“Ask Amy” Dickinson advice column weighs in on Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room,” unknowingly

Over the holiday weekend, newspaper readers much savvier than Amy Dickinson read between the lines of her “Ask Amy: Advice for the Real World” column and realized that she doled out advice to a very fake person from a very terrible movie.

The lead question in The Washington Post and The Detroit Free Press and other newspapers came from “Devastated.”

DEAR AMY: I have a serious problem with my future wife. She has not been faithful to me.

I recently overheard her talking to her friend about how she was unfaithful to me. When I confronted her, all that she said was that she couldn’t talk right now. I feel like I have to record everything in my own house just to learn the truth.

To make things even more stressful is the fact that she recently told a couple of people that I hit her, but it’s not true. I did not hit her. I’m not sure why she has been acting like this lately. She did just find out that her mother has breast cancer, and that might be playing a role in her behavior.

We still always find time to make love, so I don’t know why she would go out seeking it from someone else. I just can’t believe she would do this to me. I love her so much, she is my everything, and I don’t know that I could go on without her. She is tearing me apart.

What should I do? — Devastated

Sound familiar? How about if we play you this clip from Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, an independent film so bad it has its own fan base that has celebrated it for more than a decade.

Why should Dickinson have seen The Room? Why should anyone have seen it? Regardless, here’s what “Ask Amy” had to tell “Devastated,” aka “Johnny” aka aka Tommy Wiseau’s character.

DEVASTATED: The first thing you should do is to NOT get married. Your fiancee’s behavior and your response are the very essence of dysfunction. If you are correct and she is stepping out on you, this is a huge problem. Your declaration that you feel like you “have to record everything … just to learn the truth” is chilling. Her counter-accusation that you hit her is potentially very dangerous for you.

Because of an escalation in behavior I sense in both of you — and the seemingly toxic connection between you two — it would be wisest for you to separate. Seek the support of close friends, family, and a professional counselor to help you deal with this loss and change.

This “Ask Amy” lead item went out June 18 via Tribune Media Services, and none of those top newspapers that carry her column caught the similarity.

Dickinson herself discovered it today, and had a sense of humor about the goof.

AskAmy_TheRoom_movie_plot

UPDATE: Cam Paul @CamPaul from Winnipeg informed The Comic’s Comic overnight that at least two other advice columnists also fell for the same prank letter in the past month — Eva Papp writing for The Huffington Post, and Ellie Tesher in The Toronto Star

.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

View all posts by Sean L. McCarthy →