Hollywood Days - Mark-Paul Gosselaar

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Mark-Paul and I met at our first practice for Circus of the Stars. Of course, I knew who he was from his Saved By the Bell stardom. I think he may have been a closet fan of The New Lassie.

We spent a lot of time together in preparation for the circus. As I mentioned on a previous post we practiced 6 days a week for about 3 months. Our practices usually lasted about an hour. Sometimes Mark-Paul and I practiced at different times, but a lot of days we were training together and encouraging (and teasing) one another. We became good friends and hung out outside of circus life. We also bonded with our trainers as well as a few other of the Circus performers. Dah-Ve Chodan was a sweet girl (she starred in the televsion series "Uncle Buck") who did the trapeze act that year.

One time a group of us went to Magic Mountain together. How about them sunglasses?

Here is a picture from a Circus party. It was put on by the producers as a "Congratulations" party. (Mark-Paul's Mom, my Mom and Mark-Paul)

One weekend Mark-Paul and his Mom flew up to my hometown for a visit. My Mom had set up an autograph session for us at her real estate office. A lot of locals came out to see me, their hometown hero Zack Morris.


I took Mark-Paul to my high school's football game. I think he was a sophmore in high school, but had never really been to traditional high school or normal high school activities because of his work schedule. Of course, all the girls were swooning. Mostly from a distance. I can't recall anyone really freakin' out or buggin' or anything like that. Except maybe some guys. They were not fans. They were jealous. To quote an unnamed source who we'll call Kevin Larson,

"All the girls were going crazy & it was annoying."
He also said to mention that him & all the other guys told the girls to quit going crazy over Zack because they had no chance with him because Zack had kissed Kelly Kapowski and no one could live up to her.

I brought Mark-Paul to church youth group with me. Another first for him. I think he enjoyed it. Well, part of it anyway. When it was time to go, I couldn't find him . . . or my girlfriend that I had brought with us. She was not a regular youth group attender, but had met Mark-Paul a few weeks prior when she came down to visit me. I finally found them. Outside the building. Making out. Gotta love the teen years.

Here is a pic from when my friends came and visited me at Circus practice. The make-out friend is the second from the left - Katie Paulsen. Far left is Dah-Ve Chodan (trapeze girl), Tammie Ahlberg, me and Missy McFarland.

Tammie, Mark-Paul and one of the circus trainers. And yes, Mark-Paul was wearing hammer pants. I'm pretty sure his favorite song at the time was "Poison" by Bell Biv Devoe. The glory years of music and clothing.

After the Circus taping a bunch of us went out to dinner to celebrate. Mark-Paul and Chad Allen decided that it was my birthday.

I saw Mark-Paul at some point in college. I went to a taping of "Saved by the Bell: The College Years." And then life got a hold of us and we lost touch.

**Update - Mark-Paul and I recently reconnected!! He has two kids the exact same ages as Elijah and Lydia and hopefully we will get them together one of these days.

And if you have not have enough "Circus of the Stars" for your lifetime here are some more pics.

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