15 Minutes of Fame

A character suddenly becomes mildly famous and it goes to their head.

The Addams Family

Appearances

• The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 3, episode 21, "The Pen is Mightier Than the Mouth" (1964). Sally makes a big smash on a talk show and is asked to become a regular; her newfound fame makes her neglect her work on the Alan Brady Show.
• My Favorite Martian: Season 2, episode 7, "My Uncle the Folk Singer" (1964). At a local coffee shop, Martin unknowingly drinks a cappuccino seasoned with cinnamon, which causes him to involuntarily play American folk music through his head, so he jumps on stage and pretends to be a folk singer. Soon he becomes a mild celebrity, and the fame goes to his head.
• The Addams Family: Season 1, episode 33, "Lurch, the Teenage Idol" (1965). When a record producer hears Lurch humming and playing the harpsichord, Lurch becomes an overnight pop star and starts shirking his butler duties.
• The Munsters: Season 2, episode 12, "Will Success Spoil Herman Munster?" (1965). While Herman is playing around with Eddie's friend's tape recorder, he records himself singing and playing guitar. Unbeknownst to Herman, Eddie's friend's father works for a radio station and starts playing Herman's song, which makes it to the top 40, and Herman's resulting fame gives him a swelled head.
• What's Happening!!: Season 1, episode 5, "Saturday's Hero" (1976). When Rerun joins the school's football team and helps them finally win a game, he suddenly becomes popular, especially with the ladies, and he ditches Raj and Dwayne to take some cheerleaders to the Gladys Knight concert instead of them.
• Soap: Season 4, episode 14 (1981). Burt takes on a whole mob in retaliation for the boss disgracing him in public, and his bravery makes him famous overnight, but the fame makes him act like a jerk.
• Night Court: Season 8, episode 22, "Harry's Fifteen Minutes" (1991). When a magazine names Harry one of "the most interesting people in New York," his sudden fame goes to his head, and he blows off plans to go to the Ice Capades with Christine to go to a snooty art gallery opening, but his fame doesn't last, and soon he has to beg his friends to hang out with him again.
• Dream On: Season 4, episode 8, "The Book, the Thief, Her Boss and His Lover" (1993). Martin needs to publish a book by a late famous author, but his widow doesn't want her dead husband's name on it, so Toby seizes the opportunity to cosplay as a writer. The book is a hit, and Toby gets so wrapped up in her ill-gotten fame that she re-records Martin's voicemail message to a message for "the Toby Pedalbee fan club."
• The Nanny: Season 4, episode 4, "The Rosie Show" (1996). While Fran is in the audience of The Rosie O'Donnell Show, her loud mouth gets Rosie's attention, and she's such a hit that Rosie gives her a weekly spot on the show. When Fran's sudden fame keeps her away from her nanny duties, Mr. Sheffield starts to worry she might leave.
• Wings: Episode 14, "Just Call Me Angel" (1997). While Joe and Brian are on a plane coming home from Las Vegas, the pilot, co-pilot, and Joe all get violently ill from a cheap dinner special, and Brian has to land the 747. When the plane lands safety, Brian is hailed as a hero and called "The Hero of Flight 28" by the press. As Brian's fame grows, he becomes too big for Sandpiper, and Joe becomes pissed off.
• 3rd Rock from the Sun: Season 2, episode 23, "Fifteen Minutes of Dick" (1997). The gang has to give up their table in a restaurant when Mark Hamill comes in, which pisses off Sally, so she kicks Mark Hamill's ass. When the media gets wind of it, she's treated as a sort of folk hero who stands up to celebrities for the little people. After her first local morning show appearance, the fame quickly goes to Sally's head, and she starts acting like a self-absorbed starlet while Harry serves as her agent.
• Just Shoot Me!: Season 1, episode 3, "Secretary's Day" (1997). Finch is upset that everyone is making a big deal about Secretary's Day, so he storms off to the zoo and falls into the gorilla pit, sparking a media frenzy that dubs him "The Gorilla Man of New York" and lands him a spot on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but he gets fed up with his newfound fame when Leno brings out a guy in a monkey suit to serve him a cake for Secretary's Day.
• Frasier: Season 8, episode 15, "Hooping Cranes" (2001). Martin takes Frasier and Niles to a basketball game. Niles gets picked to attempt a shot from half court, and in a stroke of luck, he actually makes it. All of Martin's friends start calling to congratulate him, and Martin even asks Niles to come down to McGinty's to regale the patrons with his tale, where they give him the nickname, "Half Court Crane." Frasier gets so jealous that he challenges Niles to an arcade basketball game.
• Still Game: Season 9, episode 1, "Local Hero" (2019). Winston takes down a mugger who stole Isa's purse and becomes a local hero. A witness, who recorded the incident on his phone puts it on YouTube, and it instantly goes viral. Everyone in Craiglang starts calling him the "Angry Grandpa" and asking him to say his catchphrase, "Shut it, Tadger!" Winston makes more videos with Mick and becomes an internet sensation, but it's not long before his 15 minutes are up and the town turns against him.