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(click the picture above for the high definition video - but also click YouTube for me!)

 

1:41 PM, Monday, September 17th, 2007:

 

  

There are no copyright issues concerning this piece so please share it, steal it, wear it, feel it. :-)

 

 

To say this almost didn't happen is an understatement. What a hellish couple of days this was. I don't even want to write about it. But of course, that would be silly considering I'm on Entry #684. Might as well just tell the story so I can put it to bed.   So because of the time consumption of the opening - I didn't even think about this show until Wednesday. We shot 7 AM Thursday morning.

 

 

 

What that meant was I had to run by CBS and do a quick test in the screening room because we weren't able to get Fergusen's set. Well, truth be told we DID get it but only on the condition that we didn't use his chairs, his desk, completely black out the set - and hire their crew for everything. LOL. I love a good passive-aggressive "no" every now and again. So I had to make the screening room look like a latenight set. Amazingly, fastisigns.com lived up to their name and helped me in roughly 3 hours on an extremely busy day for them and some black sheets and christmas lights - and voila. A set...

 

...now to write it. Ha. 7 PM I started writing it - and got to bed around 4:30 in the morning. Everything kind of depends on the winner (Dewey won) and all day doing production shit left me with writing not only the Living Room Live piece, but also a sort of "Test show" piece that we'd film at the same time. Basically the same thing without the contestants and Cameron doing a "walk-through" of what the show is about. It took a long friggin' time to put together. Which is the motto of this whole thing. LOL.

 

 

 

 

After 90 minutes of shut-eye I jumped in with both feet... but I gotta say - it showed. My energy as "Adam" was completely dead. It's hard to act like there's a big crowd yelling when you walk out when it's silent... but I am an ACTOR and I know I can do it - I just straight up forgot. I was thinking about the spotlight, the timing, the lines I eventually forgot to say and screwed up parts of the test show... it was one of the hardest days being "me" I've ever had. So, so, so, many things to keep in the air at once, and then... it happened.   A man came in and screamed at us like school children for moving the speakers setting off the most exhausting 4 hours of my life.

 

 

Welcome to changing onset, dry shaving in the videocamera monitors and running around like chickens with our heads cut off because we were about to be kicked out. And of course that horrible feeling of really pissing people off. Now the speakers were labelled and the settings weren't touched - but the bottom line was: they didn't know about it. It didn't occur to Jim that it was a problem as long as everything was put back, but apparently it was akin to scalping puppies...

 

...and then the walls come a tumblin' down. Every few minutes our mock set would come crashing down which for split screen work is so bad I can't even begin to tell you. LOL. So the effects shots you saw took 5 times longer than usual because the background is different on EVERY shot. So Spence moving over to let Dewey come in? WHEW. Shoot me.

 

We were all feelin' it though. Everyone helped everywhere they could. When the cameraman, sound guy, and makeup guy are cutting holes in your black sheets to put in the Christmas lights for an hour or so - it's a shared stress. It was so nice to have everyone on-board. Then a soundguy came in and yelled at us about using RF mics. The same ones we've used for a year. (sigh). It was clear we were moments from being kicked out - so I called half the shoot.

 

 

 

I figured I could do the "TV" Parts from home, but I'd be scuh-rewed if I had to do the desk part from home. I could do it, but never make my Sunday morning uploading deadline. So I'd shoot all the TV stuff on Friday, somehow edit the whole thing in a day, and pray to GOD we finished before another technician came in. It was maddening. I kept trying to lift everyone's spirits by taking the brunt of the yelling, but it was very difficult to not let it effect you.

 

And with the falling set, I swear to you - it was a videogame. See how fast you can get through each part before the set comes down and the higher-ups shut down the entire operation.
	Doing my make-up onset saved a tremendous amount of time, but I did unfortunately miss a few lines and actions on the script because we had to rush so much...

 

 

Spencer's "After Never" after the band was never shot - and there was a whole bit with Adam looking at the wrong camera that was completely ruined since I straight up didn't remember to do the line. What I wouldn't give someday to just be able to focus on acting. It is something I've wanted my whole life.

 

Things still turned out ok. It feels quite cheesy to me because it all could've been done from my house, and probably better without being so rushed, but it's not horrible. Good "theater of the mind" with the 3 different sides of the set although I must admit the "Egos" side is even cheesier. Ha. I just hate "fake" stuff like their TVs. The set-up feels so green-screened and it kills the one beauty of 4tvs: it's live. I can do this show LIVE.

 

 

I can't interview the guys live obviously - but the inerraction during my monologue with them is the same as my one-man show and in this bit it just looks like more digital trickery. Oh well, it does get the point across. And how fun is the last shot with the "whisper". I thought I'd be a little closer to Dewey in this - but I had to throw an homage to the talk shows in there as they all end up doing this as they cut away. Fun.

 

And then finally all the "TV" stuff was done at my house the next day which meant having to do 4 Egos... with a completely shaven face. Quite a feat for Tyson but he totally pulled it off. No one would know if I hadn't said anything.
	...and the added discipline of singing like Spencer with CeBe in between your legs wondering: "What the hell is going on here?" :-) Anyway, it was another long day but we finally got done on Friday evening.

 

It took until 1 AM to load all the footage and all day Saturday I edited... and then all night Saturday... and then all morning Sunday. Yes, an all nighter with maybe an 45 minute nap during a render. It was ugly... but it's done. Now I just need to piece together the test show and then I'm off to NYC with Donna for the 2 appearences on CBS and for our honeymoon. Can you believe it's been a year?   Christ, this whole week has felt like a year. But no one can say I didn't give it my all. As I said at the end of the piece (with the energy of a drunken slug), I'm extremely proud of the shows I put together this season. We'll see if they are in a couple of days...   ...now to the test show.   Adam