While working as a journalist, wrote movie reviews and home-entertainment columns. Gave a four-star review to "Newsies" and panned "Home Alone.".
As a newspaper reporter, covered three murder cases, the 2 Live Crew obscenity case in Florida, and the wedding of two pigs in Oregon.
In 2007, John was recruited by producers at the very last minute to lead Conan O'Brien on a spontaneous tour of Lucasfilm's campus at the Presidio, including the unplanned moment of dropping an AT-AT model.