopolize the industry, maximize profits!

[GaryNOVA]

02:51 AM on 04/16/2011

unfortunately no one heard him because he had no bars.

[Dahveed1]

11:28 AM on 04/15/2011

Imagine how bad the CEO of ATT Wireless must have it? He's got millions of customers who'd throw their cell phones at them if they knew who he was.

[guybytheseansc]

03:36 AM on 04/15/2011

Who the hell cares if the Verizon guy is Gay!!! I mean listen people, we live on a planet with gay people. This will never change! Everyone acts so shocked to see or hear from a gay person! I am gay! Quit acting like gay is such a shock people. The Verizon guy is gay yes! The construction workers have gay men doing jobs, waiters that bring you food, pilots, attorneys, the list goes on! Gays are entitled to work right? So eveyone (well mostly) needs to stop acting so surprised to hear that an actor or a doctor or a hobo WHATEVER is gay! We live on a planet that is full of gays, straights, blacks, whites, yellows, browns, etc.....Stop wasting your time! Because this will never change as long as life exists. Grow up and deal with it. Whew....got that off my chest. I need a smoke.

[edg1]

11:53 AM on 04/15/2011

OMG!!! You're one of THEM!!! A smoker???

[craigmack]

01:29 PM on 04/15/2011

of pole.

[SuperDaveOsborn]

03:32 AM on 04/15/2011

Now it all makes sense to me .....about VERIZON...... and soon, we will all hear why......and CEO Daniel Mead's Policy of hiding in the shadows, as VERIZON customers are TERRORIZED by the Financial Services Department hench men and especially the venemous women, who treat their long time customers like they are the scurge of the earth ! Soon, we will see what this company is all about, and may the Highest Courts of our land show them the same mercy that they have been allowed, (by Mead) to show their customers - which was NO MERCY AT ALL !

They shut down phones on Saturday mornings, when no help is available; they ensure that the phone is completely dead, so inquiry about the shut-off is not possible - forcing people to drive to the nearest store, where CASH-ONLY is accepted when banks are closed; and all of this without a single WARNING of possible service interruption !!! "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW ?" GOOD ! Because, soon.... The Higest Court Judge will also ! And see how well that goes over with the rest of your faithful ?

[everlastingtodd]

09:28 AM on 04/15/2011

::rolls eyes::

[xxxskier]

02:38 AM on 04/15/2011

Can you beer me now ! I mean white wine spritzer.

[floatsfast]

01:17 AM on 04/15/2011

The best Verizon "ad" is on You Tube. Search for "world's worst job".

[Broaster07]

11:37 PM on 04/14/2011

I loved the one with the monkey and the banana. And what about the FiOs Kid? He's off the radar too?

[Peace Walker]

11:13 PM on 04/14/2011

Gee. Its kinda like when they retired the Maytag repair man, or Mr. Whipple, the doughnut guy and Dr. pepper. (actually, strike that -- there is no way I should remember either of those... geesh, what we choose to remember...)

[Jguig]

10:56 PM on 04/14/2011

Look out world. He is now free to unleash his talent and explore his many dimensions as a first rate actor. Who knows where the future leads? With this much range and depth of character, he may win an Oscar or 7 of them even.

[Tedd Taylor]

12:30 AM on 04/15/2011

hahahaa

[dsuedaggett]

10:23 PM on 04/14/2011

quite whining about the effects it has on your life. you are exposed and if you did'nt expect any consequences you are a fool Verizon Guy.

[Jessica Bevel]

10:13 PM on 04/14/2011

I never thought of him as gay...

[JasonsRobot]

02:52 AM on 04/15/2011

Do you know the actor personally.. and never thought of him as gay..?
Or do you mean you never thought of The Verizon Guy being gay..?

Because, I think it's obvious, the article is about Paul Marcarelli, the actor, being gay.
The Verizon "Test Man" character's sexual orientation has not been revealed and isn't being discussed in the article.

I know he's only doing a simple commercial and 'catch phrase' but you do understand that there are usually vast differences between an actor and the character they play..?
A few examples: Straight actors play gay people, humans play aliens, British actors play Americans, and, in this case, a gay actor plays a sexual-orientation-unknown person.

I hope this helps.

[littlebrowngirl]

08:08 PM on 04/14/2011

I am not sure why anyone would care about his sexuality.

[Chris Fort]

08:42 PM on 04/14/2011

That's because you're not ignorant.

[imperator prime]

12:55 AM on 04/15/2011

There was a reference to his sex life? I read that he got the gig while he was living with his boyfriend and another actor, but if it had instead said he was living with a girlfriend and another actor would anyone assert that some kind of 'statement' had been made about his 'sexuality?'

I think one of the important steps towards doing away with homophobia (or more aptly, 'hetero supremacism' [not that I'm accusing you of either]) is to divest ourselves of the pervasive, unconscious double-standard whereby mentioning that someone has a same-sex partner is some tittilating 'sexual' reference while mentioning that someone has an other-sex partner is a non-issue. When they're straight it's treated as just part of life; when they're gay suddenly it's a superliminal annoucement of a "lifestyle."

Not meant as an attack on you, just pointing out... that while your remark was presumably well-meant, by pointing 'it' out as a thing (prejudicial) people "care about," you may inadvertently lend credibility to their attitude that it's an abnormal 'thing.'

[campdwn]

02:40 AM on 04/15/2011

-Marcarelli also recounted several incidents in which neighborhood youths drove by his house and yelled homophobic taunts. Once he considered filing a police report, but changed his mind because he was unsure about exposing himself as Verizon's "Test Man.-

Now do you understand why she pointed it out?

[GaBu2]

07:17 PM on 04/14/2011

...but...but...but he can't be gay!
In one ad his wife was having a baby.

[birdman273]

10:17 PM on 04/14/2011

Because Verizon would NEVER be progressive enough to put an ad out there with 2 men, or women, they wouldn't do anything that might affect their PROFITS, even if it meant not marketing to the gay community.
Can you hear me now ??

[silverphoenix]

02:52 AM on 04/17/2011

No, in that slogan it would have been "Can you queer me now?" with an attack by Bible Man.

Oh America, land of the ignorant and prudish.