Звезда «Субботнего вечера» Гэри Крогер переехал в Рутланд, чтобы активно участвовать в общественной жизни

There is no guarantee of making a living in show business, and Saturday Night Live star Gary Kroeger knew that. However, Kroeger was among the top percent who did, and little did he know it would lead him to the heart of Rutland. “Ira Needleman, the singing dentist, will always be the best thing I did,” Kroeger said. “I played a nerdy dentist who made a risky video to sell himself to potential dates. Years later, Keegan Michael Key told me that was one of his favorite sketches!” Kroeger loved the entertainment world and stayed in it until 1999, when he became a father. “Suddenly, none of it mattered anymore,” Kroeger said. Kroeger’s passion for entertainment goes back as far as he can remember, but college is when his dream started to become a reality. At Northwestern University, Kroeger met lifelong superstar friend Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was also heavily involved with theater. From there, the two of them joined her boyfriend, and current husband, Brad Hall’s “Practical Theatre Company.” Their work eventually caught the attention of Second City, which helped attract interest from Saturday Night Live, and the show immediately asked them to join the cast for the 1982-83 season alongside Eddie Murphy. “We were young, ambitious, no-idea-what-we-were-doing college students just trying to make a living, learning our craft, and being funny,” Kroeger said. However, Kroeger still had a lot of work ahead of him before he could call himself successful. “I still had to earn my stripes, but it took me to Hollywood, where I was for the next 20 years,” Kroeger said. He was a game show host for “The Newlywed Game” from 1996 to 1997, a studio audience warm-up guy, and appeared in several TV pilots within those two decades. Kroeger then decided that changed the entire future for him and his family, eventually leading him to Rutland. However, the journey to get here wasn’t that easy. “L.A. was too crowded, too expensive, and wasn’t safe enough for my little boy to play in the yard,” Kroeger explained. “I just wanted to be a good dad.” Coincidentally, he got a job back in his hometown, Cedar Falls, Iowa, as a creative director for an advertising agency. Staying there for the next 20 years, he created a secure life for himself. Soon after moving back to Iowa, life took its own plan, and Kroeger and his wife divorced right after having their second child, Alex. Now at the age of 27, his son reflects in appreciation of the life his father made for him. “It’s always been important to my dad to be a father; that has never been in question,” Kroeger’s son, Christopher Kroeger, said. “He never once made us feel anything less than the most important things to him growing up.” In 2014, Kroeger met his current wife, Shannon Alexander, through their shared interest in politics and online conversations about Kroeger’s blog, “Gary Has Issues.” Finally, they met in person at a high-end steakhouse in Dallas, where Alexander was living at the time, and Kroeger was on a business trip. “It truly was love at first sight,” Alexander said. “My knees honestly buckled as he moved in for a hug, and we ended up having a kiss.” Then, suddenly, everyone at the bar started clapping because Gary had been sitting there talking to everyone, telling them he was going on a date with a woman he had never met. Now, having married Alexander, Kroeger has a total of five children. He has his two boys, Christopher and Alex Kroeger, a stepson, Maxwell Rogers, as well as two stepdaughters, Isabel Mihalakos and Lily Rogers. “Gary cares the most about his sons. He’s a terrific father, and he also has great relationships with my three kids,” Alexander said. Kroeger said his proudest accomplishment in life is having five kids who are nice people. “Though I can’t take all the credit for it, their mothers did a lot too, but I’m part of having nurtured five young people who are kind to others, and I’m so proud,” he said. Besides his children, Kroeger holds his love for The Beatles closest to his heart. Friend of Kroeger’s, longtime fan of SNL, and local radio personality, Nanci Gordon, said that gaining a new Beatles friend is what excited her most about getting to know him. “He’s as passionate about The Beatles as I am, and it’s great to meet people who ‘get’ us,” she said. After 10 years in Iowa, Alexander decided she needed a change of scenery, too, and wanted to head to the Northeast to be closer to her parents. Kroeger, who has lost both his parents and shared a close relationship with his mother, understood his wife’s thinking entirely. “After he got divorced and was still single, she was his date for all of his events and functions, so losing his mom has had a profound effect on him,” Alexander said. They made a list of towns on the East Coast that checked all their boxes, deciding to land in whichever one had the right house for them, finally making Rutland their new home. Due to his acting and directing involvement with community theater plays in Iowa, people couldn’t help but ask, “Well, why would you leave this?” Kroeger explained his desire to replicate that here, in a similar town. “So, when people say, ‘Why Rutland,’ well, that’s the reason why, is to be an active member of a place where my skill set and desire to entertain people and bring them together could be utilized,” he responded. Kroeger is eager to step into the community of Rutland, with plans of running for public office, getting involved in community theater, providing support for politics, and helping guide Rutland to a place of saying, “Yes, we will be a foundation of support.” “Gary walks the walk, he means what he says, and he does what he says he is going to do. In fact, you couldn’t stop him if you tried because, when he has it in mind to make something happen, he does,” Alexander said. So far, being here for 13 months, Kroeger describes the move as “challenging,” but also says, “That’s a good thing.” “I kind of like being brand new again!” Kroeger said.