Craig Gass has delighted live audiences with his celebrity imitations, played a supporting role in a defunct TV series as a low-brow comedian who stirs patrons' drink with his penis, and is just generally popping up here, there and everywhere on TV.

But apparently, Craig Gass also lives an alternate life as a hamburger flipper.

Who'd a thunk?

Minneapolis-St.Paul TV station KARE reported that Craig Gass performed at the recent 27th annual "Taste of Minnesota," a low-rent eating extravaganza that each year lures crowds of gullible Minnesotans, and others, to gorge on over-priced fast food that bears no relationship whatsoever to unique Minnesota culture or culinary tradition.

Gass played the role of an affable hamburger stand owner who flips his product over a hot stove just "a stone's throw from the main (entertainment) stage."

It seems that Gass was particularly happy with the Taste of Minnesota this year because security was beefed up from previous years, when toughs, roughs and other assorted riffraff from the Twin Cities and neighboring western Wisconsin could more easily interrupt the steady flow of gastronomical commerce.

According to KARE, Gass said that "we make a living selling food here and that's a big issue for us to have the security."

The TV station reported that Taste of Minnesota organizer Andy Faris said that "increased security was a concern for some people, particularly those who wanted to bring their families. We've tightened security. We've made some big changes at the gate." For a man of Craig Gass' celebrity, that was good news, indeed.

But, wow! You'd think a guy like Gass, for all his rising notoriety, wouldn't have to rely on the income from a hamburger stand to sustain himself. Perhaps celebrity is not all it's cracked up to be.

However, on the brighter side, Craig Gass had a great location for catching all of the heavy musical talent that paraded across the festival's stage this year. He and his customers were able to groove to Staind, White Snake and Judas Priest, among others. Definitely, real family fare.