How Actor Edward Norton Became The First-Ever Uber Passenger In LA
YouTube/ABC/”Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Actor Edward Norton isn’t just a two-time Oscar nominee, he also holds the honor of being the first-ever Uber passenger in Los Angeles.
Norton appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Thursday night, revealing that being “Rider number one” was a perk of knowing Uber founder, Travis Kalanick.
“I met Travis, who started Uber, back when it was still kind of this funky little experiment in San Francisco, and I was super-impressed by what he was doing,” Norton said. “As someone who’s had a long-standing antipathy and occasional physical battle with New York cab drivers, I begged him to bring it to New York City. Begged him, literally. ”
While the New York resident was visiting Kimmel in Los Angeles, he even used the car service to take him to the beach to go surfing.
Despite not receiving any continued perks (such as no surge pricing) from his pal Travis, Norton says he still frequently uses Uber in New York.
“In New York they now have a messenger delivery service, where you can use Uber to pick something up and take it somewhere,” the actor told Kimmel. “I like bicycles and scooters so I think I’m going to become an Uber messenger.” Watch the interview bit below:
Earlier in the show, Kimmel showed a video in which he actually became a registered Uber driver to “give rides and change lives” while picking up unsuspecting passengers.
His first victim was a man preparing to return to his African home country of Gabon.
The man was shocked to see Kimmel in the driver’s seat, exclaiming, “Oh my God, no f—— way. That is so funny, I always see you on TV.”
The two continued to ride around town and even stopped at a souvenir shop on Hollywood Boulevard so that the man could pick up gifts for his family.
At the end of the car trip, Kimmel told the audience, “Driving an Uber car was a lot of fun because I got to have all these conversations with people and at the end of it, they just go in their house.”
Watch the full segment below:
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