Daniel replies:

You know, I was thinking something very similar about my status. Not that I've figured it out...but if you are going to be a writer, or something of the kind, you sort of have to be known, if not famous--and that bites, in most people's cases, but not mine. I think it has to do with the sort of people who tend to be attracted to the work I do, (which reflects well on me and the work). In ten years of broadcasting on NPR, for instance, I have only heard from one annoying jerk...and she was enjoyable! I will tell the conversation, because I got off _such_ a great line. This is verbatim. It followed the broadcast of a piece in which I imitated my father's Russian/Yiddish accent:
caller: Mr. Pinkwater, you have defamed and degraded the Jewish people. You are not talented, and you are not funny.
me: Mother?