Our life in New York City is pretty ordinary most of the time. But then there are moments that remind us that our life is far from ordinary. That was especially true when Emily (my wife), Audrey (my sister-in-law), Braden (my brother-in-law) and I unassumingly sat down in a taxi cab and lights and sounds started to erupt!

Yes, folks… Tidy Dad and his entourage are totally featured in the newest season of Bravo’s Cash Cab!

Let’s go back a bit in the story and I’ll explain how we came to get in the cab in the first place.

Emily, Audrey, Braden and I were headed out to Manhattan for a kid-free afternoon. We live in the same building, but since the arrival of my new niece, Davy, we hadn’t been able to do much together just the four of us. We both arranged babysitting with grandparents and set out for a fun adventure. We headed to the Lower East side of Manhattan and after grabbing a bite to eat and some coffee, we tried to hail a cab.

While Audrey was at the corner throwing away her empty coffee cup, the cab arrived. Emily climbed into the cab and sat in the backseat, I climbed in and sat right in front of her so that I could give the driver directions, then Braden climbed into the backseat. While we waited for Audrey, I explained to the driver where we needed to go. He wouldn’t look at me, was speaking in broken English, and didn’t ask for clarification until Audrey finally sat down and he mumbled, “Are you going to shut the door?”

As soon as the door slammed, lights and sounds erupted throughout the cab. We quickly glanced at one another in shock, and then I started screaming “Cash Cab!!! Cash Cab!!!”

The cab driver turned around, now immediately recognizable as Ben Bailey, and said, “Yes, it’s the Cash Cab! Are you willing to play?”

Of course we enthusiastically screamed, “Yes!”.

Producers and camera operators surrounded the cab, and one of the executive producers jumped in the front seat.

“Alright,  if you’re willing to play I need to quickly go over the rules and have you sign some forms.”

“Yes! Of course!” we all cheered.

He left the cab to grab the paperwork and we were left alone. Our pre-planned day trip without kids had taken a completely unexpected turn.

“Ahhhhh!!! We’re filming Cash Cab,” I screamed, and we all erupted into fits of laughter and exchanged high-fives.

I then looked around the cab and noticed all the cameras. They were on the dash board, in the ceiling, on the doors. It was absolutely remarkable what we hadn’t noticed on our way in.

“How could we not have seen all of this?” I said to the group.

The producer returned with the paperwork and gave us an overview of the rules.

Here is how the game works:

Cash Cab is hosted by comedian Ben Bailey and the game invites unsuspecting commuters to answer as many trivia questions as they can before reaching their final destination. There are three rounds of questions and money is awarded in increments of $50, $100, and $150. We learned that we would have 20 blocks to answer as many questions as possible!

The producer again asked if we were ready to play, and of course we all screamed…again.

After trying to calm ourselves, our focus turned to strategy. My dear sister-in-law, Audrey, quickly realized that she was in the “answer seat”. She told the producers she was really nervous and was bad at giving answers quickly. The producer said, “Everyone has to remain in the seat they sat in when they entered the cab. We were filming you guys from the moment you hailed that cab so the seating has to match.”

Audrey put her hands on her face and said, “But I’m so bad at answering!”

I looked at Audrey and said, “Audrey, it’s all because of that coffee cup! You better figure out how to be good at answering!” In stressful situations, I’m not the most encouraging person.

She ran her hand through her hair and said, “Okay, I can do it.”

“You better,” I replied.

The producers who were listening in on the conversation said, “That’s exactly what we need. We need tension. We need drama. Keep it up.”

Moments later the cab pulled away from the curb, cameras were rolling, and we certainly gave the producers what they wanted. Drama. Excitement. A little family disagreement. Epic memories.

Several hours later (yes, hours… it takes a long time to film a TV show, even if it looks like a 5-minute clip), we walked away from our epic NYC experience and grabbed some ice cream.

Which brings me back to the ordinariness of life in New York City. We live a pretty normal life here in the city. I walk to work each day. We go to church in our neighborhood. We go to the park. To the grocery. To the post office.

But what makes NYC so special is that we’re just a subway ride (or cab ride) away from epic and amazing. Experiences we just couldn’t enjoy if we lived anywhere else.

So yes, I’ve finally made my cable TV debut, (and maybe made a little bit of money, you’ll have to watch the episode to find out!),  but more than that I walked away with memories for a lifetime, cheeks that hurt from laughing, and love for the little moments that make the journey of life so special.

Check out our episode of Cash Cab on Bravo (season 14, episode 5)!

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