AE: At the end of the episode last night, Joe said, "He's been my knight in shining armor for 20 years." We want the rest of the fairy tale. How did you guys meet?
Bill: It's a good story, actually. It was me who put it together. Joe wasn't interested in me at first. We met at a Park City ski resort.
Joe: It was 1986.
Bill: I got invited through a mutual friend to go skiing. I'd been going to Utah, but didn't know anybody there. So he and his friend invited us to come along with another group, and said, "You're going to have a great time. Joe's a great skier." This is the Cliff Notes version. We got up there, we enjoyed ourselves, met Joe, and skied, then I went home because I had to work. It was during the holiday period, and a friend picked me up at the airport, and I said, "I met this guy while I was up in Utah, and had such a great time, I want to go back. I want to spend more time with him. I think he liked me too." I wasn't sure, so I wanted to go back and find out for sure. My friend had a cell phone – this was way back when they first came out – and he got right on the phone and called Western Airlines, back when they were still in business, and made a reservation for me. I have to thank Ross. We both booked tickets and went back for New Years — uninvited. We showed up at this really fancy-shmancy restaurant where Joe had booked a table in downtown Salt Lake. There we were, Ross, this very nelly, wonderful old friend of mine. Very, very gay, bless his heart. He's a wonderful man. We sitting in this very straight restaurant and in walks Joe with all of his guests and we're uninvited totally.
Joe: We now have eight people for a table of six. [laughs[ Earlier, I wasn't all that crazy about Bill. I'd told my friend to tell them not to come, and he was like, "It's too late. They're already on their way."
Bill: By the end of dinner, steam was coming out Joe's ears, because we'd hijacked his New Year's Eve Party. We go upstairs to Ross and my suite in the hotel where we can get away, and set up everything and we didn't have any confetti, so I called down to the hotel and said, "Bring up ten rolls of toilet paper. I TP'd the room, and to make a long story short, at midnight, Joe leaned over and gave me a kiss. There's more to that story, how that came about, but it was really special. New Year's Eve is our anniversary. He invited me afterwards to spend the week at his house. Ross went home, and I stayed with Joe, and that's how we met.
AE: That's a great story. Thanks for sharing it with us. Thanks so much for talking to us and for being on the show and being such a great example.
Joe: We just— I'm getting choked up. We just feel really grateful to have had that experience.
AE: Give an extra dog biscuit to Guido for us.
Joe: He's right here!
Bill: He's on the floor listening to all this.
