Was "Lonely Jeff" Only Lonely So He Could Write A Book?

You may recognize the yellow flier in the picture above from various spots around the city (or perhaps from Early Addition last month)—they were plastered across the Upper West Side, Chelsea and the East Village in October last year. It turns out that "Lonely Jeff" is none other than comedian and actor Jeff Ragsdale—and he claims he received 65,000 texts and calls since putting up the flier. But was the whole thing another performance piece—from the man who once may have hoaxed the NY Times—in order to write a book?

Ragsdale told the Post that he was “near suicidal” following a painful breakup, and he posted fliers around the city soliciting other forlorn New Yorkers to reach out to him. “I think New York can be a particularly lonely place. It’s hard to meet people here,” he said. Perhaps that breakup was with Megan Brady— in April 2010, Ragsdale stood in Madison Square Park wearing a sandwich board that read, “I was verbally abusive. I’m sorry, Megan.” But after learning both were actors, a pissed off NY Times later updated that story writing, "There is considerable evidence that this is a hoax."

In light of that, it's hard not to feel skeptical about Ragsdale's breakup story as he goes around self-promoting his "Jeff, One Lonely Guy" book. Even so, that doesn't mean that Ragsdale wasn't actually able to touch other lonely people—there are some funny and sad anecdotes which he told the Post he pulled from his experiment. That includes:

• Betsy, who told him she "once went on a Craigslist date with a total stranger because it was his birthday and he had no one to celebrate with."
• A Goldman Sachs trader who told him, "I’m calling strangers who post fliers on the Internet from my trading desk . . . The economy’s in a major downturn, and we have Occupy Wall Street keeping us prisoner. It’s combative. We’re under siege here."
• Erica, who told him she "fell asleep on a lump of gigantic stuffed animals at Toys “R” Us."
• The 60-year-old widow who told him, "New York died before 9/11. It’s just about greed now, full of arrogant s- -theads."
• The pimp who told him, "You know, you’re too old to be posting your number on the streets, man. What kind of chick would meet a guy from a street poster?”
• Jermaine, who told him: "I saw Adam Sandler in a supermarket. He looked sad."