People in the News for November 3, 1997

Monday, Nov. 3, 1997 | 10:19 a.m.

Last stop on the Severed Penis Express! John Wayne Bobitt has been many things since his adventure in reattachment surgery -- porn actor, taxi driver, reliable late-night monologue joke -- but, incredibly, he's giving all that up to live the simple life in Fallon, trading in his boogie nights for fishing days. "I want to let the past be gone and move on," he says. Bobbitt now lives in the small Northern Nevada town with four of his five brothers. He's looking for a job and wants to raise a family. "I did a couple of adult movies but do not want to make a career out of it because my parents didn't want me to," he says. "I want to put it all behind me." But not too far behind: He's working on a book about his life and is suing for royalties to those films. He's gotten off to a rocky start in Fallon; he was arrested Oct. 27 on a charge of driving a car with fictitious plates. Still, to the skeptical residents of the donkey burg he's not saying what you'd think -- You can see it for $10 apiece. Get it? A piece? Hee hee! -- but rather: Get to know me, not my famous you-know-what. "I want people to get to know me for who I am and not what the media makes me out to be."

Briefly

From today's Strange Bedfellows file we have the curious case of Larry Flynt and Jerry Falwell, two men with absolutely nothing in common but a few biological similarities and a celebrated lawsuit. And yet they're wary pals. "I'm his pastor but he's one of my rebellious sheep," Falwell cracked during a recent joint appearance at the University of Virginia. "We're good friends. We just have strong disagreements." That seems akin to saying that John and Lorena Bobbitt were a good couple who just have strong disagreements: Falwell sued Flynt for $45 million in 1984 for a Hustler magazine parody suggesting the minister had sex with his mother in an outhouse. Now, though, both can let the past be gone and move on, getting to know each other for each other and not what the media makes them out to be. "In recent months, Jerry and I have established a relationship," says Flynt. "I like him very much." Yikes -- that made our face fall!

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets