MANCHESTER — Jon O'Hara had no idea going incognito would make him an overnight celebrity.

The aspiring comedian from Manchester is a Red Sox Nation sensation after demonstrating his frustration with the Sox by wearing a paper grocery bag over his head in a game Thursday night at Fenway Park.

The simple gesture resonated with fellow Sox fans still suffering from last September's collapse, followed by a sluggish start to this season that has Boston mired in last place.

“It's been crazy,” O'Hara said Friday. “All over a paper bag on my head.”

O'Hara spent the day taking calls from newspapers, radio shows and television stations all wanting to hear his story, which reached urban legend status before Boston's 8-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians was even over Thursday night.

A Twitter campaign to “free the Bag Man” was under way after fans mistakenly believed O'Hara had been ordered to remove the bag by Red Sox security. O'Hara was free the whole time and never needed saving. He took off the bag when a fan sitting behind him asked him to remove it because it was blocking his view.

O'Hara, who is 6-foot-10, politely obliged and laughed at how his plight had been exaggerated online.

“By then, Twitter was going crazy. I don't need to block someone's view,” he said. “I was never detained or anything. I think it's hilarious. Everyone came to the conclusion that I got kicked out. I don't get how anybody would assume that.”

O'Hara and a friend did have to move once, but only because they were sitting in prime seats two rows behind home plate and the rightful ticketholders showed up after about an inning. By then, O'Hara had achieved his goal of getting on TV while wearing the bag, thus getting across the point that he is one fed-up fan.

O'Hara said he decided to don the bag after the Red Sox went 1-5 during a homestand before departing for a three-game series at Kansas City, which had lost its first 10 at home and appeared to be a prime candidate for Boston to turn around its slump. The Royals took the series 2-1 and O'Hara had seen enough.

“I'm fed up with this team,” he said. “I saw on TV there were usually some empty seats up front. Maybe worse case scenario, I'll be seen once before getting kicked out.”

So he picked up grocery bags — paper, of course — went online and bought the cheapest tickets he could find. They were grandstand seats for $4, but carried a service charge so he bought two extra, and sold them outside the gate for enough to break even. O'Hara and a friend made their way down to the second row easy enough and O'Hara donned his headgear, although his friend backed out at the last minute.

O'Hara said the bag was a hit, even getting a chuckle and thumbs-up from home-plate umpire Jim Wolf.

Once the fans with the tickets for those seats showed up, O'Hara and his friend made their way to seats behind the Red Sox dugout, where they were in the perfect spot to boo starting pitcher Josh Beckett when he was pulled with one out in the third inning and the Sox already down 7-1. Beckett, it turns out, had played golf last week after being scratched from his scheduled start with what the team called soreness in his back.

When the story surfaced Wednesday, fans were already furious with the one-time ace and were ready to pounce if he faltered again. He did — giving up seven hits, including two home runs.

Fans cheered with glee when manager Bobby Valentine left the dugout and immediately signaled to the bullpen for a reliever, then let loose with a relentless round of boos as Beckett made his way toward the bench.

“We were hoping to give Beckett the business when he came in but he pretty much had (his) head down the whole way. He didn't look up much,” O'Hara said. “I was just booing as loud as I could. I'm a pretty tall guy so I was hoping he'd see me, but there were a lot of people standing up booing.”

O'Hara, @JonOcomedy on Twitter, was bombarded with tweets Friday and said he gained hundreds of new followers overnight. His new fame won't hurt his comedy career, which he said he had to put on hold when he broke his foot while celebrating the Bruins' winning the Stanley Cup. He's also saving up for broadcast school and would love to start a career in sportscasting. He can probably scratch the Red Sox off his wish list, though, unless the front office has a good sense of humor.

O'Hara and his wife, Alyssah, are expecting their first baby any day. He said a labor alert Thursday night would have prompted him to ditch the bag and hop back on Interstate 93 as quickly as he could, but there were no calls or texts regarding the baby so O'Hara got to enjoy his moment in the spotlight — even though he was in disguise.

A lifelong Sox fan, O'Hara said he remembers well the World Series titles of 2004 and 2007, but also some of the club's noted hard times.

“I like to say I was crying when the ball went through Buckner's legs, but it probably was for some other reason,” said O'Hara, born about six months before Bill Buckner missed a slow grounder during the Red Sox's collapse against the Mets in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.