“Hi, John. You know that five hundred dollars I owe you?”

“Yeah?”

“I just lost my job, so I won’t be able to pay you when I said I would. I’m sorry.”

“No problem, Wes. I’ll sue you, and then we can go on one of those TV judge shows.”

“How will that help if I don’t have the money to pay you?”

“They’ll pay both of us to be on the show. Then they will deduct the five hundred dollars from what they pay you and use it to pay off your debt to me.”

“That sounds good. I feel bad about not being able to pay you, and this way you’ll get your money.”

“There’s only one catch.”

“What?”

“I’m going to have to talk about your drug problem.”

“I don’t have a drug problem.”

“I know, but we have to spice it up a bit, make it interesting, or they won’t let us on the TV judge show.”

John thought about that for a bit. “Okay. Then I guess I’ll have to tell the judge that you’re sleeping with your wife’s sister.”

“That might mess up my marriage.”

“Yeah, but you’ll get the five hundred dollars.”

“Okay, I guess. But I’ll also have to say that you cheat on your income tax.”

“And I’ll countersue you for defamation.”

“I guess that’s fair.”

John thought some more. “So, essentially we go on TV and make fools of ourselves for money?”

“Right. It’s done all the time. That’s what the medium is all about.”