But His Biggest Concern Is Helping The Homeless

Maybe it has something to do with Daylight Savings Time, but Brian “Kato” Kaelin’s 15 minutes of fame appear to be far from over.

An estimated 5,000 fans, some of whom started lining up nine hours in advance, came to see the former O.J. Simpson sidekick during a benefit appearance Saturday at a Terre Haute, Ind. mall.

“They were cheering and chanting,” an organizer said of the crowd, many of whom paid $10 for an autograph, $15 for an signed picture and $12 for a T-shirt reading “America’s Favorite Houseguest.”

At least $2,000 was raised for United Cerebral Palsy of the Wabash Valley. The local United Way declined to participate, saying Kato’s celebrity “stems solely from notorious and tragic circumstances.”

Dustin Hoffman, on his career plans: “I would love to do (another) ‘Graduate.’ Only this time, I would like to play Mrs. Robinson.”

Best wishes to two of our finest exports

Craig T. Nelson turns 51 and Kitty Kelley 53 today.

Isn’t it about time to quit knock-knocking him?

Speaking of Kato, anyone heard the latest O.J. joke? Prosecutor Marcia Clark: “What were you doing between 9 and 11?” Kaelin: “The third grade.”

That may be, but he’s sitting on a potty of gold

We’re willing to bet Kaelin wouldn’t tape Los Angeles Times columnist Phil Rosenthal’s review of his testimony to his refrigerator, if he had one: “He’s all hair and tight jeans, as flaky as granola, as empty as Orange County’s treasury. He has more tics than a stopwatch, and … he had the look of a toddler in toilet training.”

Are they expecting us to get out our hankies?

The British press is none too pleased that none of their filmmakers came home with any Oscars this year. Declaimed The Daily Express: “We don’t want to appear bad losers, but we can’t help wondering if someone like Mr. (Forrest) Gump was in charge of the judging.”

His luggage is still somewhere over Sweden

Country star Garth Brooks found the British isles to his liking during last year’s world tour, he says in the Country Music Association’s magazine, Close Up. “The Irish people are among the most polite and fun-loving people you will ever meet,” Brooks writes, adding: “I must admit, I lost my heart in Ireland.”

The encore, of course, was ‘Yesterday’s Swine’

Willie Nelson performed another benefit concert for family farmers Saturday at a muddy field in Missouri, with an appropriate accompaniment - a faint, breeze-blown odor that wafted from a corporation-owned, 50,000-hog operation less than half a mile away.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino